*Thank-you for all the reviews on the last chapter they were greatly appreciated. Thank-you all so much. = )
The next few months went a lot quicker than I thought they would and Zachary was growing like a weed. He was getting cuter each day and he was such a happy baby. He was always smiling and giggling at us. He was the love of my life and everyday I loved to wake up to his cries. Zachary and I have breakfast together every morning. It's our special time together. I feed him his rice cereal with apples or his rice cereal with bananas and then I eat my breakfast. I get him ready for each day before I leave for work. He is such an amazing baby. He is smart too. He began to hold his head up at 3 months old and he could sit up by himself by the time he was 5 ½ months old. He was strong like his daddy and smart like his mommy. His new task was trying to crawl. He got the concept of being on his hands and knees but he didn't get the crawling concept. He just rocked back and forth. It was so cute to watch him. He would get a big smile on his face as he rocked back and forth. He no longer gave us a toothless smile because he got his first tooth at 5 months. It was his one and only tooth but it was so cute. I missed him while I was at work but I always made it home in time to feed him dinner, give him his bath and read him a story. He enjoyed having books read to him. It was our special time together. Even though Zachary enjoyed our time together he was a daddy's boy through and through. He loved Dave so much. I guess that's what happens when your dad is a stay at home dad. Dave chose not to get a job so that he could be home with Zachary and honestly I preferred it that way because I'd rather Zachary be with his father than be in a daycare all day. I know he needed interaction with other babies so I had Dave enroll him in a baby and me class so he could get that interaction. Dave ended up making friends with a couple of the mothers and they had a play group that Dave took Zachary to every Wednesday. Dave was a great dad. He was so amazing with him. I couldn't have asked for a better father for Zachary. I wouldn't mind having another baby with Dave but unfortunately we decided that Zachary would be our only child together because Dave was getting older and didn't want to have any more and I was working so much I didn't have time to have another one. I was blessed enough to have Zachary I didn't need any more.
It was now August and Zachary was 6 months old. It was a beautiful Saturday in New York and I was off of work and I had reached all my deadlines so I was ready to spend the day with my boys. I woke up before Dave did like usual and went into the nursery. I walked in to see Zachary wide awake looking up at his mobile of frogs. "Hey, there Handsome!" I said with a smile as I looked at him. He gave me the biggest smile ever. "You want to eat?" I asked as I picked him up out of the crib to take him downstairs to give him some breakfast. "Mommy is going to be home with you all day," I said putting him in his highchair. "You want some nanas today?" I asked getting him some banana baby food out. Bananas were his favorite and I wanted to switch things up for him on a Saturday morning. I opened the jar and began to feed him. He was an eater and wasted no time eating food. As I was feeding him Dave came downstairs. "Morning, Baby."
"Morning, Beautiful," he said as he softly kissed my lips. "And good morning, Buddy," he said rubbing his hand over the top of Zachary's head where he was finally beginning to grow hair and then kissed his head. "Bananas today? You're a lucky guy," he said with a smile. "Tessa, what would you like?" he asked me.
"Some cereal would be fine," I said.
"You eat cereal everyday. How about I make us some French toast?"
"That works," I said as I continued feeding Zachary. "So I'm off today and I just want to be with my two favorite guys. What do you want to do?"
"Let's go to the park. I love taking Zachary to the park," said Dave.
"All right," I said. "The park it is. You're going to the park today, Buddy," I said as I continued to feed him. He gave me another big smile. "He is too cute."
"Yes he is," said Dave as he began working on the French toast. "We did some awesome work."
"The best," I said with a smile. Over those few months I finally broke down because I was tired of John bugging me and had another paternity test done on Zachary. And like the last one I had when I was pregnant Dave came back to be the father so John was out of my life for good. I don't think we will ever be friends again. "Sure you don't want to have another one?"
"I'm sure, Tess," he said. "I'm too old to have anymore kids."
"You're not too old," I said. "You've got plenty of years."
"I'm already going to be 50 by time Zachary is 7... Everyone is going to think I'm his grandpa."
"You'd be the hottest grandpa there is," I said with a smile, "besides you do not look that old."
"Yeah right, Tess, I'm going grey."
"No you're not," I said. Dave was really self conscious about getting older. He wasn't really that old and he looked really good for his age. I didn't know many men in their 40's that were in the shape Dave was.
"What is this?" he asked me showing me a piece of grey hair.
"Hair. It's fine, Dave. SO what you have one grey hair. It's not a big deal."
"Yeah it's only one now and then I'm going to be completely grey."
"No you're not. Shut up," I said as I finished feeding Zachary his breakfast, gave him a little bit of watered down juice in a bottle after cleaning him up while Dave continued cooking. Once Dave had our food finished I put Sprout on for Zachary on the kitchen television so he could watch The Wiggles while we ate. He was a huge fan of the Wiggles. I personally didn't see the excitement but Dave enjoyed watching The Wiggles with him and I'm pretty sure Dave knew all the Wiggles songs. He was really a big kid.
After we ate breakfast together we got Zachary dressed to go to the park and then got ourselves ready. The park was only a block down the street and since we lived in a peaceful, quiet neighborhood we got out the stroller and walked to the park. I never envisioned my life to look like this but it was a beautiful life. Dave took my hand as I pushed the stroller. "It's really beautiful out. I'm glad that heat wave is over. 105 degrees is too hot for New York."
"Yes it is," I said. "I prefer this weather a lot better. 100 degrees and above is Florida weather."
"Yeah it is," he said. "So did you get everything finished for work that you needed to?"
"Yeah. I had 4 articles due at once. It was crazy. I felt like it was college all over again. It wouldn't have been so bad if the people writing the articles didn't wait till the last minute to write them. I understand they get writer's block but really if they don't meet their deadline I don't meet mine."
"Crazy stuff but I'm glad you're not so stressed anymore."
"Thanks," I said as we continued walking. "It's like work plus planning for the wedding is so stressful. I think I focus so much on work I have nothing done for the wedding yet except the date."
"If it makes you feel better neither do I. I don't even have an excuse. I have all day to make plans but I guess I'm so occupied with the cutest baby on the planet and watching The Wiggles and Sprout. By the way I've come to like that bird Chica."
"It's a chicken," I said. "And it's annoying."
"Not to Zachary," he said with a smile. "He loves her."
"He's 6 months. He'll outgrow it. I hope."
"I don't know," he said, "Max is 4 and he still loves Sprout and Chica."
"Well, their dad still likes Sprout and Chica and he's 43," I said, "he's a big dork."
"I am not," he said with a smile.
"You are but you're my dork," I said with a smile before I kissed his lips. It is true Dave can be a really big dork when he wants to be. It was one of his quirks that I love.
"Okay fair enough," he said as we reached the playground. There was hardly anyone there another perk to living in a peaceful neighborhood. There was hardly ever anyone at the park except sometimes there was a little girl named Zola that was about 3 years old that used to come to the park everyday with her mother Ryan but I hadn't seen them for the last month. I thought maybe the heat wave was keeping them in the house but even when things cooled down they weren't there. I was friends with Ryan but not that great of friends. She would always ask me how Zachary was and she would hold him. We would just talk like most mothers in a park do but that day on the way to the playground I noticed there was a for sale sign out front of her house and I figured her and Zola had moved. She was a single parent so I wasn't sure if expenses got to be too much which I don't know how they could be since she was a physical therapist/trainer or if she just wanted to get out of New York. It was anyone's guessing game but I was going to miss my park talking buddy.
Since Dave, Zachary and me were the only ones at the park we went on to enjoy ourselves. Dave and me took turns taking Zachary down the slide which he absolutely loved. That was one of his favorite things to do at the park. He would giggle and laugh as the wind blew in his face as we went down. He would always clap once we reached the bottom of the slide as a sign that he wanted to do it again. We could do it over and over again and he would not want to stop but eventually Dave and me tired of it so we took him over to these rocking animals. There was a duck, a dinosaur and some other creature not sure what it was exactly but I think it might have been a dog but I' not sure, anyway we put him on the rocking duck for the first time ever but we held onto him as we rocked it back and forth for him. He loved it just as much as he loved the slide. He gave us the biggest smile as we rocked him and his blue eyes shined so brightly on that sunny day. "Do you like that, Zachary?" asked Dave with a smile.
"Tell Daddy that you love it," I said. "I think he has a new favorite thing to do at the park. You're going to have your work cut out for you while I'm at work."
"Yeah but at least he's having fun. I love this little guy so much. He is my life. I just wish he could see his brother more," he said.
"Me too," I said with a smile.
Once Zachary was tired of the duck he let us know by fussing so we took him off and put him in one of the baby swings. I remember the first time we took him to the park I was so adamant about not letting him on the baby swings because of the germs but I have learned that you can't protect your child from germs. The only thing you can do is wash their hands and keep them clean but germs will still find them. I gave up on trying to protect him from every single germ. As soon as he was in the baby swing he grew a heart melting smile on his face because he loved the swings just as much. They were also a great way to put him to sleep. We could push him for hours and he would end up falling asleep in the swing. That day was no different. We hadn't even pushed him for more than 10 minutes before he was asleep and that was our sign that it was time to go home. "I guess it's time to leave," said Dave as he stopped the swing. "The little guy is sleeping."
"Yeah. Let's get him home and put him down for a nap. I guess he got exhausted from so much adventure today."
"Probably," he said with a smile as he carefully took him out of the swing to put him in the stroller. Zachary fussed a little bit but went back to sleep as soon as the stroller started moving. "He really does love the park," said Dave as we were walking back home.
"I know. I think he's going to be a sporty out door kid," I said.
"Me too. Football, soccer, baseball… he's going to do it all but he's also going to be a book worm. He loves his books."
"I know," I said. "I think he got a good mixture of the both of us. He'll be that smart athlete. And hopefully he gets your coordination and not mine."
"I hope so too," he said with a smile, "weren't you the one that tripped over the ball more playing soccer than actually kicking it?"
"That and tripping over my own feet," I said, "I was just not a sporty kid."
"Or a well coordinated one," he said as he rubbed my back, "but there is nothing wrong with that."
"Other than always being picked last in gym class," I said.
"So you weren't the gym class hero but you were the class valedictorian. That is better than anything. It means you were the smartest one in your class."
"I know but sometimes I wish I had gotten the sports gene. Oh well. We all have gifts and Zachary seems to have inherited my gift and yours."
"Yeah we did a pretty good job of that," he said as we continued walking home. "You know, Tess, I've been thinking."
"Yeah?" I said.
"You know how we were talking about the wedding earlier and how we have nothing planned for it?"
"Yeah," I said.
"Do we really want a big wedding or want to make a big deal about it?"
"I don't want a big wedding. I want the smallest wedding possible," I said.
"How about we get married in a private ceremony with just you, Zachary and Zack?" he asked.
He had a really good idea but I know my parents were looking forward to us getting married in a big ceremony but I didn't want that. "I like it," I said. "What made you come up with that?"
"Well, Tessa, everything about this relationship has been unconventional so why not have an unconventional wedding. Just you, me, Zachary and Zack in Central Park," he said.
"Sounds good but when?"
"How about tomorrow?" he asked.
"Tomorrow?" I asked, "I don't even have a dress. And we don't have a priest. We don't have rings. I don't know that's pretty sudden."
"So just wear a white sundress, I will figure out the rings and I think I can find a minister willing to marry us tomorrow. I mean we don't have to if you don't want to. It was just a suggestion."
"You know what.. It doesn't even matter as long as I'm marrying you. Let's do it. Let's get married tomorrow."
"Really?" he asked with a smile.
"Why not," I said. "I love you and you love me that's all we need to get married. This is the easiest way to go. Let's do it."
"All right," he said, "we're getting married tomorrow!"
"We're getting married," I said with a smile before he softly kissed my lips. I have to admit that was a great way to go. I never wanted to get married and when I did I didn't want some big fancy wedding. I wanted a small wedding; one that wouldn't stress me out and getting married the way we were was the least stressful way to go.
As soon as we got home Dave made some calls to find a minister or a priest to marry us and he eventually found one to marry us. Then he called Zack and of course he was all for us getting married the next day. Dave had planned everything out and as for the rings we decided we didn't need any rings because later that night we went to a tattoo parlor and got each other's names tattooed around our finger as our wedding ring. It was unconventional but we were unconventional. We had everything planned out and the wedding was a go. We were waiting to tell our parents about it till after the ceremony. We didn't need anyone trying to talk us out of our decision. It was what WE wanted to do and what WE needed to do. And that brings me to today; August 20th, the day of my wedding.
*A/N: So what did you think? Please review and thank-you for taking the time to read.
*A/N 2: I am not sure if next chapter will be the last one of Forbidden... I kind of planned it to be but I have gotten other ideas on how to end this story but I start school again on Monday so I can only do what my schedule allows me. I will let you know at the end of next chapter if it's the end or if I will continue on with my other ideas.. and with school starting I am not sure how often I can update.. I will try to continue every other day if not.. it will be at least twice a week but I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I'm sure you will enjoy the next one as well but I will definitely let you know my plans for Forbidden and the sequel.