"Okay. Are you ready? Do you have yours?"
"Yes, right here." She holds up an index card. Of course. I'm surprised it's not color-coded. She looks at me for a minute then narrows her eyes. "Where's yours?"
"Right here." I smirk tapping the side of my head.
"Nuh-uh, Josh! We said in writing. You better have a piece of paper with your chicken scratch on it somewhere."
"Harsh. You really want to compare handwriting samples? Because we could delay this conversation and bring in an expert, you know."
"Ughh!" She flops back and crosses her arms. She's glaring but her eyes are sparkling.
I grin a little. Sometimes it's so easy to get her spun up. And I have some good ideas how to burn off that energy. I'm very tempted to kiss that little pout right off her lips. Somehow I fight back the urge. I've been looking forward to this discussion all day. I highly doubt that I'm going to get my choice in the long run. But I'm happy to be part of the process.
I let her stew a minute, while I grin at her, waiting to see how long before she smacks me.
"Josh." I grin even bigger at her one word warning. She's so ready to be a Mom.
Finally, I lean over and give her a little tiny kiss, then I pull a piece of paper out of the drawer in my night stand. It's legible and everything.
"Relax, Buttercup, I got it right here." She tries to snatch it out of my hand. But I hold it out of her reach. "Oh no, little miss rule-maker. You said a simultaneous exchange. So here we go. One, . . . two, . . . three."
She rolls her eyes as I drop my list in her lap while taking the index card from her hand. God, she's so cute.
As I look over her list, one word comes to mind. BORING! I mean they're all perfectly nice names. They're just very common. I think they all probably made last year's Social Security Administration list of top 10 most popular names.
I try to plaster a smile on my face and think of something nice to say. When I look over at her, she's giving me the same look. Huh.
We stare at each other for a few moments with polite smiles. Finally, she breaks the ice-
"Well? What do you think?"
"These are all . . . nice. . . . What do you think of my list?"
"These are all . . . interesting."
She hates them. I can tell by how she wrinkles her nose. God, she's so adorable.
We stare at each other for a few more minutes in polite silence.
Suddenly Donna laughs. "We haven't been this, I don't know what's the word? Disingenuous? with each other in a long time. Even when we were barely speaking to each other at least we were honest."
Well, that's not exactly true, we spend a long time hiding our true feelings from each other, but she's right we never had a problem being honest about other things.
I laugh too. "How can we be so in-sync about everything else and so far apart on baby names?"
"I don't know." She looks a little bit worried for a second. I don't want her to worry. We'll find something that we both like eventually.
Finally she looks me in the eye- "Be honest. Is there even one name on my list you'd pick?"
I look her list over again. Of course, she's got them listed in order of preference: Olivia, Emma, Ava/Eva (that was sort of cheating), Sophia, Hannah.
I honestly wouldn't pick one of these, but there are a couple that I can live with, and if she has her heart set on one of them I'm sure I'll love it eventually too.
"I don't hate them. I'd just prefer something with a little more pizazz. But you know I'm probably going to come up with some sort of a nickname for her so I could live with these, if I have to."
"I still think you are just being polite. Do you like any of them more than the others, or for that matter dislike any of them more than the others? Seriously, be honest, I can take it."
"Um, I'd really like to eliminate Sophia and Emma, really, they're just way too popular. And I have a second or third cousin named Hannah so I'd drop that one too."
"Okay, that's fine. I'll cross those off and keep Olivia and Ava on my list."
"And Eva too, you little cheater. Don't think I didn't notice that you really had 6 names on your "top 5" list."
I waggle my finger playfully at her and pretend to be cross. I'm just teasing, but I use my stern voice, so her eyes get a little smoky. Then she bites her lip. God, she knows that turns me on.
"What are you going to do about it?" She whispers, tracing her hand up my chest.
Oh no, she's not going to distract me with sex right now. I at least want a chance to discuss my list.
"Minx." I grin at her and put my hand over hers to stop it from going lower. "We already know you have the power to render me completely at your mercy. Can we at least pretend to consider my list?"
"Sure." She sits up and folds her hands demurely in her lap. I definitely didn't win this round. Who am I kidding? I have absolutely no chance of ever winning. I am putty in her hands.
"Thank you, Donnatella." She smiles slowly when I say her name. It's like the sun coming out. Focus man.
I reach over and take my list from her lap, then start reading the names slowly, imagining a little version of Donna. My heart swells to overflowing. I want something unique and lovely, something fitting for our little princess. I hope Donna can hear how special each of these names are. "Natalia, Jianna, Luciana, Cordelia, Leonora." I read them in reverse order, saving the best for last.
Donna smiles softly as I say the names, but then she snatches the paper back from me.
"Okay," her tone lets me know she's getting down to business. "Since we eliminated some of mine, I think we need to eliminate at least 2 of yours."
I brace myself, expecting the worst.
"I don't like Natalia at all. Jianna is okay but we might have a boy someday and I'd like to keep Jacob on the list and I don't like the idea of them starting with the same letter. So I'd like to get rid of that one too. That leave Luciana, Cordelia and Leonora for future discussion. Are you okay with that?"
"YES!" Wow, those are the two I would have eliminated anyway. This is great. Much better than I expected.
"Thank you!" I give her a big kiss on the lips. Maybe we can table this discussion for now and find something else to do. I give her another, small kiss on the lips, hoping she'll pick up on my thoughts. But she's not ready to move on yet.
"You know, our lists did have something in common."
"What's that?"
"They all ended in the "ah" sound after all. I guess we really did end up channeling my Mother."
"It's okay, isn't it?" I really like the "ah" ending. If we end up with Olivia at least it has that.
"Yes. I mean we can still add to the list later if we want to. I just think this is a good place to start."
She's still looking at the lists. But I've started kissing her neck a little. Just lightly. Just enough to let her know I'm thinking about something other than names.
"Hey, I just noticed something else."
"What's that?" Her hand is running up and down my chest absent-mindedly and that's encouraging, but also not helping me concentrate on the conversation.
"Neither of us had Aurora on our list even though it's been on the master list for weeks."
Sighing a little, I sit up a bit more. I guess we're really not done talking yet.
"Yeah. It's pretty, but I just couldn't get over the Disney Princess thing."
"Me too."
"See. Still in-sync."
"So, here's my plan. I'm going to write these six names on index cards and tape them around the house. We'll play with them for a while and see if something feels right, okay? In a couple weeks, we can eliminate a couple more."
"Okay."
"I'd also kind of like to keep the names to ourselves for a little while. People are so opinionated. I don't want anyone to spoil something for us. I also wouldn't mind waiting until she gets here to make a final decision. Maybe go to the hospital with a couple options and then see what fits her best?"
Donna is so amazing. Of course she's got a plan. A logical, practical plan for how to name our daughter. Our baby girl. I'm so happy, I could cry, or laugh, or both. I want to scream it from the mountaintops, or take out an ad in Roll Call. Over the course of my life, I've had real doubts about the existence of a higher being, or at least one that is loving and kind, but I'm going to have a daughter! Maybe there is a god.
"Earth to Josh? Can I get approval of my plan?"
"Of course. God, I love you. Both of you." I lean down and kiss her belly. "My baby girl."
"You know, a lot of guys seem to want a boy first to carry on the family name. But you really do seem happy that she's a girl."
"I am really happy. I like girls. I hope she's your mini-me. All blonde hair, and blue-green eyes, and a mouth full of wiseass."
"Be careful what you wish for there, bucko, I'm probably going to have to remind you of this conversation when she's 13."
"I hope she is just like you Donna. She'll be perfect. I'm the luckiest man alive!"