EPILOGUE
*Jess’ POV*
Two and a half years later…
“Aston!!” I called down the stairs of our house.
“What?”
“Can you get Emiliana up?!”
“Why?” he asked, emerging in the stairwell.
“She’s not going to get any sleep tonight if she keeps sleeping like this.”
“So?”
“You know very well that this is our one weekend away for months… I don’t want a crying baby all night long!”
“Yes dragon lady,” Aston grinned, coming up the rest of the steps and wandering to the nursery. “She’s going to sleep in the car you know.”
“I’ll sit back there with her and keep her up,” I said, going to double check the diaper bag I’d packed to bring along in the car as well as the weekend bag with all of Emiliana’s clothes.
“Are you going to be ready to go soon?”
“Ten minutes,” I replied, “Just need to grab a few things for me.”
“Ok,” Aston said, “I’ll get Emi ready and we’ll wait for you downstairs.”
“Thanks babe,” I grinned, kissing Aston quickly as he woke up our eight-month-old daughter.
It was crazy to think that we were settled down with a little baby of our own. When I was 25, having just met Aston, I would have laughed at anyone who would have suggested that eventually I’d be a mum to his child. But here I was, a full on parent, married to the love of my life.
Of course Emiliana hadn’t been born without a few meltdowns. In fact, I’d cried the entire first weekend I’d found out I was pregnant, merely because I was overwhelmed by the news. And I’d put Aston through total hell during the pregnancy as my emotions went up and down.
“Ok ready,” I said, grinning when I saw Aston had put Emiliana in some silly trainers, even though she wasn’t having it. She kept trying to kick them off while sitting in her baby seat.
“Let’s go then,” Aston said, “I want to beat traffic.”
I nodded my head and grabbed our bags, following him out of the house and locking up. After loading the car we were on the road, off up to the estate for a quiet weekend away.
“I bet Marnie is glad for the extra time off,” Aston said conversationally. After another bout of random jobs, I’d managed to talk Marnie into working as our nanny while Aston and I busy with work. It was the perfect fit, as she was one of the only people in the world I trusted with my child.
“She’s seeing some new guy,” I grinned.
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah she has a hot date tonight…”
“Go Marnie!” Aston laughed.
“We’ll need to meet him to see if he is up to our standards,” I said, “Won’t we Emi?” I shook Emiliana’s foot as she gave me a frown, clearly wanting to go back to sleep.
Given a nice Portuguese name, in an effort to hold on to that last sliver of Portuguese left in my blood, Emiliana had certainly inherited many of my mannerisms. When it came to new things or breaking routine, Emiliana was a no nonsense kind of girl, crying and pulling dramatic faces. Of course, she’d also inherited many of her father’s fun loving qualities, and his good looks too. A perfect combination of the pair of us.
“I can’t believe you’re sitting back there,” Aston laughed as he turned onto the first of many country lanes on the way to the estate.
“I said…”
“I know what you said,” he replied, “I just can’t believe how stubborn you are. You and Emi are certainly going to have some major disagreements when she gets older. She’s clearly taking after you in that respect.”
“We won’t fight, will we pretty girl?” I cooed, grinning at my daughter.
“You will,” Aston said, “Trust me.”
I rolled my eyes just as Emiliana gave another frown, causing me to giggle.
“Ok, maybe we will. But nothing horrible…”
We pulled up at the estate an hour later and unloaded the car, heading straight to the kitchen with a bag of groceries we’d picked up in town.
“You want to feed her while I get our food together?” I asked Aston.
“Sure,” he replied, grabbing out a jar of baby food, “This looks sick.”
“Don’t let her hear that!” I pointed out.
Aston gave me a funny look before pulling Emiliana out of her seat and sitting her on his lap, a spoon in his hand as he began the task of trying to get her to eat some of the food in the jar.
“Emi come on,” Aston sighed as she spit another mouthful out, a fair bit of it landing on his jeans.
“Should have left her in her seat,” I quipped, taking in the sight before me. Aston and Emiliana were both covered in food as he held her in his lap.
“Shut up…”
“Don’t teach her that kind of language!” I teased.
He rolled his eyes at me as I turned to finish up the food. I sort of loved family time, just us three.
“All done!” Aston declared, just as I finished with the cooking.
“Here, pass her over, “ I said, “You can get yourself something to eat.”
“Thanks,” Aston sighed, passing Emiliana to me as he stood up. I cuddled her in my arms for a moment, giggling as Aston wiped down his jeans. “It’s not funny.”
“Yes it is,” I laughed, sitting down at the old wooden table in the kitchen and patting Emiliana on the back gently. “Isn’t it Emi?”
Aston served up our plates of food and I sat and ate with Emiliana on my lap as we chatted away.
“I’m glad we’re up here,” Aston said, “I love it here.”
“So do I.”
“I really want Emi to grow up here, in the summers like you did,” he said after a minute.
“Yeah?”
“I mean from your stories it sounds like a lot of fun. I wish I’d had a place like this when I was young.”
“Won’t it be boring just her though?” I said, “I mean I guess we could get Gabe up here or something, but he’s a bit older…”
“Or Emi could have a sibling…” Aston cut in, trailing off as the idea lingered.
This was his new thing, already on about giving Emiliana a brother or a sister. Every time he mentioned it I couldn’t help but roll my eyes just a little bit. Emiliana was only eight months old after all!
“You want another already?” I laughed instead, brushing the conversation aside.
“Hell yeah I do,” Aston grinned, “I want a big family.”
“Have fun giving birth babe,” I teased.
“You’re no fun.”
I just shrugged my shoulders, bouncing Emiliana on my knee lightly as I picked up my fork to try and eat my food, her fingers reaching for my plate all the while.
We managed to keep Emiliana up for another few hours, playing in the TV room as a film played in the background, and then we put her down to sleep in the portable cot we’d brought.
“Finally some parents time,” Aston sighed, wrapping his arm around my shoulders and kissing my neck gently.
“This is what you’ve been waiting for?? Not spending time as a family?”
“Quit causing trouble,” Aston mumbled, pressing his lips against mine in a heated kiss.
Hours later I was awoken by the soft whimpers of Emiliana.
“Shhhh…” I heard whispered from across the room, “Don’t want to make Mummy.”
I smiled secretly to myself as I listened to Aston pick Emiliana up out of the cot. I could hear him softly humming as he tried to get her to go back to sleep.
I began to doze at this point, used to this routine. After awhile I felt Aston slip into bed, the whimpering still going.
“Shhhh…” he whispered again.
I twisted in bed to see Aston lying next to me, Emiliana on his chest.
“Sorry,” he sighed, as I reached out a hand to stroke her back gently.
“It’s ok,” I whispered, grinning up at him.
“I think you were right about her sleeping too much.”
“I’m always right,” I teased.
We lay together the three of us for a bit, Aston still humming as I continued to rub Emiliana’s back.
“We did good didn’t we?” I whispered as she finally drifted to sleep.
“She’s pretty perfect,” Aston responded, slipping out of bed to put her back in her cot.
“Love you,” I said after he’d gotten back into bed and I’d wrapped my arms around his waist.
“Love you too,” he said, his voice thick from exhaustion.
“And for the record… I agree about Emi having a sibling.”
“Oh yeah!” Aston grinned, leaning down and kissing me.
“Not yet though.”
“Only in Dragon Lady’s time,” he teased back.
I rolled my eyes at him, cuddling into his chest as I contemplated my life and how things had changed from when we’d first met. How’d I gone from being controlling and uptight, refusing to fall in love or have any relationship at all, to being a wife and a mother, someone who could just play along when things fell out of my control.
And in all honesty… I wouldn’t have had it any other way.
x..The End..x