♡
Sara's POV
Since Leon crashed down next to Rebecca in the living room, snoring seconds later, and since Marthe went outside to work in her garden and Victor was working in his office I was on my own now.
What to do? I could look for more house inspos on the internet. I could browse some wedding stuff (as if I didn't have a private pinterest board for that already), or I could sit down and read a bit.
Nothing spoke to me though. I wanted to discuss those things with him, since it was our house and our wedding. But I could look at some wedding dresses!
Now, I was pear-shaped. Surely a quick google search would give me some tips what I should look out for. I went up the stairs to our room, got Michael's laptop out of its bag and turned it on. After typing his ridiculously long password in, which had taken me days to memorize as it was random numbers and figures (23acxy4f6871mz1f569qd to be exact), I leaned forward excitedly, hunched together, and scrolled through the search results.
"24 gorgeous wedding dresses for brides with pear shaped body", I quietly read out loud. "Ivory ruffled wedding gown, ivory tulle gown with floral embroidery, lace neckline off the shoulder dress, jewel lace wedding gown - do they really think I know what these mean without concrete pictures?" I pressed the link, accepted the cookies and waited for the pictures to load.
Much better.
"Ok oook these are cute, alright I see", I wriggled around excitedly.
"Ok, first one is a hard pass. The skirt is nothing for me at all."
"Second one is a sad no. I don't want to show my legs."
"The third and fourth one are cute! Oh the flowers are really nice! I like the material as well", I just caught myself talking to myself. I stopped shortly, leaned back. I shrugged. Oh well, too late to stop now.
"Ok this one is cute too! But the sleeves ... not really what I'm digging so far."
"Oh god no!", I shook my head. "My breasts would fall out of that in seconds! Hard pass!"
"Nah."
"Uhm - yes? Hello neckline! Hello waist!" If I had something to show off, then it was my waist - I immediately copied the title of the dress and punched it into Pinterest.
The first few results were off dressing cupping the butt, which made me roll my eyes. I couldn't wear that - Michael wouldn't remove his hands from my ass the whole reception long, so sadly, no. Might wanna jot that down for the honeymoon though ...
After an hour of scrolling, and remembering that the wedding might take place in January so I needed something long-sleeved, I narrowed down my initial 100 choices (or so it seemed) to a top 7. Mermaid-dresses, A-line, V-necks - they all spoke to me.
I sighed dreamily. As a girl I had often planned my own wedding in my head, from the dress to the weather, everything was perfect and strategically placed in my mind.
I checked the clock. 4 pm.
I shoved my chair back, forced myself to stop scrolling through venues and lists of what brides should know (comment for that one: help!!!) and decided I should clean the house from top to bottom.
In the basement was a lonely wooden basket, fairly clean. I found a wash cloth too, filled it with water and a shot of soap, then went at it.
I cleaned the surfaces of the whole basement, from the desks to the shelves, while my mind slipped back to the list.
My bridesmaids would definitely be my office girls and my best friend back in Austria. Emma too if she was up for it, she was my little sister after all. As for Michael - who would he choose? Philipp and Leon?
Would Esi be our flower girl? Adrien would want to help too and I have many more little cousins at home that would gladly help.
I changed the dirty water and headed upstairs to clean the railing.
Estelle spotted me and sat besides me on the stairs, fumbling with a barbie doll in her hand.
With every step I moved up, she followed, quietly and contently, leaning against my leg. I made sure she wouldn't fall, brushed her hair with my free hand.
"Mama made", she suddenly said which caused me to look down to her.
"Hmm?", I hummed with a smile.
Esi raised her doll, waving it around happily. "Mama made!"
"What did your mama make?", I crouched down to her, scanning the doll. "The braid?"
Estelle nodded ecstatically. "Pretty!", she cooed. "Esi want too!"
"Do you want tatie to braid your hair?"
Estelle's face lit up, her eyes shining. She nodded vividly.
I took her little hand and we went to Michael's room. I got my hair brush out as well as a two hair ties.
I brushed through her soft hair, enjoying the soft feel of her curls on my palm. Such thick hair, almost as thick as mine, unruly but still beautiful. My sensitive nose caught the honey scent of her hair too. "I love your hair Esi."
"Mama too." Esi wriggled her little feet around.
"What about you?", I kissed her hairline.
"Esi too!"
"That's good - now, hold still."
I quickly braided the two braids, staring at her cute little face and noticed how long her lashes were and what rosy cheeks she bore. Once I was done, I led her to the mirror to show her.
Estelle's eyes lit up at the sight and she started bouncing on the spot. "Show Adri!"
"Let's go and show Adrien", I agreed and picked her up.
Adrien was still in the kitchen drawing, content with himself and looked up as we entered the kitchen.
"Adri look!", Esi cooed, pointing at her hair. "Bwaids!"
"I want braids too!", Adrien decided suddenly on the spot. "Tatie please! Can you braid my hair too?"
"Adri too!", Estelle threw her little hands in the air excitedly.
"Of course", I scanned his hair. I took my own hair out of my ponytail and took his three longest strands of hair and made a small braid. It was more than enough for him though as he was satisfied. Estelle smiled even more now that her brother had a braid too.
Satisfied with their reaction, I watched Adrien share his colouring book with Esi and went back upstairs to finish cleaning the staircase.
♡
Sara's POV
It took me about an hour to clean the upstair's surfaces. I couldn't clean the living room as Rebecca and Leon were sleeping inside of there, but I could tackle the kitchen and bathroom downstairs.
I carried the water bucket down with me, emptied it and asked the children if they were hungry. Both nodded and after I washed my hands, I cut up some fruit for them and gave them some juice. I'm sure Becca and Leon wouldn't mind that.
Estelle quickly demanded more bananas while Adrien was cheeky enough to steal her oranges from her. Once his sister noticed, she got teary eyed and instantly threw a tantrum.
"My owanges!", she yelled, stomping in her chair.
I quickly rushed over to her, picked her up and calmed her down. "Esi, Adri is sharing his book with you - would it hurt to share your oranges with him them? And Adrien, you should have asked nicely, you know how Estelle gets."
Both pouted. Esi still cried, but at least she didn't yell anymore. I brushed Adrien's hair back. "Estelle is in a sensitive stage right now, she gets easily angry but that doesn't mean she doesn't love you."
"I know ...", Adrien looked down. "Sorry Esi."
Esi stared at her brother. She leaned down and gave him another orange. "Take."
Esi even gave him a hug.
What good children!
"Good job", Leon stood by the door frame, smiling tiredly.
"Thank you", I placed Estelle back down in her chair. "Coffee?"
"Please", Leon rubbed his eyes, went over to Esi and Adrien to kiss their heads. "Oh, braids!"
"Tatie did!", Esi explained with a smile, snotty and with drying tears on her face. Leon wiped those away. "How nice of tatie."
Rebecca joined too, sitting down between her babies. "What do you want Becca? Tea?", I asked her over my shoulders.
"If you don't mind, then yes please." She brushed her children's hair back, smiled at them lovingly. "Oh, before I forget, I found a few pictures Sara."
"Let's look at them later together, ok? I still have to finish cleaning the house", I set the water to boil and watched the kids tell their parents everything they've missed so far.
♡
Sara's POV
8 pm.
I had cleaned the house.
I had cleaned the kitchen, bathroom, surfaces, vacuumed all the floors, watered the flowers, washed the stairs outside.
I had read three chapters but stopped because Estelle and Adrien had wanted to play with me.
I had cooked dinner with Marthe, stuffed chicken with a green salad out of her garden. Cleaned that up too.
How was it only 8 pm - or rather, Michael it was 8 already. You left at 6:30 am.
Michael, where are you? Should I be getting worried? Did something happen?
I stared out the window the whole time, on guard, awaiting the car any second now up the hill.
Hopefully today wasn't too busy for him. Hopefully he isn't too tired. Hopefully everything went by smoothly.
Marthe laid a blanket over my shoulders. "He won't be here before 10, ma belle."
"Should I be worried? I mean - what if something happened out there?"
"He's repairing a school not fighting in a war continent", Marthe laughed. "It's fine - he'll be here in a few, I'm sure of it." Marthe turned my head softly. "Rather than watching the window let's watch a movie together in the living room."
I didn't leave my spot by the window immediately, stayes put there a little while longer, waiting with a pounding heart.
Rebecca called for me.
I didn't budge. Said I would be there in a bit.
Leon called for me.
I repeated the same thing.
Estelle and Adrien tugged at my arms, crying to watch movies with them.
8:25.
I couldn't concentrate on the movie. I was staring into nothingness, my ears peeled to hear the tires scrunching up the stony path of the hill to the house, checked the clock every ten minutes, cuddled with Adrien, Estelle and even Rebecca, who wanted to distract me with little Sara kicking and turning inside of her, and even Leon jokingly put his head on my shoulder.
8:40.
I had no clue what the movie was about.
Victor appeared at 9:05:32 pm in the living room with lunch and dinner on a plate, sat down beside Marthe and watched the movie or whatever we were watching with us.
My foot was nervously moving around. My eyes darted to the window and TV and the clock.
9:01.
9:02.
9:03.
Rebecca pointed something out.
9:05.
Estelle jumped onto me, begging for me to rebraid her hair.
9:10.
Adrien asked for a new braid too.
9:11.
Marthe asked if anybody wanted something to drink or fruit to snack on. I took care of that.
9:20.
I washed the dishes.
Put them in the rack.
Washed the sink.
Dries everything.
Put everything away.
9:30:24 pm.
I sat down with them again, munching on some oranges absentmindedly.
9:31:54 pm.
Car tires.
Finally.
I jumped up, the blanket falling onto the couch. "Be right back!", I yelled over my shoulder and ran to the door.
Before Michael could even put the keys in, I tore the door open. My heart was making loops.
He awaited me with a big smile, his sea blue eyes lighting up upon meeting mine, his arms opened already expecting me to storm into him.
And damn right he was.
I jumped into the hug. Wanted to be so desperately in his strong arms. I wanted to feel save again. He twirled me around, both of us laughing happily.
"Oh how I've missed you", he breathed into my hair, his hand buried in my hair, the other around my back. He smelled of paint. His clothes were slightly wet from the sweat. His hair was tussled. Michael showered my neck and shoulders with thousand kisses.
"I've missed you too! So, so much!", I cupped his face and absorbed every detail, as if I saw him for the first time again. He gave me a handsome, crooked grin, one corner higher than the other, more handsome than the devil himself.
"I've got so much to tell you", Michael beamed. "But firstly; how was your day mon amour?"
"Good - How was yours?", I took his hands, leading him inside. "Are you hungry? Marthe and I cooked quite a lot of food today! Onion soup, flamiche, some other salad dish and for dinner we made stuffed chicken with green salad!"
"Sounds delicious - I'll have everything", Michael kissed my cheek, nose and eyes. Withdrew his hand to look at me. Kissed me on my lips, long and firm.
My knees got wobbly and I had to fully lean into him. He held me, tilted his head and I opened my mouth for him.
His tongue ran across mine, across my teeth and slid around mine again.
I sighed deliciously into kiss, making him laugh happily.
Another firm kiss and we went back inside, holding each others hand.
I went to the kitchen and he went to the living room to greet the others. I warmed up the food and placed it down on the table.
Michael closed the door behind him, his eyes glistening mischievously. "We have 5 minutes maximum on our own before the children storm after us."
I had to laugh. I reached my hand out to him.
Michael intertwined our fingers, kissing my hand as he sat down.
His eyes got worried. "Was everything alright today?"
"Everything was perfect, nothing you've got to worry about. Your family is a blessing", I brushed his hair out of his eyes. "You were away for quite a long time."
"They did a number to that school", Michael shook his head. "I'll tell you later though. What did you do today?"
"I talked with Becca about house choices, furniture, kids, weddings, then went to pinterest to search for a few wedding things, cleaned the house, cooked, talked with everybody, played with the kids, cleaned some more, read my book and so on."
Michael stopped eating to laugh. "Time really doesn't pass here at all. I did so much too but the time just dragged itself."
My boyfriend scanned me, laughed and rested his head on his palm, giving me a lovely smile. "You are bursting with joy - tell me."
"Rebecca is expecting a girl and is naming her after me!", I beamed. "Can you believe it!?"
"No way", Michael beamed too, lifting his head from his hand. "A little Sara! What joyous news!"
"And I know what wedding dress I might want", I told him with a giggle. Before he could ask I continued: "And also, I have a few pictures to show you concerning the house!"
Little feet stomped around. Got louder towards the kitchen.
Michael leaned over and whispered "Last chance" against my lips. He pressed a long, firm kiss onto my lips. I had to close my eyes as our lips met.
He cupped my face with his free hand, deepening our kiss.
I wrapped my arms around him.
The door flew open.
"Yuck! Ew!", Adrien yelled. "Yuck! Ew!", Esi imitated him.
Our lips parted.
Michael rolled his eyes with a smile. "Bad children are eaten for breakfast!", he warned them, fork pointing at them.
Esi shook her head as well as Adrien. "We aren't bad kids!"
"Oh? Then let me hear what you did today!", Michael demanded, digging into the remainder of his food.
After Estelle and Adrien were seated, they told Michael and us what they had done today.
Michael and I intertwined our hands underneath the table and listened intently to them.
You were my happiness and all I needed. Never had I thought I would be so dependent of a person, but here you are.
As if reading my mind, you met my eyes, gave me the most loving smile yet, and leaned your head against mine, forehead on forehead. You mouthed I love you.
I love you so much too, Michael. More than anybody could grasp.