Marvellous days

Chapter 29 -More Goodbyes-

Two weeks had gone by already. Carlie was now nearly 5 ½ months old. She was sitting on the ground next to me in her nursery. I was packing her toys and sorted her clothes.

The living and dining room were already finished and stuff we wanted to have in Hanover, we had already sent over. Other stuff would go temporarily to Edward’s family house in Chicago. Carlisle and Edward still use some rooms of it for storage.

“Da…” Carlie shouted and banged two colored blocks together. “Yes,” I laughed and acknowledged her with a smile and kiss. She was totally engrossed with banging blocks together or let them fall. Every time they made a sound, she giggled and clapped her hands.

I got up and put the clothes into one of the suit cases. She stopped for a second and watched what I was doing until she started to play again. “We will eat in a few minutes,” I told her. I grabbed another stack of body suits and dresses.

There was another loud bang. I looked behind me and sure enough, Carlie had let all her colored blocks fall down at the same time and she was now awaiting my reaction. I kneeled down in front of her, “That was pretty loud, sweetie.” She showed me one of the blocks and gave it to me. “Thank you,” I kissed her cheek. She took it back and started playing with her big brown teddy bear.

I packed another load of clothes into the suit case and then lifted Carlie from the ground. She held onto one of the blocks she had been playing with before. “Let’s get some food, shall we?” I asked and smiled at her. She babbled happily and told my one of her stories. I looked at her and listened to all her happy squeals and sounds.

We walked into the kitchen and there was Carlisle still on the phone. He smiled at us and motioned to the bowl of mashed potatoes and carrots he had prepared while calling. He grinned at Carlie and ruffled her golden curls. She laughed with him when I put her into her high chair. I took the bowl and started to feed her. She ate eagerly, but still played with the colored block.

When she was nearly finished, Carlisle put the phone away and sat opposite me. “It should all be finally ready. I once again talked with the movers and the things we’ve already sent should be in place when we arrive in two weeks,” he explained. He sighed and started to play with Carlie’s hand absentmindedly. She on the other hand grabbed one of his fingers and gladly played with it as well.

“Finally, I don’t know why that had so many problems with that,” I said. “I know. But at least they finally managed it. I talked with the dean again today as well. She was happy to hear that I could already start next month.” He looked warily at me. “Okay,” I answered with a smile to reassure him. Carlie ate the last bit of her meal and she grabbed the bottle with water to drink.

 “Are you really fine with me working again?” he asked. Oh, so that was on his mind.

“Carlisle…” I took his hands and looked directly at him. “Yes, I am. I already told you that repeatedly in the last two weeks. You won’t work as much as you did before and will be there most of the day. You are still able to spend much time with our daughter and me. Apart from that, you love your work and I don’t want to deny it to you. Of course, you have been home for nearly one and a half years, but you also need your work as kind of a balance to home.”

“You and our family is all that I need,” he reassured me fast.

“I know, but you worked for nearly all of your life and like I have told you often over the decades, I don’t want you to lose that part of you. It makes you who you are and you love your work. So, yes, you will teach your knowledge to the next generation so that they can maybe follow in your steps,” I assured him and squeezed his hands lightly.