Annie woke at 5:00 am absolutely starving. Auggie had cried himself into a deep sleep in her arms and she was able to slide out of the bed without waking him. She threw on a big Army sweatshirt over her pajamas and padded up the stairs quietly. She was pulling her hair into a ponytail when she realized she was not alone.
Sitting at a small table in the kitchen's breakfast nook was a boy of about 7.
"Good morning," Annie said quietly as the boy spooned cereal into his mouth.
"Morning," the boy said around his Cheerios.
"I'm Annie."
"I'm Gavin," is what she thinks he said between bites.
Just as Annie was about to ask more a girl comes into the room with an I Pad in her hand.
"Oh, we didn't know anyone was up," she said guiltily.
"Sorry, I was hungry. Could I have some cereal?"
"Sure. I'm Alli and this is my brother Gavin, we're Luke's kids," the girl who was probably 10 explained.
"I'm Annie, I am married to your uncle Auggie," Annie explained as Alli retrieved a bowl for her and she joined the kids at the table.
Gavin had already manipulated the I Pad to play some kids show and continued to munch on his cereal, not particularly interested in his new aunt.
Alli on the other hand was fully interested.
"How did you and Uncle Auggie meet?" she asked as she pushed the gallon of milk her way.
"At work, I needed some help with my computer and he helped me."
"Do you love him?" she asked bluntly.
"Of course I do," Annie said shocked by the question.
"Even though he's blind?" Alli asked.
"Allison!" a woman standing in the doorway reprimanded.
"Sorry mom," Alli looked down at her hands.
"Don't apologize to me, apologize to Annie, that was not polite."
"Sorry Annie," the girl nearly whispered.
"That's OK Allison, it is good that you are protective of your Uncle Auggie, but I promise I love him, every bit of him," Annie reached out and squeezed the young girl's arm.
"I'm Linda by the way, Luke's wife. The kids and I were at my parents when we got the news, so we just got here," Linda explained why the three of them were up and dressed at 5:00 in the morning.
"Annie, but you already know that," Annie grinned and reached to shake the woman's hand.
"I don't know about you Annie, but I need some coffee," Linda shook her hand, patted her on the shoulder and moved over to find the coffee fixings.
Annie munched down a bowl of Cheerios and sipped at a cup of coffee, not quite willing to give up caffeine completely just yet. She freshened the cup with hot coffee added a tiny bit of sugar and leaned against the counter.
"Thank you for sharing your breakfast with me, I am going to go check on Auggie, tempt him with some coffee," Annie raised the cup and turned to leave.
***555***
Annie put the coffee on the nightstand and crawled back under the covers.
"You OK?" Auggie asked sleepily as he tried to reach her warm skin under her layers of clothes.
"Yeah, I was hungry. I just had breakfast with your sister-in-law Linda and Gavin and Allison," she explained.
"Is that why I smell coffee?"
"I might have brought you some yes," she kissed his forehead, but he made no move to go for the coffee just yet.
"Thanks. So Linda and the kids made it in?" he asked as he snuggled deeper into her body.
"Yeah, I was surprised to see people up at this hour, but Linda explained. The kids are cute. Are there others, I didn't notice any around last night?"
"Kyle and Stacy's daughter Cassie is with Stacy's mom who lives nearby. You met Luke's two, Jake and Carole aren't married yet, no kids, and Gary and Chloe have a 2 year old, Nicholas who was asleep when you got here last night, you'll meet him soon I'm sure, he is a ball of energy, I've almost tripped over him 50 times already."
"We'll put a bell on ours," she laughed.
"We will need to talk about blind child care," he said solemnly.
"Of course, but Auggie I have no doubts about this, I would never have gone this far if I did. We're in this now, we'll figure out the logistics," she smiled.
"How are you feeling?"
"So far so good," she said honestly.
"Don't hesitate to let me know if you need to rest or duck out or whatever you need, you are my top priority Annie, always," he found her lips and kissed her softly.
***555***
"The downstairs shower is free if anyone needs it," Auggie announced to what sounded like a crowded kitchen.
"Thanks Auggie, we'll take you up on that," Kyle spoke up.
"Honey there are eggs on the stove and plenty of baked goods and fruit. Can I fix you a plate?" his mother asked.
"I can handle it mom, you relax," Auggie smiled.
"Where's Annie?" a voice, possibly Linda, asked.
"She was co-opted by Alli for French braid duty," Auggie grinned.
"That girl, I told her I would do it after I got dressed," Linda was about to rescue Annie.
"It's OK Linda, Annie has 2 nieces Alli's age, she was happy to do it, really," Auggie assured.
"Alli likes her," Linda mentioned.
"So do I," Auggie laughed.
***555***
The wake was as painful as wakes generally are, a steady stream of well-wishers passed through the funeral home. Annie was introduced to no less than 50 people and despite her training, was having a hard time retaining all their names and profiles. On top of that, the funeral home reeked of day lilies, the cloying sweet flowers not helping her fight the edges of morning sickness she had felt throughout the day.
"I need to," was all she got out and then she was walking from Auggie quickly.
Auggie couldn't really follow her to the women's room in a public building, it was cute at work, but frowned upon elsewhere. He made his way to a small group where he could make out his sister-in-law Chloe's voice.
"Hey Chloe, can I talk to you for a sec?" he asked and she excused herself.
"Of course Auggie, what's up?"
"We alone?"
"Yeah…." she said confused.
"Annie just found out she's pregnant, we haven't even seen a doctor yet. We haven't told mom or anyone, but she just took off and I am pretty sure she's sick. Could you check on her for me?" he asked gently.
"I remember it well," Chloe sighed, "no problem Auggie, I'll check on her and run interference if need be."
"Thank you."
Chloe made her way to the ladies room, she found Annie at the sink, cold water rushing over her wrist, wet paper towels on her neck.
"You OK?" she asked without startling Annie and handing her a bottle of water.
"Oh yeah, must have been something I ate, came on really suddenly," Annie said weakly and lamely.
"I know Annie, Auggie told me so I could check on you and help you keep your secret. I have some mints," she opened her purse and pulled out a small tin of Altoids.
"Thank you," Annie gratefully took a couple of the small white mints and the mint instantly soothed her.
"It comes out of the blue, I had a terrible time when I had Nicholas," Chloe shuddered.
"I haven't even seen a doctor yet."
"I don't think there is much doubt," Chloe smiled.
"We were trying, so it isn't a surprise. I'm actually relieved to know, I felt like a time bomb for a while. Am I or aren't I," Annie laughed, the color coming back to her face.
"You look better. You feeling better?"
"Yes," Annie nodded.
The two women exited the ladies room and nearly walked right into Auggie who was standing right by the door.
"You alright?" he asked softly as he found her head and stroked her hair.
"Much better, thanks for sending in the cavalry," Annie grinned at Chloe who moved back into the main room.
"Sorry to blow your cover, but I thought we could use a female asset," Auggie murmured in her ear and she smiled broadly, he was handling their pregnancy.
"You always know what I need," she shook her head in awe.
"In fact I do," he reached into his suit coat pocket and produced her toothbrush and a small thing of tooth paste.
"Genius," she declared, "as soon as I use these I am going to kiss you so hard," she promised and ducked back into the bathroom.
TBC…