*Thank-you for the reviews on the last chapter they were greatly appreciated. Thank-you all so much.
Alani and I spent the beginning of our day together seeing the movie Finding Dory, I have to admit it was a cute movie and I enjoyed it nearly as much as she did. We laughed through almost the entire movie. It was a really cute movie and as for someone that has seen Finding Nemo many, many times because my 8 year old watched it on repeat almost every day it was great to see a sequel made to the movie. We followed the movie by going to Build-A-Bear one of Alani's favorite places to go. We have gone many times and each time she makes a different type of animal this time she chose to make a pony from My Little Pony which is one of her favorite shows to watch. Following Build-A-Bear we went out to get sushi for lunch and do some talking. I feel like we haven't talked much in the last few weeks since I became champion and started traveling more than usual. "So how is school going?" I ask her.
"It's almost over, Daddy," she says with a smile. "But I loved 2nd grade," she says.
"Are you happy that school is almost over?" I ask as I eat my sushi.
"Yes and no," she says. "I love my teacher and I love school but I don't like waking up too early in the morning to go to school and sometimes I get bored in class. I can't wait to go to the beach and go swimming every day again."
"Hopefully you will be able to do some traveling with me this summer would you like that?"
"That would be so cool," she answers with a smile.
"You want to travel with me, we would go all over the US and maybe even out of the country."
"That would be a lot of fun," she says with a smile.
"I have to talk to your mom first to make sure she is all right with it hopefully she says yes. That way we could spend more time together over the summer while you're out of school."
"Okay, Daddy. I really do miss you," she said.
"I miss you too," I say, "so how did gymnastics go this year for you?"
"It went great! I was going to do gymnastics over the summer but I chose not to. I want to take a break. I think I might go into cheerleading remember when we went to San Francisco and I was dancing with the cheerleaders? That was fun and Madison has taught me some cheerleading too. I want to be a cheerleader."
"You can be anything you want to be if cheerleading is where you want to go then go for it," I encourage her. I want her to know that I believe in her and support her in whatever she does just like my parents have done for me. "I think you'll make a wonderful cheerleader."
"Thank-you, Daddy," she says with a smile.
"How do you enjoy being a big sister?"
"It is a lot of work," she answers as she eats. "But I love being a big sister. I love Easton. Can you and Willow have a girl though? I really want to have a baby sister."
"I want to have a baby girl too," I say with a smile. "We'll see what happens. We won't know until the baby gets here if it is a girl or a boy. I am sure you're going to be just as good of a big sister to our baby as you are to your mom's baby."
"Yes," she says, "I can't wait to hold him or her, I can't wait to feed him or her but you and Willow can change all of his or her poopy diapers I don't do that," she says making me smile. I never realized how grown up she was until today. She is not the baby girl I held 8 ½ years ago that had a head full of the blackest hair I had ever seen, big brown eyes and small pouty lips. She's not the baby girl that depended on me for everything, the one that I used to hold in my arms and read stories to. Now she's reading stories to me and she has developed her own personality which I believe is a mixture of her mother and me but in reality she is more like me than her mother. Her determination is much like me and her dedicated heart is like mine. She will give something her all until she gets it right. We went through this with cartwheels, riding her bike, tying her shoe and etc. No matter how many times she didn't get it right and no matter how many times she fell down she got back up and she kept trying. Her determination and intelligence are her strongest qualities. I can't wait to see what she grows up to be but I am sure she is going to do something great.
"Okay," I say with a chuckle. "I can do that."
"Willow said the baby is going to be different, what does she mean by different?"
"The baby will be a little different physically but will be the same as you and I. Have you ever heard of down syndrome?"
"No what is down syndrome?"
"It is a chromosomal abnormality that can happen to babies sometimes when they are made. Do you remember how babies are made?"
"When the Daddy plants the tadpole into the mommy's tummy and it finds an egg in the mommy's tummy and they make the baby?"
"Yes," I say. Vanessa and I have always been somewhat truthful with Alani when she asks questions we give her the most truthful answer we can age appropriate of course but it is how we raise her. "Well each of those tadpoles have 23 chromosomes and the egg has 23 chromosomes to give the baby 46 of those chromosomes."
"What are chromosomes?"
"They are the cells that make up the baby and help to form the baby in the mommy's tummy. Sometimes either the tadpole of the daddy or the egg of the mommy has 24 chromosomes which makes 47 for the baby and that causes Down syndrome," he answers. "Your baby brother or sister has 47 chromosomes so he or she will have Down Syndrome. Its face will look a little different and they may look a little different but they will be more beautiful than words can say. So yes your brother or sister will be a little different yet just the same on the inside as you and I."
"Is it sick?" she asks.
"No, it isn't sick," he says. "Everything will be all right with him or her as far as we know. Sometimes babies with Down Syndrome have heart problems and other problems but we're hoping for the best."
"Me too, Daddy," she says with a smile. "I'm going to love him or her so much."
"Me too," I say with a smile. "If you could name a baby brother what would you name him?"
"I don't know Roman or Joe," she answers, "but for a girl I really like the name Leila," she says. "Leila Rose, do you like that daddy?"
"I think that's a very pretty name," I say with a smile. "Maybe that will be the name we choose," I say thinking I will run it by Willow to see if she would be willing to change our girl name even though I do love the name Emily Charlotte because it means so much to us. I look at my watch and see it is time to take Alani back to her mom's house. "Well, Baby Girl it's time to get you home."
"Do I have to? I want to go to your house and see Willow," she says.
"I know but I agreed with your mom that I would have you home by 6pm and it is now 5:30pm so it is time for us to go. We'll hang out again okay?"
"Okay," she says as we clean up our mess from eating. I pay the bill and take her hand as we walk out of the restaurant. I help her into the car and she buckles herself into her booster seat as I make my way to the driver's seat. I start the car and reluctantly take her back to her mom's house. I wish I could have more time with her. I want more time to spend with her. I miss her as much as she misses me.
After a tearful goodbye I leave Alani with her mom and head back to my house I share with Willow. I pull into the driveway and park the car. I reach into the glove compartment and pull out a bottle of pills. I look over the instructions before I pop two into my mouth and swallow them down with my bottle of water. I put them back in the glove compartment before I get out of the car and make way to the house. As soon as I open the door our dog Romeo greets me by jumping up at my leg. I make my way to the living room where I find Willow laying on the couch reading a magazine. "I'm home," I say as I walk into the living and take a seat next to her on the couch after kissing the top of her head.
"I hope you had a good day," she says closing the magazine.
"I did," I say letting out my exhaustion. "How was your day?"
"Well, I talked to my mama today if that is any indication. She is taking over this entire baby shower thing. She said we should find out the sex so we can go with a theme and by theme she means pink for a girl and blue for a boy. I told her that we aren't finding out the sex, we're registered at Babies R Us, Macy's and Target. They can get ideas of what we want from the registry and everything is gender neutral. I told her we were doing a Winnie The Pooh nursery theme she didn't like that either. I love how enthusiastic she is about the entire baby shower but she needs to chillax big time. I just want something simple," she says as I pull her onto my lap holding her in my arms as she gets everything off her chest. I know everything hasn't been easy for her lately and I know she wants someone to talk to so I always try to be there for her. "I told her just yellow and green for the shower and I want the cake to say Welcome Baby Anoa'i. Then she asked why I wasn't using Calaway too."
"Sounds like you had a rough day. It is your shower and you should have whatever you wish."
"Thank-you, Baby and I don't even want to get started on the wedding. She told me how stupid it is to get married on Christmas Eve. She said we will never find a priest to marry us."
"Tell her that is already taking care of. We are getting married during the day and mass doesn't happen till midnight. Tell her that is taken care of so she doesn't need to worry about that. What is going on with the wedding anyway?" I ask as I play with her red curly hair.
"I don't know I am still planning. I feel like everything is happening all at once. I don't think I want some big affair to happen just something small, close friends and family you know?"
I let out a chuckle, "do you know how large my family is? It is very unlikely we will have a small wedding. I'm thinking about 100-150 people."
"Are you kidding me?" she asks. "How are we supposed to get 100-150 people to Houston, Texas to get married on the ranch?"
"We'll figure it out it's not like either of us are broke we have money and the means to make this everything you want to be. It's just important to me that most of my family be there."
"I understand," she says, "so how was your day? Did you and Alani have fun?"
"We had a blast," I say with a smile. "I enjoyed Finding Dory. We laughed and we laughed it was a good movie. Then we went to Build-A-Bear she made a pony from My Little Pony then we had sushi."
"I miss sushi," she said sadly. "After I have the baby that's what you have to bring me in the hospital. That is my ONE request sushi after delivery."
"Okay," I say with a smile. "I promise as soon as you have the baby I will go out and get you some sushi."
"Thanks, Babe," she says, "So I found a group for us to go to. You know a support group for parents of kids with Down Syndrome."
"Do we really need a support group? What if there is a fan in the group that tells everyone our child has Down Syndrome?"
"The world would never know truly because they will never see our child's face because I don't want our child on any social media sites. I want our child to have a normal life and enjoy life outside of the spotlight."
"I agree," I say. "So when is the group?"
"Thursday nights does that work for you?"
"It is perfect," I say taking her hand into mine. "I think this is what we need. You and I have no idea what to expect, how to feel or if what we are feeling is normal. We need this."
"I agree," she says, "but you know what you need right now?"
"What is that? My sexy wife making love to me tonight?" I ask with a smirk.
"Not tonight because I think my sexy husband needs to sleep before I can make love to him because I don't want to tire him out. I mean my hormones are going wild right now but you need to get some rest."
"Willow," I say.
"Joe," she says. "Please at least a couple of hours of sleep. You haven't slept since you've been home and I'm sure you're not sleeping well on the road. Please get some rest do you know what lack of sleep does to your body. Please Joe and I will make it worth your while I promise."
"Bribing me with sex?" I smirk.
"Is it working?"
"Maybe," I answer. "So if I get a couple of hours of sleep you'll have sex with me?"
"I'll rock your world, Mr. Anoa'i," she says with a smile.
"That's very naughty of you, Mrs. Anoa'i," I tease.
"I can show you naughty later after you get some rest," she says before she whispers in my ear. "Besides to satisfy my needs you'll need as much rest as you can get. So baby get some rest so you can satisfy me all night," she says.
"Okay," I say with a smile as I stand up holding her in my arms before I carry her up the stairs.
"What are you doing?" she asks.
"If I need to get some rest so do you, Willow. Do you think my needs are less than yours?" I ask. "You'll need your rest and stamina to deal with me tonight."
"Promising," she says with a smile before she kisses my lips softly. "I love you."
"I love you too, Willow," I say as I carry her into our bedroom and gently lay her down on the bed. I strip out of my shirt and jeans before crawling into bed next to her, pulling her into my arms, taking in her scent as I hold her before I drift off to sleep for the first time in days.
*A/N: What did you think of Joe spending time with Alani? Do you believe they need this time together before Joe's baby gets here? What did you think of their conversation? Do you like Joe's honesty policy with her or is it too much? What is keeping Joe awake at night? What do you think it is? Do you think this support group will help them out a bit? Is this a good thing for them? Please review and thank-you for reading.