Chapter 15
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Julia put her hands on her hips as she stared into the little closet in the nursery. She could hardly believe how disorganized it looked, and she felt a surge of frustration. She loved for things to be neat and tidy—and easily accessible, which some of the things in the closet certainly weren’t.
What on earth am I going to do about this? she thought, staring at all of the objects in front of her and wondering if there was a way for her to somehow magically make them all fit nicely in the closet. Considering how large and bulky so many of them were, she didn’t think so.
She shook her head, turning away from the closet for a moment, since just the sight of it was stressing her out. She looked over the rest of the nursery, which was clean and orderly. She smiled, feeling satisfied, and turned back to the closet with another sigh.
I guess this is just a challenge I’m going to have to face until we’re able to move to a home with more space, she thought. Little rooms have little closets, and no amount of staring into this one is going to change that.
She looked over at Quinn and Macey and grinned uncontrollably. Quinn was lying on her mat, blinking contentedly, and Macey was lying on her stomach next to her, cooing and staring at her in adoration.
Julia felt her heart swell with love as she looked at her two little girls.
She couldn't imagine any two little beings more darling.
She had loved Macey with all her heart ever since she and Cooper had been a few weeks into their relationship, and that had shown her how much more room there was in her soul for a life-changing kind of love that she never knew she could experience before she loved Macey.
Now that she also had Quinn, who had started her journey on the planet inside of Julia's womb, she felt so much love for both her children that she could hardly believe it was possible.
Although it was stressful and overwhelming to take care of both of them much of the time, the undercurrent of happiness that she felt made it all worth it.
She couldn't wait to watch her two little girls grow up together and see how their personalities grew as they became more and more defined individuals.
Look at how cute they are, she thought, feeling as though her heart might burst with love. Macey has taken on the role of big sister with remarkable ease. She's so gentle with Quinn.
“Honey!”
Julia smiled as she heard her husband calling to her. “I'm in here!” she called back. “In the nursery.”
A moment later, Cooper appeared in the doorway, a conspiratorial grin on his face. His hands were behind his back and it was clear that he was hiding something there. Julia leaned to the side a little, trying to see what he had concealed behind his back, and she caught sight of the corner of a box.
“Why do you have that look on your face?” she asked him, pleasantly suspicious. “What are you hiding behind your back?”
“I have a surprise,” Cooper announced, in a voice loud enough that Julia immediately knew that Macey was involved in whatever Cooper had planned. “It's for you and Macey.”
Macey, looking thrilled, sat up and clapped her hands. “Yay!” she cried. “Surprise!”
“Absolutely.” Cooper winked at her affectionately. “Both of you, close your eyes. I'm going to put something together out here, and I need you to keep your eyes closed.”
“Put something together?” Julia echoed, feeling curious.
“Okay, Quinn!” Macey said, covering her eyes with her hands. “Close your eyes.”
Julia and Cooper exchanged a smile and then Julia dutifully covered her eyes as well.
She listened curiously to the sound of Cooper opening the box and pulling something out of it.
He seemed to have already broken past the packaging tape on the box, since whatever was in the box came out almost immediately.
She heard the sound of different objects rubbing up against the sides of the cardboard box as Cooper pulled them out.
Her curiosity grew as she listened to fabric sounds and shuffling sounds.
She wondered if Cooper had bought Macey and Quinn some more outfits, but a moment later she decided that was unlikely.
He always liked to take her with him when they picked out outfits for Macey, since she had a better sense of what was fun for little girls, and Quinn had plenty of clothes from the baby shower.
Finally, after what felt like a very long time, Cooper cleared his throat dramatically. “You may open your eyes,” he called in an announcer voice.
Julia opened her eyes and gasped. Next to her, Macey cocked her head to one side in confusion.
“What is it?” the toddler asked.
But Julia knew immediately what it was. Tears sprang into her eyes when she realized what Cooper had done for her.
“It's a closet organizer,” she said, looking at her husband with gratitude.
“See those flaps at the top with Velcro on them?
Those are going to wrap around the bar in the closet and everything else will hang down.
All of those boxes you see in the fabric are going to be like shelves where we can put all of Quinn's things.”
“Cool!” Macey said. Julia grinned, guessing that the little girl didn't actually think it was very cool but that she was excited because her parents were so happy about it.
“Thank you so much,” Julia said, throwing her arms around Cooper. “I was just standing here feeling stressed about the closet a couple of minutes ago. You’re an angel.”
“I knew you were feeling overwhelmed about it,” Cooper told her, wrapping an arm around her.
“I looked for something online and I found this.
It's nice because you can rearrange the way these little shelves are set up, to an extent.
So you can have lots of little shelves for all of Quinn's smaller items, and then you can have big pockets like this one for her bigger items. And it all hangs a couple of feet above the floor, so you can still arrange some stuff on the floor.”
“It's absolutely magnificent,” Julia said, meaning her words sincerely despite how dramatic they sounded. “This will do wonders with helping fit everything into the closet.” She took a deep breath and exhaled, already feeling significantly more relaxed.
“I know that someday we’ll need more space,” Cooper said, “but this should help for now. And hey, maybe next year when we have another baby, we can look for a bigger place.” He grinned impishly.
Julia let out a playful long-suffering groan that made all of them laugh, even Macey—although it seemed clear that she was laughing simply because her parents were laughing.
Julia burrowed into Cooper’s arms, and Macey held up her arms to be held. Cooper scooped her up and held onto her and Julia at the same time. Julia smiled at her wonderful husband and her two little girls, feeling her heart overflow with gratitude.
“I love you,” she whispered into his ear. “No matter how tired I might be some days, I know that together, we can rock this whole parenting thing.”