It's been a month since Anthony and Julia announced they were expecting, since then, they have been battling morning sickness and Julia has been limited on how much she can do.

They were in the office when there was a knock on the door, making everyone stop what they were doing as Charlene opened the door to reveal a new client.

"Is Ms. Julia Sugarbaker- Bouvier around?" A man asked.

"Hello, I'm Julia Sugarbaker- Bouvier. How can I help you?" Julia asked as she extended her hand out to shake hands with the man and let him in.

"I was in the neighborhood and I know I'm at the right place when my map ended me to this house, right here." The man said.

"Did you come here for a consultation?" Charlene asked.

"I did. I need to have my dining room renovated for a dinner I'll be having soon because my family is coming to town." The man said.

"We can go over some details of how you would like your dining room to look as we step over here to the book layout.'' Mary Jo said as she brought the man over to look at the layout of different designs.

"How would you like your dining room to look?" Mary Jo asked.

"I thought about a red wallpaper type look." The man said.

"Anything special?" Bernice asked the gentlemen.

"This is our good friend Bernice Clifton." Julia said.

"I'm Arthur Livingston." He held Bernice's hand as he kissed it.

"I could give you some inspiration on how to decorate your dining room." Bernice said as Julia looked and shook her head while smiling.

"Bernice, that's why he's here to pick out some things and we'll see what we can do to make his dream dining room." Charlene said

"Did you know my friend Julia here is expecting?" Bernice questioned as she caressed Julia's stomach.

"Bernice, he's only been here for a few minutes and he can't tell that I'm expecting." Julia said.

"Actually, I can." The man said.

"How?" Suzanne asked as she exchanged looks between Arthur and her older sister.

"By the way she has her hands folded underneath her stomach and I can tell when a woman is pregnant." He said.

"There's no way you could have possibly known that." Suzanne said

"A man can tell when a lady is expecting. I have three children and my ex wife never had to tell me after our first born." He said.

"What are you? A psychic?" Mary Jo asked him.

"No, I'm just a farmer ma'am." He said.

"Well, I'm pregnant and my husband is out making deliveries, too bad you won't have time to meet him." Julia said.

"That's alright ma'am, maybe another time we could meet." He said.

"Well, Mr. Livingston, all I need you to do is go over there to fill out some paperwork with our office manager, Charlene and I'll look over your contract tonight." Julia said.

''Sounds great." He said as he filled out his paperwork and went on his way.

...

All five ladies decided to join Anthony for lunch at the country club as they all sat down when Julia told Anthony about their new client.

"He said he could tell Julia was pregnant." Suzanne told Anthony as he smiled at Julia.

"Well, I think that's just a bit crazy if you ask me." Anthony said.

"I don't know, he said he wasn't a psychic and he told us that he could tell when his ex wife was pregnant with their last two children." Julia said.

"He seemed like a good guy, but a bit odd." Mary Jo said.

"All men are odd." Suzanne said

"Well Suzanne, you keep marrying men and sucking them dry for alimony." Julia said as the waiter came and took their orders.

"It's going to so exciting having a new baby in the office." Charlene said

"We know it'll be a challenge, but we'll be there every step of the way." Mary Jo said

"Well, thank you all and maybe y'all should come over every morning at six o'clock." Anthony said.

"Oh no, they should not. The first trimester has been a roller coaster for me and you both. Payne was not as bad in this part of the first trimester." Julia said.

"Have you tried saltines and ginger ale?" Mary Jo asked her.

"Yes and it helps sometimes." Julia said as Anthony rubbed her shoulder.

"Well, besides the insensitive nausea and barely having any energy all day and going to bed early every night. Even right now, all I want to do is take a nap." Julia said

"How about this Julia, when we get back to your house, you can take a nap and just rest." Charlene said.

"I can't do that. I have a business to run." Julia said.

"We know that, but what's the harm in just taking a nap?" Charlene questioned.

"Everything, I have to keep y'all from getting yourselves in trouble.'' Julia said.

"Julia, we totally understand how you feel right now, pregnancy has it's up and downs. It's all apart of the first trimester and these three months will fly by and then, you'll be in your second trimester for three months and then, your third trimester and little Paige or Presley will be here." Mary Jo said.

"I love the name Paige." Julia said

"Well, you have Payne and so, you'll be that mom who names her children with the letter 'p' for the beginning of their first name." Charlene said.

"Well, Payne was named after mine and Suzanne's paternal great grandfather." Julia said.

"You can name your child after your mother." Mary Jo said.

"Our mother would be appalled if she knew we named our child Perky." Julia said as Suzanne smirked.

"Imagine them naming my niece or nephew Perky, mother would have a tizzy about that." Suzanne said, imagining her mother's reaction if her grandchild was named after her first name.

"Speaking of mother, she'll be here Friday." Julia said

"Yes I know this." Suzanne said.

"I'm going to pick her up at the airport and she'll figure who she's staying with." Julia said.

"She can stay with me, I like when I have someone else there with me besides Consuela." Suzanne said.

"Mother would love that and it'll give y'all some time to bond." Julia said.

"Well, you have Anthony now which always made mother worry when you were single and living by yourself." Suzanne said.

"The worst part about being alone for me was when Hayden passed away and Payne moved out, but like Suzanne said, I don't have to worry about living or being alone anymore." Julia said as she placed her hand on her stomach.

"Anthony, did you happen to get those books I gave to you to read?" Charlene asked.

"I did and some of the facts about being in the delivery room made me feel like I need to study a lot more." Anthony said.

"Do y'all have a birthing plan?" Mary Jo asked.

"We're only in the first trimester Mary Jo, but we plan on having our baby in the same hospital we were both born in and I might try that epidural." Julia said.

"You'll love it." Mary Jo said as everyone laughed.

...

Later on that day

Julia was going through the mail when she came across a letter addressed to Anthony as she sat it down, knowing it was probably a personal letter from someone he knew.

He came in a little later as Julia was working on picking out sketch designs for Tony and Cassandra Hall's kitchen remodel as Julia looked up for a brief moment.

"Darling, there's a letter on my desk addressed to you." Julia said as Anthony found it and walked into the storeroom to open it.

"What was that all about?"Charlene asked

"It's a private letter ladies and he might want to read it in silence." Julia said.

"Julia, any man who gets a letter and walks off is obviously hiding something." Charlene said as Julia looked up from the sketches.

"Ladies, I would know if my husband was hiding something. I'll go see what's going on and like I said, it was a personal letter addressed to him." Julia said as she knocked on the door to the store from as she entered seeing Anthony still reading the letter.

"Anthony?" Julia asked.

"He's coming back." Anthony said as Julia wondered who it could be.

"Who's coming back darling?" Julia questioned as she sat down at the table across from him.

"My father. He wants to be apart of our lives and he said he was sorry for missing our wedding." Anthony said.

"He visited us one time and we were not even together." Julia said.

"Now we are and do you think he deserves to apart of our child's life?" Anthony asked her.

"That's an awfully hard dilemma Anthony." Julia said.

"I'm having mixed feelings about him coming." Anthony said.

"I know darling, but maybe this might be a good thing." Julia said.

"And if it's not?" Anthony asked.

"Then, we'll continue on like we've always done. It took a lot for us to get here and we held back because of fear, but you had a way of showing me that everything will be alright." Julia said as Anthony held her and kissed her head.

"I love you Julia." Anthony said.

"I love you too Anthony." She said as he kissed her.

...

Soon, the work day ended and the ladies were getting ready to go home as Julia was talking over some last minute details.

"I'll just be glad when this whole project is done and over with." Charlene said.

"I mean plastering wallpaper to every crevice of that kitchen is hard enough because those corners are cati-cornered." Mary Jo said.

"Just think after the project is done and over with, we'll have a substantial check and we won't have to go back there for awhile." Julia said.

"Well, I can deal with that, only if it means that I won't have to deal with being told that I don't have enough plaster." Mary Jo said as Julia smiled.

"Mary Jo, did you still need a ride home due to your car being in the shop?" Charlene asked.

"Yeah, I can't wait to get another car because I have had it up to here with my "mom" wagon." Mary Jo said.

"Mary Jo, your car is not that bad." Anthony said.

"Yeah, but according to everybody I'm just not "cool" enough." Mary Jo said.

"Well Mary Jo, we think you're pretty awesome." Anthony said.

"But I hate my car and I want to get a new one." Mary Jo said.

"If it makes you feel any better Mary Jo, Anthony has been talking about selling his car." Julia said.

"Seriously Anthony?" Mary Jo asked.

"I never drive it anymore and it's a good car." Anthony said.

"How much do you want for it?" Mary Jo asked.

"I don't even know where to begin to put a price on it, but maybe we can put a payment plan to where you don't have to pay the whole price at once." Anthony said.

"Sounds great!" Mary Jo said.

"Since tomorrow is Friday, would you be interested in taking a test drive in it?" Anthony asked.

"Sure." Mary Jo said.

"And the other thing about his car is I don't know if I like the idea of our child being taken home from the hospital in it." Julia said.

"Julia, you have a Buick and I don't trust your driving." Suzanne said

"Well Suzanne, your Mercedes smells like a pig." Julia said.

"That's because Noel rides with me sometimes." Suzanne said.

"Suzanne, when our child is born, keep your pig away from my son or daughter." Anthony said

"Noel would not hurt a fly." Suzanne said.

"I've seen Noel terrorize Consuela and that is not going to happen to our child." Julia said.

"Consuela makes it seem like Noel is a little hell raiser, but I promise she's not." Suzanne said.

"When we bring our baby home from the hospital, please keep Noel either outside or you can stay home." Julia said.

"Fine, you'll listen to some woman who performs ancient voodoo on me, but won't listen to me talk about Noel." Suzanne said.

"Babies are easily scared by big, pink animals that oink at them." Julia said.

"Fine, I'll keep Noel at home, but I know that my niece or nephew will love her in the future." Suzanne smiled as everyone exchanged looks and shook their heads at her.

Author's Note: Hey y'all! I just wanted to say that I'm really enjoying writing this book because if you're like me and love Designing Women and you have Hulu, then you can watch all seven seasons because that's mostly what I binge watch. Anyway, enjoy and I hope y'all have a great day! ❤