Gen 5 Chapter 7: Adding a Little Spice to Life

When we got back to my house we lingered just inside the door, both a little unsure of exactly what to do next. Then I brilliantly remembered the hot tub!
"Hey, do you want to try out my new hot tub?"

"Sure!"

I changed as fast as I could and stepped in the hot tub, wow, it felt so nice! I just then realized I didn't think about Phillip needing a suit. "Oh, I'm sorry, do you need something to swim in?"
His mischievous smile said it all. "Nope."

It only took him seconds to strip out of all his clothes and I do mean ALL, and hop in the tub. He looked so different without his glasses. And the steam from the hot tub did something funny to his hair. Didn't matter, he was still hot!

"It's a little lonely over here."

"Oh, well, let me fix that."

And we all know two people together in a hot tub who are insanely attracted to each other equals....

In the wee hours of the morning, we got out of the hot tub and went inside to sleep.
When I woke up that morning, I felt the side of the bed where Phillip was. He wasn't there. I got up to see where he went to and when I stood, my stomach churned like it never had before. I barely made it to the bathroom in time!

I had no idea what that was all about, maybe the food at the bar last night? I shrugged to myself and went to find Phillip.
I found him in my living room, watching TV. "Good morning, beautiful."
I sat down beside him "Good morning. Whatcha watching?"

'The news. I was wondering what the weather was going to be like in France. That's my next trip."

I snuggled up next to him and put my arm around him. "Do you ever get weary of all your traveling? It doesn't seem like you're here in the country very long."

"Well, yes and no. Of course I love traveling, but sometimes I think it might be nice to stay put a little longer."

"What would you do if you weren't a world traveler? Have you ever thought about it?"

"Yeah, I have actually. I think I'd like to share with others about all the places I've been and my love of the world. Maybe a teacher or something?"

"Oh wow, I imagine your stories would be very inspiring to a lot of people."

"Yes. I've actually had job offers along those lines, but I never took anyone up on them."

I sat there cuddled next to him, thinking about how wonderful it would be if Phillip worked here in town and was here most of the time. That seemed like a dream.
"Do you think if you did something like that, you'd be unhappy? Not getting to go on any new adventures?"

"I don't know, I might. Probably. The truth is, the idea of settling down doesn't repulse me like it used to. My father's death has made me think more about what staying in one spot could offer me."

All of a sudden, he jumped up, and said, "I should probably go get dressed."
Apparently this subject was making him uncomfortable and he didn't know how else to change the subject. I wanted him to know that although I dreamed of spending every minute with him, I certainly didn't want him to see me as a hindrance to what made him happy. I jumped up and grabbed his hands before he went upstairs.

"I just want you to know, Phillip that I don't expect you to change for me. I really do love dating you, and I want you to be happy and pursue your dreams."

"I know that Patience, and that's why I like you so much. You've never been too demanding of me, and you accept who I am. That's why you are so different from any other woman I've been with. And that's probably why I can't seem to get enough time with you. "

As he headed upstairs to shower, I went to the kitchen and tried to find something to put on my tender stomach. The only thing that sounded good was grilled cheese.

It seemed to settle ok on my stomach. I went upstairs to check on Phillip and discovered the door to one of the closed off rooms (the little girl's room) was open. I peeked in and saw Phillip, flipping through the radio stations on the kitty radio on the dresser.
"Ahem."

"Oh, hey. Sorry, after I took my shower, curiosity got the best of me."

"Ah, it's ok. The only reason I cared about you seeing these rooms was I thought it might weird you out seeing that they are all set up for children. I'm not planning on children anytime soon. It's just that the rooms came this way already."
He laughed. "I see. So, do you want a family someday? Children?"
"Oh, yes, of course, but when the time is right."

"Well, then, maybe you should leave the rooms the way they are. After all, they are really cute."

"Cute?!?"

"Well, you know what I mean. They're nicely decorated."

"Uh-huh. You said cute. So is that why you were playing with the Kitty radio? Are you looking for ideas for your own room?" I teased.

Out of nowhere a pillow came flying at my head. "I am not!"
I grabbed a pillow to defend myself. "Oh, is that how you wanna handle it, huh? Bring it on!"

Thus commenced our Pillow War. We laughed so hard my sides hurt.

I had forgotten all about my stomach troubles up until now, when a quick maneuver on my part made my stomach twist.
"Truce! Truce! I need to catch my breath!" I begged, holding my hand up and taking deep breaths to try to calm my stomach back down. Too late.

I grabbed my mouth and ran for the bathroom. There went my breakfast. How embarrassing!

Phillip heard the whole thing and felt horrible. I reassured him he didn't do anything, and that I had already woke up with a sour stomach. "Are you sure you're ok?"
"I'm sure I'll be fine. But I'm all of a sudden so tired."

He said he was going to go so I could rest and he could get ready for his trip to France. I wanted to protest since I didn't know when I'd see him again, but I could barely keep my eyes open; a detail that Phillip noticed as well. He sweetly tucked me into my bed and then left. I slept harder than I ever remember sleeping in my life.

When I got up, it was nearly evening. My stomach felt much better, but I still felt like I was in a haze of drowsiness. I decided to try a run on the treadmill to wake myself up. It did the trick. I felt much better after that. It might have also been that I was wearing the T-shirt that Phillip had brought me back from Egypt. His 1st gift to me.

The sickness came back to me the next day. I was glad I had the day off because I did nothing but rest and throw up. I knew something wasn't right. I had never been this sick. It started to seem unlikely it was something I ate.

My heart sank when I thought about another possibility. But, I needed to know. After a 2 minute wait in the bathroom, the mystery was solved. I was pregnant!

I was such a loss for what to do. Phillip had already told me that where he was going he wouldn't be able to get phone calls. And work! How was I going to tell them? Would I still have a job? It didn't take long for it all to overwhelm me, and I was back with my head in the toilet again.

I decided I had to tell my boss, because I couldn't go to work like this. I bit the bullet and called work. My boss knew I was dating Phillip because I introduced them on our date that night at the Bistro, so at least it wasn't a complete shock, but I could tell I had stunned him with my news. I asked him to keep my pregnancy a secret, as I hadn't told the father yet. He was very gracious and understanding and agreed to help me out.

Now that I was on maternity leave, it gave me a lot of time to not only think about how I was going to tell Phillip but also how I felt about this pregnancy. It wasn't the idea of being a mother that bothered me, it was being a mom right now. I was happy at my job, but how was being a single mom going to affect my work?

Then, there was wondering what part Phillip wanted to play. Would he want to be involved, or would he freak out and break off what we have and run away to another country? I don't think I could bear it if he rejected this little being , child, that we created together. Even if it was by accident that we did so. To tell the truth, if I put all the worry aside, I was thrilled that Phillip was the father of my baby. I could only home he felt the same about me being the mother of his child.

The days waiting for Phillip to return were filled with impatience. I had no work to occupy my time, so I read up on a lot of recipes, and pampered myself at the spa a few times. That helped a lot.

I was starting to show now. It was nothing short of miraculous every time I felt the little flutter of life inside me.

Finally the day came for Phillip to come home. I received his call that morning. "Hello beautiful, I missed you."
Hey Phillip, I missed you too."

"I have just a couple of things to take care of and then would you like to go out? Do you have to work today?"

"Actually, no, I'm off today." (Ha. If only he knew.)

"Wow, off on a Friday night! Lucky me! So, how have you been?"

"I've been doing good. There's actually been some pretty big developments recently, and I need to talk to you about it."

"Oh. Wow. sounds important! Well, let's not wait until tonight, let's get together now! My other errands can wait. Where do you want to meet?"

"What about the beach?"

"Ooh, I haven't been to the beach in a while, that sounds great! Ok, well, I'll see you in a few."

"Great! Ok, bye."

He sounded so upbeat, so happy to talk to me. I could only hope that my big news wouldn't ruin all of that. I already had in my mind what I wanted to say. I just needed to be brave enough to get it all out.

I got to the beach just seconds before he did. I wondered if he'd notice the 'baby bump' before I even got to say anything? I heard him from behind me. "Hello beautiful."

I turned around and we hugged in greeting but I was sure to not let my belly touch him.

"Wow, you look.... radiant. I can't quite place my finger on why."

Well, it wasn't going to take him long to figure it out, so I had better get on with it.

"Before we go any further, I really want to tell you what I need to. It affects both of us in a big way."
"Ok". He was still smiling. I guess he wasn't catching the seriousness in my voice.
I took a deep cleansing breath and began. "You remember our last night together, in the hot tub, before you left?"

"Yes..." he slowly let out, looking more apprehensive than before.
"Well," I hesitated. There was no fancy way to say it so I blurted it out. "I'm pregnant!"
He was speechless, and I took full advantage of that to explain how I felt.

"Hear me out, Ok? I know this is a big shock. But while you were gone I had a lot of time to think about this. I am not thrilled that the pregnancy happened this way, but I am happy to be a mother, and the mother of your child. And I want to do what's best for this baby."
He stammered out, "I'm going to be a father?!?"
I nodded. "Yes. But listen. I don't think it would be good to try to force our relationship further along that it needs to go just because we're having a baby together. I don't want to be one of those couples who get married "just" because they got pregnant."

He was still processing all this, but he finally managed, "It's going to take me a while to wrap my mind around this...but I want you to know, I'll be here for you. And the baby. Our baby. Wow. We're going to have a baby!"

He put his head close to my belly, and said, "Hello little one." I tried to fight back the tears. Something about hearing the man I adored talking to the little life inside of me that we created touched my deeply. I meant what I said about not wanting to throw ourselves into a deeper relationship, but a very strong feeling made itself known to me in that moment. I loved Phillip.

"It's going to be ok, Patience. We'll figure this out together. I want you to know I'm not going anywhere."

I exhaled in relief. I needed to hear those words so bad.
I told him when I thought my due date was, and he said he only had one short trip he needed to go on to Barnacle Bay, just a day trip, then he'd make sure he was back in time for the baby to be born.

"Oh! With all of this big news, I forgot, I have a present for you."

He reached behind his back, and said, "Surprise!" And he pulled out a beautiful bouquet of white flowers.

"Oh Phillip! I love them, no one has ever given me flowers before!"

"I'm glad you like them. The second I saw them I thought of you."

We spent the rest of the evening at the beach chatting and planning for the baby. And, as is our tradition, we sat and watched the stars light up the sky, and on this particular evening, it was a full moon, and it was beautiful.

"So, you have any  names picked out?"

"Well, there are some I like, but I've decided I want to see the baby first before I pick one."

"That sounds like a plan to me."

We sat in silence for a moment, and then he said, "Patience?"
"Yes?"

"I want you to know something, and I was planning on telling you this before your, well surprising news tonight. And I'm not just saying this because of the baby."

"Ok."

"Patience, I love you."

A warmth surged through my body when he said those three words.
"I love you too Phillip."
This truly was a perfect evening. Phillip finally knew about the baby, was ok with it, and now I knew he felt the same way about me that I felt about him. He loved me. He LOVED me!

Soon it was time to say goodbye to Phillip and go back home. He said he was going to go ahead and leave tonight, so he could get done earlier tomorrow, and hopefully be home by evening tomorrow. Barnacle Bay was only a few hours away, so it wouldn't be too far.Although I was sad to have him leave yet again, I knew it was going to be okay now that my heart was his and his was mine.

I watched a little bit of TV and cleaned up before I finally headed to bed. But before I even hit the first stair, it hit me. The worst pain I'd ever felt in my life. Oh NO! The baby was coming tonight!

Another contraction hit me. No no no... this couldn't be happening! Phillip was gone and I wasn't supposed to have the baby until he returned!

When the contraction let up, I tried to calm myself and think straight. If this baby was coming early, I needed to get to the hospital as fast as I could. I'd worry about calling Phillip later.

As soon as I got to the hospital, the nurses rushed me into the delivery room and very shortly my labor was complete. I had a normal uncomplicated birth! But there was a reason I went into labor early.... we had TWINS! Girls! It just seemed that the surprises kept on coming. I named our first little girl Ginger, one of my favorite spices to cook with. The 2nd little girl I brought into the world I named Juniper. The two complemented each other perfectly.

The girls hardly made a peep on the way home and I snuggled them both close before I laid them in their cribs to sleep. Every time I looked at their innocent, adorable faces my heart wanted to burst it was so overwhelmed with joy. I never thought love could come so instantly and completely.

Phillip would be due back in town in just a few hours, and I couldn't wait to see his reaction when he saw our girls. Just the thought of him made me tear up. I needed him here with me. As I watched my little girls doze off, I realized I wanted to be a family. I wanted to marry Phillip.

*buckey's notes*- So, here they are, Generation 6! Finally! We'll see what they look like next chapter. Yes, I had to use the good old "try for baby substitute" rule to finally get Generation 6 here. But, as you may have guessed, at least having the babies spurred her to wish to marry Phillip! Woot! I'm already working on Chapter 8, so hopefully it will be out next week. Thanks for reading!