MAYA POV
"Of course, you'd take me to an Italian place" my wife said, looking at the various options on the menu. The majority of the time Italian restaurants were hit and miss, and with an Italian wife it felt a bit like watching a restaurant inspector get to work. This place was new, open for a month and had been bombarded with great reviews.
"Do you take me for a fool?" I joke, she smiles brightly taking one of my hands in hers as we share a little moment; getting lost in each other's eyes. It's a simple feeling that we haven't felt for a few months, we haven't had the time and maybe I'm finally realising that time away isn't a bad thing. That realisation hasn't stopped me from checking my phone as I wait for updates on our little princess.
"I wouldn't say a fool" She fires back just as the waiter comes to our table. We order our main meal and a bottle of wine, plans already in place for getting a taxi home and for me to pick up the car tomorrow.
"Wow stalker, just when I thought you respected me" I sarcastically say, bringing us back to the former conversation before we were interrupted. "This is actually nice" I say, seeing a perplexed look on Carina's face.
"Were you expecting something different?" Carina asks, quirking one of her eyebrows as she questions me.
"It's been so long since we've had a date, I guess I didn't know if we still had it in us" I truthfully speak and Carina smiles.
"It's been half a year since we've been on a proper date, I don't think we'd forgotten too much unlike sex" Carina says, not caring about the bewildered look on my face as the waiter returns at the wrong moment with the bottle of wine. He pours some wine into Carina's glass as she tries it, ultimately leaving the bottle at our table.
"We haven't had sex since I was roughly three months pregnant. It's been nearly a year" she attempts to continue the conversation; I interrupt her thoughts as I kiss her heavily before sitting back down opposite her. She sighs happily, lightly placing her fingers around the stem of her wine glass and for a few moments the only sounds that filled the air were those of chatter from other tables and the loud murmur of cars passing by the window.
As our conversation ends, our food arrives. Both of us with a pasta dish, find ourselves picking at both of our plates until sauce remnants are left.
"I think we could maybe start making these dates a weekly thing again. I didn't realise how much I missed being an adult with my stalker before now" I confess, she smiles brightly and signals for me to hold her hand.
"A weekly date night. What would we get up to?" she asks me, tightening her hold on my hand.
"I think my stalker would have a good idea of what I'd like to do. I hope marriage hasn't distracted you" I joke, and she pulls out her phone. For a second, I'm confused to what would be so important to interrupt a moment, no notifications of importance had sounded. As she taps away at her screen, I take a minute to take in her beauty, noticing the way she's used eyeliner – something she hasn't done since one of our first dates.
"Here" she says as she hands me her phone. The screen is filled with notes, bullet points of different length. It's only when I start skim reading that I notice each point is categorized. 5 different categories; love, insecurities, obsessions, triggers, questions. There must be at least 25 points per categories. As I pay more attention (reading each line) I start to feel my eyes well up with tears, blurring my eyesight.
"Do I pass the stalker test?" She jokes, her own eyes looking glassy.
-
It wasn't long before we were driving home, I didn't feel the need to rush to get home. Carina was my home; my stalker was my home and despite my need to see my daughter; I wanted to be present. My hand had sat comfortably on her thigh throughout the short drive, Carina had been playing her music through the car and danced as we drove. I hadn't checked my phone more than twice throughout the meal, I felt proud of that. There was a new feeling, the independent feeling I'd been jealous of Carina feeling, earlier today. It felt good.
Arriving home, we were met with Vic sleeping on the couch and our daughter sleeping in a crib a few inches away. Vic's hand was resting lightly on Isabella's stomach as if she'd fallen asleep soothing Isabella to sleep. I helped Carina take off the jacket and put it away from her, both of us trying to be as quiet as possible. With shoes in their place, the jackets hanging, I take Carina's hand and pull her to the stares. I place a finger over my lips, signalling for her to be quiet.
We run up the stairs, praying that we wouldn't hit anything that would give away our location. In our bedroom, I pull her towards me. We kiss slowly but it soon turns urgent as our hands start to grab at each other's clothes. She's the first to get undressed, there's a small moment where I feel Carina's hands wrap around her own stomach. As I notice this, my brain races to figure out a way to take that insecurity away from her. The insecure look on her face shows me just how much the changes to her body has affected her view on her body.
"You look beautiful" I say, carefully holding onto her forearms and attempting to move her hands away from her body. She resists for a second, finding my eyes as if to tell me to stop. Our eyes communicate a whole conversation, ending with me winning. She slowly removes her hands, showing some loose skin and stretch marks painting the sides and lower half of her stomach. A few seconds later, I feel her hands fight against my own. I sigh, trying to find a way of reassuring her or fixing this insecurity. I'm a fixer, I'm meant to be able to stop her from getting hurt.
"Let me" I whisper, waiting for a nod or any sign of recognition that she'd received and understood my words. She looks at me, shaking her head no, and whines slightly when she loosens her arms, subsequently allowing me to see her stomach. I fall to my knees, keeping eye contact with my wife – the most beautiful woman I've ever seen and will ever see. As I find myself level to her stomach, I decide to leave soft kisses on her new stretch marks, on any sign that her stomach has changed since Isabella graced our world. She gasps at first, tears flowing freely as she watches me.
After a while she leans more of her wait on me as I wrap my arms around her legs. It takes a few seconds before I lift her up, carrying her over to our bed. Pulling the covers over her, I kiss her forehead deciding to do anything in my power to help her fall asleep. She sighs happily as she leans pulls herself closer to me while I stroke her hair softly.
-
An hour later, Carina was heavily sleeping. The snores leave her mouth as her fist tightly holds onto the comforter. Smiling at the pure image of her, I choose to quickly run downstairs and relieve Vic of her duty. I carefully peel myself away from my wife, she groans as a hand reaches out to pull me back, but she narrowly misses me.
"Sorry" Are the first words out of my mouth as I walk into the kitchen to find Vic pouring herself a mug of coffee.
"I heard when you came in. I saw you run upstairs like giddy teenagers, so I thought I'd give you some time" She, says with a big smile on her face, carefully drinking her coffee. Isabella whimpers, somehow realising that I was back. Her arms reach out for me as I walk over towards her. She settles immediately into my arms as I start to whizz around the kitchen to give her the final feed of the day. At some point, Vic tells me to text her as she leaves for the night.
