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“See you,” Cass called out knowingly as I went in to check on my little girl. I walked into the nursery, as soon as she spotted me her cries stopped.
“Really?” I asked her. “You’ve got me wrapped around your little finger, don’t you?” I laughed, lifting her out of the crib. After checking her nappy was clean, I carried her into the kitchen to heat up a bottle. I was amazed at how naturally motherhood had come to me. Being the anxious, nervous person I was, I was sure that being a mother would only increase my anxieties. It was the opposite though. My confidence in myself had soared, which went a long way with my abilities of controlling my feelings. Even with Simon, I had been able to rationally work through the kiss with Claire. Once I’d calmed down anyway.
Mirabella latched onto the bottle like she’d never been fed. I laughed at the speed she was gulping down the formula. No wonder she was packing on the weight. She finished her feed and I was burping her when Simon walked in. He stared at me hesitantly, not knowing what to expect.
“Hi,” I smiled, rocking Mirabella on my chest while gently rubbing her back.
“Hey,” he said, “I missed you.” He sauntered over to me, kissing my cheek and stroking his daughters’ head. “You’re a natural,” he commented.
“Yeah, this is easy,” I said waving my hand, not mentioning the two hours’ sleep I got last night when she decided that sleep was overrated.
“Do you want me to take her?” he asked, his arms out ready. I placed her in his arms, watching as his face lit up. “God she is beautiful,” he murmured. He walked into the nursery with me behind him and rocked her gently in his arms. It wasn’t long before she had fallen back asleep.
“This is the bit that had me pulling my hair out last night,” I whispered as he placed her in the crib. She stirred, then snuggled into the blankets he had wrapped snugly around her. “Show-off,” I said to him, poking my tongue out. He chuckled, leading me out of the room.
“I missed you, did I tell you that?” he said, running his fingers across my cheek.
“You might have. How was your time with Maddie?” I asked, letting him pull me closer to him. I breathed in his aftershave, the smell making me weak at the knees.
“It was great. Mom loved seeing her and spending time with Maddie was exactly what I needed.”
“Did you see your sister?” I asked gently stroking his forearm. He nodded.
“She wasn’t good. God Em, seeing her like that made me remember hoe close I came to losing you.” Delicately, I reached up to catch the tears that had begun to fall.
“I’m sorry Simon, for how I acted after…” I didn’t finish the sentence, not able to say the words without flaring up my anger toward her again.
“You reacted how anyone would,” Simon reasoned, leading me into the bedroom. He kicked off his shoes and climbed onto the bed, pulling me with him. We both lay down, entangled in each other’s arms.
“You’re the only one I ever want, Em. You know that don’t you?” he whispered, his voice thick with emotion. He leaned down and kissed me a deep passion filled kiss. I kissed him back, my lips pressing against his, my mouth exploring his.
“Anymore memories returned?”
I shook my head. “Every now and then I get a flash of a memory, but nothing that I can actually make out. I think I need to stress less about it and maybe if I put less pressure on myself, things might come back to me.”
“You reckon?” Simon chuckled, mocking me. I nudged him. Yes, he had been saying all along that I needed to not think about it, but that was a conclusion I needed to reach myself. “Maddie’s birthday is this Saturday. If you don’t feel like going you don’t have to,” he added, circling the skin on the back of my hand.
“No, I want to be there for Maddie,” I decided. And to let Claire know she wasn’t going to take Simon from me. Not if I had anything to do with it.
“I love you, you know that?” he hugged me so tightly I struggled to breath. Laughing, I kissed him.
“I love you too.”
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Simon
Somehow when Em had seen Claire’s email to me, she had failed to see the email directly below entitled ‘Moving back to the USA!’ I took that as a sign to continue with the surprise that Maria had wanted to employ on Em.
Following their application on the house being accepted, Maria and her two girls were flying in today. The last few days had been an absolute mess for me, trying to get everything ready for them without arousing Em’s suspicion. If she did think something was up, she wasn’t showing it, at least not to me.
I had wanted to pick them up from the airport, but there was no possible way for me to do it without Em asking questions. The last thing I wanted to do was ruin everything, so I had begrudgingly agreed to them taking a cab. Phillip was joining them next week after his current contract finished up.
It had just ticked passed eleven am and I was a wreck. I’d at least had the sense to pick up some work from the office, where I would be starting at next week. They had been fantastic in understanding my circumstances for the last month and I was actually looking forward to starting.
With a caseload of work, I was able to believably put my jitters down to the stress of starting a new job.
“You’re really jumpy today,” Em observed.
