Chapter 8

Montana and Paul had been preparing the trash for him to take out to the Dumpster; she had emptied a few more things before getting everything together in a large bag.

"Here, let me hold it open while you stick it all in," she said.

Grinning, Paul went for the fly on his jeans. "Well, if you insist, mi amor."

She smacked him playfully. "Paul! Quit goofing off; the kids are in the next room."

"Oquela, there's always something to kill the mood."

"Seriously, we need to get this out before the trash collector comes."

"Yeah. Anyway, I'm guessing you heard the latest by now."

"About Mariah's 'stomach bug' not being one after all? Yes, and I have to admit I was rather shocked."

"You weren't the only one. I thought Spanky was going to shit enough bricks to build another house."

"I'm sure. It seems these things always happen when one isn't planning on any more children, kind of like we were around the time I got pregnant with Naomi."

"Lucky for us, we won't have to worry about that issue anymore."

"No, I think four kids are plenty, though it would have been nice to have another boy."

"Yeah, but I think Mikey's content with things the way they are. I know I am."

"I wonder how Leif is taking all of this?" Montana wondered.

"Hard to tell. Poor kid probably doesn't know what to think. Thing is, by the time this kid is old enough to start school, Leif will already be in high school or close to it."

"I guess this means they'll have to find another house too."

"No, Brian's got this idea to have another room built on. Jesus, what a disaster that will be."

"Or maybe not," Montana said hopefully.

"You heard about the disasters with Leif's nursery," Paul replied. "Can you imagine building on another part of a house? Oquela. I hope the hell Brian's going to hire someone for that project."

"I'm guessing that is going to be likely," Montana nodded, handing him the bag. "Here, something to take to the Dumpster."

"Why me?"

"Because it's getting dark for one, and two, I took it out the last time."

"Oh, right. I should be happy it's just household garbage and not loaded diapers like Spanky's going to be dealing with a few months down the road. I'll be back in a few."

Meanwhile:

"This freaking sucks," Leif groaned as he hung out in his room with Michael.

"What's sucky about being a brother?" Michael asked. "I got three sisters, one of them being Mac's fugly butt. What can be worse than that?"

"My mom and dad are too old to have a baby," Leif protested. "Then it's going to be really embarrassing having her stomach sticking out when she comes to school for things. I want to hide."

"Maybe it will be a boy! That would be cool to have a little brother."

"Mikey, I'll be a lot older than this goofy baby, no matter what it is."

"So? It will be kind of like Mac with me and Nomi. It isn't that bad."

"Well, at least we won't have to move. Dad's getting a room built on to our house."

"Cool!"

"Yeah, leave the screaming poop machine downstairs," Leif replied.

"I bet you'll really like the baby when your mom has it," Michael smiled. "Want to know a secret?"

"Do tell," Leif sighed.

"Mami told me when she was having me that Kira thought she wouldn't be loved any more when I came. But when I did, she really liked me and we were always close and stuff. And when Mami was having Nomi, I was kind of little, but I liked her too, even if she was another girl."

"And?"

"I'm just saying you should at least try to give it a chance," Michael nodded.

"Okay, as long as Mom doesn't make me do anything with it that's really gross, I guess I can try. But it still kind of sucks."

"Nah, she'll probably make your dad do the gross stuff," Michael laughed. "Like Mami says I used to pee on Papi a lot when I was a baby and he was changing me."

"Yeah, Grandma said I threw up on Dad a few times too," Leif howled.

"We probably did all kinds of funny stuff," Michael said.

"Hey, I just thought of something."

"What?"

"You don't think we'll have to get rid of Squishy, do you?" Leif asked. "I hear a cat suffocates babies."

"Leif, that's what Mami calls an 'old wives tale.' Squishy won't do anything to the baby. He might look at it funny or something, but he won't suffocate it."

"Oh…good. Nobody mentioned getting rid of him yet, but I was kind of wondering anyway."

Michael then looked at the clock. "I got to get home; it's starting to get dark and Mami will yell if I'm not home by dark. I'll see you in school tomorrow. Just don't worry about that baby stuff. It will work out, you'll see!"