Chapter Text
After returning from their honeymoon, the rest of the winter blew by in a flash. Winter Star came and went, Mariah and Sebastian sleeping in his old bedroom the night before so that Robin could get a proper full family pajama photo. Mariah had not so subtly reminded Sebastian of what they had been doing in the same bed the morning of the last Winter Star.
“You are absolutely insatiable,” he shook his head.
“I am absolutely into you,” she corrected with a smirk, “I can’t help that I’m married to the sexiest guy ever.”
The first day of Spring, Mariah had no qualms about asking Sebastian for help on the farm. He knew how much work went into the first day of the season, and that Spring was the worst of all, but having that knowledge and actually working on it were two different things. Sebastian lost track of how many times Mariah had expressed her gratitude for the help.
They had completed their name changes in the Winter and it had been surprisingly less difficult and more just tedious to get everything else accomplished that they’d wanted to. Sebastian realized that Mariah hadn’t been exaggerating when she’d talked to him about her money. He’d also come to find out that the house bills really were minimal. Mariah had helped Willy repair his boat and he’d started taking her to Ginger Island. Now that he was only taking on projects that he was interested in Sebastian found himself with a good deal of free time. He’d always appreciated having control over his schedule, but he was used to having more jobs to do. Not that he’d ever expected Mariah to ‘entertain’ him, but without her popping in to say hi during her breaks he was feeling his lack of structure even more. He had the realization that he was now able to start working on the game he’d dreamed of developing for the last few years. It was important to him that this project remain fun for him, something he looked forward to doing rather than have it turn into a chore. So he didn’t let himself be consumed by it, taking breaks from it regularly.
He and Mariah had taken to having dinner with his family once or twice a week, typically at Robin’s house but on occasion they would host. The second Monday of the season was such an evening. It was a rainy day. Mariah went off to the mines, working on collecting ore for Clint. Sebastian had gone down to the beach to watch the storm for the first time since he’d quit smoking. He’d instinctively reached for his non-existent pack, shaking his head when he noticed what had happened. Sebastian had thought that it would have been the cravings that would have been difficult, and they certainly were, especially early on, but it was these habitual cigarettes that had been the hardest to get rid of. He was able to sit with the moment for a while, challenging the urge for a bit.
He was a little early for dinner after trekking up the mountain. He was going to go inside and see if he could help his mom with anything, when he noticed some rustling in a nearby bush. He crouched down to get a better view and saw a frog. It looked startled by him but didn’t make movement to escape. Sebastian suspected that it was likely injured. He went into the house and was able to procure a small fish tank. It wasn’t ideal but it would work for now. Now he just needed to figure out how to get the frog out without traumatizing it further. He heard a noise coming from the direction of the mines and looked up to see Mariah.
“Hey,” she said as she got closer, “What are you up to?”
“I’m glad to see you,” he said, “I need your help.”
“Oh yeah?” she raised an eyebrow.
“There’s in injured frog in there,” he gestured to the bush, “I need to save it.”
She smiled at him, “Okay. What can I do to help?”
“Try to see if you can coax it out and corral it my way,” Sebastian said, “But also try to do it without scaring the poor thing.”
“I’ll do my best,” she nodded. She crouched down on the opposite side of the bush, talking to the frog in gentle tones. She made slow movements, encouraging it out, which she was successful with.
Sebastian was able to catch it, “Aw man, take a look at the poor little guy. His foot’s all mangled. I’ll have to bring him home to protect him.”
Mariah came closer to look at it, “He’s our son now.”
Sebastian smiled at her reaction, teasing her, “He does have your nose.”
Mariah rolled her eyes, “Shut up. You know I just meant that we would take care of him.”
“You’re really fine with having him in the house?” Sebastian asked.
“Well of course!” Mariah said dramatically, “I’m not going to leave our child out in barn where he could get trampled. What’s wrong with you?”
“Okay, okay,” Sebastian laughed, “Point taken. Thank you.”
“For what? I barely did anything,” Mariah said.
“For helping me. And supporting me in doing this,” Sebastian explained.
“Of course I’m going to help you and support you,” she said giving him a kiss, “What you thought my vows were just words?”
“Oh my Yoba you guys are so cute!” Maru called over to them from just outside the house.
Sebastian and Mariah both blushed but Mariah called back, “Thanks!” as Maru got closer.
“Mom sent me to see if you needed help and to let you know that dinner is cooking so we should probably let Mariah know to make her way out of the mines, but apparently I’m not needed on either fronts,” she said coming to stop next to them, “Can you tell what’s wrong with the frog?”
“It’s got a hurt foot,” Sebastian said, lifting the fish tank so she could see, pointing to it, “Actually do you think you could help me take a look at it to see if there’s anything we can do to help get it a bit better?”
A couple of days later Sebastian was feeding the frog, when Mariah came in bringing him some coffee.
“Look he’s doing a lot better,” Sebastian said.
“He looks good,” Mariah smiled, “I’m glad you got the bigger terrarium.”
“Me too,” Sebastian nodded, “He’s doing better, but I can’t release him. He’s too slow now to get away from predators.”
“You can set up a frog sanctuary,” Mariah suggested.
“That’s a great idea. He looks happy enough, but I worry he’ll be lonely. Maybe we can find another injured frog so he can have a friend. They can have their own little haven here,” Sebastian said.
“You’ve never told me why you like frogs so much,” Mariah said.
“Well I spent a lot of time outside in the rain and I would see them. I guess I started to feel a bond with the little guys,” Sebastian said.
“Well then I’m glad you’ve got this guy and a new hobby,” Mariah said.
“It is nice to have something more physical to do other than working on my game and reading,” Sebastian agreed, “Who knows maybe I can get into frog breeding in the future?”
“Maybe you should name this one first,” Mariah suggested, “And we can absolutely work on saving more.”
“Hmm, you’re right he is our son after all right?” he teased before thinking for a moment, “What about Zeph?”
“Zeph?” Mariah asked and Sebastian nodded, “Zeph,” she repeated, “Zeph, Zeph, Zeph. Yeah,” she agreed looking at the frog and nodding her head, “He looks like a Zeph. I like it,” she gave Sebastian a kiss, “You’re such a good guy. You know that right?”
Sebastian blushed, “Thanks.”
“He’s really lucky that you found him,” Mariah added, “I know from experience how compassionate you are. You’ll do an amazing job taking care of him and whatever other frogs we find. Someone else would have just let nature take its course. Or worse, jump the gun thinking they’re putting him out of his misery instead of nurturing him.”
It was Caroline of all people, who’d gotten Sebastian onto the thought. It was at the Flower Dance and she’d made an off handed comment about the fertility ritual being important for them. Mariah had said something about the farm, but Caroline was quick to correct that she had been implying that perhaps they would be starting a family now that they were married. Mariah had blushed and brushed off the comment, bringing the focus back to the crops before getting them out of the conversation all together.
We’ve never talked about having kids before. Yoba I feel like that’s a pre-marriage conversation that we just failed to get to entirely. Not that it was something I’d even considered talking about. Does Mariah want kids? She said Zeph was our son… does that means that she wants kids or that she doesn’t want kids and the animals are just enough? Fuck. I am twenty six. We are married. That puts us in prime baby having territory. He’d be lying to himself if he’d said the thought hadn’t crossed his mind. It had flitted through a couple of times more recently, being especially spurred on by Mariah’s comment about what good care he’d take of Zeph.
They were laying in the hammock together, smoking the joint Mariah had proposed earlier in the week as their treat for attending the worst festival of the year. He wasn’t sure if he’d have brought it up or not if he hadn’t been high, especially considering the fact that he wasn’t really sure how he felt about it fully. The words came tumbling out of his mouth just the same, “Mariah would you ever want to have kids?”
She exhaled the smoke from her last hit, before turning to face him, eyes blinking slowly as she processed her thoughts on his question, “I’ve considered being a mom before.”
That was a frustrating answer and Sebastian said as much to her before taking in a hit.
Mariah let out a throaty chuckle, “I guess it is huh? Well in the past, before I even met you, I thought I might like to have a family with the right person. It was never a specific ‘have to’ goal of mine though. I can picture myself happy either way. Why do you want to have kids or was it just Caroline getting in your head?”
“I don’t know,” he answered honestly, “A little bit of both I guess? She’s definitely the reason I’m thinking about it now. When I was younger I never saw myself with a family. Of course I never saw myself married and living on a farm.”
“Or showing off your freckles,” Mariah added.
“Wait what about my freckles? What does that have to do with having kids?”
Mariah shrugged, “Nothing in particular, just adding that you never saw yourself showing off your freckles either and here we are with your freckles getting darker each week.”
“What?!?” Sebastian touched his face.
Mariah laughed at his reaction, coughing out smoke, “Did you really not notice? All that time you’ve spent outside helping me with farm stuff has had its affect. Your skin is less pale and your freckles are starting to pop out more.”
“Oh Yoba,” he groaned, taking the joint back from her.
“Bash,” she was laughing again, “It’s not like you’re not getting tan and your freckles aren’t as dark as mine or anything. They’re just a little darker. And to be honest the sunlight is probably good for your health or something.”
Sebastian groaned and was about to quip back, but realized how off track they had gotten, “Stop derailing me from talking about babies.”
“Babies,” Mariah said.
“Yes,” Sebastian said exasperated, “Mariah should we have a baby?”
“Seb, we’re high, this is not a decision we should make right now,” she said.
“I’m not saying we need to make a decision right this second,” he sighed, “Besides which we couldn’t even if we wanted to until you get your implant removed right? I just want to know what you think, because I’ve been thinking about it and we’ve never talked about it before.”
“So you want to have a baby?” Mariah asked.
“I can picture it,” he said, “And it doesn’t sound terrible. But I don’t want to do it if you don’t want to do it.”
“Well if I’m going to start a family with anyone it’s going to be you,” she said, “You’re definitely the right person.”
“That wasn’t a question I had,” Sebastian said, “I never expected you to go have a family with someone else.”
“I can picture it too,” she said, “It wasn’t really something I thought about because I assumed you didn’t want to have kids and I’ve been happy with us just being us. I think I would be happy either way. I know I’m damn happy now with just you. But I also think you’d make a great dad and I’d be down to have a slightly bigger little family with you. We’ve also haven’t been married that long and I don’t want either of us to feel pressured to do something so significant if we’re on the fence about it or if we’re not ready yet.”
Sebastian took in her words, thinking about it. If they had a baby, their lives would change drastically. He thought back to the previous week when Mariah had been pretending to make the bed while Sebastian was working, and when he looked over she was naked and bent over the bed, presenting herself to him and he ended up taking her just like that. He thought about her trips to the desert and to the island. How much he liked his peace and personal space. And how they both liked to maintain their own schedules, living their own lives. Having a baby would change all that. It would certainly limit their spontaneous sex, and decrease their quiet parallel activity time. But then he pictured Mariah holding their baby, and he could feel his heart swell. He imagined what it could be like to have a kid. To have a child he could read stories to, go hunting for frogs with, have family picnics in the woods. To see Mariah happily singing and dancing with while cooking. They could develop their own family traditions. Play silly games together. Yoba would she be an amazing mom.
“I think,” he said, drawing Mariah’s attention back to him, “That I’d like to have a baby with you,” he placed his hand on her stomach, “Not right this second. But at some point.”
“Yeah?” she asked cocking her head.
“Yeah,” he confirmed, nuzzling his forehead against hers, “If you want to have a family with me.”
“Ask me again when we’re sober,” she smiled at him, “But I think my answer will be yes.”
The sober answer for both of them had still be yes, in the future we’ll start a family, but they never discussed a time frame. So Sebastian made an assumption when Mariah came back from her annual appointment with Harvey in the summer and said, “Bash you still want to have a baby at some point right?”
Sebastian almost choked on his dinner, coughing and having to drink some of his water, Mariah jumping up to his side asking if he was okay, “Yoba are you telling me you’re pregnant?”
“No, no, no, no,” Mariah hastily shook her head, “I’m sorry maybe I shouldn’t have phrased it that way.”
“You understand why I thought that right?” he said, taking a breath, “Not that I wouldn’t be happy if you were, I just wasn’t expecting you to come back from seeing Harvey and talk to me about having a baby.”
“I completely understand why you had that thought,” Mariah said, standing up again and going back over to her seat across from him as Sebastian cleaned up the rice he had coughed out onto the table, “I’m not pregnant, but it is almost time to replace my implant, so Harvey took it out, and I told him not to bother putting a new one in. I can go to get one put in anytime, but we hadn’t talked time-frame, and it usually takes a few months of trying to get pregnant, so I didn’t want to replace it if I was just going to have it removed again. I could go tomorrow and get a new one, or we have other options, and I just wanted to talk it through with you first.”
“Oh,” he said, “What are the other options?”
“Well,” she said, “The obvious one is that we just start trying to get pregnant. We could also hold off and just use condoms for a bit until we’re ready to try. Or we could try the risker route where we just try to track my ovulation and use the pullout method or something. “
“What are you thinking?” Sebastian asked, “I mean regardless of whether or not I wanted to start trying now, it’s your body.”
“Unless you definitely don’t want to get pregnant for another couple of years, I don’t want to get a new implant right now,” Mariah answered, “I’m not saying I want to start trying right away, but we have no idea how long it’s going to take us when we do and we just don’t need that complication added to it.”
“Okay,” Sebastian nodded, “That makes sense. Sounds good to me. I feel kind of stupid asking this, but do you know how long the average is? For people to get pregnant that is. Obviously I know some people it’s immediately, and some people it takes longer and we have no clue what’s going to happen with us, but there’s got to be some kind of general average right?”
“Within half a year of trying,” Mariah answered, “And unless there are other factors they don’t do fertility testing until it’s been a year with no success.”
“So if we started trying now, the earliest possible time we’d be having a baby is like the end of next spring right? And statistically speaking, it’s more likely to be later than that right?”
Mariah nodded in response.
“So between condoms or the riskier route, which would you prefer?” Sebastian asked, “Or I guess maybe we should just planning timing.”
“Well personally I’d like to get through our anniversary without getting pregnant. And ideally I’d like to have a baby early in winter so I don’t have to worry so much about all the farm stuff with a newborn. So I guess I’d like to get pregnant next spring,” Mariah said, “I realize we probably won’t have that degree of control, but in an ideal world,” she shrugged.
“I like that plan,” Sebastian agreed.
It was not an ideal world. The dating scan they ended up having to do indicated that they likely got pregnant during the week of their anniversary. Mariah had made a vague and meaningless threat when Sebastian suggested that they review the video they had made to see if it looked like that was the moment of conception. Grumbling that she was never going to allow him to record them again, which of course was a falsity, had followed.
Mariah’s pregnancy passed in a blur for Sebastian. At some point Abby got engaged. Sam got a job making music for a kid’s show in Zuzu. His mom came to do house renovations. He and Mariah had completed the last junimo’s quest and somehow turned the empty building into a movie theater. There were a lot of changes that happened in a short amount of time for him. Mariah had been self-conscious about her thickening waist, looking at herself in the mirror and pressing her hands to her stomach. Sebastian made sure she was aware of how beautiful she truly was, and how he remained attracted to her ever evolving form.
“If it’s a girl,” Mariah had said after the first time she’d felt the baby kick, “Can we name her Morgan after my mom?”
“Riah I would never deny you that,” Sebastian informed her, getting several kisses in response.
One morning in late winter, Sebastian had been working and Mariah brought him a cup of coffee. When he went to take it from her, she instead took his hand and placed it one her stomach and he was able to feel their baby kicking for the first time. His eyes darted to her face and then back to her stomach, where his hand remained, getting kicked again.
“That’s our baby,” he said dumbly, practically falling out of his seat.
“Yeah,” Mariah said grinning, “It is.”
He got onto his knees in front of her placing his hands on either side of her stomach, peppering it with kisses.
“Hi baby,” he cooed at it, “I feel you in there. I love you so, so much. I’m so excited to meet you.”
As it turned out, the she was really excited to meet him too, making her arrival into the world three weeks early. Through Mariah’s pregnancy, she had been splitting appointments between Harvey and an OBGYN just outside Zuzu, with the plan to deliver there rather than at the clinic. Her pregnancy had been normal, and she’d experienced some Braxton Hicks contractions so neither were worried in the morning when she was having them again. Mariah had placed a call to the OBGYN when they were getting more consistent. The pain wasn’t increasing so they told her to just keep an eye on it and call them back if it continued.
Then Sebastian heard her calling for him urgently from outside. He abandoned his work, jumping up. She was wincing in pain, one hand on her stomach, slightly bent over.
“Get me to Harvey now,” she said, breathing heavily. He darted back into the house to grab the keys to the truck, helping her climb in when he got back outside, “I was in the barn, didn’t have my phone,” she explained, “I thought I’d peed, but I think it was my water breaking and then the contractions changed.”
It was Thursday, Maru was at the front, and as soon as she saw Sebastian half carrying Mariah through the door, she loudly called for Harvey, and grabbed a wheelchair, going to them. They got into one of the exam rooms in the back, and Sebastian explained what had happened while Mariah gritted her teeth through the contraction.
“Oh my Yoba,” Harvey said when they had Mariah set up the best they could on the hospital bed, “This baby is definitely coming right now. I’ve never heard of such a short labor, especially three weeks early.”
Given that the clinic wasn’t set up for delivery, and Harvey was a GP, it was not a perfect experience. Sebastian felt awful for his wife. Even if Harvey had everything he would have needed for an epidural the labor had progressed too far for Mariah to even use it. Maru was some kind of miracle worker and was somehow everywhere all at once. She was following each of Harvey’s instructions while also supporting Mariah opposite Sebastian, providing her coaching and support.
Mariah was squeezing Sebastian’s hand, a thin sheen of sweat covering her face as she road through the waves, “You’re doing so great,” he told her, repeating encouraging words, and dabbing her with a cool damp cloth. From the moment that they arrived at the clinic to when baby Morgan was cradled in Mariah’s trembling arms had been only a whirlwind of an hour. Sebastian fell in love with her the instant he held her, looking down at her smushed up newborn face.
“She’s perfect,” he whispered, he looked from his newborn to his wife. Her hair was still damp from labor, and it was evident how tired she was from the whole ordeal, but to Sebastian she had never looked more beautiful.
Mariah moved over on the bed, and Sebastian passed Morgan back to her before sitting next to her. He leaned over and kissed Mariah’s head, “I’m so proud of you.”
“You did amazingly,” Maru said softly from a few feet away. Mariah and Sebastian looked over at her, and Sebastian had gotten so lost in his perfect little family that he’d forgotten that his sister was there. Mariah smiled at her, and gestured for her to come over.
“Morgan,” she said softly, “I’d like you to meet your Aunt Maru,” she held the baby out to Maru, who eagerly scooped her up.
“Oh man you guys did such a good job,” Maru said, tears forming in her eyes, “She really is perfect.”
Harvey had called the obstetrician and popped back into the room, “How’s everyone in here?”
“Tired, but good,” Mariah answered.
Harvey nodded, “Can I call anyone for you?”
Sebastian and Maru made eye contact, “Mom,” they gasped at the same time.
“Sure I can,” Harvey began but Sebastian cut him off.
“I’ll take care of it Harvey,” Sebastian said, “I uh, just need to use a phone. Both of ours are at home.”
Harvey let him use the clinic phone and Robin practically screeched at him over the phone. It wasn’t even a half hour before she got to the clinic, Demetrius in tow. She was anxiously bouncing as Mariah nursed, and didn’t calm down until Sebastian handed Morgan to her. She started crying almost immediately.
“Oh Sebby, she has your eyes. And your hair,” Robin said, “She’s beautiful. Oh Mariah you must be exhausted. I can’t believe how fast it all happened.”
“I’m just glad this didn’t happen yesterday in the middle of the Flower Dance,” Mariah said.
“Would have been ironic,” Demetrius smiled, chuckling to himself.
Robin insisted on staying with them for the next couple of days. At first Sebastian had been against the idea, but she ended up being very helpful. He knew that having a newborn would be tiring, but knowing it and living it were two different experiences. Robin kept them properly fed, showed them some tricks for swaddling, soothing, and burping. She also helped Mariah with her recovery, which Sebastian was especially grateful for, because he helped as much as he could, but he actually had no clue what he was doing. Most importantly, his mom helped keep the visitors at bay. At one point or another the entire town had come over. They brought food and gifts, but neither of them were particularly interested in socializing, even if the visitors were there to see Morgan and not actually them. They would make their appearances to share their gratitude, and then Robin would shoo them away. They had many farm helpers, thank Yoba for that.
Jovin had come stay in town for a few days as well, doting on his daughter and granddaughter. He wasn’t too helpful on the farm itself, but he helped keeping things clean around the house and returning the empty food containers to their rightful owners. He wasn’t shy about helping with Morgan either and told Sebastian stories about Mariah as a baby, giving him tips about how best to help his stubborn daughter.
Once things settled down, Sebastian began to feel more comfortable with his skin to skin time. It was warm enough that he just kept his shirt off most of the time, though he had one stashed in every room so that he could quickly get dressed if unexpected guests came by.
“We’re parents,” Mariah said to him one afternoon, coming to sit with him while Morgan was sleeping.
“We are,” Sebastian confirmed, wrapping his arms around her, “It’s weird and I’m more tired than I’ve ever been. I can’t imagine how exhausted you are. But it’s incredible. And if you would have told me two years ago this is where I’d be, I would have thought you were insane. Now I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”
“Me either,” she said nuzzling against him, “I love you Bash.”
“I love you too Riah,” he said, kissing the crown of her head.
Pam and Penny’s housewarming parties was one of Morgan’s first outings. Marnie was affectionately rocking her across the room when Sebastian cornered Mariah.
“You did a really nice thing for them,” Sebastian said to her, drawing her attention away from their daughter.
“What are you talking about?” Mariah puzzled, “Nice thing for who? I’ve let everyone who wanted to hold Morgan hold her.”
“No, no,” he shook his head, “I meant about the house.”
“Your mom built the house,” Mariah said.
“Yeah but someone had to pay for it. And you’re the only one in town with enough money to cover it. And before you try and say it’s our money, we both know my side programming gigs wouldn’t have made a dent in a project like this,” Sebastian said, “As much as my mom can insist that it was anonymous, I know, and probably so does everyone else, that it was you.”
“If that were true,” Mariah said, “You wouldn’t be upset that I used so much money without talking to you about it first?”
Sebastian rolled his eyes, “No, I would not be mad that you shared your – our – money to improve some people’s lives. If you built a shed and bought a bunch of shoes that you’re never going to wear to fill the shed, then I’d be pissed. But making people’s lives a little better? Not mad about that at all.”
Mariah smiled at him, and reached down to squeeze his hand. She was going to say something, but Morgan started crying and both of their attention was drawn away. They were definitely learning as they went, but each day things as parents seemed to get easier. Eventually Morgan stopped waking up every two hours. And then eventually she started sleeping through the night and they moved her from the bassinet in their bedroom to the crib in her own nursery. After a few complete nights of sleep, Mariah sought out some physical affection from Sebastian. It’d been quite some time since they’d last been intimate, and Yoba did Sebastian want her, but he also was aware of how foreign Mariah’s body still felt to her and didn’t want to make her uncomfortable in anyway. So he immediately stopped when she began to cry when they were making love.
“What’s wrong? Are you okay? Did I hurt you?” he asked in rapid succession.
“Nothing’s wrong,” she said, wiping away the tears from the corners of her eyes, “It’s perfect. I just missed you is all. I didn’t realize how much until right now. Please don’t stop,” He let out a breath, kissing her passionately, and giving her all the love he had.
Morgan was giving Sebastian a run for his money. She wasn’t great at the seeking part of hide and seek, but she excelled at the hiding part. (“She gets that from you, you know,” Mariah had said to him) Her giggles were usually what gave her away, but today she was being extra sneaky. He looked in some of her favorite hiding spots, to no avail.
“Hmmm,” he said loudly hoping to get a reaction, “I can’t find Morgan anywhere. I hope she didn’t disappear. Uncle Sam and Sophie are going to be really disappointed if she’s not around to play with them.”
He did in fact get a giggle, with an over exaggerated ‘Ssshhh’ coming from the bathroom. He hadn’t noticed Mariah come into the house, and he’d definitely already checked the bathroom, so his wife was up to something and his wife and daughter scheming together was a bit scary.
“You know all this running around playing has made me sweaty,” Sebastian said as he went into the bathroom, “Since Morgan disappeared, I might as well take a shower and clean up.”
There were more giggles as he drew back the shower curtain, and jumped back in faux surprise.
“Daddy found us!” Morgan laughed, reaching her arms up for him to pick her up.
“He did!” Mariah cheered, “That means you should show him his surprise.”
“Oh yeah!” Morgan put her arms down, “Daddy, daddy, look at my shirt!” She pulled at the material.
Sebastian looked at her, and realized that she in fact not wearing the same shirt she had been earlier. Morgan was absolutely beaming, and he looked over at Mariah, who gave him a big grin.
“What’s it say?” she asked, “Mommy no tell me.”
“It says,” He said scooping her up out of the shower, “I’m going to be a big sister!”
Morgan wrinkled her nose, “But you no girl daddy.”
“No, no,” he said, “You’re wearing the shirt right? So it means you’re going to be a big sister. Do you know what that means?”
“Mommy’s gonna have a baby!” Morgan cheered.
“That’s right,” Mariah said, resting her hand on her stomach, “Mommy’s got a tiny little baby in her belly. Just like you used to be.”
“I wanna see! Take it out!”
Sebastian chuckled, “It doesn’t work that way kiddo. The baby needs to grow and get bigger first and then it will come out when it’s ready. So it’s going to grow inside mommy’s belly until it’s big enough to come out.”
“That’s right,” Mariah said, stepping out of the shower, “So my belly is going to get bigger until the baby comes out, so you’ll need to be a little more gentle with mommy so the baby stays safe.”
“Ok mommy,” Morgan wiggled her way out of Sebastian’s arms to give Mariah a hug, “I love you baby!” she said, kissing Mariah’s stomach.
“Good work sweetie,” Sebastian said, crouching down to her height, “You’re going to be a great big sister.”
“I go hide again?” she asked.
“Sure,” he nodded, “We can keep playing.”
Morgan gave a devilish grin and scampered off while Sebastian started counting. He pulled Mariah close to him and pressed a kiss to her lips when he reached ten, “I love you so much.”
“I love you too,” she said, kissing him again.
“How long have you known?” he asked.
“A few days,” she said, “Keeping the secret has been killing me.”
“I’m so excited I feel like I could burst,” Sebastian said, “Took a little longer this time.”
Mariah laughed, “Considering we hadn’t gotten to the active trying part when it happened last time, yeah. Not that I’m complaining about any of the practice.”
New Years at the Saloon had become a tradition since Morgan was born. Abby and Carver were in from the city, Robin and Demetrius were at the farm babysitting, Jodi and Kent were babysitting Sam’s daughter Sophie so that he and his long term fiancé Liz could join, and Maru and Penny were there as well relaxing from the stress of their upcoming wedding. Since they had gotten married, it had been Sebastian’s tradition to give Mariah at beer on New Years, whether it was at home or at the Saloon. He held the beer in his hand and looked at her pregnant belly wondering what the hell he had been thinking. He’d done the same thing when she was pregnant with Morgan and apparently history was repeating itself.
“That’s okay,” she laughed, “I appreciate the gesture just the same, but you’ll have to drink that one for me.”
When they cuddled up together in bed that night, Sebastian let out a contented sigh, “I know I say this every year, but this was a great year. I’m sure next year will be even better.”
“You know what,” Mariah said rubbing her stomach, “I think you’re right.”
Sebastian softly sang the song that he’d written for Mariah soon to be five years ago for their wedding. She fell asleep with a smile on her face. Sebastian fell asleep with his heart full, and a little bit of excitement, and a lot of hope for what their journey would bring them over the next year.