We\u2019d climbed into bed together and she\u2019d curled into my side like she was made to fit there, and I\u2019d held her and whispered how\u00a0<\/p>\n
much I loved her until she fell asleep.\u00a0<\/p>\n
68\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019d stayed awake for a long time after that, just watching her sleep, feeling grateful for this second chance, vowing to myself that I\u2019d\u00a0<\/p>\n
never take her for granted again, never make her doubt how much she meant to me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Now she was starting to wake up and I watched as her eyes fluttered open, watched as she focused on me and gave me a sleepy smile\u00a0<\/p>\n
that made my heart skip a beat.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMorning,\u201d she murmured, her voice rough with sleep.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMorning baby,\u201d I said, leaning down to press a soft kiss to her forehead. \u201cHow\u2019d you sleep?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBetter than I have in days,\u201d she admitted, snuggling closer. \u201cYou make a good pillow.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I laughed softly and ran my fingers through her hair, loving the way she relaxed into my touch.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m glad,\u201d I said. \u201cBecause I plan on being your pillow for the rest of our lives.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
She tilted her head back to look at me and I could see emotion shining in her eyes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI love you,\u201d she said simply.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI love you too,\u201d I replied, meaning it with every fiber of my being. \u201cMore than you could ever know.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
We lay there for a while longer, just enjoying being close, neither of us wanting to break the peaceful bubble we\u2019d created.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Eventually though, my stomach growled loudly and Athena laughed, the sound like music to my ears.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI guess we should probably get up and eat something,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cProbably, I agreed, though I made no move to let her go.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She swatted my chest playfully. \u201cCome on, the babies are hungry even if you\u2019re not.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
That got me moving because she was right, she needed to eat, needed to take care of herself and our children.\u00a0<\/p>\n
We got up and made our way downstairs where we found Orion and Sarah already in the kitchen.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sarah took one look at us and smiled, nodding her head to us.\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/2\u00a0<\/p>\n
18:33 Thu, Jan 29\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 354\u00a0<\/p>\n
We exchanged greetings.\u00a0<\/p>\n
:.\u00a0<\/p>\n
68\u00a0<\/p>\n
I followed her, pulling out her chair before taking the seat next to her, and I noticed the way Orion watched the gesture with\u00a0<\/p>\n
approval.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sarah made breakfast while we all talked, the conversation light and easy, all the tension from yesterday completely gone.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I kept my hand on Athena\u2019s thigh under the table, needing the constant physical connection, needing to reassure myself that she was\u00a0<\/p>\n
really here and we were really okay.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After breakfast, we spent the day at Orion\u2019s house, all of us just relaxing and enjoying each other\u2019s company.\u00a0<\/p>\n
At one point Sarah suggested we go shopping for baby things and Athena\u2019s face lit up in a way that made my chest warm.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cCan we?\u201d she asked, looking at me with such excitement that I would have agreed to anything.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course,\u201d I said. \u201cWhatever you want baby.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
So we all piled into Orion\u2019s car and headed to one of those massive baby stores that I\u2019d never paid attention to before but now\u00a0<\/p>\n
seemed incredibly important.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Walking through those doors felt surreal, like crossing a threshold into a future I was still trying to wrap my head around.\u00a0<\/p>\n
There were cribs and strollers and tiny clothes and so many things I\u2019d never even known babies needed, and Athena moved through it\u00a0<\/p>\n
I all with a confidence that amazed me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I wasn\u2019t this available for Jess because I was so busy around that time, Sarah was the one who was present most of the time.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But I\u2019m glad I get to share all these memories with Athena.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She knew exactly what to look for, had apparently done hours of research online about what brands were best and what items were\u00a0<\/p>\n
essential versus nice to have.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Memories Drifted Into Soft Silence by Kyx Frost 354 We\u2019d climbed into bed together and she\u2019d curled into my side […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-second-gear-of-love-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26511"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26511\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}