Chapter 12

Fall had turned into winter with Christmas quickly approaching. Margaret, Anne and Nora had agreed to throw the baby "sprinkle" over the holiday break as all of Amy's friends would be returning home for Christmas.

The holiday lights showed from the window as Amy, Ricky and John curled about around the decorated tree. Ricky had officially moved into the old Jeurgens house with Amy and John. Much to Margeret and Shakurs protest, 16 year old Ethan had taken up residency in the apartment above the butchershop.

Ricky was spending less and less time in the butcher shop itself, instead spending most of his work day in an office across from Leo's.

Amy had made a small office with a place for John to play in Ashley's old room. Her small part time endeavor as a bookkeeper had quickly turned into more of a full time job. She was taking several accounting classes online for the following semester, hoping to fast track herself into an accounting degree.

Her belly was quickly growing and was now impossible to hide. The 2 days that she spent on campus were filled with staring eyes. Ricky constantly reminded her not to pay attention to it but he wasn't walking around with a bowling ball strapped to his stomach.

Amy let out a sigh and snuggled into Ricky. While rekindling their relationship had not been easy. Therapy with Dr. Fields and near constant communication had made it so that the pair was a couple again.

"What's with the sigh?" Ricky asked her, brushing her long hair behind her ear.

"Just uncomfortable. I still have 7 more weeks of this." She pushed in her belly, trying to convince the baby inside to remove their limbs from her rib cage.

"Just one more day until the baby shower." He reminded her.

"Mmhm. Everyone's coming." She confirmed.

"Everyone?" Rocky questioned.

"Everyone that was invited. Grace, Madison, Lauren, Adrian, Kathy. And your moms and my mom. And Kathleen." Amy explained further.

"Full house." He joked

"Full restaurant. Dad was kind enough to give us Jeff's for the afternoon."

"Speaking of baby gifts." Ricky said as he walked out the door. He returned with a very very large box with UppaBaby printed on the side. It was a car seat and stroller travel system

"This was delivered to my office today by Leo and Camille. Camille says it has the best reviews."

"Oh my gosh." Amy fussed. "This is insanely expensive and unnecessary."

"That's what I said. Leo just asked that you bring the baby into the office when it's big enough."

"Of course we will. Wow." Amy began to unbox the car seat.

John test drove the stroller around the house before bed. The young couple curled up next to each other, Ricky's hand resting gently on her stomach.

"Hey. You need to get up." Ricky rubbed Amy's back, attempting to rouse her from her sleep.

"5 more minutes." She grumbled and pulled her pillow over her head.

"You said 5 more minutes 30 minutes ago. Your mom is going to be here in 30 minutes with the decorations."

Amy glanced at the clock. It was already 10:30 in the morning and she had yet to shower, eat or get dressed.

"Jeez. I can't believe I slept that long." Amy tried to get out of the bed with little success. She looked more like a turtle that was stuck on it's back

"You needed it. You've spent most of the last few nights unable to sleep." Ricky said. Amy was growing more and more uncomfortable and finding it nearly impossible to sleep at night.

"It would help if your child wasn't busy rolling around on my bladder." She countered, grabbing clothes out of her dresser. Most everything she owned no longer fit. She held up various shirts, dresses and sweaters, hoping to find something that would work for her baby shower.

"Just take a shower first." Ricky told her. "I can help you if you want." He shot her a naughty smirk.

"In your dreams." She replied.

"Oh, you know it is." He tried to follow her into the bathroom.

"Nice try, Slick." She blocked him in the doorway. "This shower is only big enough for two. One-" She pointed to herself "-And two." she motioned towards her belly.

"Fair enough." He conceded.

Amy exited the shower and wrapped a towel around her body. She stared at herself in the mirror. While she had avoided stretch marks during her pregnancy with John, she was not as lucky this time around. Her belly was adorned with pink tiger stripes.

She tried to fix her hair a bit. Putting part of it up in a claw clip applying the little makeup that she wears. She left the bathroom wrapped in her towel. Laying on the bed was a knee length pink dress with long sleeves that cuffed at the wrist. She held up the dress. The material was soft and stretchy.

"The lady in the store said that she wore a similar one to her baby shower." Ricky's voice came from behind her.

Amy turned to look at him, tears streaking her cheeks.

"Hey hey." HE reached out quickly to bring her into a hug. "What's wrong? You don't have to wear it." He tried to comfort her.

She laughed into his chest. He froze at the sudden change in her mood.

"I…" He started.

"I love it, Ricky. It is very sweet of you." She told him.

"And the tears?" He questioned.

"Just happy and hormonal." She confirmed as she kissed him.

Their kiss was interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Grandma is here!" John's voice called from the living room.

Ricky left to let Anne in while Amy got dressed. She slipped on the dress. It was almost a perfect fit. The soft fabric hugged her belly perfectly but most importantly it was comfortable. She grabbed her purse and made her way towards were she could hear Ricky and her mother talking.

"Oh Amy!" Anne gushed as she embarrassed her daughter. " Look at you! I feel like I haven't seen you in forever."

"Just since Thanksgiving with Mimsy." Amy hugged her mother back. "WHere is Robbie?"

"With David." Anne made a face. It had been a bit over a year since Robbie's paternity was confirmed.

"Oh. Should we get going?" Amy changed the subject. "I'll see you later John."

"Bye." He said, standing behind Ricky's legs.

"Bye." Ricky kissed her on the cheek.

"Are you excited?" Anne asked Amy on the drive.

"For the birth or the baby shower?" Amy asked.

"Both."

"Yeah. I'm nervous about giving birth again. I can remember how much it hurts." Amy explained.

"It's natural. And you'll have everyone there. I'll be there."

"About that…" Amy started.

"What?" The frustration in Anne grew obvious. "I will be there won't I? I was there when John was born."

"I think it's just going to be me and Ricky this time." Amy explained. "I'm not 15 anymore."

Anne looked visibly hurt.

"If that's what you want." She sighed. "Who is taking John?"

"Dad and Kathleen." Amy said.

"That's nice." Anne said with sarcasm.

Thankfully, at that tim, they pulled into the restaurant parking lot.

Enjoy my clear distaste for Anne