The next day, Blake tried his best to cater to his Wife and Daughter's every need, determined to start this vacation off on a good note. After they had all eaten some toast for a late breakfast, Miranda headed upstairs to pack her bag while Sadie followed after her and sat on the bed to try and 'help', but she was doing nothing but ask Miranda endless questions about their trip, questions that had been answered countless times already.
While Blake was upstairs grabbing Sadie's packed bag, he heard his daughter's shrill voice speak up again.
"Momma? When can we leave?" She asked again and Blake could hear Miranda sigh loudly, beginning to lose her patience. Sadie was in a phase where she asked hundreds of questions a day and Blake could sense that his wife was growing weary of her new fad after spending so long without any time off. Blake decided he needed to intervene, so he walked in to the room and snuck up on Sadie, grabbing her sides and making her shriek in alarm and then laugh loudly as Blake lifted her up and tickled her sides. When she was almost crying in laughter, Blake stopped the tickling and put her on his hip.
"Come on Babe, let's go and make lunch." He said cheerfully as Sadie pulled herself together and Blake noticed the very small grateful smile his wife was shooting his way out of the corner of his eye.
While Blake took Sadie downstairs, Miranda threw a few more a pairs of shorts in her suitcase, along with 3 sundresses and some shirts. After digging through her clothes some more, Miranda found a nicer dress that she was hopeful she would be able to wear if Blake took her on a date and also threw in sandals, flats and flip flops.
Once she made sure she had enough underwear and bra's, Miranda reluctantly grabbed 2 swimsuits from one of her drawers and put them on top. One was a one-piece that tied up as a halter neck, and the other was a two piece that she didn't think she would be comfortable wearing, but she wanted to bring anyway. When she had packed a few cover-ups, Miranda zipped up the suitcase and put her toiletry bag in the side pocket.
When her suitcase was done, Miranda looked over to the doorway to find Blake's packed bag and she listened carefully to make sure he and Sadie were downstairs, before she tip-toed over and very slowly unzipped it, relieving the mess inside. Miranda wasn't even sure why she was looking, but something was forcing her to dig through his things. She dug through the t-shirts, jeans and shorts he had packed, before she moved his boxers out of the way and sighed when nothing looked any different to what she had expected. She was just about to pack everything back in when she grabbed his sneakers and frowned when she felt something hard inside.
She listened one more time to make sure Blake and Sadie were in the kitchen, before she stuck her hand in and pulled out a small box, anger welling up inside her when she held in in her hands and realised what it was. Condoms. Miranda hit her fist against the floorboards in fury as she opened it up and saw the packet was full. After all the problems they were having to try and conceive, what the hell was he doing packing condoms?
Miranda took a deep breath to try and pull herself together and stuffed all of Blake's belongings back in the suitcase, before she zipped it up and put it back next to the door where she had left it. She kept the condoms and threw the packet in her handbag. She wasn't going to let that go, but with Sadie in the house with her Husband, that confrontation was going have to wait until later.
Miranda rubbed her hands over her face and made sure she had pulled herself together, before she heard Blake call her name from downstairs for lunch. As she put her packed bag next to Blake's, she took one last look at the handbag that held the packet of condoms, before she headed downstairs and managed a smile when she saw her Daughter was running over to her.
"Momma! I made lunch!" She exclaimed as miranda caught her and lifted her small body up on to her hip.
"All by yourself?" Miranda asked, faking an impressed voice to try and play along and when Sadie nodded, Blake laughed from the kitchen and Miranda couldn't help but crack a smile. Miranda took Sadie out to the back porch, where Blake had already put the nacho's and 3 small plates on the outdoor table. It was a nice, sunny day, so Blake had set up the shade umbrella over the table and Miranda took her seat with Sadie next to her as Blake set down 3 glasses and a pitcher of ice tea that Miranda had made a few days earlier. Miranda said her 'thank you' when Blake poured her drink, but Blake noticed that she was avoiding eye contact and all through lunch, she kept her attention on Sadie, asking her questions and listening to her rant about how great her sand castles were going to be at the beach.
Blake sat quietly and watched his wife interact with their daughter, but he could tell that she was more tense now than she had been the last few days. As they ate the last of the nacho's, Blake sighed, but managed to put a smile on his face when Sadie climbed out of her seat, guacamole on her face and wondered over to him.
"Are you sleepy?" He asked as he lifted her up into his lap and Sadie nodded, her eyelids heavy, so Blake stood up and smiled as her little legs wrapped around his waist and her head rested on his shoulder. This was her normal nap time, so Miranda cleaned up the lunch stuff while Blake carried Sadie inside and quickly wiped her face with a cloth in the kitchen, before he climbed the stairs with her and walked in to her bedroom.
As Blake sat down on the edge of her bed, he felt lifted Sadie and placed her down on her back on top of the blankets. The second her head hit the pillow, she closed her eyes and Blake knew she would be out before he even had a chance to read her a story. Instead, Blake laid down on his side and propped himself up on his elbow so that he could look her over. As Sadie wiggled to find a more comfortable position, Blake tried to relax her by singing a little tune softly. As she began to drift off to sleep, Blake's hand automatically found her little belly and began to rub it in circles through her yellow sundress, a habit that had soothed her since the day she was born.
When she had finally drifted off and was breathing softly against her pillow, Blake stopped singing, but his hand still rhythmically rubbed her stomach. With Miranda angry at him and Sadie napping, he wasn't sure what he was supposed to do, so he figured he would hide out with Sadie until she woke up. He barely lasted 15 minutes before he heard somebody clear their throat behind him and when he turned to see his wife in the doorway, he knew from the furious look on her face that she was pissed. Blake looked at her for a minute, considering what to do, before Miranda pointed her hand in the direction of their own bedroom and Blake sighed to himself, before he softly kissed his daughter and stood up, following his wife in to their room and looking around guiltily as she shut the door to block out the noise. When the door was shut, Miranda stared him down and pointed to the bed, so Blake gulped and sat down on the edge, watching closely as Miranda picked up her handbag and reached her hand inside.
Miranda took a deep breath and grabbed the package of condoms out of her purse, before she held them up and watched her Husband's face grow from confusion to realisation. He looked down guiltily and Miranda grew more angry as he looked at his lap without speaking.
"What the hell are these?" She hissed, try to keep her voice down and Blake looked up with big eyes, something that normally calmed Miranda down, but not today. He opened his mouth to speak, but he had no idea what to say, so he figured shutting up and letting her vent was the best strategy.
Miranda stared at Blake with rage in her eyes for a few seconds, before she realised he wasn't going to talk and she just couldn't help herself when she lifted the packet and used every ounce of strength in her shoulder to throw it at him. Blake flinched, but it didn't hurt when the packet hit his shoulder and landed in his lap.
"For fucks sake Blake! We are supposed to be trying for a baby, why the hell would you buy condoms?" Miranda continued in her rant, her voice raising slightly. Blake closed his eyes and listened to it. He couldn't believe how idiotic he had been.
"I..." Blake tried to defend himself, but he couldn't think of a good excuse, so when he shut up again, Miranda stared at him with furious eyes, but Blake could see that behind that angry mask, there was hurt in there too.
"Do you even want another baby?" Miranda questioned, a little softer in tone and Blake pepped up a little.
"Of course I do!" He tried to assure her, but it was just making Miranda more confused and annoyed.
"Then you can't do this Blake! You can't get my hopes up like that and then just disappear every week and come back with a packet of condoms!" Miranda half yelled and Blake bit his lip, he didn't know what to do.
"It's not like that..." He tried to reason lightly and Miranda's heart dropped in a sudden moment of insecurity.
"Are they.." She started but stopped suddenly to try and gather up the courage to ask a question she wasn't sure she wanted the answer to. "Have you been using them with somebody else?"
Blake's heart dropped past his stomach and he felt physically sick as he watched his wife's face soften and her eyes close as she awaited for an answer. He hated himself for letting things get this far. He detested the fact that the thought had even crossed his wife's mind.
"Oh, Baby." He breathed as he noticed tears welling up in her eyes. "Come here."
Miranda looked at his opened arms hesitantly for a few seconds before she gave in and took a few steps forward. She was 99.9% sure he wasn't cheating, but her anger and the nights she spent alone in that house gave her a lapse in judgement. Blake parted his legs and Miranda stood between them, not wanting to make a move, but wanting her Husband to assure her that everything would be okay.
Blake's hands ever so gently found their way on to her denim clad hips and he wanted to engulf her in a giant embrace, but there were things that needed to be worked out before their relationship got back on track. He squeezed her hips gently as Miranda stood a little awkwardly, looking down at his lap where the box of condoms was still sitting idly. Blake shifted his head so that he was looking up in to her teary eyes and he stared at her intensely, locking in their view so that she knew he wasn't lying.
"Honey, I would never, EVER, do that to you and Sadie." He said slowly, yet in a firm voice so that his words would sink in and Miranda used the back of her arm to wipe away a few tears while she nodded her head slowly. She knew he was telling the truth.
"I know." She whispered as she took a deep breath to try and calm herself down and Blake's grip intensified on her hips.
"I love you." He tried calmly and Miranda sighed, he still wasn't getting it. Blake gave her a few moments to work out her thoughts before Miranda spoke up again.
"I love you too, I really do. But..." She started and Blake bit his cheek, knowing she wasn't happy.
"But..." She continued. "You need to sort out your priorities. It's one thing that I never see you, but it's another thing that your daughter doesn't see you." She wanted to tell him how upset he made Sadie, but she didn't want to ruin him, so she went with another tactic. When he was about speak up, she stopped him, she still wasn't finished.
"This is so unfair on me. I didn't sign up to be a single parent and I shouldn't have to be. And Sadie didn't sign up for one parent, she signed up for both of us. She deserves to spend time with BOTH of us."
Blake hung his head and his grip loosened on her hips as he closed his eyes and tried to keep it together. He knew this was coming, but it didn't make Miranda's words any harder to listen to. Miranda wanted to go on, but she could see that he was on the verge of tears. They were about to spend the week together, so angry or not angry, she had to at least try and make this work.
"I'm sorry." He spoke so quietly that she barely heard him and Miranda sighed, seeing how wrecked he was. She stood still for a few minutes, contemplating her next move, before she reluctantly pulled her hips free from his grasp and sat down right next to him on the bed. Blake didn't move at first, his mind still wallowing in self hatred, but when Miranda's hand reached around to gently pat his back, his head lifted a little and Miranda could see the hurt in his eyes. He was her Husband and she really did love him, but this was a point that had to be made. In order to make things right, she needed him to see his flaws.
"We can work this out." She eventually spoke up quietly and Blake's head perked up, looking sideways with cloudy eyes as one hand rested on his back and the other slowly made it's way on to his denim-clad thigh. "We have a lot of things we need to work through, but we will be okay." She assured him reluctantly and Blake clung to those words with everything he had.
He loved his Wife and Daughter with every fibre of his being and he needed to fix these issues for his family's sake. He was determined to make this week one to remember, he just hoped he and Miranda could get through it. This was his fault and he knew that, so it was up to him to make things right.