Piper ~ H.S

~Chapter 106~

But I suppose, in a way, it's for the best. I'm not exactly feeling super confident about the way my body looked right now. 

One of the things I really struggled with after I gave birth to Piper was how drastically my body had changed. The extra belly I got, the weight gain and the stretch marks came as a huge shock to me. I was so proud of my body before I became pregnant, and I was absolutely devastated. But as I got older and more mature, I started caring about it less and less – and my body slowly returned (reasonably) back to normal in its own time.

I knew the same thing was going to happen here. But that didn't mean it still didn't upset me to look at myself. I don't care as much as I did the first time around...but I'm not exactly pleased about it, either.

That night, as I got ready for bed and got out of the clothes I'd been wearing for the day, I found my eyes drifting towards the full-body mirror hanging on our bedroom wall. Before I could even stop myself, I went over and stood right in front of the mirror while I still had my bra and underwear on and ended up taking a long look at myself.

And there it all was. The remaining belly fat, cellulite on my thighs...sagging breasts swollen with milk. I didn't have as many stretch marks as I did the first time, but the stretch marks that I got were still very dark and very obvious against my pale skin.

I lowered my eyes and let out a sigh.

"Fuck..." I muttered to myself, "why does it all suddenly seem so much worse..?"

"What are you up to, love?" Harry walked in from the en suite and saw me staring at myself, "Are you okay?"

I sighed again. "Not really."

"What's wrong?" Harry came up behind me as I stared into the mirror and draped his arms around my waist.

"Just look at me," I frowned at my reflection, "all this...it's gonna take so long to go away..."

"All of what?"

"This," I gestured to my own body, "all the stretch marks, all the cellulite, all the...flab," I shook my head, "it's all so...gross!"

I guess my hormones were definitely still out of whack...because as I spoke, my voice was breaking, and I could feel tears starting to trickle down my face.

"Hey, it's okay, love," Harry told me gently as he kissed the side of my head, "stop it. You still look the same to me."

"I do not look the same!" I argued immediately.

"Well, let's see..." Harry looked back towards the mirror, "in this mirror, I can see the love of my life – looking as beautiful as she always has, since the first day I met her," he smiled at me through our reflections, "so, yes – you still look the same."

My tense body instantly softened at his words, and I could feel a small smile starting to spread across my face.

"Do you really mean that?" I tilted my head to look up at him as he continued to cuddle me from behind.

"Of course," he smiled back at me as he turned my body around and away from the mirror, "the way your body looks now...those are your battle wounds. You went through an 8-month battle to bring our baby girl into the world, and you did it perfectly. So, wear them with pride – not with shame," he warmly touched his forehead to mine, "because all wounds heal. Even this will. Just give it time."

My face felt warm as a gentle blush began to spread through my cheeks – and I felt my smile grow.

"Thank you, Harry," my voice was soft, "that means a lot."