Emily

The white envelope taunts me and all I want to do is open it.

Braxton and I had our developmental ultrasound the Thursday before last and Dr.Davidson wrote down the gender of the baby in the envelope for the baker.

Julie self appointed herself in charge of the gender reveal party, so I gave her the envelope and she promised to relay the sex to the baker, but she gave me the envelope back.

I swear I think she's trying to tempt me into opening it.

Would anyone really know if I took a tiny peek?

After all, I am the one that's carrying this baby. One peek will be harmless. I decide to just open it, I can't wait until the party. It may be in like two hours, but I don't have the patience for that.

I snatch it off the counter and go to the bathroom. I actually have to pee, again. But also, I can't have Braxton interrupting, he would force me to wait and find out when we cut the cake.

Not happening.

I do my business then open the envelope. All that's inside is a piece of folded paper, so I unfold it and laugh.

Julie is so going to get punished for this. She replaced the doctor's note, and the paper she left says "No peeking until the party." It even has pictures of pink and blue baby rattles.

I might as well go get ready for this party because I'm not finding out the gender of this baby until then.

The dress I chose is white with a beautiful lace design on top and a white layer underneath, so it's not see through. I wanted to make sure that I wore a neutral color. For obvious reasons.

"Hey, Brax? Did you get ready yet?" He and Cora are having a tea party in her room currently, but I don't want to be late and I still need to get her ready.

"Just about to." I walk out of the bedroom and towards Cora's room, stopping to turn my curling iron on.

I stand in the doorway and neither one notices me yet.

"Daddy, I think you need more tea! Here." She passes him the tiny empty tea kettle and watches as he pretends to pour more into his cup.

"Okay, buttercup. Is that enough?" The grin on his face is bursting, but he looks ridiculous wearing a pink tiara and sitting in a kid sized chair next to Cora's three favorite stuffed bears.

"Yep! Here, Tommy, I think you need more too." She takes the kettle back from Braxton and pours some for the bear to her left.

I quietly watch for a few more minutes before Braxton looks up and sees me. He stands and smiles.

"I'm going, sorry. I just couldn't leave. You look gorgeous." I love that about him. He doesn't play with Cora out of obligation, he actually enjoys it.

"Hi, baby. I can't wait to find out if you're a boy or girl!" He bends down as he talks to my belly. I watch enraptured as he kisses the bump then my forehead.

"Buttercup, time to get ready for the party!" Braxton says as he walks to the bedroom to get dressed. She jumps up and runs over to me.

"Mommy, can you curl my hair?"

"Of course, baby girl!" I lift her to my hip, and we walk to her closet.

She gets dressed all by herself in the white romper I laid out and we go to my bathroom.

I get the stool that Cora normally sits on out and start curling her brown hair into waves.

It doesn't take long and she sits patiently the whole time.

"Good job, Cora. I'm gonna do mine now, Do you want to stay and help me?" She nods enthusiastically and I pull my hair into sections. It is harder with the cast, but I manage.

She starts telling me about how much she loves school and I'm glad she enjoys it.

My girl has always been a social butterfly.

When my hair is in loose waves, I pick Cora up again and we walk down the stairs to find Braxton holding open the white envelope. Damn he looks fine. The white button down and khakis are really working for him.

"Brax, what are you doing with that?" He looks up guilty, but then it turns to fear.

I don't know what he's afraid of though.

"I saw it on the table and I decided to take a peek, but then saw that Julie switched it out. I love your hair like that. You two look beautiful."

"Thank you. That makes two of us then because I couldn't hold off either. I can't believe she really did that." We laugh and Cora giggles with us even though she probably doesn't know what's funny.

"Let's go, the sooner we get there the sooner we get to find out!" Braxton just chuckles at my impatience.

I walk into the garage with Cora still on my hip and put her in the car seat.

I climb in the passenger seat and press the button for the garage door.

Braxton walks out a minute later with the keys and my phone.

"Thanks for grabbing that. I totally forgot." He simply nods and we drive to my parent's house. Julie thought it would be best to have it at their place because she declared we weren't allowed to host, but still wanted a big backyard. When we pull in I see the rest of the family's cars.

"I told you! I knew we would be the last to get here."

"What are you talking about? We are an hour early!" I look at him wide-eyed, but then see the time on my watch and he's right. We are a full hour early.

"Why is everyone here then?" I shake my head, I'm just as confused as he is.

"Let's go!" Cora doesn't seem to notice anything is out of the ordinary, but I get out any way.

The three of us walk to the back and see everyone sitting in lawn chairs.

Everyone looks up and my brother pulls out his wallet and passes my dad some cash.

"Damn. I really thought it would be another half an hour." I raise my eyebrows and look between them.

"First, watch your language. Second, what do you mean? Why is everyone here already?"

"We all knew that you two wouldn't be able to wait. I bet dad 50 bucks, that you would be half an hour early and he said an hour or more." I turn to look at Braxton and we make eye contact then laugh.

"Well, we would have been here a little later if Julie hadn't switched out the paper in the envelope!" She starts giggling in the corner.

"I knew you wouldn't be able to resist! You too, Braxton?"

"Yeah, to be fair, I lasted longer than Em." Everyone turns to look at me as he presses a kiss to my temple.

"What? I'm excited and cake sounds really good! Can we move on to that yet?" Julie stands and walks into the kitchen. Walking back out with a big cake. It's beautifully decorated with white icing all around, then split into two parts. The left side is decorated with blue and the right side pink.

"Are you ready? Any guesses?" Braxton's smile is practically bursting, he's as excited as I am. Cora is jumping around too.

"I just want our little one to be healthy. If I had to guess I would say the mango is a boy. What about you?" I picture a little boy that looks just like Brax. I can see them throwing a football in the yard or playing with toy trucks.

"I just want him or her to be healthy too. Anything else is icing on the cake. Let's go find out!" Braxton grabs my hand and we walk over to the table with the cake and knife.

"Cora come sit with us!" Julie calls. I'm grateful, I want her to be able to enjoy this with us.

I pick up the knife with my left hand and Braxton holds my hand and the knife as we slice it through the cake. I can't quite see it yet, but we pull it out and cut into the cake once more. He grabs the pie server and I hold the plate out. He slides the piece onto the plate and my vision goes blurry.

"It's a boy!" I try to make sure my tears don't get on the cake, but it's kinda of a useless effort.

Everyone is cheering and I'm so excited. Braxton pulls me into a tight hug and I revel in the feeling.

I can't believe it, I'm gonna have a little boy!

I pull out of his embrace and see tears in his eyes. At least I'm not the only one.

We walk over to Cora and she is smiling big too.

"Baby girl, are you excited to have a little brother?" I can hear the happiness in my voice.

I never thought I would be here. I didn't expect to ever see Braxton again or to have another baby of his. He has brought so much joy to my life, and given me so much that I would have never had. Not just me, he gave Cora a father and a little brother.

"Yesss! I can't wait to meet him! Do you think he'll like to play with babies?" Everyone starts laughing, but I can't help but grin. She loves her baby dolls and now she'll have a real one to help me with.

"I'm sure he will, buttercup." He lifts her up on his shoulders and she laughs like she's on top of the world.

In her mind, she might be. With his height, she is easily the highest in the room.

"She's such a daddy's girl." Julie says from beside me.

"Yeah, she is."

"Congrats, honey." My mom comes up and wraps me in a hug, somehow maneuvering over the bump. It's the kind that only your mom can give you. She has soothed me so many times with those arms, given me so much comfort.

When she releases me, my dad steps up and gives me a hug too.

"I'm so proud of you, Emily." His praise brings more tears to the back of my eyes. It means a lot to me, especially since so many things haven't gone my way after Braxton and I parted ways.

I never wanted to disappoint them. My dad steps back and my brother walks over to me.

He just finished shaking Braxton's hand, which causes me to raise my eyebrows between the two.

"What? I like the guy. Also, I'm really happy for you, sis." He throws an arm over my shoulders and pulls me as close as he can with the bump getting in the way more and more these days.

"Who's ready for cake?" He shouts this out to the whole family and leaves me to go start cutting pieces. Braxton comes up behind me and wraps his big arms around our little boy.

"I can't wait to meet our little boy, Em." His whispery voice sends warmth between my legs.

A feeling that is very uncomfortable, considering my family is standing only feet away from us.

"Me neither. He's gonna be amazing, Brax." He leads me over to one of the chairs set out for the party and helps me sit down.

"He really is. Sit here while I grab you a piece."

"I can get it." I start to stand and he lowers me back down. I huff in frustration.

"I'll be right back." He walks away and I take a deep breath. This day has been crazy. I really can't wait to bring this little boy into the world though.