⇾ 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐍𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐁𝐄𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐄 | 𝐏𝐚𝐮𝐥 𝐌𝐜𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐲 𝐈

𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙁𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙮-𝙁𝙞𝙫𝙚 ➪ 𝙈𝙤𝙫𝙞𝙚 𝙉𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩

ꕥ November 24, 1966 ꕥ
31 weeks

"Paul?"

My eyes were half-closed when I heard her gentle voice speak. I flipped over so that I was facing her. Her hands were folded under the side of her head and her eyes were shining through the darkness.

"Yes, my love?" I asked. I reached over to brush a bit of hair that had fallen into her face to the side so I could get a better view of her beautiful features.

"I've been thinking about your question," she said. Her voice sounded sleepy. "About will I ever request maternity leave."

"Yeah," I responded. "What about it?"

"I will," she told me. "When I'm ready to. I know you're not gonna like me saying that, but I really need to feel useful for as long as possible, alright?"

I nodded. "I'm just worried that the stress will start effecting the baby, y'know?"

She paused to think. "How about we talk to Bella at my next appointment? Would that make you feel any better?"

"Yeah," I replied. "It would. C'mere," I added. "I can tell you're tired."

She scooted as close to me as possible, allowing herself to relax in my arms again. "Goodnight, Paul."

"Goodnight, Juliette," I whispered.

We were quiet as we waited for sleep to come over us. I traced patterns on Juliette's back, listening to her breaths until they evened out and I knew that she was asleep. Every night I spent with her in my arms was one I never wanted to end.

ꕥ November 25, 1966 ꕥ
Juliette's POV

The next morning, by the time I woke up, Paul was gone again. I felt a twinge of remorse, but pulled myself up nonetheless. I had a good amount of pain in my lower back, so as soon as I was on my feet, I wanted nothing more than to lay back down and sleep again. Unfortunately, I had only a few hours until I had to go into work, so that simply wasn't an option.

I made it halfway down the hallway before the pain really caught up with me and I frowned, putting my hands to my back. Martha jumped down off the bed and came to join me in the hallway, nuzzling against my legs. I turned to her and kneeled down with a smile, rubbing behind her ears as she wagged her tail in delight.

"Good morning, love," I said to her with a grin. "You want some breakfast?" Her ears perked up. "C'mon, then. Let's get you some."

I led her into the kitchen and got into the tub that her dog food was in, scooping a fair amount into her bowl and setting it down for her. She dug in immediately. I straightened up and went to find something for myself to chow on next. I didn't want anything big, so I just fixed myself a bowl of cereal and sat down on the couch to eat it.

I thought about my conversation with Paul last night. I was glad that he was honest with me. I didn't want him to be keeping anything from me, no matter how it made me feel. It made me happy to know that he could trust me enough to open up. Honestly, with my hormones it was quite impressive that I hadn't lashed out and scared him away. I didn't want that, though, so I kept myself together and heard him out. I was thankful that I had.

I could tell that he was genuinely concerned about my well-being and he wasn't just bringing all this up to he mean or anything. I just wasn't really ready to give up working yet. It gave me something to keep myself busy with, and I liked that. There wasn't anything I hated more than sitting around all day doing nothing.