My Hometown Love

Chapter 37 - Surprise!

Lexie’s P.O.V

“Open it.”, Jake and Maria say simultaneously.

I immediately start digging in the bag, only to feel one soft cloth-like object in the bag. I slowly pull it out to reveal a blank white t-shirt.

“You came here to give me a bag with a blank white t-shirt?”, I ask sarcastically.

“Turn it around, smart-a*s!”, Jake shouts as he points at the t-shirt.

Annoyed, I turn the t-shirt around to reveal a printed tee with words on it.

I Used To Just Be The Cool Sister Now I’m Also The Cool Aunt!

“Wait… This doesn’t make sense. Unless…..”, I start saying before it finally hits me.

“OH MY GOD!! Are you guys serious?”, I yell before asking them for confirmation.

“Yup. We’re pregnant.”, Maria says as he looks up at Jake and places her hand on her belly.

I jump up like a spring chicken and run to go sandwich Jake and Maria in a hug.

“Congratulations you two! I am so happy. I can’t believe, I’m going to be an aunt!”, I say happily before breaking out with happy tears.

Coincidentally I start hearing sniffles behind me. I turn to see Kevin holding up his t-shirt towards him and controlling back his tears like a strong man, besides his sniffles of course.

“Kevin, you okay? What does your t-shirt say?”, I ask.

He nods before turning his t-shirt around to show us what was written on it.

The Best Brother Gets Promoted To Godfather!

“Awwww…… that’s so sweet.”, I say.

Kevin immediately jumps up and runs to envelop Jake in a bone-crushing one-armed hug, before doing a softer, gentler version on Maria.

“Congratulation you two and thank you. It means the world to me that you guys trust me to be your baby’s godfather.”, Kevin says as he holds the t-shirt close to his heart.

“Of course, man. You’re my bro and I can’t think of a better person for the job.”, Jake says as he slaps Kevin’s back proudly.

It was so nice to see Kevin beaming proudly after what happened yesterday.

“By the way, did you guess who’s going to be the godmother yet?”, Maria asks Kevin.

Kevin immediately turns to look at me, smiling blushingly.

“Looks like the baby’s parents and godfather think alike for their choice for godmother.”, Jake says slyly as he nudges Kevin.

“Wait, me? Really?”, I answer bluntly.

“Duh, who else would I choose?”, Jake said as he opens his arms wide.

I walk up and put my arm around Jake as I whisper thank you.

“Wait, have you told Mom and Dad yet? And Mrs. Mendez?”, I asked alarmingly.

“I actually did my check-up at my aunt’s private ob-gyn practice, so she knows.”, Maria replies.

“As for Mom and Dad, we were planning to surprise them somehow. As you know, we’re going to be busy working today. So, we’re going to need both of you to help us with this.”, Jakey says as he pleadingly points at Jake and me.

“Hurm…. I think I have a perfect idea.”, I reply as I stroke my chin dramatically.

**************

Kevin’s P.O.V

I sat on the kitchen counter as I watched Lexie whisk the cake batter enthusiastically. Once in a while, she would skip to the fridge or the pantry to get an ingredient. All I did was sit there and watch this amazing girl do her thing.

“What? Is there something on my face?”, she suddenly asks as she rubs her face, realizing that I have been staring at her.

“No no. There’s nothing.”, I said, dismissing her question.

She eyed me suspiciously before resuming her whisking. An hour later, we were both looking over the cake, wondering if it’s cool enough to add the frosting.

“Is it still hot?”, she asks.

I carefully place my clean fingers on the cake to measure the temperature.

“I think it’s cool enough. I don’t feel the heat anymore.”, I reply.

“Well, that’s good enough for me. I need to frost the cake and add the words before my parents get home.”, Lexie replies as she pours the icing on the cake.

She expertly navigates her spatula over the cake, giving the cake a complete makeover.

“Here, do you want to lick the spoon?”, she asks as she hands me the spatula.

I reply with a curious look, completely oblivious to this tradition.

“You can do that? Lick the spoonful of icing?”, I reply intriguingly.

“It’s kind of a tradition. I’m surprised you’re not aware of this.”, she says as she pushes the spatula into my hand.

“Well, I haven’t had much baking exposure. But, I’ll give it a try.”, I say as I lick the icing.

“Well?”, she asks probing for my feedback.

“Oh my goodness. This is heaven.”, I reply as I savor every spot of icing on the spatula.

“Told you.”, she says as she places the cake in the fridge and dusted off her hands proudly.

“That’s it. Everything is ready for tonight.”, Lexie says with excitement.

**************

Lexie’s P.O.V

I controlled myself through dinner with a poker face, excited for our surprise. Now we were all in the living room relaxing after a hearty meal. Jake cleared his throat awfully loudly, signaling me that it was time to start our plan. I nodded at him before walking to the front of the room.

“So, since we’re all here, why don’t we play Taboo?”, I proposed as I held up the box.

“Oh fun!”, Maria and Jake replied.

“That sounds nice. But a short game though, I am very tired tonight.”, Mom replied.

“Maybe I should sit this one out since I can’t really do much with one arm.”, Kevin said.

“Oh, then you could select and hand out our cards from the pile.”, I suggested.

Kevin nodded agreeing, before opening the box and preparing the cards.

“Ok so Maria, Lex, and I can be a team while Mom and Dad can team up.”, Jake suggests, much to their approval.

And so, the games began. We played 3 tough rounds with Mom and Dad in the lead. They were always so good at this game, which is why I picked this game for the surprise.

“Okay, my turn.”, Maria says as she stands up and takes the pre-planned card from Kevin.

She starts acting out the action of cradling a baby and rocking it back and forth.

“Rocking? Cradling? Lullaby?”, Dad guesses.

“Child? Baby?”, Mom guesses.

Maria points out at Mom when she mentions the word baby, signaling that the assigned word is related to the word baby.

“Okay, baby? Toddler? Infant?”, Mom starts blurting out, excitingly.

Maria nods her head agreeing and starts rubbing her belly.

“Hungry? Stomach?”, Dad exclaims, completely oblivious that the associated word was baby.

“No honey. It’s related to the word baby.”, Mom replies as she playfully hits Dad’s leg.

Maria pulls out her final big guns and starts stroking her belly lovingly. Then, she turns sideways as starts drawing an imaginary big bump over her stomach, signaling a pregnant baby bump.

“Pregnant!”, Mom and Dad shout simultaneously.

Jake walks up to Maria and puts his hand around the shoulder as we all anxiously wait for Mom and Dad to catch our drift.

Mom and Dad eye them suspiciously but remain silent. Maria then puts her hand over her belly.

“Yeap. You got it right. The word was Pregnant.”, she says coolly before turning to look up at Jake lovingly.

The minute she says this I immediately place the red velvet cake on the coffee table in front of them with the words written in white.

Congratulations Grandma and Grandpa!

“Oh! Oh! Oh!”, Mom and Dad say as they jump up in shock and excitement.

They turn to look at the new parents expectantly, waiting for the official words.

“We’re 3 weeks pregnant.”, Jake says as he beams with joy.

Mom and Dad immediately rush to hug them with tears of joy. I was so emotionally moved, so much so I failed to realize that I put my hand on Kevin’s shoulder and squeezed it. He responded by squeezing it back comfortingly and looking up at me with a smile.

“Come on you two, this must be exciting to find out for you too.”, Mom said as she turned to us.

“Actually Mom, we found out today morning.”, I replied.

“But only because they needed our help to plan this surprise.”, Kevin quickly added to make sure they don’t get upset for not knowing about it earlier.

“Oh, how sweet of all of you. Come here, you two.”, Dad says as he motions us to come over.

We stood in the middle of the living room in a big loving hug as we savored every second of it.

*************

Kevin’s P.O.V

I walked Jake and Maria to the car as I send them off. I hugged Maria before she entered the car and walked over to the driver’s side to see Jake.

“Congratulations again Bro. I can’t believe you’re going to be a dad. I am so happy for you.”, I said as I clasped his shoulder.

“Thanks! I can’t wait. What about you? How are you? Is Lexie taking care of you?”, he asked.

“Yes, she is. I’m fine and getting better every day. Don’t worry about me, okay. Now off you go.”, I replied as I opened his car door for him.

I waved goodbye at them as their car left the driveway. I walked backed back into the house and locked up the door only to come face to face with an empty quiet house. Mr. & Mrs. Cooper already retired for the night just before Jake left and Lexie was nowhere to be found.

Must have gone to bed as well.

I turned off all the lights and headed to the kitchen to get a bottle of water from the fridge. I got my bottle and turned off the kitchen light. The kitchen still seemed a little bright and I turned to see a little flickering light in the backyard.

Sitting there alone on the deck was Lexie, looking gloomy as her feet played in the grass below. My eyes may have been deceiving me but I think I saw her raise her hand to wipe away a tear.

Despite feeling tired, I decided to join her on the deck. I knew I couldn’t just leave her in that state especially after how she helped me yesterday night. I quietly opened the door without a squeak and made my way to her.

“Is this seat taken?”