Another couple of weeks came by, along with the middle of my pregnancy. Christmas was also nearing. My doctor had to dismay me though; I was still happy about Marisol coming sooner, so this news couldn’t bring me down too much, even if it was pretty bad.


“You’re over halfway done with your pregnancy,” She stated as I was preparing to leave.


“And?” I asked. What was she getting at?


“We’re going to have to have an appointment every two weeks just to make sure that everything is alright.”


“Is this another one of your jokes?”


“No, but we’ll have to take extra care for her polio,” She trailed off.


“What?”


“I’m joking.”


She was laughing hysterically by now.


“You’re not funny!”


“Calm down, Heather,” Alejandro said, placing a hand on my shoulder. I knew that he got annoyed with her antics as much as I did, but he didn’t show it.


“I think I’m funny, but,” She took a breath to compose herself, “I’ll schedule you for an appointment a week after Christmas.”


“Alright,” I groaned.


I could honestly say that I was not looking forward to seeing her again.


We left the office soon after and got into Alejandro’s car to get ready for the trek home.


“I forgot to mention: my mom asked me this morning before you woke up if we could pick out a tree. She wants to have all of the decorating done before my dad gets home next week. I told her that we could. Is that okay with you? I know how tired you’ve been getting lately.”


“Yeah, that’s fine,” I replied, “I’ll come with you.”


He nodded and started driving. Before I knew it, we were heading up to a tree farm. Wait—what?


"Why are we here?" I asked in surprise.


I guess he was surprised that I asked, "I told you that we were going to get a tree."


"I know that," I exasperated, "But at a tree farm?


"We get a real tree every year. It’s kind of a tradition.”


I took a look over to my right to see tiny little pine trees growing. Farther over were ones that were full grown. To add to the displeasure of being at a tree farm, fluffy, white snow covered every stretch of land in sight. Great.


"Why?" I felt my face cringe up a little as I stared out the window.


"I don't know," He replied, "We always have."


"Oh."


He parked in front of what looked like a large metal barn or a shed or something; I had no clue what it was. Inside the dim light that came in from outside, I could see green figures. They were probably trees.


I had never had to do this before so I was clueless of went on at this place. My parents had always just ordered someone else to bring one in from who-knows-where and had them set it up.


We got out of the car and Alejandro led us to some people dressed in heavy working clothes. A woman with her hair tied back started pointing and talking—which I didn't really pay attention to. Before I knew it, Alejandro was calling, "Come on, mi amor."


"Right," I muttered before following him.


We started to trudge through the snow and rows of pine trees. After a while, it got tiring. I had no idea what I was supposed to be doing anyway.


"Are we almost done?" I complained, "My feet hurt."


He turned around to face me, a smirk on his face, "I'll carry you."


"Huh?"


Suddenly, I was hoisted onto his back. He gripped onto my thighs and wrapped my arms around his neck. He turned his head towards me, "Better?"


"Yeah," I smiled.


We eventually found a tree. It was rich in green color and had what Alejandro referred to as "long-needled." The tree was really bushy, not to mention soft to the touch. After the tree was paid for and tied onto the roof of his car—which I have to admit looked quite funny—we started back to his house.


The tree was left on the car for a while. We made our way up the stairs of the porch and through the doorway. I was cut off guard by two small, running bodies; I would have fallen if it hadn't been for Alejandro catching me.


"What was—“ I couldn't finish my sentence because I was cut off by two voices yelling in unison.


"Uncle Alejandro!"


He knelt down to the ground and hugged two little kids. What?


My guess was that they were four or so. There was a girl and a boy. Both of them had tan skin and brown hair (The girl's hair was down to her mid-back while the boy's hair was a mop on his head.) When they released from their hug with Alejandro, I noticed that they both had dark brown eyes. The boy was dressed in a pair of red corduroy overalls and a green, long-sleeved shirt underneath. He had a pair of white socks on his feet. The girl was dressed in a green corduroy dress, a long-sleeved red shirt, and white tights.

"Te extrañé, [1] Adrian, Clementine."


I was guessing that Adrian was the boy and Clementine was the girl.


“Come here you two, don’t bother your uncle,” A woman said as she came out of the living room. She had light skin, dark brown eyes, and long brown hair in waves down to her waist. She had on a snug red sweater and skinny jeans.


Alejandro stood up from the floor, “They’re not bothering me.”


Suddenly, the woman turned towards me, ignoring Alejandro’s statemen, “Oh, you must be Heather; I’m Vanessa, Carlos’ wife” She held her hand out for me to shake, which I did.


She looked down at the two little kids who were hugging Alejandro’s leg, “Let’s go finish getting the decorations out, okay?”


Both of them nodded and followed her back into the living room.


“Well, I guess you’ve figured that that was my niece and nephew,” Alejandro said, walking closer to me.


“You never told me you were an uncle,” I smirked.


“It never crossed my mind to mention it.”


“Well, with the way you act with them, I know that you’ll make a great father, and you better because you’re going to have to do just as much work as I will when Marisol comes.”


“You can count on that,” He replied. He leaned in and we embraced in a kiss. From the living room doorway, we could hear two little voices in unison, “Ew!”


The rest of that day went by pretty smoothly. The tree was brought in and set up in its stand with plenty of water in it.


I ended up going to bed before Alejandro, as usual. I was about to fall asleep when he came in.


“Any room for me?” He chuckled.


I turned away from the wall to face him, “There’s only room for two.”


“Well, that’s good,” He started pulling up the blanket to get into the bed.


I put my hand on his chest, laughing slightly, “I said that there’s only room two, meaning Marisol and me.”


We both laughed and he slipped in next to me. We both ended up drifting off the slip with his arms wrapped around my abdomen.