Song of the chapter: Christmas Soul by Ross Lynch
Emily's POV
A couple of days later, it was Christmas Eve, and Austin and I were playing with Lucy at the park a few streets down from our house. She had little Santa mitts on to match her red boots and white jacket. She was dressed very festively. I had also wrapped her blonde curly hair into a bun.
"Excited to spend time with everyone tomorrow?" Austin asked me as he slid down the slide with Lucy on his lap.
She shrieked happily. "Again!"
"For sure. Are you?"
"Definitely," he nodded, going back up the stairs to the slide. "I haven't seen my mom in a while, or your parents. I guess I've just been really busy."
"Yeah, about that..." I fiddled with my fingers. "Are you okay, Austin?"
He glanced at me and slid down the slide again. "Of course. Why wouldn't I be?"
"No, I mean, is something on your mind?"
"Well, the tour is, yeah. Isn't that a given? It starts in two days," he chuckled. Lucy came over to me, and I scooped her up to bring her over to the swings. I put her in the baby one and lightly pushed her.
"Besides the tour," I said. "You haven't been acting like yourself, and it's kind of scaring me," I paused. "Are you having second thoughts about the wedding? Because if you are, that's okay, we can wait or-"
"No!" Austin exclaimed, cutting me off. "No, no, no, of course I'm not having second thoughts. I love you, Ems! No, we're still getting married. And I can't wait to see you in your dress," He smiled, bending down to kiss me. He put his hands on either side of my face, and I forgot about our daughter for a moment. I put my hands on his waist and he pulled me closer, deepening the kiss.
I heard Lucy squeak, "Ew!" which only made me smile into the kiss.
After a very awesome minute of hard core making out, we broke apart. "Okay, I believe you. I definitely believe you," I breathed. He smiled in return. Damn, that boy could do everything to make me melt.
I went back to pushing Luce. "So, if it's not the wedding, then what is it? Come on, Austin. I know you better than anyone. I can tell something's wrong," I said gently.
Austin looked at me, and I mean, really looked at me, before he sighed and sat down on one of the horizontal bars holding the swing set up. "I don't know...I've been having quite a bit of pain in my right leg recently."
I stopped pushing Lucy, and she made little whining noises of protest. For once, I had to ignore her. "What?"
"And uh..." He scratched the back of his neck. "I wasn't recording last week when you went to look at flower arrangements. I went to the hospital to get it checked out," He continued.
"Why didn't you tell me all of this?" I exclaimed. "And why did you lie to me?"
"I didn't want you to worry!"
"Well, congratulations, I'm officially worried."
He stood up and came over to put his arms around me. "Relax, Ems, I'm sure it's nothing. I probably just pulled a muscle rehearsing dance numbers for the tour."
"I don't think you should have a 'probably' attitude about this," I said into his chest. "What did the doctor actually tell you?"
"I don't have results yet. I didn't want to say anything to you until I knew for sure," he admitted.
I sighed and ran a hand over my hair. "Well, I guess we'll see what happens, then."
Austin smiled. "Come on, we better head back and start our Christmas Eve supper." He bent down so he was eye level with Lucy. "Ready to head back, honey?"
"No!" She exclaimed.
"Lucy, it's time to go," Austin said. "You can play with Pancakes when we get home, okay? I'm sure she's been waiting for you to come back."
Lucy smiled. "Okay!" She lifted her arms up. "Help!"
Austin grinned and lifted her out of the swing before carrying her over to her stroller, me trailing behind. Lucy constantly fiddled with the hair at the back of Austin's neck where it was longer, wrapping it in her little fists with a mesmerized look on her face. It was priceless. He could never carry her or hold her without her doing that, unless she was asleep.
Lucy glanced at me and waved. "Hi mommy!"
"Hey, sweetie," I grinned, waving back.
Austin looked at me too, and said, "Hi mommy."
I rolled my eyes, but smiled and linked my arm through his. "Hi, daddy."
My two favorite people were adorable.
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So I had a volleyball tournament today and I'm exhausted from it but I've decided to update instead of relaxing so you guys better love me for this lol nahhhh I'm jk 😏😘 I love you all
mahonestars