16. Clyde
CLYDE
Moving was not for the weak. All of the furniture and main items were unpacked and where they needed to be, but there were still a few stray boxes we needed to work on. The plan had been to do one a day until they were done, and we kept that up at first. But lately, life had been hectic.
Stephen was well into the second trimester, which was great. I’d felt so helpless with him being so exhausted and nauseous all the time. Now that we had crossed that hump, he was doing so much better. He told Posy it was because of the pillow she got him. He was such a natural father.
He was so stinking cute right now with his little baby bump. If you didn’t look at him from the right angle you would miss it, but that wouldn’t be the case for long. This pregnancy was racing by.
My new favorite thing was to talk to the baby. I would read them stories, tell them about my day, and sing to them. It had to be annoying to always have me focused on his belly, but Stephen humored me and never once made me feel bad about it.
I never got that part of fatherhood with Posy, and I suspected this was my subconscious trying to make up for that.
Posy was loving the new house, her bedroom, and her special windows. She hadn’t quite gotten over the turret thing, but who could? They were pretty fabulous.
Her favorite part of the house, though, was the backyard.
For all of us, really. Stephen was still at the stage of pregnancy where he could shift, and we’d hang out there in our animal forms and play with Posy.
We ate, ran around, and read there. Some days we used it more than the inside. It really was the best.
I hadn’t understood how much stress not having a decent place to run had caused my wolf. He was loving life. It was going to be so much better here when Posy first shifted, too.
The hardest part about the move was adjusting to not having Miss Caitlin next door.
We weren’t far away, and we talked to her on the phone a lot and went to visit her.
But more than once, Posy mentioned that she wished Miss Caitlin lived next to us.
One thing we made sure of was keeping “Miss Caitlin nights” where she got to sleep over, and that was helping with the adjustment.
Stephen’s birthday was coming up. He hadn’t mentioned it, but with all the paperwork we’d filled out for the house and all that went with it, I had it engraved in my memory.
I wanted to surprise him with something, but I wasn’t sure what. We didn’t need any household items, between combining our belongings and buying things for the new house. Practical items were not on his radar, and really, who wanted something practical for their birthday?
Posy suggested we should have a surprise special dinner at home, and so that was what we planned.
Posy, of course, had a different vision for what a surprise dinner would entail.
She wanted to add balloons and streamers, games, presents, cake, and something with umbrellas.
I really should’ve probably dug deeper into that.
Once she went so far as to mention a parade, but I was pretty sure that was a joke… probably.
“Do you think Papa really wants something that big, Posy?”
“No. He probably wants to be home with us and cake.”
“Agreed.”
“But that doesn’t mean Miss Caitlin can’t come. She’s family.” I knew she let it go too easily. But she was right about inviting Miss Caitlin. She was family.
“She is. And it doesn’t mean we can’t have cake and presents, just maybe not the parade.” Or the umbrellas.
Miss Caitlin’s invitation was Posy’s job, and she made a beautiful one with our house, the backyard, and Miss Caitlin hanging out with the three of us. Posy insisted that hand delivery was a must, and on the day she went to Miss Caitlin’s, she brought it with her.
I started to feel guilty about it being a surprise. I wasn’t sure if Stephen would like that part of it or not, so I let him in on the secret. We both agreed that we would pretend for Posy’s sake that it was a surprise, and he thanked me for the heads up.
“Posy’s bugging me. She wants to get you a present.”
“I’m sure she has ideas.” Oh so many.
“She does. But I want to get you a present too.”
“You already did.” He patted his belly. “The best present ever.” He wasn’t making it easier for me. I’d think of something.
Posy came up with a plan that included his love of buttons. Of course, not any buttons would do. They needed to be special buttons.
One of her teachers a couple of years ago was really big into Shrinky Dinks, and Posy thought for sure that she could make the best buttons ever out of them.
So on her early release day, instead of going on one of our usual lunch dates, the two of us came home and made buttons.
She made a set with one representing each person in the family, including a baby rabbit to represent our little one.
They were the cutest things ever. He was going to love them.
Stephen’s birthday dinner was great. He loved the streamers, the dinner, and most of all, the time with family.
“It’s present time, Papa.” She’d been wanting to give it to him since the day we made them. I was honestly surprised she’d managed to hold out this long.
“It is? Was I supposed to bring presents, Posy?”
“No, Papa, we got you presents.”
The first gift he opened was mine. It was a set of paternity pajamas. Nothing fancy, but I wanted him to be comfortable while sleeping and had a feeling he was going to be stubborn about switching to paternity wear, especially when it came to work clothes.
Next was Miss Caitlin’s gift. It was a quilt that she’d made for Stephen and me.
I couldn’t even guess the number of hours she spent piecing it together, and if I were to guess, it had been started before she knew about the birthday dinner.
It fit our bed with extra room on all sides so it didn’t pull up off of us when we were sleeping. It was stunning.
Posy sat next to her, looking sad. I knew her well enough to know she was worried that her present was no longer good enough. She didn’t need to.
“And now for the present I’ve been waiting for,” Stephen said, holding his hands out for hers. When she put it in his hand, he opened it up and made a huge deal of each button. “This is you. This is Daddy and me. Miss Caitlin, I see you made the cut.”
Miss Caitlin smiled.
“Who is this? Is this the baby?”
Posy nodded.
He immediately took them to a little shadow box he’d picked up for his “prize buttons” after Posy said we should have them so we could see them all the time, but so the baby couldn’t get them. And he put them inside. A little family of buttons.
“This is the best family portrait ever. You know what would make it better?”
“Let me guess. Does it rhyme with lake?” Stephen teased
“You got it in one! Daddy and I made it. It is really good. You’re going to love it.”
And we did, but we didn’t love it as much as we loved this family time together.