- - - - - Six Months Later - - - - -
~ Audrey ~
Audrey was staring in front of her laptop for the longest time. A word document page full of words was staring back at her. She thought for a moment before her hand reached for the keyboards again. And just as she was about to start typing, she heard a loud cry coming from the next room.
Audrey immediately knew what that cry meant. After listening to her baby's cries for six months, Audrey could tell what she needed just by the way she cried. Getting up to her feet, Audrey quickly went to the nursery. She opened the door to see Killian and Virginia, their postpartum doula, picking up baby Grace from her crib.
Yes, following their busy schedules, Killian and Audrey thought it'd be a great idea to have a doula live in their home and help with the baby. Virginia was a highly experienced postpartum doula in her mid fifties. She had great insights and support on infant feeding, infant soothing, and coping skills for new parents. She also helped with light housework around the house. But even though they had Virginia, Killian and Audrey still refused to leave baby Grace alone. They wanted to be near her at all times. This was why Audrey started working from her bedroom and Killian worked from home seven days a week. He hadn't stepped foot in the office for the past six months.
"Sweetheart, I think she's hungry," Killian said as he held the baby. "I've checked her diaper and hold her, but she still won't stop crying,"
"Here, let me see," Audrey stepped closer and took baby Grace from him.
Killian was right. Grace was hungry. It had been four hours since her last meal. Audrey could hear it in her cries.
"I will get the baby food ready," Virginia said as she left the room.
Audrey held baby Grace close to her chest and her cries died down. Even though she wasn't directly breastfeeding her, it gave Grace the illusion that she was. And it was making her calm.
"Did you manage to get a lot of work done?" Killian asked.
"I did several more pages, I feel pretty good about it," Audrey replied.
For the past several months, Audrey was working on her latest project, a script for a Broadway play. She hadn't figured out the title yet, but the story revolved around a young girl caught in a love triangle. There was also class-A action involved, like gang wars and billionaire family dramas. She had written all the way up to the last act, and now she just had to figure out the ending.
"How about you?" Audrey asked. She knew Killian had been busy too. Not only that he was heading two of the largest corporations in America, but he also just made Forbes's World's 25 richest billionaires list. Killian was really taking the world by storm.
"I did okay, but there's always more to do," he shrugged nonchalantly. He'd be doing billion dollar deals from his living room and he acted like it was nothing. "Hey, listen. If you wanna get more work done, just tell me. I can take a few days off work. The doula and I can handle her, you don't even have to lift a finger,"
Killian had been very generous with his time and energy. The world may be impressed by what he did with money and power, but this was what impressed Audrey the most. The fact that he was willing to drop everything for their baby girl.
"No, that's okay. I wanna do this too," Audrey said reassuringly. "But are you sure you're gonna keep working from home? It'll be fine if you wanna go to the office several days a week. Virginia and I can handle it,"
"Nah, I can work anywhere," Killian shook his head. "What's the point of having all this money if I can't be around my family?"
Audrey couldn't help but smile at his words. Those were her favorite words now. She stepped closer to Killian and stood on her tippy toes, placing a long and tender kiss on his cheek.
My family. My world. My everything.
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~ Killian ~
"Finally, I got her to fall asleep," Killian announced triumphantly as he entered the living room. Audrey was lying on the couch, reading a book. She smiled when she saw him walking in. Killian then glanced at the clock and saw it was a little over 9 PM. "We'll have exactly… four hours if we wanna do some work before she wakes up again," he joked.
Killian sat down next to Audrey on the couch. She immediately rested her head on his shoulder as he opened his arms. Killian let out a deep breath as he tightened his grip around Audrey. They were seated facing the fireplace. The room was warm and cozy. He felt nothing but still calmness and warmth.
"Hmm. This is really nice," Audrey sighed, taking the words right out of his mouth. "Like, don't get me wrong, I love our baby. But sometimes I love the quietness too,"
"Yeah, I know what you mean,"Killian agreed.
With the baby and everything that was happening at work, Killian and Audrey barely had any time for themselves. Finding little moments like this in between their day was something special. Even though it was only five to ten minutes of being together in comfortable silence, Killian loved it. This was why he never wanted to leave his house.
Sitting here with her next to the fireplace. My handsrunning down her arm. Her chest slowly rising up and down with her breaths. This right here is priceless.
"Hey, what are you looking at?" Killian glanced down and noticedAudrey's eyes were glued to the large windows overlooking the backyard. He could see that light white snow was falling outside.
"I'm just admiring our tree. I can't believe it's Christmas already," she said.
Killian looked up to see the ginormous Christmas tree they put up in the living room, right in front of the windows. It was so big and tall. It made the room smell like a forest. The tree was also heavily decorated with lights and ornaments. And on the bottom, there laid boxes after boxes of gifts.
"It's Grace's first Christmas too," Killian noted.
"I think you went a bit overboard with the gifts, don't you think?" Audrey said.
"I want nothing butthe best for my girls," he shrugged.
There were maybe about fifty boxed gifts under the tree. There were so many of them, they ran out of space on the floor and it was stacked up at another corner of the room. Most of them were gifts for baby Grace. Although she won't remember it, Killian would remember it. It was as much for him as it was for her.
"She's only six months old. She doesn't evenknow what toys are," Audrey giggled. "She'll play with the box more than the actual toy,"
"That's fine, anything as long as she's happy," Killian replied."And as long as my wife's happy,"
"Oh, I'm very happy," she smiled and turned to him.
"Yeah?"
"Aw, come on," he rolled his eyes.
"I'm serious. I see the way you handle her and you're a natural," she paused for a beat and bit her lip. "…And it kinda makes me feel like I wanna have more babies with you,"
"What?" hegaped.
"I want more kids. And thenthey'll see what a great father you are," she shrugged.
"Are you serious?" Killian narrowed his eyes.
In the midst of their busy schedule, the topic of having more kids hadn't been explored. Killian obviously wanted more kids. He wanted a big family.But he was afraid Audrey might feel overwhelmed, so he never said anything.
"I'm one thousand percent serious," Audrey blushed as she looked up at him. "I wanna have more of your babies,"
Killian's heart just skippeda beat. He couldn't stop the smile forming on his face.
Audrey smiled back and she pushed him against the couch. Then she climbed on his lap and straddled him. "You said we have four hours?" she teased.
"Audrey…" Killian wanted to speak, but a lump was caught in his throat. He was at a loss for words.
Audrey bit her lip and stared at him seductively. Killian could feel the blood rushing through his body. He couldn't help but swallow hard.
Audrey then leaned for his neckand whispered into his ear, "Please, daddy. Put a baby in me,"
And Killian lost it. His entire body burned with desire. He picked herup and threw her down on the couch in one swift move. She was lying flat on her stomach and he climbed on top of her, claiming what was his.
The fire in the fireplace continued to crackle as Killian made love to his woman. He tasted and savored each inch of her skin. So many things had happened in his life within the past year, but nothing could compare to thefullness he felt when he was with her. Not the highs or the lows. Even the worst thing that happened was manageable because he had her and they walked through it together. And though the future was still full of uncertainties, Killian was convinced that he could do anything as long as he had her. She was a ray of light in this dark and harsh world. She was the blood that kept his heart pumping. She was and forever will be his everything.
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