Chapter 28

8/19/2041

Luca is 2 months along in his pregnancy. Elena is 5 months old. They were finally in their new home. Alicia played with her toys in her new bedroom. Elena lay in her new crib, giggling at the spinning mobile that hung above her. Luca and Tyree cuddled on their couch and watched Elena as she reached for the moving objects.

"She loves her present," Luca said.

"Well, your daughter loves her room," Tyree said.

"You mean, our daughter," Tyree said, smiling as he kissed him.

Alicia came out of her bedroom rubbing her stomach. "I'm hungry," she said.

"As a matter of fact, we're hungry too," Luca said, rubbing his belly.

"What would you like?" Tyree asked.

"Skillet Steak with Mushroom Sauce," Luca said. "But do we have the ingredients?" Luca asked.

"I'll look up the recipe and see if we need to go to the store," Tyree said. After looking over the recipe, Tyree checked the inventory.

"I guess we're grocery shopping for tonight's dinner," Tyree said.

With everyone in the car and buckled in, they headed to the grocery store. Lucky for them, it was only three blocks away. Once they were parked, Luca carried Elena while Alicia walked beside the cart with her father. They went through the aisles, grabbing items that were on the list.

"What else do we need?" Tyree asked.

"Formula," "We're almost out," Luca said. "Solid foods for her to try," he said.

"Okay," Tyree said. They stopped in the baby aisle and glanced over everything. They took two containers of Ready to Feed Infant Formula-24 Pack, two packs of Gerber Rice Cereal, four containers of banana, four containers of carrot, and one package of diapers, Size 1, 7-13 lbs. (28 Count).

An hour later, they were at home, putting everything away. The baby supplies were taken to Elena's room. Tyree read the directions on how to fix their dinner.

"Alicia, hon, go play while mommy and daddy cook dinner," Tyree said.

"Okay, papa," she said, heading to her bedroom. Luca and Tyree prepared everything for their first meal in their new home. Thirty minutes later, dinner was ready.

Elena sat in her new high chair while Alicia was in her booster seat. The steak was chopped up into bites for Alicia. Luca helped Elena hold her bottle and paused long enough to eat a bite of his meal.

9/18/2041

Luca is 3 months pregnant and Elena is 6 months old. Alicia was at preschool. Luca was checking his job and his blog when he noticed Elena scooting on her tummy.

"Ty, Elena is crawling," he said, happily. "Come and look," he said. Tyree entered the bedroom and glanced at the baby monitor. They went into the living room and watched their little girl move up to the couch.

"Hi there, baby girl," Tyree said, picking her up and hugging her.

"I guess it's time to babyproof everything and get a playpen," Luca said.

Luca posted an announcement on his blog that Elena had started crawling. In seconds, there were replies from people saying, "Send photos," and "She's growing up fast." Luca also posted, "Thanks for the donations." "Only $250,000 to go," Luca opened the link and said, Ty, next time Elena crawls, take a picture," "My followers wants photos,"

"Okay, babe," Tyree said via the link. Luca signed off, then headed to the living room. Luca gasped as he felt a strong kick to his growing stomach. When Tyree heard Luca gasp softly, he asked, "Babe, are you okay?"

"Yea," Luca said, nodding his head. "They just kicked a little too hard," he said. Luca sat down on the couch and rubbed his belly. Tyree slid his hand under Luca's hand and said, "Settle down, my babies." "You're hurting your mama," With that, the kicking stopped.

Tyree pulled out his phone, swiped the screen, and opened the photos app. "I got a photo of our little mover," he said, showing Luca the photo.

"Send it to my email so I can upload it to the blog later," Luca said. A message popped up on Luca's phone. He glanced at it and frowned. "Sender Unknown"

"What's wrong, babe?" Tyree asked.

"It's nothing," Luca said. "Just a spam message," he said, putting the phone away. Later that afternoon, Luca sat at the desk and uploaded the photo of Elena crawling onto his blog.

Luca changed Elena's wet diaper and went to their bedroom. Luca lay down and rested his eyes. Luca woke up to a knock on the front door. He rose from the bed and walked to the door. He opened it and found a young man on the other side.

"I have a delivery for Luca Hodges," the redhead said.

"That's me," he said.

"Sign here," he said, handing Luca the clipboard. Luca signed his name and handed it back.

"Thank you," the young man said, handing Luca a bouquet of red long-stemmed roses. When Luca closed the door, he found Tyree standing behind him.

"Who was that?" Tyree asked.

"A delivery for me," Luca said.

"Who would send you roses?" Tyree asked. Luca glanced at the card.

"It has no name," Luca said. "Did you send these and not tell me?" he asked.

"No, I don't use that company," Tyree said, shaking his head. This time, Luca had a worried look on his face.

Luca turned the card over in his hands and glanced at it. There was nothing written on it. If it wasn't from Tyree, then who sent them?

"Maybe it was one of my followers," Luca said.

"But why would they send roses?" Tyree asked, fiercely.

"I don't know," Luca said. "And you're acting jealous," he said.

"I am not acting jealous," Tyree said, raising his voice. Luca gulped at Tyree's reaction and backed away from him. Tears formed in Luca's eyes.

"I'm going to lie down," he said as he tossed the flowers in the trash can and walked out of the room. Tyree's harsh tone had scared him, and he needed space.