......
"Baby, open this door please. You're scaring me", Travis said. Was something really wrong? This was more than just hormones.
Travis saying that she was scaring him made a huge lump in her throat make its way up, coming out as a loud sob.
"Taylor, if you don't open this door now I will unlock it myself. I love you so, so much baby. Just please let me in", begged Travis, leaning his ear against the wall. He wanted to hear as much as he could.
She slowly stood up, becoming a challenge with her protruding baby bump.
Taylor huffed, looking at herself in the mirror, trying to clean herself up but it was pointless because more tears kept replacing the ones she wiped away.
"Taylor!", Travis said, raising his voice. He never raised his voice. His father had done that to his mother, so he vowed to himself the day he fell in love with Taylor that he would not mirror the bad qualities of his father onto his wife, children, or anybody. His father had given his mother a measly $1 allowance a week. With that, she could barely even afford the groceries.
Taylor ditched trying to hide her sobs and unlocked the door, Travis immediately hugging her, kissing her salty wet cheek. "Shh shh shh", he soothed, swaying her back and forth while all of her sobs ran loose. This always seemed to calm her down a little when she was inconsolable. "T...T..ra..v", she hiccuped, hyperventilating.
Whatever was working her up so badly clearly was taking a toll on her.
"Baby, breathe with me", instructed Travis. He kept swaying slightly but held her tighter, feeling her baby bump press against his stomach. "In .... and out", he hushed, feeling her turn her head so it faced his neck. He felt a significant amount of moisture on his neck, but all that mattered was calming Taylor down and finding out what was causing her to act like this.
He felt her try to reciprocate his breathing instructions but she kept hiccuping between the in and out.
"Good job sweetie, keep it up", he awarded when she breathed in and out without hiccuping.
After a few more minutes of breathing, Taylor pulled away slightly.
"Can you tell me what's bothering you so badly?", he said softly to his beautiful wife. He combed through her hair delicately, brushing the little hairs that stuck to her face from the tears.
Taylor took a deep, shaky breath before nodding.
"Before we do can we sit down? My feet hurt", Taylor admitted.
"Of course sweetheart", Travis answered, pressing a gentle kiss to her temple before taking her hand and leading her to the living room.
He sat beside her on the couch, rubbing he back softly, always somehow or another remaining physical touching because right now that seemed to be the only way to calm her down.
Archie watched his parents' interaction from the kitchen table but quickly found it boring due to his toy trains so temptingly sitting on the floor for him to play with.
"I can't even say it out loud", she sniffled, trying not to burst into tears again.
"One minute", Taylor warned, boosting herself off the couch to retrieve something hidden under the couch.
"Be careful sweetheart", he warned, seeing her bend down to pull an envelope out from under the couch. He placed a hand on her shoulder, steadying her.
She sniffed again, wiping her eyes with a handkerchief as she handed the letter to him, sitting back down on the couch.
