SOMETHING UNEXPECTED

Lucy's POV

There were only a few days left until the Gender Reveal Party.
Tim and I had the last week off and had moved all our things into the new house. Most of the furniture had already arrived.

Tonight Tim's mom was coming over for dinner tonight.
I would finally get to meet her and Tim had already told her we were back together.
I was quite nervous about meeting her, even though Tim said she already liked me from everything he'd told her about me.
I still wanted to make a good first impression and chose a elegant dark red blouse which I put on with a pair of light gray jeans.
I had already prepared the food earlier. It was in the oven to keep it warm.

When I came downstairs, Tim was sitting on the sofa in just a pair of sweatpants and a white shirt, watching football.
"Tim, why aren't you ready yet? Your mom could be here any minute."
He looked at me "I'm ready. I'm going to watch the last few minutes of the game and then I'll turn the TV off."

I went upstairs and took a pair of jeans out of Tim's closet and went back downstairs.
I tossed the jeans to him and he caught them in a huff. "What am I supposed to do with these jeans?"
"You're supposed to wear them when your mom comes over for dinner."
Tim sighed and exchanged his sweatpants for the jeans.
When the game was over, he switched off the TV and opened the door when the doorbell rang.

Tim came into the living room with his mother. "Mom, this is my girlfriend and mother of my children, Lucy Chen. Lucy, this is my mother Elena Bradford."
"Hello Mrs. Bradford, it's a pleasure to finally meet you."
"Sweetheart, you can call me Elena or Mom. You're bringing my grandchildren into the world, so you're an important part of our family."
Elena took me in her arms and I returned the hug.

"You two get to know each other and I'll set the table. Do you want a drink, Mom?" "You're welcome to bring me and Lucy a lemonade."
Tim nodded and brought us two glasses of lemonade. Then he disappeared back into the kitchen while I sat on the sofa with his mother.

"How long have you been together now?" she asked me.
"We've been back together for three weeks, before that we were apart for almost four months. After being together for almost a year." I answered her.

"Lucy, I have to apologize to you for my son's stupidity. I don't know what drove him to break up with such a great woman like you. He came to my house the same evening he broke up with you and broke down crying. I hadn't seen him cry since he was a little boy who fell off his bike. He's never been so sad and devastated after a breakup, not even when Isabel disappeared for a year. I knew then that you must be the right person for him if your break up had triggered such feelings in him. So first I comforted him and then I told him that he has to fight for you, he can't just let the love of his life go. If you felt the same way about him, you would give him another chance at some point. I'm glad I wasn't wrong and that you gave him another chance."

"Elena, you don't have to apologize for him. I was hurt after the break up but I always knew that I would never give up on him because I love him too much for that. He needed his time to come to terms with everything. The babies made it even more complicated but we still managed to get back together."

She put her hand on my baby bump. "These two little miracles will turn your lives upside down even more when they are born than they already have now, but they are also the greatest gift in your lives and an eternal sign of your love.
Genny and Tim are the very best thing that could have happened to me in my life. But Lucy, I advise you to take an epidural."
"Why? I actually wanted to try without one."
"I didn't take one with Tim and he's always had this stubbornness and the big head. He came a week after his due date and I was in labor with him for over 30 hours. He destroyed everything down there and it took 5 stitches to sew everything up. Genny, on the other hand, was a much easier and more comfortable birth. She was in a hurry and was born after 3 hours with an epidural."
I had to giggle slightly. "You're right Elena, he still has that stubbornness today."

"Boys are generally bigger, but even with girls, I wouldn't be sure that they won't be as stubborn and big headed as he is with him as a father. You still have time until the birth, but it's well-meant advice so that at least you won't feel it quite so badly when the babies destroy everything down there. After all, you still have to push two of them out."
I nodded "I'll think about it."

"What are you going to think about?" Tim asked as he came into the living room.
"Whether I want an epidural during the birth so that it's not so painful when I have to push the big heads of our children out of me. You completely destroyed your mother down there when she gave birth to you with your stubbornness and that big head of yours so that she had to be stitched up."

Tim looked at his mother and me in shock. "What are you talking about? Can't you talk like normal women about normal topics like handbags, the latest clothing trends and manicures?"

Elena and I both laughed. "Babe, it's a normal topic that we have to deal with and your mother was just telling me her experiences. Giving birth is no walk in the park" I said.
"Why you push and then it slips out and screams. Then you get the baby in your arms and you can go home."  Tim said.

Elena laughed and looked at me. "He hasn't read up on childbirth yet and you haven't really told him about it?"
"No, he doesn't really know anything about births yet. I don't know that much myself, but I've watched a few documentaries, read two books and talked to a few friends who have children. Tim never wanted to hear about it because he thinks we still have plenty of time" I explained to Elena.
"Luce, we still have a long time. It's still 22 weeks until the two of them are born."

"Timmy, you can't wait until the last minute to inform yourself about the birth. Babies can come earlier than planned, especially if there's more than one and I don't want to find out from Lucy after the birth that you started reading up on births in the car on the way to the hospital." 
"It's okay mom, I'll deal with it sooner than the last minute. Can we eat now and talk about something less upsetting than my girlfriend having to push two little people out of the place I love?"

Elena and I laughed again and went into the kitchen. Tim followed us and we ate dinner.
The evening with Tim's mother was just perfect. We got on so well. We talked for over two hours after dinner.

It was getting late and we walked her to the door.
I hugged her "It was great with you Elena, I'm already looking forward to our brunch and yoga class tomorrow."
"I'm looking forward to it too Lucy." She said and returned the hug.

Elena then hugged Tim. "Why have you kept this woman hidden from me for so long? She's perfect Tim and if you don't marry her one day, someone else will do it. I like her a thousand times better than all the other women you've introduced me to so far."
"She really is perfect, Mom and who knows maybe I'll marry her someday. See you at the gender reveal party." 

Elena left and Tim closed the door.
"I think my mom already loves you more than me."
"I think so too, Timmy." I said with a laugh.
"Don't call me that Boot, only my mom calls me that."