Page 91 of Baby Blue
“Well enough. I miss some of the excitement of the evening work, but at least we’re all home together now.” Lifting her head, she looked up into his eyes. “I’ve been thinking about something.”
“Yeah?” He liked the twinkle in her eye that told him she was up to something, and he hoped it had something to do with candles and wine and putting the kids to bed early.
“Could we maybe take a nice family vacation?”
That wasn’t at all what he’d thought she might say. “Um, I hadn’t thought about it, but I think we probably could. Where would you want to go?”
“The kids have never been to a theme park. What about something like that?”
“Oh, so you want to take them to MouseWorld USA?” Blue asked, laughing.
Anne giggled. “That was kind of what I was thinking about. But we should do it soon.”
“Okay. But what’s the rush?”
“If I wait too long, I won’t be able to go,” she said, her face loaded with a grin.
“Why? Some kind of thing going on at work?” Blue asked, still not understanding.
Ann shrugged. “No. I just may not feel like wandering around all over a theme park, chasing three kids.”
Blue’s brow fell. “You sick?”
“No. But I’ll be tired and getting bigger,” Anne said, but Blue still didn’t understand. “And dealing with swelling and morning sickness.”
Blue’s brows shot straight up. “Are you… No! Seriously?”
“Yep. About five weeks!” she said and raised up on her tiptoes to kiss him. “Are you okay with it?”
“Okay with it?” Blue picked her up and spun her around. “Oh, yeah. I’m okay with it. I’m really, really okay with it.” When he set her down, he looked straight into her eyes. “I love Polly and Toady, and I love Indigo. But having a baby with you? That’s the best news I’ve had in a long, long time. I love you, babe. I love being married to you, and I love being Polly and Toady’s dad. I never thought I’d have anybody who loved me. And I never thought I’d have anybody to love. You have no idea what this means to me.”
“It means we’re going to be busier than ever, that’s what it means,” Anne said with a chuckle.
“You’re sure you want a fifteen-year-old daughter and a baby too?” Blue asked with a grin.
She held his face in her hands and sighed. “More than anything else in the whole world.” Then her eyes went wide. “Oh! I almost forgot. You got something in the mail today.”
“What?” He waited while she left the room and came back with an envelope. “What is it?”
“I don’t know. Something from Nashville.”
Blue took the envelope, tore it open, and pulled out a folded card. “Huh.” He lifted the front of the card and the longer he read, the wider open his mouth dropped. “Oh. My. God.”
“What?”
Blue’s heart was beating in triple time when he turned it around and yelled, “We’re going to Nashville, baby! I’ve been nominated for songwriter of the year by the country music awards organization!”
“Oh. My. GOD! Brent! Oh my god! You’re kidding!” Anne snatched the card from his hands and read it over and over again. “Oh my god! This is incredible!”
It took two seconds for him to come back to earth when little hands pulled on the leg of his jeans and a little voice asked, “Da? Oo gah appa? I wah appa.”
Blue looked down at his little daughter’s face looking up at him. This place, this family, it was all his. It had taken him his whole life but that’s finally what he had?a real life. And it couldn’t have been sweeter.
