Invisible String

24

"I love this," I said quietly.

"Me too," he answered. "You look really good, by the way." His fingers gently brushed a strand of hair off my face.

"I look like I got five hours of sleep and was spit up on twice."

"Exactly. Hot mom status."

I laughed, shaking my head. "You're ridiculous."

We dropped anchor near a shallow reef about 45 minutes later. Jason helped Lily into the water with a snorkel mask, and I watched as she clung to his shoulders before bravely dunking her face under.

"She's getting so big," I murmured.

"Don't remind me," Travis said, lifting Mira out of the wrap and kissing her chubby cheek. "At least this one's still in the 'cuddles and drool' phase."

As we all rotated in and out of the water-Wyatt belly-flopping in, Finley crying because the seaweed touched her toe, and Kylie watching all of it unfold with an amused smirk-Mira eventually fell asleep in my arms, rocked by the boat's gentle sway.

The day passed in a blissful blur of salt air, sunscreen, laughter, and shared snacks.

And as we sailed back toward land, Mira sleeping, Lily giggling with her cousins, and Travis leaning into me with that content look on his face, I felt something settle deep inside me.

Peace.

Whatever the world decided to throw our way tomorrow, we had this.

Lunch on the boat was a mix of chaos and calm-just like every other meal with this many kids. We'd anchored again near a cove, and the breeze was warm but gentle as the boat swayed softly beneath us. Everyone was scattered across the deck, paper plates balanced on knees or tucked onto benches, sandwiches half-eaten as the kids argued over juice boxes and who got the bigger cookie.

I was sitting on one of the padded benches with Mira tucked into my arm, latched on and nursing while I tried to one-hand a turkey wrap. My bikini top was... doing its best. I'd been in the ocean earlier, and the fabric was still damp and had shifted slightly-barely covering what it needed to cover. I felt it. I knew it. I adjusted subtly with the hand I wasn't using to keep Mira from pulling off and exposing me to the family, the ocean, and the occasional passing paddleboarder.

Travis sat next to me, a bottle of water in one hand, sandwich in the other, eyes darting around-not at the water, not at the kids. At me. Constantly.

"You're making it worse," I whispered out of the corner of my mouth.

His voice was low, trying to sound casual. "I'm trying not to make a scene, but, babe... you are one strong wave or Mira wiggle away from an international headline."

I blinked at him. "I'm feeding our child. This is literally her lunch break."

"I know. And you look amazing. I'm just saying-maybe, like... toss a towel over you or something before Jason chokes on his chips."

"I had a towel," I said, raising an eyebrow. "Your daughter used it to dry off the dog."

We both turned to see Lily, hair dripping, sitting next to a random dog they had found, who was wrapped in my beach towel like a burrito.

Travis exhaled, shook his head, and reached behind him to grab the corner of another towel. He offered it to me discreetly. I draped it over my chest without pausing Mira's meal. She let out a soft grunt of protest but kept nursing, her tiny hand patting my skin.

"Better?" I asked.

He leaned in and kissed my cheek. "Safer."

Across from us, Kylie gave me a knowing smile. "I wore a string bikini during my second trimester with Wyatt. I bent down and a literal paparazzo got a full shot of nipple. Ended up in a 'Celebs Gone Wild' reel."