Thrive

The rest of dinner went without a hitch and so did our evening of fun in the bedroom; to say it was something we so desperately needed would be an understatement. The following morning, I was snuggling up to Alex as I had the best sleep I’ve had in weeks. When I felt a hand travel down my leg, I made a sound of contentment, but I didn’t dare open my eyes.

“Abby.”

“Mmm...”

Then, I heard my alarm and groaned into his chest.

“No...”

He laughed.

“We need to get up.”

I didn’t respond; I only shook my head.

“Have you forgotten that we need to pick up our daughter?”

My eyes jolted open.

“I haven’t. I’m just comfortable right now. Obviously, I do miss her.” I sighed.

I sat up slightly and looked up at him. He pulled me up toward his face and kissed me.

“I love you.” he said against my lips.

“I love you, too.”

Soon, I was completely on his lap with him running his hands up and down my back.

“Alex... we don’t have time for this. You know that? I know you miss her, too.”

“I do. Let’s go.” he said kissing me once more.

“That does feel good, though.” I whispered.

I climbed off his lap and made my way off the bed. I walked to the bathroom, turned on the water and hopped into the shower. He was grabbing a towel out of the bathroom closet when I stepped out.

“Hey, Handsome.” I said.

“Hey, Beautiful.”

I wrapped a towel around my body before he could get any ideas. Ten minutes later as I was drying my hair, he came out of the shower.

“I have a suggestion about something.” he said.

How I managed to hear him, I’ll never know, but I did turn it off to answer him.

“About what?”

“How does going out for breakfast sound after we pick up Scarlett?”

“Sounds great. Breakfast out as a family.” I said with a smile.

Twenty minutes later, we were out of the house and on our way to my mom and Tyler’s house. I got out of the car as soon as we pulled out front and shut the door, not bothering to wait for Alex.

“Abby! Wait up!”

I paused for five seconds until he caught up; thus, began our short walk to their house. I leaned into Alex after I knocked on the door. Tyler answered the door while I wondered where my mom and Scarlett were.

“It’s so good to see you.” I said hugging him.

“You too.”

“How was Scarlett?”

“A little fussy as I would expect her to be without her mommy and daddy, but other than that, wonderful.” my mom said from across the room.

I smiled.

“That’s a relief. I was more worried about her being more emotional.”

I walked into the house to see her holding the princess; she smiled the second she saw me. My mom handed her over and I about melted looking into her eyes.

“I missed you so much baby girl.” I said, rocking her.

Alex came up from behind and wrapped his arms around me.

“Hi sweetie. Daddy missed you, too.”

He lightly touched her cheek causing her to giggle. I looked up to the sight of my mom putting her phone away.

“What were you just doing?” I asked.

My phone then vibrated.

“You’ll see.” she said with a smirk.

I raised an eyebrow.

“What are you talking about?”

“I told you.”

I shook my head.

“Whatever you say, Mom.”

“It’s a good thing. Trust me.”

“Ok. Well, thank you guys for watching her. We truly do appreciate it.”

“We loved having her.”

After maybe five more minutes, we were out of their house and into Alex’s car. While he was buckling her in, I opened up my phone and saw a message my mom sent me; I smiled immediately.

“Look.” I said smacking his arm.

He just sat down in the driver’s seat.

“Ow! What?”

I shoved my phone into his hand.

“I love your mom.”

It was a picture she took just moments ago of Alex, Scarlett and I.

“Says she wants us to post it. I gotta find the perfect caption for it.”

“That shouldn’t be too hard.”

“I agree.”

I decided to not do anything about that till we got to the restaurant. Scarlett was asleep even as I took her out of her car seat.

“Could she get any cuter?” I said, placing her in my wrap.

“I don’t think that’s even possible.” he said touching the fine hair on her head.

She stayed asleep; I loved it. I ordered an orange juice after I got her situated.

"So, what else do you feel like doing today?" he asked.

"I don't know.”

I shook my head and sighed.

“Something’s on your mind. What is it?”

“I can return to work in the next couple of weeks, but I cannot bear the thought of leaving her. How do you do it? I know it’s different, but...”

He placed his hands on top of my clenched fists and I put on a small smile.

“I think about the fact that although I’m not physically there, I can see and talk to her every day. It’s definitely not easy.”

I nodded and glanced over to the other person who quickly and effortlessly stole my heart.

“I may have to cut my hours if I can. Before her, I worked till eight or nine. Now, that’s past her bedtime.”

"You'll figure it out. I know you will and I'll support whatever decision you make."

I leaned across the table to kiss him.

"I love you so much. You know that? Right?"

“I love you, too.” he said after kissing me.

A smile was back on my face as I found the perfect caption for that picture. I slid it to Alex for him to look at before I posted it.

"How about this?"

Family is everything. Big thanks to my mom for taking the candid pic! #family #love

"It's perfect. I love it."

Breakfast thankfully went better as it was less emotional, but still quite enjoyable; Scarlett didn’t make much of a fuss since she is typically a dream when we’re out and about. Once breakfast was over, we decided to go out and have a day as a family.

"So, where shall we go, M'lady?" he asked when we got into the car.

I laughed.

“To the park, Sir.” I said with an accent.

“You are terrible when it comes to accents.” he said laughing.

I pushed him.

“Doesn’t stop me though.”

“Nothing stops you from doing anything.”

He still makes me feel like I’m the most amazing human being, let alone woman in the world and that feeling never gets old.

“You’re seriously too much sometimes. You know that?”

He shrugged.

“With hardly any effort also.”

That caused him to blush.

We eagerly headed to the park and made it there within ten minutes. I wrapped my arms around his middle like yesterday and rested my head against his back when he opened the door to retrieve Scarlett.

“What’s the hug for?”

“Just ‘cause.”

I stayed there for a few more seconds before I unraveled my arms from him. Once we got her out and into her stroller, we made our way to the track at the park and I melted as I watched Alex push her in her stroller; I loved this. This truly what a family is and should be cherished at all costs.

Notes

Finally. I never thought I'd get this chapter up, but I'm so relieved because I worked hard on it. Sorry for the wait!