I was done with weddings. We’ve had six more fun, fake ones during our travels, but Mr. Romantic needed something real, and I love him for it. So, we settled on a vow renewal in Italy.
It might not have been where I fell in love with him… that was the summer I became a raging hormonal teenager, spying on him in his boxer briefs through a crack in his door, dancing and singing along to Freddie Mercury.
But Italy is a beautiful country for many reasons, and it gave us hope for our future years ago, making it all the more special now.
“Mummy? Where’s Daddy?” I pick up my sweet Emmeline, our rainbow baby, and sit her on the lounger with me.
“He’ll be right back. He went to get us some water.”
Her eyes scan the beach, and when she sees Jack at the stand, she relaxes, snuggling into my side. She’s a daddy’s girl through and through, never wanting to leave Jackson’s side for even a minute.
Jack and I had to overcome a lot once we started trying for a baby.
It took us almost two years, a few rounds of IVF, and still, nothing worked. Then, one day when we least expected it, I got pregnant naturally.
It was one of the happiest and scariest times of my life.
Pregnancy put a lot of stress on our marriage, friendships, and my overall mental health. Even with a therapist’s help, it took a lot out of me, and unfortunately, I took it out on everyone who came in contact with me, including Jack.
My anxiety was through the roof when I did fall pregnant, especially when it came closer to my due date. If I had gas pains, I would make Jack call our doctor in the middle of the night.
The first time the baby kicked, we were rushing to the hospital.
So, for both of our sanity and after years of suffering through a “negative” test result each month, we eventually decided Emmy is our angel. She is enough.
One and done.
“Hi, Charlie,” Emmy whispers as her older cousin approaches us. Emmeline is infatuated with Charlie, and it’s the sweetest thing ever.
My itty-bitty niece is now a hormonal teenager driving her parents up the wall.
She’s told Wills she has a boyfriend, which, of course, Sadie and I already knew about, and I thought he was going to have a heart attack right there and then.
“Hi, Em.” Charlie smiles and holds out her hand to her wide-eyed cousin. “Do you want to come down and build sand castles with Aoife and me?”
Emmy’s eyes light up and she nods enthusiastically, pausing only when she sees Jack.
“Don’t worry, baby. Daddy won’t go anywhere. You go with your cousins and have fun.”
She thinks about it for a second, ultimately disregarding me, then runs up to cuddle Jack’s leg, climbing it like the gymnast she is.
“Hello, my littlest love.” Jack kisses her.
She gives him a quick cuddle before running off toward all her cousins. “Charlotte, watch her by the water!” I yell after them.
She rolls her eyes, annoyed I’m telling her how to babysit her cousin. “I know, I know.”
“Waters and Aperol Spritzes, wife.”
“Why do you keep sayingwifelike we just married for the first time? We’ve been married for ten years.”
“Feels like the first time all over again.” He smirks.
I raise my eyebrows and give him a blank look. “Really? Because we were blackout drunk in Vegas, and I know you don’t remember one minute of that wedding.”
He taps his head. “Don’t you worry, B, it’s up here somewhere, and one day it’ll come back to me.
“I don’t know about that, old man. Soon you’re going to lose your memories.
