Careless Mistake
by Kelli
Part 36
Christmas 2004...
"Mama that really is an adorable outfit you got Mackenzie," Britney said as she watched her daughter crawl around the floor of the Kentwood mansion.
"It called her name when I saw it in the store," Lynne said in her southern twang.
"You like your dress, don't you, baby?" Britney asked when Mackenzie stopped and looked up at her mommy.
She giggled and smiled as she continued her venture around the room.
Britney started a conversation with her mom again and when Justin came into the room he got there just in time as Mackenzie reached up to pull an ornament off of the tree.
"Oh....no no no, angel," he said scooping her up in his arms.
She didn't like this sudden move and wanted back down so she started to wiggle in his arms as he walked over to the couch where Britney and her mom sat. As soon as he sat down he let Mackenzie down on the floor again to crawl around.
"She tires me out just watching her," Lynne said.
"Justin and I were just talking about this the other day. We said that we were so anxious for her to start crawling and walking but now we didn't realize how good we had it when she just laid there," Britney chuckled.
"Yeah, I'm cutting my workouts down to three times a week because of her," Justin added, which made Lynne laugh.
"Britney was showing me the final plans for the wedding. It looks like everything's coming along well," Lynne said.
Justin nodded. "Yeah....one month from today," he smiled at Britney.
Britney took in a deep breath and when she let it out she smiled.
"Let's open presents," Jamie yelled from the living room.
"Oh God, we're going to need a moving van," Britney said, looking around the room at everything Mackenzie got.
Justin chuckled. "We'll just leave some of it here for her to play with when she visits grandma."
"Good idea," Britney said, looking over at her mom.
Lynne laughed. "That's fine. Especially since I'll be watching her while the two of you are gone on your honeymoon. Jamie Lynn and I will have fun, won't we?"
Jamie Lynn nodded. She had Mackenzie in her lap right now.
"Sure will."
Britney stood up and looked around. "Where did Justin go?" she asked with her hands on her hips.
"I think I saw him go that way," Jamie said pointing down the hallway.
"I'll be back," Britney said as she left the room. "Justin?" she called as she walked down the hallway.
"Pssst," she heard coming from the family room.
She stopped and turned. "What are you doing?" she giggled.
He was standing next to the Christmas tree with a Santa hat on.
"I'm giving you your Christmas present," he said with a huge grin on his face.
"You already gave me one and I thought anything else we were going to wait until tomorrow..." she said entering the room.
He shook his head. "That was only part of it and I couldn't wait until tomorrow...."
"Justin," she said shyly.
He took out a ring that looked like it was solid platinum band.
"A year ago I did something daring," he chuckled. "And I asked you to marry me. I think in my heart I knew you weren't ready for that step with me...."
She nodded with sympathetic eyes as she continued to look up at him.
"So I waited patiently and we had a beautiful child together whom we both love so much....but yet somehow," he said waggling his finger, "there's still room in my heart for my love for you...."
She giggled as her eyes got watery. "This almost sounds like they could be your wedding vows."
He smiled that crooked smile. "Shoot, I never thought of that, I should have saved it," he said with a snap of his finger. "Anyway....I love you, you know that and I wanted to get something special to mark how much we've come in a year."
"A lot has happened to us since Christmas last year," she whispered. She now looked at the ring that he held in between his fingers.
"This is part of your wedding band....I'm going to put this on you today and the other side of it will go on when we get married....this one has a special engraving."
She took the ring from him and tried to read it.
"It's too small," she giggled.
"It says, to the obstacles we've faced together, love conquers all."
"That's sweet," she said, holding out her left ring finger.
He slid it on and butted it against her engagement ring.
"Perfect," she said, looking at them together.
"That's why the band to the engagement ring is thinner, because there's two solid bands that go on either side," he said turning it around on her finger.
She reached up and cupped his cheek. "I love it, thank you."
"You're welcome," he said against her lips.
Suddenly they heard crying.
"That was short lived," Justin chuckled. "I'll go get her. She probably needs to be changed."
Britney looked over at the clock. "Actually she's probably tired."
"Wow, it's later than I thought."
He went back into the living room where everyone was buzzing around straightening up and Jamie Lynn was trying to bounce Mackenzie up and down, trying to get her to stop crying. When she saw her daddy she held her arms out as the tears flowed down her face.
"Come on big girl, you probably need to go to bed."
"Awwwww, night night sweetie," Lynne said as she leaned in and gave Mackenzie a kiss.
After passing her around to everyone so they could get their goodnight kiss in Justin started to head up the stairs and noticed Britney was standing in the doorway.
"I'll go with you," she said, touching his arm. "We'll be back down to help clean up," she said over her shoulder to her family.
Mackenzie was too tired to try to reach for her mommy so she just kept her head resting on his shoulder so that she could see Britney as they climbed the stairs to the bedroom.
"What a day," Britney sighed as Justin set Mackenzie down on the bed to change her diaper.
Britney got the diaper bag and handed it to Justin. Mackenzie could hardly keep her eyes open.
"All that crawling wore you out, didn't it?" Britney asked as she sat down next to the baby.
"Yeah all that showing off is more like it," Justin chuckled.
After he changed her, Britney dressed her for bed and laid her in her crib.
"I'm pretty beat too.....what do you guys usually do after you clean up?" he asked Britney.
She shrugged. "We watch movies...stuff like that."
They headed back downstairs and passed Bryan and Lauren in the hall.
"You guys turning in?" Britney asked as she gave them both hugs.
"Yeah....Lauren's pretty tired. Long drive."
"Yeah," Britney agreed.
"Good night," Justin said.
Once they were out of earshot she whispered back to Justin, "I bet she's pregnant."
"What?" he whispered back.
They stopped in the hallway outside of the living room.
"She's showing all the signs. She looked bloated to me today, but I didn't want to say anything and now she's tired? It's only eight...."
"Brit, I'm tired but it doesn't mean I'm pregnant."
She swatted his arm. "I'm telling you, I bet that's what it is."
"Why wouldn't they tell us, then?"
"Maybe they're waiting until tomorrow....Christmas day," she smiled.
The next morning Justin heard Mackenzie starting to fuss a little in her crib in the corner of the room so he slowly got out of bed and shuffled over to the crib.
"Morning angel," he whispered in a groggy tone.
She stopped fussing when she saw him and held out her arms so he'd pick her up. He lifted her and gave her a kiss.
"Merry Christmas," he said.
After he changed her he took her over to the bed and as carefully as he could he climbed back in and laid Mackenzie down in between he and Britney. When she noticed her mommy laying next to her she started to babble a little bit, with a few "ma ma's" thrown in there for good measure.
Justin rested on his side, with his head propped up on his elbow as he watched Mackenzie on her first Christmas morning. She reached over and gently touched Britney's nose, which was the closest thing to her, then she started to pat it.
"Ow," Britney said, holding her nose and opening her eyes to see what bonked her on the nose.
Justin smiled as he watched Britney's eyes light up when she noticed their daughter next to her.
"Awwww Merry Christmas, baby," she said in a very hoarse tone. She leaned over and gave Mackenzie a kiss on her nose.
Justin cleared his throat which made her look up at him.
"Awwww, Merry Christmas to you too, baby," she said craning her neck as far as she could to reach him. He had to bend down a little so their lips could touch.
"Merry Christmas," he said.
He started to run his fingers through Mackenzie's hair as they both just stared at her.
"Just think, next Christmas we'll be a real family," Britney said.
"We are a real family," Justin corrected.
She looked up at him. "You know what I mean.....we'll be legal," she winked at him.
He chuckled which made Mackenzie look up at him. "Your mommy's silly," he said, giving her a quick kiss on the forehead.
Mackenzie giggled, which made both Justin and Britney laugh.
"You ready for your big day today?" Britney asked as she rubbed Mackenzie's tummy. "We'll have to go see what Santa brought you. Even though all the grandma's and grandpa's and aunts and uncles spoiled you yesterday, Santa gets to spoil you today."
"Should we go down?" Justin asked.
Britney looked at him and shook her head. "Let's just stay here for a little longer....enjoy being just the three of us."
"Good idea."
They laid there with Mackenzie a little while longer and talked about the wedding plans and about her upcoming movie and his promotion for his album.
"We need to discuss what we're going to do with Mackenzie when you're filming and I'm doing promotion," Justin said.
Britney's face fell. "Do we have to think about it today?"
He shook his head. "No....but we need to think about it soon," he said tapping her nose.
"I wish mama could come out," she sighed.
"I can see if my mom can."
"Okay. Oh and Lisa offered to help too, if she could," she said, perking up a little bit.
Justin screwed up his nose. "But she's got Jonathon and Stephen....well and my daddy to take care of. I don't think they'd last without her," he chuckled.
Britney smiled. "True. God, I don't want to go through this again," she said rubbing her forehead.
"Me either...."
He thought about it for a minute. "I'll push my promotion back."
"Justin...." she started to interject.
He shook his head. "No, we have enough pull in our careers that I can have them push the release date until you're finished filming."
She stared at him in shock.
"You'd do that?"
He furrowed his eyebrows. "Of course. It will be easier for me to change things than for you in this case. We can't make this family work if we're not around each other."
She leaned over Mackenzie and kissed him. "Thank you."
He chuckled against her lips. "Don't thank me quite yet. I haven't run this past Jive yet."
When they made it down to the family room where Santa left the presents, Mackenzie had her sippy cup and her PJ's still on while Justin and Britney were still in their robes.
"Your daddy doesn't want to miss this so he'll be here in a few minutes," Lynne told them.
"Oh okay...."
"Well why don't we start with all the presents that aren't Mackenzie's?" Bryan asked as he waded through the many gifts to try to find something without Mackenzie's name on it.
"How are you feeling this morning?" Britney asked Lauren.
Justin nudged her.
"I'm fine, thanks. How are you feeling?" she asked in a curious tone.
"Oh great," she smiled back.
Lynne watched the exchange with an inquisitive look.
When Jamie arrived they set Mackenzie down and had her rip open as many presents that she could. Of course Santa brought her more "junk" to play with and a few cute clothes too.
"Oh look....Santa brought something for Justin," Britney said, picking up a small box and handing it to him.
He smiled at her and let her sit on his lap as he opened the gift.
He pulled out a key.
"What's this to?" he asked.
She smiled mischievously. "You'll find out when the time is right."
"Not fair," he chuckled.
"Now it's our turn...." Bryan said, standing up in the middle of the room. He took Lauren's hand and pulled her up to stand beside him.
Britney wrapped an arm around Justin's shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze and she smiled.