Disclaimer: I do not own anything.

Chapter 23

Lucy's POV

"Mike, I don't need your help," I told him as he grabbed my hand with one hand and put the other on my back. "I'm perfectly capable of making it down the stairs on my own."

"I just want to make sure that you are steady. I don't want you to fall or anything," Mike told me as we reached the bottom of the stairs leading into the kitchen.

"Are you going to be this over protective every time I get pregnant in the future?" I asked, annoyed.

"Yes," he answered simply. "I'm going to do this each and every time because I love you."

"Why are you even here?" I asked. "It's a baby shower. It's a woman's thing."

"You don't love me too?" Mike asked, pouting.

"Yes, I love you too," I told him. "Now are you leaving?"

"Yes, I'm getting ready to leave now. I'm going to go play pool with your dad and brothers while you ladies have your fun. I just wanted to make sure you made it down the stairs before I left," Mike told me grabbing his keys off the table and jingling them in front of me.

"Alright, I'm down the stairs. You can go now." I rolled my eyes at him.

"Fine. I love you," Mike kissed my cheek and headed out the door.

"There you are," Mom came into the kitchen. "Everyone is in the living room waiting for you. You had better hurry up and get in there, Mrs. Beaker is threatening leading everyone on another expedition through the house."

"Well we wouldn't want that," I told her and together we walked into the living room. I took a seat on the sofa between Mary and Shelby and waited for the questions to begin.

"Oh, Lucy. You and Mike must be so excited." Mrs. Beaker spoke for the church ladies. "How much longer do you have dear?"

"Six weeks," I answered.

"Boys? Girls? Which is it?" Mrs. Beaker continued.

"One of each," I told her.

"That's wonderful. It was such a shame about the wedding. Are the babies okay now?" Mrs. Beaker continued to ask questions.

"The babies are fine," I told her.

"Are you going to reschedule the wedding?" Mrs. Beaker asked. "I was looking forward to seeing the two of you wed."

"Actually, Mike and I got married here at the house last month," I showed her my wedding band. "We're going to renew our vows at the church once the babies are born."

"That sounds lovely," Mrs. Beaker offered.

"How about we get this thing started and play some games?" Patricia Hamilton suggested.

"Yes, let's get them over with so we can move on to the gifts," Mrs. Hinkle announced annoyed.

"What kind of games?" I asked. This was the first baby shower I had ever attended and I had no idea what kind of games were played here.

"Well there is guess the babies weight and of course guess the size of the mommy's stomach," Mrs. Hinkle explained. "Boring if you ask me."

After hearing the names of the games, I had to agree with her. They did sound boring. Despite that, I suffered through them anyhow and eagerly awaited gift opening time. The time finally came and I was excited to finally get to open the gifts.

"Open mine first," Ruthie thrust two gifts in front of me. I open the paper to reveal two stuffed teddy bears, one pink and the other blue.

"Ruthie, these are great. I'm sure the babies will love them," I hugged her tightly.

"Yeah, my gift giving skills have come a long way since the boys' first birthday," Ruthie explained.

"This is from me," Keisha handed me the gift bag. I reach into the bag and pulled out two yellow blankets. "I wasn't sure what to get, but I figured the babies would need plenty of blankets."

I hugged Keisha tightly. "Yeah, I'm sure they won't be able to get enough blankets."

"This is from Robbie and me," Mary handed me the gift.

I opened the box to reveal the set of baby monitors. "We'll defiantly need these," I told her. "Thanks."

"Your welcome. Just be sure to keep them away from Simon and Ruthie." Mary smiled at me.

"Hey!" Ruthie protested. "I've grown up a lot since then.

"This is from Rod and me," Shelby handed me an envelope.

I opened the envelope and looked at the paper inside. "This is great."

"We weren't sure what you needed so we decided to leave that up to you and Mike." Shelby explained.

I looked at the certificate for the Big Big Department Store. "Really, this is wonderful."

After Shelby's gift, I moved on to the gifts brought by the church ladies. I opened each gift slowly and thanked them for the contents inside. By the time the last gift was opened I had racked up several more blankets and plenty of cute baby outfits.

"Ooooh," I yawned, hoping to clear out the guests. "I'm really tired. I should probably get some rest. Thanks again for all the wonderful gifts."

"We should be going anyway," Mrs. Beaker announced. "Let's go ladies."

The room cleared out quickly and I was left alone with Mom, Mary, and Ruthie. "Boy am I glad they are gone," I sighed.

"Me too," Mom agreed. "Don't get me wrong, I love each and every one of them, but boy are they nosey."

"Yeah," I agreed. "I really should get back to bed."

"Not so fast," Mom told me before I could make it to my feet. "You still have more gifts."

"These are from the Colonel and Grandma Ruth," Mary told me as she and Ruthie pulled two car seats out from behind the sofa.

"And this is from your father and I with contributions from Mike's mother," Mom told me, handing me a small box.

I opened the box to see a picture of a white crib. "I don't understand."

"The men of the house are over at Mike's assembling two cribs just like that one," Mom sat down next to me. "Mrs. Pierce is supervising while they finish up the nursery."

"But Mike told me they were going to go play pool," I explained. I couldn't believe that Mike had lied to me, twice. "And he told me his mom had a doctor's appointment today."

"Yeah, well he couldn't give away the surprise," Mom hugged me. "Do you like the cribs?"

I smiled for the first time that day. "I love them."

As always, please push the review button and leave me your comments.