Blessings

KAYSEN*

"See, I told you my mom knows how to throw a party," Tanner said as he beamed over at me as I unwrapped another gift.

I was surrounded by people I had just met and people I would like to call family now, even though Tanner and I aren't engaged or anything yet. Tanner took me two weeks ago to look at rings, and I keep wondering when the time will come that he will propose. Perhaps he is trying to take things slow since everything else about our relationship has been so fast-paced.

"Who is that gift from, dear, so I can write it down for the thank you cards we will send out next week?" Diana asked me before I could answer Tanner. Tanner smiled at me again and picked up another gift to unwrap. Tanner has been opening the heavy gifts and handing me the lighter, smaller boxes.

"Let's see," I said as I picked up the card. "Doreen and Cade Miller," I said as I read what was on the card and saw that there was also a gift card within the card.

"There is also a JCPenny's gift card in here for two hundred dollars," I told Diana so she could write it down.

"We thought you and Tanner might like receiving a gift and also being able to pick out something for yourselves," Doreen said.

"Thank you so much for the air fryer Doreen. Tanner and I will be using this quite often for sure," I said as I stood up and walked the air fryer over to the gifts table.

I looked around at all of the other gifts we had received so far. Most of them were kitchen appliances because, well, let's face it, Tanner had next to nothing in his kitchen at his loft because he never ate at home, and my mom has all of my things. So far, we have gotten a very lovely fifteen-piece kitchen toolset; a twelve-piece Ceramic Nonstick Cookware Set, a salad bowl set, a five-piece rectangular baking dish set, a fantastic blender that I can't wait to put into use, and a pasta maker. Tanner and I still had mountains of gifts to open.

Tanner's friend Ethan the chef Tanner has hired to cook for us three days a week, and his wife Nicole came to the party and Ethan was delighted by all of the kitchen appliances we had received at the party. Ethan and I had oohed and awed over everything for quite a while after Tanner, and I had opened all of the gifts.

"I don't know about you, Ethan, but I'm going to have fun with all of this stuff. I love to cook; however, I don't know what we will do with that Expresso machine. It must have cost a fortune. Tanner and I don't drink coffee. Would you and Nicole have any use for it?" I asked Ethan, and he looked at me with surprise.

"That's an eight hundred dollar espresso machine Kaysen, I won't allow you to just hand that over to me," Ethan said as he shook his head no.

"Well, you and Nicole can use it on the days that you both stay with us, but at the end of the day, it's going to be yours," I said, and Ethan nodded.

I walked back over to Tanner, and he and I started making our rounds telling everyone to thank you for the gifts we had received, and then the guest began to leave. Tanner and I walked over to look at the vast assortment of random home goods laid out over two long tables.

"Well, now all we have to worry about is getting all of this stuff back to our house," Tanner said as he picked up the towel warmer, and I picked up the set of luxury towels that came along with it.

"Don't worry about that; I'm pretty sure between your truck and mine and Jace's, we can get everything over to your house just fine, Tanner. I'm jealous of that grill someone got you that is outside," Blaze said.

"Well, this way, you and Jace can come over with Lyra and Vega, and us men can cook steaks while the girls do their thing," Tanner said.

***

"I've got that, it's heavy, and you aren't supposed to be lifting anything heavy remember," Tanner said as he grabbed the box from me that had two iron skillets in them. Vega chose that moment to be walking by and looked at Tanner and me questioningly and then picked up a box filled with fancy cups of all sizes.

When Vega walked off, I jabbed Tanner in the side. "You almost gave us away," I said with a huff.

"Well, don't pick anything up that's heavy, and I won't have to say anything," Tanner said and took the box to his truck. I'm so happy I only have two more weeks, and then I can tell everyone I'm pregnant. Keeping this a secret from everyone is killing me.

I'm sure Tanner is ready to shout it from a rooftop. Tanner's way more excited about me being pregnant than I am. Not to say that I'm not happy; I am; I was just raised by a controlled, religious freak that instilled in me that me being pregnant out of wedlock was so wrong. It will take a while to train my mind to be free.

TANNER*

One way or the other, I'm going to end up being the one to spill the beans about Kaysen being pregnant. The woman repeatedly kept on trying to pick up items that were well over thirty pounds, and I was about to freak out. I told Kaysen, Vega, and Lyra to go sit down for a while, that Blaze, Jace, and I could finish loading things into our trucks. I think Kaysen is trying to kill me, but I love that woman with all of my being.

***

Kaysen and I went by to pick up Cora from Blaze's house. Lyra and Vega's parents had opted to babysit all of the littles for us. Vega and Lyra had taken Vivian and Bethany to the party, knowing that it would be too much for their parents to handle, who is near that seventies mark. When I walked in, I could see how tired they were.

"Thank you both for watching Cora for Kaysen and me. I'm not sure, but Blaze and Jace should be here to get the others shortly. We are all heading to my house to unload everything," I said as I gave Richard and handshake, and Rebecca took me into a hug.

"It's our pleasure, Cora is always such a delight to be around, and Adelaide adores her," Rebecca said as she went in search of Cora.

ONE WEEK LATER*

"Alright, baby have fun at your new school; you and Adelaide make some new friends, ok," Kaysen said as a tear streamed down her face, and Cora ran off excitedly.

"She barely even hugged me, and didn't even say goodbye," Kaysen sniffed, and I put my arm around her shoulders and guided her back to her SUV.

I lent Kaysen my hand and helped her into her SUV, and then walked around to get into the driver's side.

"You know that Cora loves you very much. Don't take it personally, babe. She'll be home before you know it. I need to drop you off at the house if that's ok; I have some things I need to take care of. Like talking to my landlord about breaking my lease, and other various bull shit you know how it is," I said as I pulled out of the school's parking lot.

"Yes, that is fine. I need some alone time anyway. No offense. I need to take stock of my life and figure out what I want to do with it beyond being a mother. I don't think I want to do the editing thing anymore. Besides that, I will be home with twins for at least two years after they are born. Yeah, I don't know Tanner," Kaysen said as she looked out the window.

"Well, you like to cook, so maybe you could go to culinary school," I said, and Kaysen brightened up at the idea.

"Would you hate me if I decided not to stay home with the babies and went to school? I could stay home with them for the first year, of course. Culinary school isn't something I can do from home, though, like what I'm doing now," Kaysen said as she looked over at me.

"You can do whatever your heart desires baby, I'll back you on whatever you decide to do," I said.

"Thank you, Tanner, that means a lot to me," Kaysen said as she smiled widely.

TWO WEEKS LATER*

KAYSEN*

Tanner and I are patiently waiting for Dr. Ryan to come into the room. We will be able to see the babies again, and we are both beyond excited.

"I can't believe I'm three and a half months pregnant already," I said as Tanner helped me to get back up on the bed.

"Time flies, babe, soon we will be holding those babies in our arms," Tanner said.

"I can't wait," I said and smiled up at Tanner.

"Neither can I baby," Tanner said?

A few minutes later, Dr. Ryan walked in with a nurse.

"Good news, your urine sample came out clean. So we are good there. I will need you to go down to have blood drawn when we finish up here, and I would like to take another pap smear today. I hope it will come out clean; you could have simply had a little infection or something. So let's do that first, and then we will get that ultrasound, ok," Dr. Ryan said as the nurse prepared everything for her to do the pap smear, and Tanner helped me lay back on the bed.

***

"Alright, two heartbeats and both babies are measuring at fourteen weeks. I do believe we are now in the clear for you two to be able to start telling your family," Dr. Ryan said as she handed Tanner the ultrasound images.

Tanner beamed at me and reached into his pocket for something. I glanced at him questioningly. The next thing I knew, he held the ring out to me that I had picked out over a month ago.

"Kaysen, I love you with every beat of my heart. You have saved me in every way possible. Would you make me the happiest man on earth by becoming my wife," Tanner said as he placed the ring on my finger.

Writer's Note

Let me know of your thoughts on this episode in the comments❤Hugs and Love Sapphirian J.🥰