CHAPTER TEN
DUCHESS
TUESDAY MORNING
Whiskey got home from whatever biker adventure he was on last night just as the sun was starting to peek around the edges of our blackout curtains, so when my alarm goes off at eight, I let him sleep. I slowly slither myself out of bed to go about the start of my day.
I take an everything shower, which is not always easy to do when you have a busy life.
Between my wild child who keeps me on my toes, an even busier husband, and owning your own business, the little luxuries of spending a few extra minutes to shave your legs and exfoliate often times fall by the wayside.
Now when I think about this new journey that we are all about to embark of with growing our family, I have to admit it’s a little bit daunting.
I have no doubt we can do it, and I am happier than I have ever been, but I know that I need to start prioritizing the little things better.
Starting now, I need to prioritize me better. Now that’s not to say I will be not be prioritizing my family, but I realistically can not take care of them to the best of my ability if I don’t start with taking care of myself. We all should.
After drying off, I french braid my hair and even put a little makeup on. Once I’m dressed, I tip toe out of our bedroom and head across the hall to wake up the little man.
Krew is already awake and talking to his monkey when I go in to get him changed and dressed, so I keep his door closed just in case he starts making too much noise and wakes up his dad. I want Whiskey to get as much sleep as he can today.
After an easy breakfast of scrambled eggs, yogurt, and toast for Krew, we then move to the living room floor for some play time.
With the television playing some random toddler learning show, where they are learning about the alphabet in the background, I sip my tea and munch on some saltines to settle the tiny bubbles in my stomach.
I had a few forkfuls of scrambled eggs as well, but moved onto the saltines when we relocated to the floor.
Since those first couple days of puking, I haven’t thrown up again.
The tea and crackers seem to be doing the trick to keep the bubbles to a minimum, so I can’t complain too much.
This pregnancy couldn’t feel any more different than like when Krew was in my belly, but I already found one thing I like much better this time.
I had morning sickness for several months with him, and at almost twelve weeks this time, I only have a little nausea. I call that a win.
“Good morning.” Whiskey is awake. I hear him before I see him. He comes around the corner from the hall and makes a beeline straight for us. He sits down on the floor beside me and pulls me in for a kiss before looking down at the mug in my hand. “What are you drinking? Is that tea?”
“Mmhmm.” I disguise my reply as I take a sip.
“Why?”
I shrug as I set my mug on the coffee table, then kneel to get ready to stand up. “Just felt like having something different.”
With his head titled and both eyes squinting, Whiskey is looking at me like I have two heads.
“Are you still sick?” He puts the back of his hand to my forehead.
Playfully swatting him away, I get up and walk to the kitchen to make him some coffee. Just because I can’t have caffeine for six more months, doesn’t mean my hubby can’t. And since my secret needs to stay a secret for four more days, I need to act and pretend like everything is still normal.
“I’m fine. But why are you up already? You came to bed less than three hours ago. You should still be asleep.”
Krew lets out a full belly laugh as Whiskey roars and playfully tackles him, tickling his belly.
Boys and their roughhousing. The older Krew gets, the more rough and tumble Whiskey gets with him.
I don’t mind it, as long as no one ends up bleeding or with any broken bones.
But if what Blue tells me is true, and Krew grows up to be anything like his father, then band-aids and casts and slings will be an inevitable part of our future.
I just don’t want it to happen any time soon.
And God forbid, if I end up with all boys like my sister, I might end up pulling all my hair out from the stress.
“I’m fine. You know I can function on very little sleep.”
“True.” I pour the strong black coffee into a large mug and bring it to the living room. I hand it to Whiskey, then plop my behind on the couch. “What are your plans for the day?”
“I gotta meet up with the other officers in an hour. Club stuff.” he says before taking a huge gulp. “But I need a shower first. Too bad you already took one. Otherwise I’d invite you to join me.”
“Next time. I promise.”
I obviously don’t know where the guys went off to last night, but I have been around long enough to pick up on the signs that they were doing something stealthy and not-so very legal.
I also know it had to do with all the vehicle bombs we just had going off all around town.
When the locations of the exploding vehicles were only at club businesses, and mine, then everyone was put straight on lockdown, I’d be an idiot to think otherwise.
I also know not to ask any detailed questions unless it’s something directly related to me or Krew.
Whiskey hasn’t told me it does, so I just sit back and drink my tea.
I wonder if now would be a good time to bring up something kind of about the bombs.
“So I’ve been thinking.” I take another sip of tea.
“About what?”
“Well, now that my truck is pretty much toast, what would you say about me getting a minivan?”
“What do you need a vehicle with that many seats for?” Whiskey’s head snaps up from where he and Krew are putting together a wooden puzzle of a dump truck. “Wouldn’t another truck make more sense? You loved your truck.”
How do I give him my reasons for needing more seats without spilling the beans? Only four more days.
“As Krew gets bigger, we’re gonna need more enclosed storage space to carry his stuff.” I start counting off reasons using my fingers. “And the bigger he gets, the harder it’s gonna be for me to get him in and out of a truck that sits so high.” Two fingers.
Whiskey scoops up Krew in one arm and knee walks toward me.
He passes Krew to me then joins us on the couch.
“Are you sure you want a minivan? Why not an SUV? I took a drive through the Chevy dealership the other day and the new Traverse looks pretty snazzy. Those have three rows of seats and plenty of cargo space too.”
“I did look into those, but Angel let me drive her new minivan when I went with her to the boy’s doctor’s appointment last week and I liked the way it drove.
” I keep talking while Krew wiggles out of my arms and begins crawling all over his dad like he’s a jungle gym.
“It has all wheel drive capability and has all the fun bells and whistles I’d like in a new vehicle.
My truck was what I wanted at the time, especially when I was single with no kids, but I’d like something bigger now for our future. ”
“I guess that could work for you.”
“And you know Hammer wouldn’t let Angel and the boys be riding around in something that wasn’t safe or able to drive in the winter. She told me he did a bunch of research on different models before picking the one they got. Have you ever looked at it?”
“I’ve obviously seen the outside of it every day, since it’s always parked right next to our vehicles. But no, I haven’t looked on the inside.”
“It has heated and cooled front seats, a heated steering wheel, and dual climate zone controls.” I start back up with using my fingers to count all the advantages.
Fingers three, four, and five are up. “There is seating for seven, and both the rolling doors and the liftgate are power. I just press a button on the key fob and they open and close all by themselves.” Reasons six and seven.
“How about we go to a couple dealerships next week and test drive a few different options?”
And now he is finally starting to see things from my point of view! I am the one who will be driving it after all.
“Sounds like a plan to me.”
If I can keep the surprise to myself for just a little bit longer, when we go vehicle shopping, he will really understand my logic.
Once he has a grasp on just how many car seats we’re going to be needing in our near future, hopefully he doesn’t have a stroke or heart attack during the vehicle buying process.