I had to stay in the hospital with Grayson for a week before we were allowed to bring him home. I stayed for three days to recover and then once I was discharged Grayson was still in the NICU. We could have left, but I didn’t want to be away from him, so we stayed in his little private room. It was uncomfortable, to say the least, lots of nights on one of those hospital pull-out couches, but anything to make sure that our little man was healthy.

Today we get to take him home and we’re so excited. It is weird to think that in December of last year we were making a similarly long drive home with Annabelle after the car accident. I’m much more nervous about this drive.

“Oh Grayson, we’re going to miss you, buddy!” One of the NICU nurses follow us out to the truck. He passed his car seat test with flying colors and they aren’t worried about him at all. We are still going to take frequent stops and get him out, just in case. Wes helps me into the back seat so I can sit with him.

“You okay, babe?”

“Yep, just hand me the pillow, please.” Wes hands me the pillow that I’ve been using to support my belly. The incision is still painful, but not even close to what it was, so that is good. I have a follow up with Dr. Neil in three days to check on everything. She came by a couple days ago to meet Grayson. She was very surprised I carried him as long as I did.

“You sure you’re going to be okay back there?” Wes asked, always worried about everybody else.

I nod my head, “I want to sit back here with him. I’ll be fine.”

Wes takes Grayson around to the other side of the truck and connects his car seat into the base. He is sleeping like he always seems to do, so he doesn’t even notice the fuss. Wes closes the door and climbs in himself. He turns around and smiles my way, “Alright, ready to go home, Mom?”

“Yes and no,” which was honest to God’s truth. I was excited to be back home and have our little family together, but at the same time, it meant we were on our own with a newborn and that scared the shit out of me.

“Same here, but we’ve got this, Holly.”

The four hour drive takes more like six. Wes doesn’t go over the speed limit and we stop every hour to stretch our legs and get Grayson out of his seat. He starts to whine right as we are pulling into the ranch, so I guess we made great timing. Betsy and Raymond come out to welcome us home. Raymond takes Grayson’s seat as Wes helps me out of the truck. We step inside and I can smell whatever meal Betsy has been cooking and my mouth waters.

“Oh Betsy, what are you making?” My legs take me right into the kitchen, looking for some home cooking.

Betsy it right behind me, “Meatloaf with mashed potatoes. Did you want some?”

“I haven’t had homemade Mama Betsy food in a really long time. This kid wants to be fed, but then I’m filling my belly with your good cooking!”

I sit down on the couch and hear loud footsteps banging down the stairs.

“Mommy! Mommy! You’re home! You’re home!” Annabelle jumps onto the couch but remembers she has to be gentle around me and she just leans on and rests her head on my shoulder.

“Hi, baby girl. Oh, I missed you. I’m so glad we’re home and I get to tuck you into bed finally!”

“I missed you tucking me in. Daddy and Grandma Betsy don’t do it right.”

I cackle out a laugh, “They don’t do it right? They did it for years before I came along.”

“Yeah, but you tuck in the sides.” I kiss the top of her head and wrap my arm around her.

“Well, tonight I’ll tuck you in nice and good.”

Wes brings a crying Grayson over to me and I grab a few pillows to prop him up to nurse. Once he gets attached to my nipple the crying stops and he is content.

“Does that hurt, mommy?” Annabelle asks, still curled up next to my side.

“Does what hurt?”

“When Grayson eats.”

I realize that she was watching him breastfeed and had a lot of questions. “Oh no, That’s what he’s supposed to do.”

I knew that I was going to want to nurse and Betsy had said she nursed all the boys for a year, but I never thought how interested Annabelle would be in it. There have been a few awkward conversations when she’s been around, but we always try to answer her in an honest way. We don’t want her to think there is anything wrong or embarrassing about it. After his nursing session, Grayson crashes once again. Betsy takes him for her own baby cuddles and I join Wes at the dining room table with a large plate of food.

“Oh my gosh, I missed home cooking,” I mumble as I’m shoving food in my mouth.

“Their food wasn’t horrible at the hospital.”

I look up from my plate, “You didn’t have to eat only that for a month.”

“Okay, good point.” Wes puts his silverware down and wipes his mouth clean. “So hey, I want to take you out to the house. It isn’t done, but we have a lot finished and I really want to show you.”

“Yeah, we can do that.” I take a few more bites and then look back up. “Oh crap, do you have the crib set up in our room?”

“Yeah, Bobby and Jimmy did that the other day.”

“You’re all on top of it.”

He reaches over and rubs my arm. “We did what we could to make things easier for you.”

Wes and I finish dinner and check in on Betsy, Raymond, and the kids. Grayson is resting on Betsy’s chest and Annabelle is sitting on the floor coloring. Wes looks at his parents, “Do you mind if I drive her out to the house?”

“Oh yes, go! She’s going to love it.” Betsy exclaims.

“Are you sure? We can wait until they go to bed,” I don’t want the two of them to think Wes and I can’t take care of our kids on our own, but the two of them seem insistent that we go.

“Oh no, the sun is going down. I got this sweetheart, four boys, remember?” Betsy’s comment makes me feel better. I nod my head at her and then agree with Wes that we can head down there. He takes my hand and leads me out of his truck, we take the short drive to our house and before we get there I can already see the huge difference from last time I was out here.

I reach over and grab his hand, “Oh Wes! The outside looks beautiful.”

“It is all the colors that you picked.”

“I know, but it looks so much better than on paper or the pictures that I’ve seen.”

He helps me out of the truck and we walk up to the porch. They repaired all the broken planks and it feels really sturdy now. Wes opens the door and I gasp at how amazing it looks. “Wow, oh my gosh!”

“Looks great, doesn’t it?” Wes boasts, full of pride of his hard work.

“I wouldn’t have even recognized it as the cabin.”

“That was the plan.” He wraps his arms around me and leans down to kiss me. “Holden thinks maybe another week or two and we can move in.”

“Really?”

“He is just finishing up the bathrooms. He had to redo the plumbing, but he works pretty quickly.”

“He’s good at what he does.”

Wes nods his head and kisses my forehead. “He is. I told him he should stick around, that he could get a lot of work around here.”

My eyes open wide in shock, “What did he say?”

“That he would think about it. I guess we’ll see.”

We walk into the kitchen and see nice black appliances ready to be used. There is a big island that we can put bar stools at for breakfast or a quick luck. I can already envision a kitchen table and making dinner while the kids are sitting there. The great room is big enough for a TV, couch, and a recliner. It might even be able to fit a love seat. We walk down the hallway and walk into the first guest bedroom and I start to tear up.

“You already painted it?”

“She picked out the color and everything.” The room is a light teal color with white wainscoting on the bottom. The closet has built-ins ready for all her clothes. It screams Annabelle.

We walk to the next door and I put my hand on the handle, “So this means that this is Grayson’s room?” Wes opens the door and leads me into a room that is a gray-blue color with the same wainscoting and closet organization. “I love the color.”

“Holden picked it.”

“Seriously?”

“He’s good at what he does,” repeating the conversation that we already had.

We pass by a bathroom that is missing a few things, but Wes assures me Holden is working on it. Then we enter the double doors to our master suite. The vaulted ceilings take my breath away. It is painted a lavender color that I picked out even though I swore there was no way Wes would have painted it that, but he did. The giant window has a covered window seat. I already see myself sitting here holding Grayson and reading Annabelle stories.

“Wes, oh Wes you’ve outdone yourself.”

“So you like it?” He asks the question, but I know he can tell I really like it. He opens his arms wide for me.

“I love it.” I step into his arms I wrap mine around his neck and pull him down for a kiss. Our kissing gets a bit more steamy and I can feel him getting aroused against my stomach. He groans just a bit before taking a step back.

“8 weeks?” He asks with a raised eyebrow.

“Can you handle 8 more weeks?”

“Pssh, when it has been 20, what’s another 8?”

I giggle into his chest, “Not that your counting?”

“Nope, not counting at all.” He kisses me again and takes my hand to lead me back out to the truck. “Let’s go tuck our children into bed, Holly.”

“I like the sound of that.” He helps me into the truck and them climbs in his side. “Plus, I heard you suck at tucking in, so Annabelle needs you.”

He chuckles again, giving my hand a squeeze, “We all do, Holly.”