Love by Love – 37
When Reba was twenty-two weeks pregnant, she started to grow uncomfortable. She could hardly find the perfect position to sleep throughout the night. Her baby bump was now visible without a doubt and it was like a hand magnet. When she was pregnant with Jake, she didn't mind being touched, but not with this one. She got cranky if someone thought they could just put their filthy hands on her belly and try to feel if the baby moved. Especially men. Some guy at work thought it would be okay to just rest his hand on her stomach. She yelled at him, unless he's the father of her child, he had no right to lay his finger on her.
"Hey honey," greeted Brock seeing Reba coming back home from work.
"Don't you 'hey honey' me!" Reba was grumpy.
"Okay... Hard day at work?" Brock tried to butter her up by leading her to the sofa and helped massage her shoulders.
"I yelled at a client today."
"But you've never yelled at a client before," commented Brock.
"I've never literally kicked you on the butt either, but that can change." Reba hissed.
Squeezing her shoulders and kissing her on the top of her head, he apologized, "Alright, I'm sorry. No more interruptions. Tell me about your day."
"Well, I showed a house to newlyweds, and instead of looking at the house they kept asking me about my pregnancy. They said they are trying to get pregnant too. I tried to steer the conversation toward the house but all they wanted to hear was how I feel about being pregnant. Then the woman asked if she could put her hand on my stomach, I said sure. Then the baby started to kick and she thought it would be okay if her husband touched my stomach too. So I yelled at them." Reba explained tiredly.
"And did they buy the house?"
Reba glared at him. "Would you spend a few hundred-thousand buying something from the person that is suppose to be selling it to you, but yells at you instead?" She let out a heavy sigh "Dolly sent me home early."
"Aww, you poor thing. Tell you what, why don't I go to the bedroom and draw you a nice warm bath?"
"You're being so nice to me today. Okay what did you do wrong? Are you cheating on me? What's the tramp's name?" Reba turned her face sharply and stared at him demanding the answer.
"Honey, I'm not cheating on you. There's no one I swear! But I know you didn't have much sleep at night and you had long day at work. I'm just worried about you. I love you."
"Aww... I'm sorry I yelled at you." Reba cupped his face and planted a small kiss on his lips. "You're right. I'm tired and I'm hungry too. This baby is making me eat every fifteen minutes; I'm gaining almost two pounds just this week. I don't want to be fat!" Cried Reba on his shoulder.
"Honey, you're not fat. You can't be fat. You're not built that way." Brock just acknowledged that each pregnancy was different and this one wasn't easy to deal with. Nevertheless, he still took good care of her.
"What are we having for dinner?" Reba questioned after just crying because she thought she was fat a few minutes ago. However that wasn't the first time it happened. Reba would complain that she was getting fat, but when someone mentioned about the amount of food she ate, she would respond with 'shut up, I'm eating for two!'
"What do you want to eat?" Brock asked smilingly.
"Chinese buffet." Reba answered with a huge beautiful grin.
"Alright, we'll all go to the Chinese buffet for dinner."
She licked her lips and closed her eyes dreaming about food. "Yum…"
"You look so adorable when you do that. Are you sure it was food that you're thinking about?" He teased and kissed her lovingly.
"What if I wasn't thinking about food?" She winked. Well there were so few things in her mind lately: very few. Brock didn't mind that at all though, in fact, he loved how she was all over him and showing her affections. Reba wasn't the type that demanded so much consideration and wanted to be the center of his attention. So now that she seemed to be, he enjoyed every minute of it. Sometimes, she even pretended to be helpless. But he loved being her hero.
Brock was relieved that Reba seemed to forget about her hard day at work. That was another thing he noticed too, she was so forgetful with this pregnancy. Reba would get frustrated about being absentminded, and then she would forget about what she was forgetting and began to look for something to eat if she wasn't looking for something to eat, she would seek for Brock's undivided attention. Brock started to amuse himself to see what Reba would forget each day. He kept an eye on her thought to make sure she didn't forget anything important, such as leaving something on the stove unattended.
"Hmm..." Reba stared into the refrigerator already forgetting what she was looking for. She tapped her chin with her thumb, thinking. "I shouldn't have stopped at the washroom before coming to the kitchen." Reba mumbled to herself.
"Didn't you come in here to make yourself a cup of hot chocolate?" Kyra remarked. Reba looked at her a little confused. "You came in here and said that you're gonna make a cup of hot chocolate and you asked me if I wanted some, I said no, then you went to open the fridge."
"Right, hot chocolate!"
"Were you this forgetful when you pregnant with me mom?"
"Well... Sort of... One time I was going to call Terry to pick me up for lunch, but for the life of me, I couldn't remember my home phone number. And one time I was suppose to pick up my dry cleaning on my way back home from work. I picked up the dry cleaning alright, but instead of going home, I drove back to the office." Reba snickered at the incident.
Kyra laughed too. "What about when you pregnant with Jake?"
"With Jake I wasn't as forgetful. When I was pregnant with Jake, I was friendlier toward people, well except Brock. He bugged the heck out of me. But this time he doesn't bug me one bit, but other people do."
"Oh well, I guess I wouldn't understand why until I get pregnant myself," commented Kyra closing the book that she was reading. "Anyway, I'm off to bed. Good night mom" She gave Reba a hug.
"Good night honey."
"Don't forget your glass of milk" Kyra thought it was funny to mess with her mom a little and that got Reba stop and think for a while!
Besides being absentminded, jealousy also got a hold of her. She would be sullen and sulky every time she saw Brock talk to a woman, no matter who that woman was. She glared at her boss Dolly when she came to say hi to Brock when he picked her up from work for her doctors appointment.
"Would you quit winking at him?" Reba hissed. Dolly was a flirt and Reba had gotten used to it. But this time it drove her insane.
"I think we better go." Brock took her hand and pulled her out of the office before she yelled at Dolly and might accidentally getting fired. "Honey... She just came over to say hi. She always does that."
"But I don't like it." Her jealousy had driven her and Brock insane. She hated to be this way, but every time she saw Brock was talking to someone pretty or not pretty, she would be anxious that he would leave her to be with that woman.
"I can't help it, Brock, you're too good looking!" Reba burst out when they came home after her regular check up. She caught Brock talking to a nurse while she was talking to her doctor and the nurse was giddy. Brock said that he just told the nurse about how they were listening to the baby having hiccups. He never heard that before. He didn't flirt with the nurse.
"Well, I'm flattered. But honey, I would never leave you. I love you so much and you know that."
"I know, but I really can't help it. I don't want you to talk to any woman, especially to Barbra Jean!" Reba mustered.
"Why Barbra Jean? She's your best friend."
"If she can steal someone else's husband, she could steal my husband too. So I don't want you to talk to her." Reba moped.
"Barbra Jean would never do that to you. She loves you."
"Hey, I'm taking every precaution."
"You are being unreasonable."
"You're taking her side? You're my husband, you suppose to take my side!"
"I'm not taking anyone's side. I'm just telling you that you are being unreasonable. Barbra Jean has done nothing but be nice to us. She helps take care of Jake when we have to go to doctors appointments. You love eating those syrup and peanut butter sandwich. She went and ordered 'real' syrup for you from Vermont. And this is how you thank her? By accusing her that she would steal your husband?" Reba still sulked. Brock knelt down in front of her. "Honey... I love you. I will not leave you or cheat on you with anyone. I don't want to lose you. And I know this is just your hormone that's driving you insanely jealous. But can you try to control yourself a little? Especially to Barbra Jean and Dolly. These two ladies would be the last person on earth that would do anything to hurt you."
"Alright fine. I'll try." Reba said sullenly, but trying to cheer up.
Thirty weeks went by and the baby would soon be introduced to the world. Brock had the nursery painted in a lightest shade of green. He also trimmed the border with cute little birds and butterflies wallpaper. Reba supervised what Brock had done and she was pleased with the result. She couldn't wait until the baby was born. Brock was dying to know the sex of the baby and he managed to convince her to go for another ultrasound.
"So did you find out?" Cheyenne showed her excitement. Kyra too perked up silently waiting to hear the news.
"We saw the baby's was sucking its thumb. It was the cutest thing!" Reba murmured proudly.
"Its?" Kyra puzzled.
"Well, we still don't know if it's a boy or a girl." Brock grumbled.
"Okay, I went shopping with Kyra last week and I found this cute little dress. So I hope you're having a girl." Cheyenne pulled out a cute little pink dress from a bag. "Or dad is not gonna like it if I put this on our little baby brother."
"Don't put that on your little brother!" Brock warned.
"But I already bought it. Don't worry, I'll take it off him before you come home." Cheyenne comment giggling. "'Come on, Kyra, let's go shopping for some more." With that she dragged Kyra out to the mall. Brock yelled 'buy something unisex!' after them.
"Let me tell you, if this baby is a girl, she ain't gonna be 'easy' when she grows up." Smirking, Reba commented. She rubbed her belly where she just felt the kick.
"What if it's a boy?" Brock asked wrapping his arms around her and put his hands on top of hers. Reba moved her hands on top of his and placed his hands where the baby kicked. Brock loved feeling the baby moving beneath his hands.
"Then maybe he's just shy."
"Hey, he's my son. Nothing to be shy about!" Brock piped up. Nevertheless, he still hoped for a girl.
Reba playfully rolled her eyes and giggled. Well, looked like they would have to wait until she gave birth after all.