“You’re too good to me,” I said, before taking a bite of bacon.
“You deserve it.”
I watched him and our baby girl leave the room before I cleared my plate and finished off my orange juice, along with my vitamins. With my stomach full, I set the tray aside and collapsed into the plush pillows. My head had barely touched them before I was asleep again.
When I woke up an hour later, I eased myself from the bed, wincing slightly from my soreness. I wrapped my fuzzy robe around me and slid on my slippers to combat the winter cold that seeped through the window. I padded out of the bedroom and with no sign of Ayah or Jeremiah, I continued on down thehallway toward her nursery. I heard soft murmurs coming from inside.
I stopped in the doorway and watched as Jeremiah read her a book of nursery rhymes, as he held her in the crook of his arm. She was most definitely asleep, but it didn’t stop him from going all out, changing his voice with each character. It was the most heartfelt thing I had ever witnessed. I couldn’t help but giggle when he brought his voice up to a pitch I had never heard before.
He looked up suddenly at my laugh and his cheeks turned a shade of red. He smiled sheepishly as he gently closed the book.
“No, don’t stop,” I said, taking a step into the room.
“I think she’s asleep anyway, and I know from the look on your face that I will never live that voice down.”
I put my hand over my mouth and stifled a giggle. He rolled his eyes and carried Ayah to her crib, gently settling her down. He carefully swaddled her arms and legs in a muslin blanket and met me by the door.
“You’re really good at that,” I said. “Are you sure you haven’t done this before?”
“What?” he asked, putting his hands on his hips. “Had a baby with a beautiful stranger who I met over a box of sex toys?”
“Jeremiah!” I said wide-eyed, before covering my mouth because of my shrill voice.
He chuckled to himself before placing his hand on my back and leading me out of the room. “Let’s get out of here before you wake up our sweet girl,” he said.
He led me to the couch where he sat me down and pulled my legs over his own. He slipped off my slippers and began kneading his knuckles into the arch of my foot. I groaned in pleasure and leaned my head back.
“Now that’s a sound I’ll miss these next few weeks,” he said mischievously.
“Doctor’s orders,” I said with a dramatic sigh, not looking forward to the next six weeks. “But I’ll settle for these foot rubs anytime.”
He grinned at me as he grabbed my other foot and began running his thumb from my heel up to my toes. It felt glorious after having spent the last few months waddling around with my growing bump. I looked over at the video monitor on the coffee table and saw Ayah was sound asleep.
It felt like all we would be doing for a while was eating and sleeping, like we were in some strange time warp of postpartum bliss. I liked it though. Doing all of this with Jeremiah. He had taken the next several weeks off work to stay home with me and the baby. The office was in safe hands, especially now thateveryone had seen the more human side of Jeremiah. The man I knew and loved.
“I’m so happy you’re here with me,” he murmured as he looked up at me, his hands stilling on my bare foot. “I almost lost you. Almost lostthis.”
“But you didn’t,” I said reassuringly, as I pulled my legs from his lap and sidled up next to him. I put my hand against his cheek tenderly.
“I know.” He shook his head, as if chasing away the bad thoughts. “I just hate to think I would have missed all of this.”
“Is it everything you thought it would be?” I asked, searching his blue eyes.
“It’s nothing like I expected. It’s intense. I think more so because of the love I have for Ayah. And you. It just makes everything so…real. I know it will be more challenging than any job I’ve ever had. But it’s better than I ever imagined.”
I nodded, agreeing with every word, yet somehow still in awe that the man before me was mine. My daughter’s father. My love that I had been wanting in life. I couldn’t understand how life had brought me here. As if reading my thoughts, he leaned in and softly kissed my forehead, reassuring me this wasn’t a dream.
Chapter 60
Jeremiah
Iwoke up on the couch and stretched my arms before sitting up. I looked around groggily. Outside, it was still snowing, specks of white falling softly against the gray cloud covered sky. I stood up from the plush cream couch and walked over to the large windows to look out at the city that was now covered in a white sheet of snow.
I took a deep breath and smiled down at the city I loved. This was one of my favorite times of year, when Manhattan got its first snow. I had spent many evenings up here alone watching the first snowflake fall, though I would never admit that to anyone. They probably wouldn’t believe me, anyway.
I yawned and rubbed away the sleep from my eyes, wondering how long I had slept for. It had to have been a few hours if the city was now covered in white frost. There was no sign of Sadie, though we had fallen asleep together in my favorite way, withher head on my chest. I loved running my fingers through her soft hair, breathing in her warm vanilla scent.
Then I heard a rustling on the other side of the couch and curiously went to see what it was. My eyes fell on Ayah, who was stirring in her sleep in the small cot we had gotten at Sadie’s baby shower. Erica had bought it for us, insisting it was a godsend to be able to bring it anywhere. I looked down at the small white mesh cot with my entire world tucked inside.
