Page 74 of Surprise Baby for Daddy's Best Friend

I chuckled and gripped the plate so it wouldn't tip over, "Not yet. Jared has something planned for that."

Mandi rolled her eyes and glared at Jared, "You're ruining my fun, you know?"

"And you're being a bad older sister," Jared called back.

She sighed and shook her head. "I don't know what you did to him, Kim, but his grumpiness is turning into smartass comments. I don't know what to do with him sometimes." She looked down at my stomach, "My little sibling is going to have a hard time getting that old man to smile."

I shook my head, "No, they're already making him smile all the time." I put a hand on my stomach. "He tried laying on my stomach last night and tried accusing the baby of fighting him because there was a soft kick."

Mandi chuckled and shook her head, "My mom said the same thing happened to me. Said that he almost got in a fistfight because I kicked him in the head so much."

I was glad that after we finally announced my pregnancy to Mandi, and everyone else there wasn't too much drama. Mandi had been the hardest to win over. Though it made sense when her newest friend, was also a pseudo stepmom and about to bring in her next sibling.

Once I offered for her to help plan the baby shower with me and set it up, she was immediately ready for it.

With Jared able to cover any expenses when it came to raising the baby, we agreed the baby shower would be a bit different than the usual ones. People didn't have to bring in any diapers or special items that a baby or I would need. Instead, there was a stack of books on the tables. Each had the person who gifted its name inside and a personalized note too.

Others chose to do more creative things, and bought personalized items including a few outfits they had designed themselves, or purchased from homemade creators. One that stuck out was a shirt with sunglasses on it that said Made For the Beach. I knew immediately it had to be Amanda, since she was one of the few who knew how the baby was conceived. It was a perfect tongue-in-cheek without being obvious and I loved it.

Everyone else was just excited for us. There were a few, like Jessica, whom I had never met but who was completely enamored with me, and those from my side of the family who were challenging Jared to do as many things as they could.

Amanda leaned close to me and added another piece of celery to my plate from her almost untouched one. She looked exhausted like she hadn't slept all night, but filled with energy from dozens of cans of soda.

"Are you ready?" I whispered to her.

"I think so. You're sure you're all right with this?"

I nodded, "If I weren't I would have told you as much."

She sighed and stood up. Slowly, she sauntered over to Carl and took his hand in hers. A slight fear tinged his eyes before he calmed down again. I wondered how often she caused him to get scared because of his insecurities on the matter.

Mandi stood up next and stepped up onto a step stool so she towered over almost everyone. "Excuse me!" she yelled out across the crowd.

Everyone fell silent and turned their gazes to her.

"I wanted to thank everyone for coming in today. Though I know you're not here because you think I'm cool." She glanced at me and winked, "Before we do the gender reveal and play some baby games, there's another announcement I have to make."

Everyone whispered in hushed voices. Mandi waited for them to stop talking before she continued, "Amanda, if you would be so kind."

Carl led Amanda toward the stool. She huffed and took one step up and then another. Amanda hobbled a little on the stool as if she couldn't find her balance properly, but Carl held onto her.

She moved a hand to her stomach and smiled at everyone. Gasps filled the air from those who immediately knew what the news would be.

"I didn't want to steal the spotlight from Kim, but she insisted," she grabbed Carl's hand to steady herself. "I'm only three months along, but I'm pregnant with our first child, making Maurice a grandfather twice in one year."

Claps and cheers filled the room as everyone wished the married couple congratulations. Tears welled in her eyes as she slowly stepped down from the stool and leaned into Carl's arms. Her breathing was heavy as they made their way back to their seat.

While I wasn't doing well for a lot of days because of the RH negative blood type I had, Amanda was being hit harder with constantly being sick. She was barely out of her first trimester and I wondered how much she ever actually ate without it coming up again. Thankfully Carl made sure she was taken care of, and the doctors had her on bed rest which gave her enough energy to get around most days. Once she hit the second trimester, she would get back to normal with energy levels. Until then, I was just excited for her and ready to see who my niece or nephew, would be.

Mandi stood back on the stool and cleared her throat so everyone knew the announcements weren't done, "Who's ready to play a few games?"

Everyone clapped in excitement, still riding the high of the surprise baby announcement.

A few men pushed in an oversized tic-tac-toe board. A large circle covered each square with the words "Boy/Girl" on it. Another came in with multi-colored bean bags in a small bucket.

"All right, we all know the game. Each person gets a turn at tossing a bag. You can place your bets on which it is. We'll see who gets the final toss."

I joined the chaotic line of people. Everyone tossed a bean bag. Some hit the squares, but they didn't turn while others completely missed. As my turn came, I didn't even get my bag to the board. All that was left was one square in the upper right. The top two squares had the word boy on them and the far right squares had girl on them. I needed to know that top right corner.

---