"Harry, I can see where we're going. I'm okay. I could do this walk with my eyes closed." I say while placing my hand over the flash flight on the back of his phone. He told me that we need the flashlight so that I don't trip over anything in the dark. It's currently 1:15am and I couldn't sleep because of the pain that this little girl is causing me. Not to mention the amount of pressure that she is putting on the very base of my uterus.
When I finish speaking, Harry stumbles on something and mutters profanities under his breath. He shines his flashlight on the ground. There's a thin branch with dead gum leaves hanging from it, blocking half of the right side of the footpath.
"Maybe the flashlight isn't for you." He kicks the branch off the path and onto the grass. "Fucking Australian nature. I've been bitten by at least thirty mosquitos, almost stepped on a dead possum, walked into three spider webs and almost had my foot amputated by a fucking branch."
I laugh at him. "You ought to get used to it if you're going to live here permanently. You haven't even seen the half of it."
"I still haven't seen a kangaroo running across the street. Everyone makes it sound like you Aussie's have kangaroos in your backyards. In all of the times that I have visited Australia, I've only seen kangaroos in the wildlife enclosures."
He continues shining his flashlight out in front of us. He has no idea that the reason why the mosquitos are biting him is because they're attracted to the light beaming from his flashlight.
"That's because I haven't taken you out to the country yet. If we drive about forty minutes out, then you'll see kangaroos. And if we go up north, they're more common there too, even in beachy places like this."
"Maybe we should go on a baby moon to these country or up north places that you are speaking of."
I raise my eyebrow and stare at him with confusion. "A baby moon? Styles, your visits are never longer than thirty six hours. There's no way we will have time for a baby moon."
"I have three more weeks off. I'd say that if there's anytime that we should go, it's now."
I shake my head at him. "I kind of want to just stay here. As nice as it would be to have some alone time just the two of us before she comes, I don't want to go too far away because I like being close to the hospital. If anything happens, we're just a short trip away."
He nods his head understandingly and then slaps his arm, squashing what I'm sure is another mosquito.
"I got two that time." He shines the light on his arm, revealing two squashed mosquitos. "I'm pretty sure they were fucking. At least they died happy."
I laugh at him which makes him laugh too. "I can't with you." I say, grabbing onto his arm. He places his arm around my shoulders and we continue walking. "That house there is my dream house."
Harry stops walking which forces me to stop too. He shines his light in on the house. I quickly put my hand over the light.
"Hersh, you can't just shine your light into somebodies home."
"They'll be asleep, they won't know."
"Then why are you whispering if you're so sure that they're asleep?"
He starts walking again, giving me a gentle tug as he does so because we're still attached by our arms around each other.
"We will take another look in the morning when it's light."
"Well you can. I can't. The only time I can walk freely is when it's pitch black like this. I'm not even wearing a jacket to cover my stomach. I feel free."
Harry turns his flashlight on because the lights coming from the log wall by the beach are bright enough to highlight our path.
"Then I'll have a look on my jog tomorrow morning. What number is it?"
"16."
"16. I like that number. That's how old I was when my whole world changed for the better."
I smile. "Sixteen hey. To think that was only five years ago. It feels like so much longer. I can't believe how much has changed in only five years."
He lets out a deep breath of air. "I know. You didn't even have boobs five years ago."
I hit his chest. "Shut up. I mean, to be honest I didn't even have boobs up until I got pregnant."
Harry laughs. "I've always loved your body, but I'll admit that I really am loving these pregnancy boobs. Do you think you'll be able to keep them?" He asks, lowering his hand from my shoulder and giving my boob a firm squeeze.
"I don't know, maybe I'll ask our daughter for permission." I pause for a moment, thinking about what he just said. "Do you think you'll be able to keep them." I repeat him mockingly.
"What do you like about the house? I mean, from what I could see it is beautiful. It has the most perfect view of the ocean. The beach is basically your backyard."
"You said it yourself. The view of the ocean is perfect and the beach is your backyard. You'll see it in the daylight but the kitchen is facing this way so you look out the kitchen window to see the gorgeous view. It would make washing the dishes enjoyable."
"Hailey, you never wash the dishes. Besides, with a house that modern I'm sure that it has a dishwasher. Maybe even three dishwashers."
"It's not just the kitchen view. There's floor to ceiling windows and it's so spacious. Like, it's a big house but not too big that you'll get lost in it. I like the homely vibe that it gives. I haven't been inside but I can only imagine how beautiful it is. And it has a fireplace. Not many homes here have fireplaces as there's never really a need for them. It doesn't get that cold here in the winter. And most people just use ducted heating in their homes."
He nods his head. "Right. So you like the homely vibe and the fireplace. Oh, and the windows."
"And the Hampton's facade. I was born and raised by the beach so the Hampton's style has always been my favourite. The dark grey paneling around the house and the off white coloured roof with the rockery trimmings. I just love the house. It was built when I was fourteen. Each day I would walk past and see the progress of it getting built. Then as I got older and it was finally finished, I would purposely walk this route so that I could walk past it and admire it from afar. I would love to take a look inside it but that would be creepy."
"I'm surprised that you don't know the people who live in there."
"Well I'm actually not too sure. I do know a lot of people in the area but the man who owns that house keeps to himself. I've only seen him driving out in his Porsche a couple of times. I heard a rumour that he had built this house for his wife and three young children but his wife cheated on him and took off to Spain with the kids."
"That's horrible. I hope that's not true."
"Yeah, I know."
"How are the pains? Are you feeling alright?" Harry asks me curiously.
I nod my head. "Walking helps."
Earlier on in the week, I made a panic call to the hospital because I was experiencing severe pain and I couldn't feel her moving around as much anymore. I feared that something had happened to her. So I had an ultrasound and the doctor basically laughed at me.
She said that the baby is fine, she's just measuring above average in size and there's less room for her in my stomach now so that's why she isn't moving around as dramatically. The second bit of news she had for me shocked me more. The reason for the increase in pain was because baby girl had decided to turn upside now and is now head first, ready for labour.
That just made it all seem so real. All of my pregnancy, I have pushed labour into the back of my head because I didn't want to cause myself more anxiety. But just knowing that she is now head down and ready to come in approximately five weeks time makes it seem more real.
She's going to be here next month. Harry and I are going to meet our little girl. I'm going to finally be able to hold her in my arms, kiss her little face, hear her cries and feel her little heartbeat against my skin.
I'm so excited. Everybody keeps reminding me to enjoy this sleep while I can, but clearly they've never been pregnant or forgot what it's like to be pregnant because I can hardly sleep anyway. No position is comfortable, I feel like a huge whale, I need to pee every five minutes and I'm in constant pain. It's not unbeatable, but it's a comfortable pain. One that made me wake Harry up at 1:00am to come for a walk to the beach with me.
"Oh look, I can see the prick's house up on the hill over there."
"I've been meaning to ask you, did you tell Tori that you think Ryan is a prick?"
He turns to look at me with a frown on his face. "What? No, what do you mean? I would never swear in front of a child or speak about somebody so poorly. Not intentionally anyway."
"When Ryan was over, Tori told him that you think he's a prick."
Harry laughs to himself. "First of all, she's right. Second of all, I don't ever remember saying that in front of her. Then again, I was expressing my opinion of him to Aaron about a year ago and you know that girl listens to everything. She was probably eavesdropping through the door. She gets that from her Aunty."
I nudge his side with my elbow.
"I don't fucking like that guy Hailey. I know that for some unknown reason, you are friends with him. But for him to come over to your house and shove his pathetic opinions about our relationship, my actions and our daughter down your throat. It doesn't sit well with me."
"I don't want to talk about this again. When I told you about it the day that it happened, I felt your anger through the phone screen. I know he makes you mad, but Ryan's opinions are irrelevant and so is everybody else's because the only two that matter are ours. It's our relationship and our daughter."
He lets out a sigh. "I know, I just wish I could be here permanently. I also know that babies barely come on their due date. But if she does, I'll be across the world. I'm terrified that I'm going to miss my daughters birth."
"I know that it's sooner than we think, but that's still five weeks away. I'm only thirty five weeks. Let's just enjoy these three weeks that we have together.
"She's measuring above size so I don't know how much more room she has in there, but she's still got some baking to do so let's hope she stays in there for as long as possible."
"I don't know if I can handle her being in here for five more weeks. I'm struggling now."
He taps my arm. "You're a soldier. I know I always say it but you're incredible. Women are incredible. To carry a person inside of you for nine - actually ten months. It's so amazing and my hat goes off to you all."
I rest my head on his shoulder. "I'm so glad that our daughter has you as her father to raise her. The only problem is that you're going to set the standards so high for men, that she's going to be disappointed that no man even comes close to being as amazing and respectful for women as you."
"Well good, I want her to have her standards so high that she will never marry. She can live with me and I'll be able to protect her forever."
I laugh. "You're going to scare all of the boys away."
"That is my intention."
"And if we have a boy. It makes me so happy that you are his role model and the one to guide him. To show him what being a man is all about."
"Why are you putting all the praise on me? Are you forgetting how wonderful you are? Hailey, I am hoping that our daughter comes out as a clone as you because that means there will be another smart, beautiful and incredibly talented woman in this world. One thing that I hope she doesn't inherit though is your sense of humour. Your jokes are terrible."
"Oh come on, I'm the funniest person you know."
"Okay, maybe second funniest."
My jaw drops. "Um, who the hell is funnier than me?"
He has a smug grin on his face. "Me."