August 3rd 2017
Taylor's POV
"Happy birthday, my love." I smirk as Karlie's eyes flutter open. "Were you watching me sleep?" She laughs as she runs her fingers through her bleach blonde locks. "You're just so cute when you sleep." I pout as lean over to kiss her. She laughs as she wraps me in her arms and I lie my head on her chest. "How long do you think we have before-" she doesn't even get halfway through her sentence before the door is thrown open. "Thank god you're not naked." Karlie's sisters, parents and niece barge into the room, all of them screaming and talking over each other as they wish her a happy birthday. "Thanks for that Kimby." She glares at the girl who shrugs.
Mia climbs onto the bed beside us as Kimby grabs Maisie from the pack n play nearby and perches on the bed by my feet. Karlie and I sit up and she smiles as she shares hugs with her mom and dad and her sisters each take a seat on the bed. "Are you ready for today?" Kimby asks excitedly and Karlie grins wildly, "I can't wait! I love Disney world so much!" She's been over the moon about this trip since we surprised her with it a couple of days ago, and last night we arrived in Florida and she's just been ecstatic. "I can't wait to take her either, she's going to love it." Karlie takes Maisie from Kimby as she grins at the little girl and I smile as I watch the interaction.
I'm slightly nervous about the large crowds and being almost 30 weeks pregnant, but I'm trying not to let it get to me for Karlie's sake. She's been so amazing the past couple of weeks, and she deserves this day to be happy and not have to worry about anything.
"Okay, now can we please have a little privacy." Karlie laughs as she looks around at her family. "Of course, honey. We'll see you three at breakfast." Tracy kisses her daughters cheek and then all three sisters and the two parents exit the room, "go on, Mimi, we'll see you shortly." I help the girl climb off of the bed and she runs away after her mom.
"Are you sure you're okay with all of this?" Karlie looks at me with an unsure and worried smile. "I am, Karlie I'm totally fine. I promise." I give her a reassuring smile and she searches my eyes for any hint of doubt, but doesn't find one.
I've been going to counselling since that day I flinched away from Karlie. I felt so bad for doing that to her, for making her think I was scared of her. I finally realised I was making things worse for myself and the people I love, and I knew I had to make a change.
"Come on then, we better get ready before someone else decides to interrupt us." She shakes her head as she climbs out of bed and I throw my legs over the side as I get up. "You go shower and I'll feed her." I smile as I take the baby from her and kiss her lips. "Happy birthday baby." I smirk and she bites her lip as she grins, "today's going to be amazing."
•••
Karlie's POV
"Are you ready yet?" I call out to Taylor who's currently getting ready in the bathroom. "I'm coming." She lets out an exasperated sigh as the bathroom door opens and she walks out carrying Maisie on her hip. She's wearing blue denim shorts and a grey t-shirt as well as a pair of Nike sneakers. She's wearing light make up and her hair is naturally curly around her shoulders with a pair of sunglasses sitting on her head. "You look so cute!" She gushes as she takes in my appearance and I grin, "but you, my love, are jaw dropping." I walk forward and rest my hands on her stomach. Maisie reaches out for me and I laugh as I take her, "and of course, my little baby bug, you're the cutest, but don't tell mommy or she'll get jealous." I whisper in the baby's ear as Taylor rolls her eyes, she can obviously hear what I'm saying.
Maisie does look adorable though, wearing a pair of pale pink and black polkadot shorts, a grey shirt with Minnie Mouse printed on the front -the print on her bow matching the print on Maisie's shorts- and a pair of white vans with frilly white socks.
"Do we have her stroller?" I look at Taylor who nods and pulls the baby's stroller out of the storage closet by the door. We recently got her a new one, this time a different make and in black and she loves it. "We should go, everyone's waiting downstairs." I look at Taylor as I grab the diaper bag, using the backpack option instead of the over the shoulder one. I put Maisie in her stroller and take one last glance in the mirror, smoothing down the fabric of my red and white cherry print dress and smiling, today is going to be a good day.
I push Maisie's stroller out the door as Taylor walks along beside me and we get into the elevator, the two members of security that had been waiting outside for us now with us. "I'm glad we're getting to do this." Taylor squeezes my hand as she smiles and I agree, "I'm glad we're making memories before everything changes again." She nods as she runs her hand over her stomach. Taylor has been doing so well the past couple of weeks. I don't want to jinx it but it really seems like things are finally going well for us, and she's finally starting to heal.
"There you are, we were starting to think you'd gotten yourselves lost." My mom laughs as we walk out of the elevator to meet them in the lobby. "Your perfect little grandchildren decided to make me pee, again, for the hundredth time this morning." She's being over-dramatic but the bigger the twins get, the more she needs to pee because the more they press on her bladder, and it's safe to say she doesn't appreciate it. "My niece and nephew would never do that, they're angels." Kimby is just as dramatic as Taylor, which makes me wonder how well we're going to fair when she moves in with us in a few weeks.
"Oh believe me, they do it all the time." Taylor laughs as she shakes her head, I don't know how many times she's told me that she's over being pregnant, but she's finally in the home stretch and then we'll have two perfect little babies to show for it. "Come on, lets get going or these two are going to argue all day." I shake my head at the my girlfriend and sister who simultaneously shrug.
•••
"Isn't she just the cutest?" Kariann coos at Maisie as she holds her. We immediately decided on buying Minnie ears the second we arrived in the park, and even Maisie is sporting a pair of millennial pink Minnie Mouse ears. Taylor and I, on the other hand, decided on matching sparkly Minnie ears in black with the red bow.
"Of course she is, have you seen her momma." Taylor smirks as she kisses my cheek and I blush, even though I've had people praising my appearance and body since I was 15, it feels real when she does it, like she really falls in love with the way I walk or something stupid like that. "You two are so cringey." The young woman announces before walking away with our daughter and we both laugh softly before sharing a soft kiss.
Since Taylor's pregnancy is so high risk, we had to talk to her doctor about which rides she can go on and what she should avoid completely, but it turns out she can do basically anything without a height limit and all the rides Maisie can go on are safe for Taylor which was a pleasant surprise, and since I'm not a huge fan of thrill rides, I'm not missing out on much. We're mainly excited about the parades, Taylor loves the idea of sitting down but I just love them, they're so mesmerising.
"Where do we start?" Kristine and Mia are beside us now as the rest of the family congregated around us to make a plan. "Well, we wanna take the girls to meet the princesses before it gets too busy." Taylor and I nod in agreement as we look at my sister and niece who's basically jumping for joy. "Oh, I wanna come!" Kimby basically jumps to my side, I knew that was going to intrigue her. "Can we go on King Arthur Carousel after?" She asks and I nod as I laugh. "I think we're going to stay on Main Street. How about we meet back here for lunch?" My mom's suggestion seems like the most reasonable one so we quickly agree and then go our separate ways after retrieving Maisie from Kariann.
I push Maisie's empty stroller as Kimby carries the baby who's babbling away to herself in the midst of all the excitement. There are crowds of people walking around us, some take pictures as they notice us but security stay close and makes sure we're safe. We decided that keeping Maisie hidden away was unfair to her since she would be missing out and she should get to enjoy this day as much as the rest of us, so for today we're not worried about the paparazzi. We're just not letting them dictate what we do and don't do with our daughter. We both knew it was a risk going into this, but our baby is happy and healthy and even if Adam sees a picture of her, he'll see what he's missing out on, what he could've had if he wasn't such a monster. He'll see my family, my gorgeous girlfriend carrying our twins and my little girl, happily laughing and having fun with her aunts and grandparents.
"So have you guys settled on names yet?" Kristine looks at us as she walks by Taylor's side, both women having a hold on Mia's hands. "I have names in mind, but I'm not sharing until they're born, just in case they don't fit them." Taylor smiles at me, she's not too happy about me not telling her but I think she likes the idea of the surprise and she knows I won't use something if she really hates it, I'm not that mean. "I think you're going to love them though." I tack on the end with a goofy smile and she rolls her eyes as she laughs. "Maisie was going to be called Isabella. Throughout the whole pregnancy that's what I planned on naming her, but Maisie fit better when she was born. The second I laid eyes on her, I just knew." Taylor has a nostalgic look in her eyes, that day seems so far in the past but simultaneously like it was yesterday. "It means child of light, and she was my light in the dark, she gave me the courage I needed to leave him because I knew I had to protect her." There's a faint smile on her face and for a moment she gets lost in the memories of her past, but she quickly looks up at me with a smile, "she made me realise what I was really missing."
I reach for Taylor's hand and squeeze it three times as she runs her thumb along the side of my fingers. "Oh look, there it is." Kimby is probably more excited about this whole thing than Mia and Maisie combined. "Who are we going to see first?" She asks and we all laugh at her excitement, "I think we should let the birthday girl choose." Taylor smirks as she looks up at me and I pretend to think about it for a second. "I think we should let our resident princess expert choose," I kneel to the ground in front of Mia. "Who do you wanna meet first, munchkin?" I ask her and she's so genuinely excited about it, "I wanna meet Cinderella!" She announces and you can tell each woman is holding a groan. Cinderella is everyone's favourite princess until they grow up, she's just the obvious choice. "Cinderella it is then." I grin as the little girl basically jumps for joy.
•••
Taylor's POV
"Come on, babe! It's my birthday! You can't say no." Karlie smirks as the words leave her mouth and I groan as Kimby helps pulls me up from my spot on the bench. "If I fall in blaming you." I glare at the woman who just wears a proud smirk on her face as Karlie and Kimby help me onto the horse next to hers. Karlie sits Maisie in front of her, holding her tightly as she holds onto the pole with her other hand.
"Look, she loves it!" Karlie laughs as Maisie starts clapping when the carousel starts turning. I watch Maisie's reaction as we go round in circles and Karlie's definitely right about her loving the ride, but I think Karlie's enjoying it even more than her. "Are you happy now?" Karlie reaches for my hand as one of my security team helps me down from the horse when the rides over. "Very happy." She smirks, knowing I couldn't possibly have said no to her anyway.
"Can we go for lunch now?" I sigh as I rest a hand on my stomach, silently making my point to Karlie who laughs "of course we can." I don't think I'm the only one relieved by that answer, "the poor little bug looks pooped." Karlie pouts as Maisie sits in Kimby's arms with her head on the woman's shoulder. "She can nap whilst we eat, I'll just feed her after." I smile as Kimby straps Maisie into her stroller, the baby not even protesting at she covers her with the thin muslin.
She pushes the baby's stroller as Karlie keeps a hold of my hand and Mia and Kristine walk close beside us as security surround our little group. People are snapping pictures as we walk past and you'd think I'd be used to it by now, but being pregnant makes me really self conscious. Karlie squeezes my hand three times and I look up as she lets go and wraps her arm around my waist, pulling me closer as we walk in sync. We decided on eating in the Storyteller's cafe since it's Karlie's favourite and well it is her birthday, so we make our way there where her parents and sister are already waiting for us.
"There you guys are, we were staring to think you'd lost Kimby to the princesses." Kariann digs at her sister as she sits by her side and we all shake our heads at them. They may be slightly strange at times but they also have a cute relationship and I hope our twins are as close as they are.
"So are you looking forward to starting college, Kimby?" I look up from the menu in my hands as I put it down. "I'm so excited, and I've never said that about school before." She laughs as Kariann rolls her eyes at her twin, she's always been the more dedicated to school out of the two, and from what Karlie told me it's a surprise Kimby's going to college at all. "Well I hope you're prepared for plenty of crying at all hours of the day and night." Karlie raises an eyebrow at her sister, "I'm sure I'll sleep through it, I can sleep through anything." She brushes it off and every parent at the table shares a knowing look before erupting into laughter. "Honey, newborns cry all the time, for any little problem, and Maisie's bedroom is right next to yours and you seem to forget that she cries too." I sit back in my seat as I run my hand over my bump, the other holding Karlie's hand under the table.
"Well I'm sure my niece and nephew will be little angels, so there shouldn't be a problem." She grins as she goes back to reading her menu, my god is she in for a treat.
•••
"Are you excited?" Karlie turns to me with the same questions for what seems to be the millionth time today. "I'm excited to finally get to sit down." I sigh as my destination finally comes into view. Karlie rubs small circles on my back through my shirt and I sigh. Walking around all day has definitely taken a tole on me, my back hurts like hell from walking and carrying Maisie off and on, and I'm so exhausted and drained. As much as I love Karlie, and I'm glad she had an amazing birthday, I'm so excited to get back to the hotel and sleep.
"Just another hour or so and then we can get back to the hotel." She continues rubbing small circles on my lower back as we take a seat to watch the fireworks. We're lucky enough to have a reserved spot for the event, I honestly don't think I could handle standing around much longer and I don't think Maisie could really take it either since the baby is starting to get grumpy with how tired she is. "Come here," Karlie's holding Maisie in her lap so that she'll stay happy but she wraps her arm around me and pulls me into her side. I lie my head on her shoulder as I rub small circles on my stomach. The twins haven't been as active as they usually are, but we were told that they would calm down a little as they start running out of space, so I'm not worried since I can still feel them moving around every now and again.
It's a peaceful moment as we watch the fireworks flashing in the sky above us. Karlie's hand doesn't leave my back the whole time, tracing light shapes as I keep one hand on my stomach and the other on her knee as we stay cuddled up on the bench. "Thank you for this babe, I know how nervous being in public makes you and it means the world to me that you did this today because I don't know who else I would rather spend this day with." Karlie kisses my forehead as she speaks and I look up, "I'm nervous, but I always know I'm going to be okay when you're by my side. I trust you, Karlie, you're safety and warmth and everything I need and love." We share a short and sweet kiss, our foreheads staying pressed together as we pull apart.
"Happy Birthday, Karlie." I whisper as i lie my head back down, watching the aftermath of a firework cascading down to earth. This is everything we could ask for. We're happy and healthy and so in love it's almost a Disney story itself.
•••
Karlie's POV
"Come on then, let's get you to bed." I laugh softly as we walk into the hotel. Taylor's exhausted and I'm so proud of her for everything she dealt with today. Maisie was exposed to the paparazzi, there were people taking pictures of us all day and she's pregnant which is taking enough out of her as it is.
We all climb into the elevator, I'm basically holding Taylor up, Kristine is carrying a sleeping Mia and Kariann is pushing Maisie's stroller as she sleeps soundly.
"Happy birthday, sweetheart." My mom smiles as she pulls me into a hug. "Thanks mom." I kiss her cheek before letting go, "I can't believe my baby is 25 and has her own family, I don't know where the time went but I'm so proud of who you've become." She cups my cheek with her hand and I give her one last loving smile. "I've become who I am because of you and dad and the way you raised me, and now it's my turn to raise my kids right." I look at Taylor who's watching me speak with a gentle loving smile, and without anymore words, my mom simply grabs my hand and squeezes three times, knowing everything she wants me to know can be said in that one simple gesture.
"I love you too, momma." She goes into her room after that and I share an embrace with my dad and older sister before parting ways with them too, not letting go of Taylor the whole time. "Come on then." I smile as I rub the woman's back and Kimby opens the room door. The twins are sharing with us, since given the opportunity they always choose me over Kristine.
"I'm going to take this one to bed and then I'll come back for the munchkin." I smile as I look down to Maisie who's still peacefully asleep in her stroller. I help Taylor to the bedroom and she flops down on the bed as soon as she can. "Karlie, I can't reach." She pouts as she tries to reach down to take off her shoes. "I've got it," I smile as I shake my head, she's so adorable when she's tired. "There you go, my love." I slip her shoes off of her feet and Taylor sighs a breath of relief. "Here, change into these, I'm going to grab Maisie." She nods as she pulls her shirt over her head and I let out a breathy laugh as I leave the room.
Kariann is sitting on the sofa when I walk into the living area and she smiles as she sees me coming. "Did you have a good birthday?" She asks and I nod as I unclip Maisie from her stroller, "it was better than I could've imagined." I talk softly as I lift the baby into my arms, swaying gentle as she moves, but she doesn't wake up. "If it's any consolation to Taylor, all of the news articles are about how happy you guys seem to be as a family, there's nothing negative." I smile, "I'll tell her, I think she'd like to know that. Everything else has been so negative lately."
I take Maisie back into the room after grabbing her stuffie from the stroller and Taylor's already lying in bed. I slip Maisie's shoes and socks off and then carefully take her shirt and shorts off, leaving her to sleep in her onesie since it's warm enough. I cover her with her blanket just in case she gets cold and makes sure her stuffie is in arms reach.
"Karlie, come and cuddle." Taylor is curled up in the bed waiting and I press a kiss to her forehead, "gimme one minute babe, then I'm all yours." I smile as I grab something to sleep in and nip into the bathroom to change and take off my make up. I walk back out and into the room wearing one of Taylor's shirts since it was the first thing that I found.
"Look how cute these are." She shows me her phone as I wrap my arms around her from behind and rest my chin on her shoulder. "That's so cute." I grin as she scrolls through them, I didn't see how any of the pictures came out but there's one of me holding Maisie above me as she giggles as I kiss her, the castle is in the background and it's my absolute favourite from today.
I move away to give Tay more space as she turns around to face me. "Your daughter won't stop wiggling around." She sighs as she lifts her shirt, I move and hover over her stomach. You can actually see their little movements, limbs occasionally visible since they don't have much space as they keep getting bigger. "Hey there, little one." I smile as I press a kiss to her bump and immediately feel our baby girl moving in her stomach. "She needs to calm down or she'll wake her brother and then mommy definitely won't be sleeping for another couple of hours." Taylor yawns as she rests her hand on the side of her bump.
I hold her bump in my hands as I rub my thumb back and forward in slow rhythmic motions. "See, she just wanted to hear her momma's voice. Now she's going to calm down so her mommy can sleep." Baby girl's movements eventually cease and I move back to Taylor's side. "Karlie?" She looks at me through the dark and I meet her eyes as I wrap her in my arms.
"I have a bad feeling." Her eyes are filled with worry, "about what my love?" I trace gentle circles on her back as I try to calm her worries. "What if we're putting too much pressure on our relationship by being so open. What if everything gets too much and we can't handle what they say, what if they rip us apart." She has genuine worry written all over her face, "I mean it's okay now because neither of us are working and we're not really in the public eye, but what about when I release new music or go on tour and we're separated, you're going to have to go back to work, what if we're not as strong apart as we are together?"
She exhales as I stroke her cheek with my thumb. "Look at me." I talk gently and Taylor's eyes drift up to meet mine. "It doesn't matter what they say about us, I'll hold you and love you and fight for you the same way I would right now. You're the person I want to spend the rest of my life with, it doesn't matter how tied up in messy rumours you become, I know you, the real you, and I'll always love you through the darkness. I'll love you through the mistakes and the fear, and if it gets hard then we'll be harder, I'll love you harder. Don't look towards the end, just live through the middle."
She lets out a breathy laugh as she wipes tears from her face, "I love you, Karlie Kloss, and no matter what happens or what anyone says, I want you to remember that." Our eyes stay locked and I give her a soft smile, "I've always known, Tay, and I always will."
She nestles her face into my chest as I keep her wrapped in my arms. I knew she was nervous about the paparazzi being around today, and I don't want her to ever believe that I'd let what they say make me see her in a different light. Nothing they write could ever make me think differently of Taylor, she's the woman I adore, she's the mother of my children and the love of my life. I know her in ways that nobody else ever will, I know how delicate and loving she is when she deals with Maisie, I know the difference between her real smile and her fake one and I know her every fear and insecurity and how to make her forget them even if it's only for a second. It doesn't matter what they say, I know the real Taylor and that's something they will never take from us.