1.11 An Addition to the Hyatt House

After debating about how to handle the situation with Max and Maya, Gavin and Annelise decided they had to tell him about Maya and who she really was.  One afternoon while Clara was at a friends house, they sat Max down. "Max, we have something serious we need to talk to you about. Its about Maya." Gavin said.

"I don't want to hear it if you're trying to convince me to be with Harper. I do not have feelings for Harper. I am in love with Maya." Alex said defensively.

"Max, Harper is the mother of your child. You can't just abandon them for your latest flavor of the month!"  Gavin protested.

Max sighed dramatically. "I send her a check every month. They are financially taken care of. Its my right to be with whoever I want to be with."

"Max, I don't know how to say this, so I'm not going to beat around the bush. Maya is my ex. She is Clara's mom. And she is bad news."

"Are you kidding me bro? Why didn't you tell me this sooner?"

"Max, I had no idea you were seeing her until you brought her to Clara's party. Clara doesn't know that Maya is her real mother, and we sort of want to keep it that way for now. We want to tell her when she is ready, but you can't be bringing her around here anymore. I wish you would end it with her, she is bad news. I don't want to offend you but what if she's using you to get to Clara?"

Max stood up and in a raised voice said, "You are wrong if you think I am going to break up with Maya. And its not right for you to be keeping your daughters REAL mother away from her like this! I am out of here. Just stay OUT of my life, both of you!" 

Max left the house and slammed the door on his way out. Gavin just shook his head and hoped that the two of them just stayed out of their life. The last thing they needed was Maya coming back to cause havoc in their family's life. He didn't put it past either of them.

Gavin and Annelise had been married about three months when Annelise found herself nauseous all the time. She secretly hoped that it was because she was pregnant. Both her and Gavin had wanted to start trying for a baby right away, and if Annelise's math was right and she was pregnant, she should be about eight weeks along.  

Annelise huried to the grocery store to buy a pregnancy test, and could hardly wait to get home to take it. The three minutes of waiting for the test results felt like years to Annelise. She loved Clara so much, but definitely knew she wanted to have a few of her own babies. She loved the idea of being pregnant and knew that Gavin would be thrilled.

Annelise stood on the balcony off her room, feeling the crisp fall air on her face while she admired the rich colors that fall always brought. She smiled to herself, knowing that she had a precious life growing inside of her and couldn't wait to tell her husband the happy news. She looked at the backyard, and remembered the few years she stayed home with Clara in this house, playing in that backyard and couldn't wait to do that all over again with her own baby. 

When Gavin and Clara came home, Clara sat at the kitchen table doing her homework. She still did not enjoy the academic part of school, and Annelise always had to keep a close eye on her to make sure she was doing her school work. Gavin wrapped his arms around Annelise and kissed her. "I missed my beautiful wife, " he murmured. 

"I missed you too," she said. 

"You guys are GROSS! Get a room!" Clara said with a laugh.

Gavin just pulled Annelise closer and kissed her softly. "I love you."

"I love you too, and I have a surprise for you." she whispered.

"What is it?" he asked.

"You'll have to wait, but trust me, its worth the wait."

"You're killing me baby!"

That afternoon, Annelise put Gavin in charge of cooking dinner and she made a quick trip to the bookstore. She couldn't wait to get her hands on some books about pregnancy and knew Gavin would want to read up on them too. She felt a little sad, knowing that she was carrying her second child. Her first one she never got to meet, and she prayed she would not be anxious the entire time during this pregnancy. She desperately wanted this baby already, and wanted to do everything she could to protect and care for it well.

After they ate dinner, Annelise was so excited to tell Gavin. She was waiting until Clara went to bed, or at least went up to her room, and it felt like she was never going to go upstairs. She opened one of her new books and started reading to pass the time. Finally, Clara headed upstairs. "I am going to get ready for bed. Night Mom, night Dad!"

"Goodnight love." Annelise said cheering silently in her head.

Gavin came to sit next to Annelise on the couch, and she scooted closer to him and rested her head on his shoulder. "I have good news baby, " she said with a smile. 

"What is it?" Gavin said. "I've been waiting all afternoon to know."

"We're going to have a baby!" Annelise exclaimed.

"What?! Oh my gosh! YES!! I am so excited baby! You're going to be such a good mom!"

Annelise sighed and snuggled closer. "I already love this baby so much Gavin. I can't believe I am this lucky, to get to have a baby of our own. I've prayed for this day for so many years she said."

"Oh baby I am so happy. I know how much you've wanted this and I did too. Clara is growing up so fast, I can't wait to have another little one in the house. In fact, I wish we could have an entire house full of babies running around! How far along are you?'

"I am guestimating about eight weeks, but I need to make a doctors appointment to be sure."

When they stood up to go upstairs to bed, Gavin put his hand on her belly. Although she wasn't showing and didn't have a bump at all, he was so in awe of her and the baby she was carrying. "Daddy loves you," he said to her belly. "We can't wait to meet you!"

A few weeks later, once Annelise had been able to go to her first doctors appointment and confirm her due date and that everything was going smoothly, Gavin and Annelise sat down with Clara to share the news. Clara was so excited to be a big sister.

"Finally! I was wondering if you guys would give me a sibling before I went off to college!" 

Clara wanted to feel and listen to Annelise's growing belly, and couldn't wait to meet her little brother or sister. 

The following week, Harper came over and brought her daughter Lexie with her. 

Annelise loved spending time with Lexie and Harper. even though she did feel really bad about what Max had done and how he treated them. Lexie had a lot of her dad's features and didn't really resembler Harper too much. 

The girls sat down in the living room to talk while Lexie played quietly.

"So, how are you guys doing Harper?" Annelise asked.

Harper gave a little smile. "Well, we're doing alright. She is such a good baby, and Max does give us a decent check once a month, so financially, we're fine. But, its just kind of lonely. And not how I pictured raising my first child, you know?" Her eyes gleamed as she tried to not let any tears fall.

"I know friend. I am so sorry. But I promise you, sometimes, what we plan in our head seems like the best situation, but then life has a funny way of giving us something even better later. I experienced my fair share of heartbreak before I met Gavin and didn't understand why it was happening then, but now I am happier then I ever dreamed. Don't give up hope!"

"I just feel like theres no good guys out here-no guys want to date a single mom and raise someone's baby. I feel like I am going to be alone until Lexie goes to college!"

"Oh Harper, you know that is not true! Gavin probably thought no one wanted to date a single dad, but when you like someone, the kids are just a whole extra person to love and be loved by. You will not be single forever. You're too gorgeous, kind, and funny. You and Lexie both are quite the package deal, if you ask me."

Annelise's pregnancy passed quickly. She had never felt so good, and she absolutely loved being pregnant. It had been a pretty easy pregnancy and she rarely felt sick or tired. Annelise quit her job about five months into her pregnancy. They didn't need her salary and she decided she wanted to stay home, rest, and get projects done before the baby came. 

Gavin couldn't believe it was possible but he fell more in love with her than ever before. He took such good care of her. Even though she felt fine, he cooked dinner most nights and always was running to the store to bring her whatever  her latest craving was. They had decided to find out the gender of the baby before she delivered, and Gavin couldn't have been more excited when he found out they were going to have a baby boy.

As Annelise's due date approached quickly, the last thing they had left to do before baby Hyatt was born was finish the nursery .They had all but cleared out one of their guest rooms, and Annelise had scheduled for the hardwood to be replaced with carpet and to have the walls painted. As soon as that was done, Gavin got to work putting together the furniture and Annelise decorated the nursery. 

"Mom, can I go to my friend Donovan's Halloween party this weekend?" Clara asked later that night.

"Who is Donovan?" Annelise asked with a smirk.

"Just a guy from school Mom." Clara blushed a little.

"Oh yeah, a friend??" Annelise laughed. "You can go, but are his parents going to be home? And you will need to be home by 11:00." 

"Mom! Eleven is so early, all my friends get to stay out at LEAST til midnight! Can I just stay out til 12?"

"I'll talk to your father. But, either way, you need to get all your homework done before the party. I would suggest starting on it now, because if it isn't all done by Saturday, you won't be going."

Clara sighed. "Okay, I guess I'll get started now." She said as she sat down at the table. Clara liked Donovan, but his older brother was even hotter. She wondered if he was going to be at Donovan's costume party. "Probably not," she thought to herself. "He's in college, why would he want to hang with a bunch of high schoolers?" Clara continued to day dream about him, and hoped she'd run into him soon at Donovan's house.