The woman gives Sophie a strange look, but my wife is so focused on our daughter and the costumes that she’s pointing out that she doesn’t register the questioning look. After Sophie grabs bat wings that Cora likes and a pumpkin costume, she touches her belly.
She sets everything on top of the stroller. “Excuse me.”
“Mommy!” Cora demands.
Sophie takes her without question and hurries to an employee. Before I can catch up, Link, Roman, and Gunner are back. Link shows me his costume choices – a dragon, a knight, a scary clown, and a karate expert.
“Can I try them on?”
“Absolutely! Let’s go.” Roman says.
They hurry to the dressing room and even though the girl moons over Roman, he’s entirely focused on Link. His smile is huge. He hasn’t been able to wipe it off all day. He’s excited about Sophie’s pregnancy.
Gunner nudges me. “Think it’s actually Roman’s?”
“The baby?” He rolls his eyes. “No, the award for best househusband. Yes, the baby.”
“I don’t know. I hope so. He’s so excited.”
Holden returns before Gunner and I can continue. He has costumes for all of us. Emperors, doctors, zombies, and vampires. There’s a sexy witch costume, a sexy nurse costume, a hula girl, and a sexy tiger for Sophie.
“I gave us plenty of options.” He glances around. “We’re missing two.”
“Soph and Cora are in the bathroom,” I report, but it has been a while. “maybe I should-”
“Daddies, look!” We all look over at Link obediently. He shows off his dragon costume. Roman smiles.
I worry about him liking the tail the whole way but give him a thumbs up before he continues the fashion show. Sophie and Cora appear for the last costume – the scary clown. Cora whimpers as she looks at her brother.
Sophie forces a smile. “It comes with a mask, I bet.”
“I’m not allowed to try it on,” Link says.
Roman shows the mask and Cora’s eyes water. I offer to take her and she hides her face in my chest. I hug her tightly. I love that she comes to me for protection. It makes my heart feel big and my whole body feels stronger.
“Mommy?” Link asks as he walks over to her. “You didn’t see my other costumes.”
“I’m sorry honey. Which is your favorite?” Sophie asks. He looks at the clown costume and shrugs. She strokes his blonde hair away from his face. “Did you see the doctor costumes?”
“They have doctor costumes?”
Sophie nods and he hurries to change back into his regular clothes. Roman glances at Sophie and his gaze holds. I heard it in her voice too. She’s tired, but there’s something else going on.
Holden shows her the costumes and she laughs. She decides to be the sexy witch but then touches the plastic wrap. “Are you sure I can still pull this off?”
“You can put it on and tempt everyone.” Gunner assures, moving closer to Sophie. “Let us worry about pulling it off.”
She blushes and rubs his chest.
The woman from earlier walks by and notices Sophie cuddled against Gunner as she kisses his jaw, and the woman gapes. Yup, the judgment hasn’t changed. After another hour, we have decorations for the kids to enjoy, each of us has costumes, and even Roman is thrilled at being a zombie.
Once we get home, the kids have a quick lunch and then easily go down for their naps. Sophie lies on the couch and sends a text. I can tell something’s wrong.
I’m sure the guys can too.
Holden sits behind Sophie so she can use his chest as a pillow. Gunner rubs her feet. I work on making her something easy on her stomach.
“Don’t overextend yourself, baby,” Holden advises.