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Liam gave me an encouraging look as he put his hand against the small of my back. “I know this is hard to handle, but we have to start somewhere. If we don’t now, we never will have time for ourselves.”
While I knew he was right, I couldn’t bring myself to give her up.
Tears welled in my eyes, but the gentle circles he traced against my back helped. I couldn’t help but think I was being ridiculous, but at the same time, those feelings were valid.
“How about this,” he began, gazing at me without an ounce of judgment in his eyes. “We can try the first few days at the resort, and if you hate it and want to come home, we’ll cut the trip early. I don’t want you to hurt by being away, but I want to try.”
While it still meant leaving Leah behind while we went off on our trip, it did seem like a reasonable compromise. At the very least, it took away the pressure of having to be there for the full week.
“Okay,” I breathed, trying to instill myself with enough courage. “I don’t want to ruin our honeymoon and babymoon, so we just have to get this part over with. I’ll be fine. I know I will.”
A gentle smile moved across his lips, and Liam smiled. He brushed his palm against the small swell of my belly, where baby number two was comfortably growing. “That’s the first step. We will both miss her, but Leah will be taken great care of by her Aunt Olivia.”
With a gentle grin, Olivia stepped forward after having witnessed my almost meltdown. She had incredible patience for not running away the moment I started questioning our trip.
“If it helps, I’ll send you guys as many pictures as I can. I promise we will both be on our best behavior,” she said encouragingly.
At the very least, the way Olivia’s presence made Leah brighten up helped ease my nerves even more. She was a great Aunt to her, and she always cherished every second of their time together. I had absolute faith that she was more than capable of babysitting for us.
Pulling in a deep breath, I nodded, then gave Leah a big kiss on the cheek. “Oh god, this is going to be so hard. But I can do this. I’ll be fine,” I murmured, hugging her.
Liam wrapped his arms around me, pulling us both in for a comforting embrace. “Everything will be just fine. We’ll enjoy our time and have more than enough stories to tell when we get back.”
Aware of how right he was, I nodded.
With our final squeezes and kisses, I handed Leah to Olivia and tried to ignore the slight panic that tried to rise in my chest.
“It’s going to be great,” Olivia added, holding our daughter close but still allowing her to see us. “Have fun, you two.”
“Thank you for this,” I said, grateful for her despite how I could barely pull myself away from our little girl. “It means so much that we get to do this.”
“Anytime. That’s what Aunties are for,” she said with a smile. Turning her attention to Leah, she showed her to wave, using a gentle tone. “Say bye!”
With her contagious grin, Leah waved with her aunt, babbling to us upon our departure. It warmed my heart, and it took everything in my power not to stay behind.
But with all his encouragement and affection, Liam gently kissed my forehead and urged me forward. “We’re going to miss our flight if we don’t go now.”
Aware of the time restraints, I nodded, and we finally continued through before the plane could leave without us.
Tearing myself away from Leah was incredibly difficult, but with Liam by my side, he made it easier on me and my emotions.
Once we boarded the plane and were taking off, he put a gentle hand against my stomach.
“You were incredibly brave back there. Leah and this little one are lucky to have you.”
With a swell of love and reassurance, I leaned my head against his shoulder and pulled in a deep breath.
“This vacation is going to be amazing,” I said, believing it more and more as I grew accustomed to being away. “But I can’t wait to be back and making new memories with our little family.”
While I was excited to have alone time with my husband, to reconnect and express our love for each other, I held that idea close to my heart and found myself looking forward to every moment we would eventually share.
*****
THE END
