Chapter Eleven

"Dad, uncle Jon is here!" Ava yelled as she let him in, then slammed the door shut and went back to the living room.

Sarah walked into the hallway from the kitchen, checking if Jon found his way.

"Hey Sarah, how are you?" He walked over and they shared a short hug.
"I'm good." She said as she let him go again.
"Yeah?"
Sarah noticed his eyes linger to her abdomen, she knew it wasn't noticeable yet. "Richie told you?"
Jon's eyes flashed back up. "He didn't mean to, it just slipped."
Sarah chuckled. "I know, keep it quiet please. Everything's fine though, baby's fine too."
"I won't tell. How many weeks?"
Sarah smiled and put her hands on her abdomen. "Six weeks."
"Congratulations, guess we can't go touring in the fall then."
"Nope you can't, you can't take my husband away then."
"I wouldn't. Where is he anyway?" Jon asked, wanting to get to work now.
"Upstairs in his office. You know where it is."
"Thanks." Jon said as he got his stuff together and started up the stairs.

It was a calm Saturday. Around noon Ava went out with some friends, while the boys stayed home. Noah as usual, on a day off, was absorbed in a book until Caleb offered to go to the beach for a while. Which then left Sarah with a very peaceful and empty house, Richie and Jon were upstairs, leaving the ground floor very quiet. Richie still wanted her to take it easy so Sarah decided to watch a movie in the living room.

The boys returned from the beach by the time Sarah''s movie ended, it was almost dinner time and she knew she should start on dinner but she didn't know how she'd manage it. All week she had been in the hospital and her wrist still hurt, she couldn't lift anything. Her sons decided to wait a little longer since Ava wasn't back yet and Richie and Jon were still working.

An hour later, around 7 pm, Richie and Jon came back downstairs, just as Ava walked in through the front door.

"I'm starving." Richie said as he walked into the living room, where Sarah and Noah were both enjoying a book. Jon walked in after Richie and sat down as well.
Sarah put her book down and looked up at him. "I haven't made dinner yet."
"Yet? You're not supposed to make dinner, you might have a broken wrist. I've made dinner all week but I think we should just order something, I really don't want to."
"You sure? I could try." Sarah asked him, she always made the family's dinner.
"No you shouldn't." Richie said. "We can order sushi or something."
"I can't have sushi." Sarah reminded him.
"You can't?"
"Baby, raw fish."
"They've got cooked fish too." Richie suggested instead. "Is that okay?"
"Yes, thank you."

An hour later, everyone was sitting in the living room, enjoying dinner and a popular tv show they all could enjoy.

Richie and Jon went back to Richie's office to write some more, they only had the weekend because Jon had to go home the next day already. They had planned for Richie to go to New York Friday evening until Sunday evening but with Sarah in the hospital they had to change their plans.

Sarah didn't mind Richie was busy, she knew he loved his job and that he needed to write. He was working on his solo album about which he was very excited about but Sarah hadn't heard anything of it yet, Richie wanted to be completely sure about his songs before letting her listen to one. Sarah understood that he needed to finish it first, it made sense, how could she judge half work anyway?

She missed her husband a little as she sat in the living room with three teenagers, Ava was very comfortably lounging in the couch with her feet up on the coffee table and her phone in her hands, giggling, chuckling and smiling. Noah was multitasking watching the TV show Caleb was watching and reading a book in the meantime.

"Think Richie's still playing guitar with me tonight?" Caleb looked over at Sarah during a commercial break.
"You can ask."
"What if he's busy?" Caleb asked unsure.
"You can always ask."
"Think he'd mind?" He still sounded unsure.
"Just ask him."
"Maybe he and Jon can show me how to make songs."
"They might, you should ask."
"I'll go ask." Caleb said, nodding, as he got up from the couch and passed the remote to Noah, then picked up the new bright red and white guitar that Richie had given him the night before. So far Caleb hadn't let it out of his sight.

Sarah chuckled to herself as her eldest son left the room and went up the stairs. Sometimes it was really easy to give advice, the only thing Caleb could do was ask.

When he didn't return after 10 minutes, it seemed obvious to Sarah that Richie and Jon had let him join in.

She sat back in her seat and put her hands on top of her abdomen again, she noticed she'd been doing that all week. How would life be with another child, a little baby. Teenagers would probably complain when the baby cried, she smiled to herself as she thought of the future. Boy or a girl? She wanted a girl, she had 2 sons and she had a stepdaughter now but having her own daughter would be different. Just like how Richie still wanted his own son too.

Would they try for another? So they'd both have their wish?

The house would get so crowded, a family of 6, by next fall. Next fall would also be Caleb's senior year at high school, would he go on to college and move to a different city to study? They hadn't really talked about it yet, it was getting time to do so.

How would they like being older siblings to such a small sibling. Ava would probably like not being the youngest anymore. Maybe she would love to be an older sister. Sarah wouldn't know, neither would Richie, they both didn't have any siblings. It had to be different for teenage girls than for boys. Girls were girls, they love little babies.

A little crib in the corner of the living room, for the baby to lay in during the day, so it could enjoy being around the family too. Sarah could imagine it all, sitting right here, holding her little baby as they watched TV.

Either way she knew the baby would be loved by all of them, regardless it's sex and how much it kept everybody up at night.