I'm combining these two chapters. Reviews, reviews!

Ms. Macy and "Leashes"

Macy Flynn was the preschool teacher at Morningside preschool and daycare. She had taught both Emily and Ryan and also Emily's best girlfriend Selena. She had retired a year ago. She still lived in Massachusetts but was on vacation in the sunshine state. She was known as "Miss Macy" to the children. While at the grocery store she was sure she saw one of her former pupils, Emily Jaxson. There was a smiling baby girl with a ponytail on the top of her head in the front of the shopping cart.

"Emily?" She said, approaching her. "Emily Jaxson?"

Emily turned.

"Miss Macy?" She said, automatically.

That was all she ever called the woman, even if she was four-years-old anymore.

"I knew that was you! How are you?"

The two stood there chatting for a while, all the while Macy thinking how much Emily's baby looked like one of her other former pupils.

Someone named Ryan Wolfe.

"It's great to see you," Emily said. "By the way, it's Emily Wolfe, now."

"I knew it!" Macy said. "When did you two reunite?" The woman knew that two had become separated by "life" after high school.

"A little over two years ago," Emily said.

"And who's this precious lil' one?"

"This is Bella. Can you say 'hi' to the lady?"

Bella only grinned.

"She looks just like Ryan," Macy said.

"Dada?" The sixteen-month-old said, looking around at the sound of mention of her father's name.

"You'll see daddy later,"Emily smiled at her daughter.

Ryan wished he could have seen his former preschool teacher. He had had "quirky" habits even then and was ridiculed at home constantly. The teacher knew how he was treated by his parents and was powerless to do anything about it. She did the only thing she could; she told 4-year-old Ryan that everyone was different and the things he did made him an individual. That there was not a thing wrong with that. No matter what anyone told him, she emphasized.

Ryan had never forgotten that. It helped him cope with life for eighteen years before he left his parents behind.

Her mother would be happy to know that Emily and Ryan were trying for another child, as much as having a sixteen-month-old and the hours and call-outs of Ryan's job would allow. The third time the two had got interrupted during afternoon "baby-making" sex during the weekend (while grandma had Bella) as he dressed, Ryan said "I should give this case to your mom, I'm sure she would find who did it, faster than any of the team."

"For sure," Emily laughed.

"I love you," Ryan said, leaning in, passionately kissing his wife was still naked and wrapped in the sheets.

"'Love you, too. Please be careful."

"I will."

Emily sighed, getting up out of bed when Ryan was gone. Since she had time alone, she decided to take a shower. She swore at having this time however because it was supposed to be her and Ryan's time. Even the first five minutes had "done the trick" for conceiving again the two were both looking forward to a couple of hours alone together.

Damn criminals, she thought.

Ryan wasn't gone all that long. Just under two hours. He was pulling back into the driveway when Vanessa had arrived with Bella.

And two Domino's pizza boxes.

"Let me give you a hand," Ryan said. "I'll take this one."

"Dada!"

Bella giggled as her dad scooped her up. She hadn't seen him since early that morning. She had a new word in her vocabulary, "pee-za." Nana thought it was too cute and couldn't say "no" the child's request.

Vanessa knew it was a touchy subject but when she sat down with the couple in the kitchen, but Bella was active little girl and she wanted to know if the toddler's parents had considered getting a safety harness for her. She thought the wrist strap the two used with Bella wasn't the right thing to use. With the wrist strap Bella could walk around a short, but comfortable distance from her parents when she didn't want to be in the stroller and also keep her little hands free.

"You mean we should use a leash on her? Like the ones on dogs, except for the cute little stuffed animal on the back? No way," Emily said. "Bella isn't a dog."

"No woof-woof?" Bella said, pointing at herself.

The three grown-ups laughed.

"That's right," Ryan said. "You're not a woof-woof. You're a pretty little girl."

Emily and Ryan could understand that the grandparents sometimes had difficulty keeping up with Bella, even they did, and they were half that age but they certainly weren't going to put their child "on a leash" to make it easier to manage her. The wrist strap did the job to keep Bella safe. And in the long run, Bella was going to learn to stay at an adult's side, using a "leash" was the lazy way out.

Milestones

"I gotta say, Wolfe," Walter Simmons said, "Despite your genetic contribution she's adorable."

"Gee, thanks Walter," Ryan replied.

Emily had an appointment at the beauty parlor so Ryan watched their daughter at the lab while she was there. Nobody knew yet but 17-month-old Bella Wolfe was going to be a big sister. Emily had found out she was pregnant again that morning. She was four to five weeks along though they were ecstatic, the couple wwanted to delay telling anyone right now.

Just a week ago before knowing of the pregnancy, they had added white rail sleigh twin bed with removable safety rails to Bella's room. She wasn't going to use it yet but she might get used to it faster by just seeing it in her room. By the time a new baby came she would hopefully sleep there. At the moment Bella was having fun using the bed to play with her teddy bears. When she was used to it and slept there, the crib would be taken out of the room and the new bed would be put in that spot.

When he was told the news, Ryan found himself as excited as when he heard Emily was pregnant with Bella. The only thing that was going to be different with this pregnancy, besides trying to include a toddler as much as possible was the fact with knowing what to expect, there wasn't going to be all the nervousness.

Only excitement.

Despite him trying to hide his news and excitement, Ryan must not have done a good job. Alexx Woods figured it out the moment she saw him that day. Bella had just left with her mom.

"Hey honey," she said. "When's the baby due?"

Ryan grinned.

"Wha..? How'd you know?"

The two hadn't even told Bella. She was a little person who couldn't keep a secret, then again, she didn't have any of those words in her vocabulary just yet.

"I had a feeling you guys would be wanting another one by now. Plus, you look too happy for a normal day."

Guilty then," Ryan replied. "She's only 'bout four or five weeks along so we're trying to hold off till we round the corner a bit till we really said anything but that's harder than we thought. And we only found out yesterday," Ryan laughed.

"I know the feeling," Alexx said.

Emily couldn't the news a secret, either. She was sure the whole of Florida heard her mother scream In happiness when she told her.

"Is this too soon for ya?" Emily asked Ryan as they laid in bed together, her head on Ryan's bare chest.

"No," Ryan ran his fingers lovingly up and down his wife's still-flat abdomen. "I'm looking forward to it. Is it too soon for you?"

"No, not at all."

He didn't have to tell her but Emily knew Ryan would find this pregnancy "amazing" too. The two lay there talking in the dark, saying they would sure to savor moments in this pregnancy, as well; hearing the baby's heartbeat, seeing the ultrasound, feeling the baby's movements and of course talking to the unborn child.