Chapter 15
I sat up in bed and stretched, hoping that if I stretched the muscles around my ribs I'd have some breathing room. In the last week, I had grown another ten centimeters, putting me at about thirty-four weeks by human pregnancy standards. Our little one was beginning to run out of room, and her favorite spot to nestle herself was just underneath my lungs.
It took me a few minutes to push myself off the bed into a standing position, and when I was finally able to get up, I made a note to myself that I wouldn't sit down for a few hours.
I walked in front of the long mirror in our bedroom, and stood at my side, inspecting my belly as per my morning routine. I smiled, running my hands over my large belly, as I felt his hand move with mine.
"Good morning, Little Bug," I smiled, looking down at my belly. I noticed that I could no longer see my feet.
"Today's going to be all about you," I crooned.
She fluttered as best she could in response.
"You're just running out of room in there, aren't you?" I laughed. "Don't worry; you'll have plenty of space in no time."
She moved again, as if she were stretching.
"Well, today's going to be very fun," I continued. "All of your aunts will be here, and there are no boys allowed," I thought for a moment.
"Well, unless you're a boy." I stated. "Are you a boy?"
I felt a foot press against my abdomen.
"A girl?"
Another foot.
"You're just going to be difficult, aren't you?"
This time, I felt a foot and a hand press against my skin.
"I should probably get dressed, huh?" I asked, beginning to drum my fingers against my belly.
"Or, you could stand here naked all day," I jumped, and looked to find Jacob staring at me from the bed.
"Were you watching me this whole time?"
He shrugged. "What can I say? I like watching you talk to our baby. I find it makes you that much more beautiful."
I laughed "Well, I know how much you like to stare at me while I'm naked, but I really need to get ready. It's already nine-thirty and Alice wants me at the Big House by ten."
Jacob sighed. "You sure we don't have time for a quickie?" He stood, and crossed the room, coming up behind me.
He rubbed the back of my shoulders, and moved to touch my face, moving my head so that he could kiss me. I opened my mouth, allowing his tongue to slip past my lips. I let a whimper escape my lips, and I regretfully pulled away.
"I really need to get ready," I sighed.
"Go do what you need to do. I'll leave you alone. Promise." He knew that he was still on thin ice with me after our fight from last week, and he was doing anything he could to make it up to me.
Granted, there were days where I wanted to just lie in bed with him and forget the world, but there was shit I had to get done today, and no matter how much I wanted to lie in bed, I knew I couldn't miss my own shower.
I was distracted from my thoughts when my phone buzzed on the nightstand.
Get your shit together! Hurry up and get your ass over here. Kisses! ~Alice~
"Look what you made her do," I pouted, showing Jacob the text.
"Pixie can hold her horses for five minutes while I tell my wife how beautiful she looks," Jacob said.
"Thanks, Baby," I gave Jacob a quick kiss, and headed into the bathroom, where my dress for today hung.
I ignored the dress for the time being, and stepped into the shower, continuing my conversation with the baby. When I finished, I quickly dried off, and slipped into the cotton dress maxi dress Alice had picked out for me. I smiled at my reflection, loving how the dress hung over my bump. I may not enjoy every second of being pregnant, but I loved how I looked.
I left the bathroom, giving Jacob a quick kiss good-bye. I carefully made my way downstairs, and met Alice at our front door.
"Oh, I just knew you'd look just darling in that dress!" She squealed, moving to wrap me in a hug.
"Come on; everyone's going to be here soon!"
"Alright, alright," I laughed, as Aunt Alice began to drag me through the woods.
The entire first floor of the Big House had looked like the Baby Fairy had vomited all over—blue and pink streamers hung from the ceiling, paper rattles stuck to the walls, pink and blue balloons scattered around the floor. When we walked in, Alice continued to fix decorations that I thought were already fine.
I walked around, noticing that there were already several wrapped presents on a table in the corner. I laughed to myself, knowing that when someone joins this family, they will want for nothing. I found Mom in the kitchen, putting together the final touches on a round cake. IT had white frosting and pink and blue edging around the circumference.
"It looks good," I smiled, resting against the counter.
"It's a white cake, with blue and pink M&M's baked in the middle."
"Pintrest?" I laughed. Over the last few years, she had become quite the pinner.
Mom swatted at me. "You be quiet," she said with a small laugh.
She leaned forward and gave me a small kiss on my forehead, returning to the cake. I left the kitchen, wandering around the bottom floor of the house. Aunt Alice and Aunt Rose had really outdone themselves; I didn't think that'd be possible after what they did for the wedding.
"You are going to be one spoiled little child," I commented, running my hand down my abdomen.
"I'll make sure they don't go too overboard with everything. I'm not having you turn out like those kids you see on reality TV; you may want for nothing, but your Daddy and I are going to make sure you're generous with what you have."
I felt him move, and I took that as an agreement between the two of us.
"Renesmee, mi niña bella," I turned, surprised to find Carmen and the rest of the Denali sisters standing at the doorway.
"Carmen!" I smiled, as she embraced me. "Aunt Alice didn't tell me you guys were coming,"
"We wanted you to be surprised," Kate smiled, taking her turn.
"Oh, my, look at you!" Tanya smiled. "When will we see this little one?" She pressed her hands against my belly, smiling.
"Three weeks, although Carlisle tells me that it could really be any day at this point."
"Do you two have any names picked out?" Kate asked.
"We've been tossing a few ideas around here and there, but still haven't really decided on any two. What we did decide is that the baby would have two middle names—Edward Cullen, if it's a boy, or Isabella Cullen, if it's a girl."
"After your parents?" Carmen smiled. "That's such a beautiful idea, niña."
"And, that way, we still have 'Cullen' incorporated into the name—even though the name won't really die out in this family." I laughed.
"You're going to have to send us lots of pictures of the little one," Tanya said.
"You guys are going to have to visit more often!" I replied.
"Well, if someone," Tanya looked over at Alice, "were to call us every once and a while, we wouldn't have this problem."
"Oh, please, I call you plenty," Alice replied.
"Girls," Esme stepped in. She smiled over at Kate. "It's good to see you and your sisters again," she stretched her hand out warmly and Kate took it in her own.
"I agree, it has been two long, but will these two ever stop bickering about it?" Esme laughed, as Tanya and Alice continued their petty argument.
Kate shook her head. "I don't think they ever will. The two are like sisters."
Esme and Kate continued their conversation, and I turned to have a conversation with Carmen, continuing about baby names. Emily showed up a few minutes later and joined our conversation.
"Nessie, look at you," Emily smiled. "You look like you're ready. Three weeks, right?"
I nodded, and she put her hands against my belly, moving them around, talking to the baby. I felt him move a little, but not much. He must really be running out of room.
"I'd say you have less than that," Emily commented, taking her hands away. "It feels like he's beginning to settle in to position."
"Is it bad that I'm glad to hear that?" I replied, laughing lightly.
"Not at all," Emily smiled. "Every woman begins to feel this way towards the end of her pregnancy; and we're all very anxious to meet the little one. Is everything set up for delivery?"
I nodded. "Carlisle set everything up a few weeks back; the room's at our house, next to our bedroom, and it's all ready to go." Carlisle had also put in some emergency items in the closet in the hallway, but I didn't want to think about having to need that stuff.
Emily and I continued to talk about the delivery; after having a short conversation with Carlisle, we decided that it would make us both a little uncomfortable if he were to deliver the baby, so I had talked to Emily, who worked as a midwife on the rez, and she had agreed. Carlisle would still be in the room, but Emily would do the 'catching' part, which made both Carlisle and I much more comfortable. Everything was all planned out, and now we were just playing the waiting game.
Rachel showed up next, with Elizabeth and Madeline in tow. I didn't mind having any of the imprintee children at the party—it was for all the girls, after all. The more, the merrier. The two girls immediately ran towards me, shouting my nickname. I couldn't bend over or kneel very well, so the two of them had to hug my legs instead.
"How are my favorite girls?" I laughed.
"We got a present for the baby," Elizabeth started. "But we're not going to tell you what it is. Right, Maddie?" Elizabeth had let go of my leg, and looked down at her sister.
Madeline shook her head, still pressed against my leg. "Nope!"
Rachel laughed, kneeling down to pry Madeline from my leg. "Is there something else you wanted to tell Aunt Nee?"
"Oh, yeah!" Elizabeth bounced. "Thank you for letting us come to your party."
"You're welcome, sweetie." I smiled.
"How are you doing?" Rachel asked, switching Madeline over to her left hip.
"Anxious," I replied. "I'm ready to meet him or her."
"That means they'll be here soon," Rachel smiled.
"Maybe we'll still be here," Carmen smiled.
"Oh! I hope so," I laughed. "Might as well meet the entire family right off the bat."
After a while, everyone had showed up, and Aunt Alice began the festivities. She brought out two easels with several pictures tapped to them; some in black and white, others in color. Alice handed sheets of paper and pens, and asked us all to make guesses as to which baby picture belonged to which person. Some of them were easy to pick out—Mom, Rachel, Emily, Kim, and myself were the only ones not in black and white, and I could easily pick out Rachel's because of the Black family resemblance; I hoped that my child would inherit most of their resemblance.
Some of the pictures were harder—Alice didn't have any pictures, and neither did the Denali sisters. Esme and Aunt Rose both had their pictures, although it took me a good while to figure out which was which. In the end, Kate had won, despite not knowing anyone from the rez very well.
Alice had us play a few other slightly absurd games—my favorite had been the one where Alice had melted chocolate into diapers and had us sniff and examine the dirty diaper and match the chocolate to its brand.
When it was time for presents, Alice had shuffled everyone into the living room, and had me sit in one of the arm chairs she had designed to look like a throne.
"Very funny, Alice," I laughed, lowering myself into the chair.
"I thought you'd like it," Alice skipped towards the table full of presents, as everyone crowded around me, content with sitting on the floor or sitting on the couch.
Alice began handing me present after present; we had gotten quite a few gender neutral articles of clothing, diapers, binkies, a nursing kit, diaper bag, and something called a 'diaper genie', which Kim assured me I'd love. Aunt Alice and Aunt Rose had gotten a baby carrier/stroller combo, and Mom and Esme had gotten me some books on parenting children up through age five. I had even gotten some hand-drawn pictures from Elizabeth and Madeline, who then proceeded to point out who everyone was in the pictures, and where we all stood. Some of them, the baby had been born, and the stick-figures of Jacob and I were holding the stick-figure baby, whereas in others, I had a circle drawn over my stick body, and an arrow pointing to where the baby was. I couldn't wait to put the pictures on the fridge back home.
Aunt Alice and Aunt Rose began packing everything into one of the cars, transporting them over to my house, where they'd put it all in the nursery. The rest of the afternoon was spent chatting with everyone, and eating as much cake as I possibly could. After a few hours, everyone had left, and I had returned home.
Everything was ready for the baby's arrival, and all we had to do now was wait. And we couldn't wait.