Chapter two hundred and sixty-five:

Christy followed her husband through the mall. He had taken her to a beautiful little restaurant, where they had both eaten large lunches. Christy had begun with a salad, but ended up having a full three course meal.

They had taken a taxi from there, to the nearest mall, where they had wandered together.

She jogged to catch up to him and slipped her hand into his. He slowed and smiled at her, realizing he was walking a little too quickly.

“Any place in particular you want to go, C?” He asked, squeezing her hand tightly.

“Not really,” She replied distractedly. They were passing a baby boutique, and she was mesmerized by the items she saw in the store window.

This brought a smile to his lips. “Do you want to stop here, honey?”

“Okay.” She returned his smile and let him pull her toward the store. Once inside, she peeked into a crib and looked around at the overwhelming amount of stuff required for one small baby.

She smoothed the fabric of her dress over her body, as she caught sight of a woman clearly in the last few days or weeks of her pregnancy. Christy was shocked at her size. She looked as though she had stuffed a beach ball under her shirt.

Determined not to stare, she followed Isaac further into the store, dropping his hand to pick up a tiny onesie. “Oh, baby! Look!” She cried, holding it up. “Look at the little thing!”

He smiled, “I know, huh?” He touched the soft cotton fabric.

“Gosh, I can’t wait!” She smiled broadly.

“Me either.” He picked up a cute little teddy bear with a content smile. “It seems like such a long way away too.”

She followed him into the store, where he paused to look into a crib catalogue. She leaned closer to him. “Baby, will you still love me in seven months when I’m as big as that lady?”

He smiled. “Of course! I’d love you no matter what!”

“And you’d still think I’m pretty?”

He grinned and kissed her forehead. “Of course. You’ll be just as pretty as the day I met you.”

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Luke took a small break from typing, and sat back in the comfortable leather office chair in the middle of the library. The guys had managed to rent a small mansion which had been newly built, but designed to look like an old French villa. This house came with a swimming pool and a library, which he had essentially taken over as his safe-haven. Being with Jen all the time was fantastic, but being constantly around three girls was a bit overwhelming at times.

He also needed a quiet place to study, and this was the best place he could find. There were absolutely no distractions, and the books lining the walls provided enough sound proofing to give him almost complete silence.

He glanced at the scattered pile of open books on the desk next to his laptop, and yanked his hand through his hair.

His entire essay was written. He was sure he would get top marks for the paper, he always did. He was just struggling with the opening paragraph. He was interrupted by a soft knock on the door. He looked up to see Jen slipping into the room quietly.

“Sorry. I won’t bug you for long, but I made you a grilled cheese sandwich.” Holding the plate with both hands, she      walked to the desk and placed it next to his books. “I thought you might be hungry.” She admitted meekly.

Luke smiled and wrapped his arms around her hips, pulling her to sit on his knee. “Thanks, that’s great.”

Jen laughed. “Come on, you’ve got to get back to your paper.”

“I think I can take a little break. I’m almost finished; I’m just stuck on one part.” He explained, holding her steady with one hand, and reaching for half of the sandwich with his free hand.

“Can I look?” She asked, already leaning towards the laptop.

“Sure.” He shrugged. He didn’t see the harm, and he was already engrossed in the grilled cheese sandwich, which had been cooked perfectly.

She leaned forward, and skimmed the paper, reading over what he had already written. She finally sat back, pulling his arm around her waist tighter.

“What do you think?”

She turned and smiled at him. “I think it’s an A.”  

He laughed. “Here’s hoping. I just need to work on the introduction. I’ve got the thesis and the gist of what I want to say, just not the right format of it…”

Before he could finish, Jen had leaned toward the computer and was typing feverously. Luke tried to peek over her shoulder, but couldn’t quite see.

Finally, she sat back and announced “Done!”

Luke laughed. “That’s great, love. But I think its plagiarism.”

“You wrote the paper and the ideas are all yours. I just added a few extra words. I only helped a little.” She shrugged.

“That’s great. Thank you.” He grinned. “Can I make it up to you?”

“Yeah.” She replied without skipping a beat. “You can take me to a movie tonight.”

“Alright, sure.”

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