I was sitting cross legged on the floor busy setting up a video call with my baby in my arms.
I pressed call waiting for an answer while he was trying to wiggle out of my arms when the the call was picked up, I saw the face of my wonderful husband; Derick.
"Hi" he smiled.
"Hey, how was the flight?" I asked, it's his first time away from the two of us.
"It went smoothly, how have you two been doing these past three days?"
"We've been fine, right Chris? Come on baby, say hi to daddy" I prompted my little Christopher.
"Hey buddy! How are you? Daddy misses you so much!" His eyes softened just from looking at him.
Chris looked at the screen while sucking on his hand, I kissed his cheek while grabbing his other hand and waved it making him pull out of my grip forcefully and I smiled knowing I annoyed him.
"It hasn't been long and I miss the both of you already, when is your mom coming over?" He asked still ogling over Chris.
"Tomorrow, and we miss you too, he doesn't look it but he's tired because he refused to take a nap this afternoon, but then again, he's been sleeping with mommy for the past three days now" I said wiggling him around in the air making him smile.
"Have you been giving mommy trouble young man?" Derick said, playfully wagging his finger, even though he knows Chris doesn't even understand.
"How can a five month old be so big already? I haven't gotten enough of him" I said smiling at my baby.
"I told you to stop working until he was at least two years old"
"I'm not leaving you alone with so much work, you're already so tired, not to mention I don't want another assistant around you" I pouted towards the end.
"No need to get so jealous wifey, I have eyes on you alone and about the tiredness; it's nothing I'm not used to" he chuckled.
The bags under his eyes told me he was more tired than usual.
"I'm sorry we're taking up your resting time even though you're so tired, how can there be two meetings right after landing?! That's ridiculous!"
"I agree it is ridiculous and you don't have to apologize for anything, on the contrary, seeing you and Chris gives me more energy than two cups of coffee, knowing I'm going through this to give you two a comfortable life makes it all worth it"
"I love you Derick" I said softly.
"I love you more my precious Jewel"
It was late at night and Chris started fussing like crazy.
I held him in a rocking position and saw that he was opening and closing his mouth, a sign that he's hungry.
"Is he hungry?"
I nodded.
"Duty calls" I chuckled.
Neither of us moved.
"I don't want to cut the call" I admitted.
"Me neither, do you mind keeping the call open until I fall asleep? Feed him right here, nothing new to me, I just want the both of you by my side"
I'll be honest it's lonely without him around, don't get me wrong, Chris is a handful but between the two of us he was easy to take care of, I don't know how I got so lucky to have a baby that doesn't cry every second or doesn't fuss around strangers.
Then again just because he doesn't cry doesn't mean he actually sleeps.
"Okay" I smiled.
I started breast feeding him and I looked down to see his beautiful blue eyes watching me, I rubbed his cheek and stroked his head full of fuzzy brown hair.
He has more of my features than Derick's, my eye shape, my nose, my lips and my hair color, he has his dad's eye color and face shape.
I think he'll be quite the looker if I do say so myself.
"I love watching the both of you, I want these two weeks to go by quickly so I can rush back and kiss every inch of your faces"
"I think you need to get used to the idea of not having us around, you'll be traveling a lot more often" I chuckled, wanting to kiss him too.
"Oh no Jewel, next time I'll be taking the both of you with me, I would've already if your mother hadn't said no"
"She didn't mean anything by it plus you were the one that agreed you big coward"
It's true, Derick wanted to take us along but apparently 'A child has to be at least a year old before he could go on a plane!' Her words, not mine, which doesn't make any sense in my opinion.
And Derick, not wanting to piss off his mother in law, agreed to it.
"What did I do to deserve such a beautiful family?" He smirked laying on his side on the bed.
"I don't know, I ask myself the same question because if I recall when we met you were nothing but an arrogant, selfish, egoistic, handsome, butthole" I smiled a little too sweetly.
"And you were a stubborn, witty, beautiful female dog that just kept getting right up in my face"
We try to keep it PG when Chris is around.
"And you fell in love with me for that?" I raised a brow.
"Oh you know I did Jewel, it's embarrassing to admit how in love with you I am"
"We've come a long way since then, four years" I smiled shyly.
"Best four years of my life, I can tell you that"
"Took you way too long to propose, I'm glad I found out I was pregnant on our honeymoon and not before that"
"Definitely, otherwise your mother would've castrated me for getting you pregnant before marriage"
"Speaking of marriage, your sisters anniversary is in a month, what do you plan on doing?"
"Not sure, but if I find out I won't tell you so you don't copy me"
"You're so mean, I wonder if your dad will show up this year" I said, seeing that Chris has fallen asleep I pulled my shirt down.
"I don't care, it's his choice if he wants to see his grandson or not, in the past nine years he must've seen my sister maybe five times? He still doesn't care about Cassie"
"But Chris is a different case, the company goes to him, doesn't he want to at least see the next person who is going to run his company after you?"
"The company was my grandfathers, all he did was get married for it to be passed down to him, I started running it because he wanted to be free from the office life" he said in disgust.
I knew now wasn't the time to discuss this nor make him angry so I thought I'm going to tease him a bit.
"You know, my mom said you're a little self conceited"
"What?! Do I give off that kind of air around her?!" He sat up, alarmed.
"Just kidding! You don't have to be so worried, she won't make me divorce you, it'll give me a bad name in the family" I giggled.
"You two are one of a kind" he grumbled.
"How's your dad?" He asked.
"He's good, he caught a cold and was sad because he couldn't come and see Chris"
Yes, my father walked me down the aisle.
After that visit to the nursing home, I visited him more frequently and we became close, I found that we have a lot in common and that he really has gone back to being the man he was.
He also convinced me to forgive Derick, I won't let him live it down though, embarrass me and you can consider yourself dead.
And it'll be an understatement if I said he adores Chris, he's been spoiling him rotten!
"When you come back we should go to LA for Julians two year birthday"
"Will we make it? And what about your mom?"
"Tell he she can ride your private jet and I think we'll be fine" I laughed.
"Hey Derick?"
"Yeah Jewel?"
"I had a dream before you left..."
He raised an eyebrow.
"And in that dream, Chris had grown up and you were forcing him to get married because it would've been beneficial to the company, I mean it was just a dream but if it came down to it, would you do that?"
He sighed before laying on his back.
"First of all it's too early to think about that kind of thing and second of all it'll never happen, not as long as I'm alive, because I don't want my kids to live as heirs to a fortune, I want them to live normal lives, it might be hard but I think them finding the love of their life is more important than something that can be rebuilt through hard work"
He looked at me and smiled.
"Having someone by your side makes the load on your back feel worth it, coming home to wonderful meals, to a happy home, to a wonderful partner, it can put anyone at ease"
"You're gonna make me cry you asshole" I whispered, teary eyed.
"Hey hey, no swearing or crying!" He chuckled.
"I love you Derick Reid"
"I love you more Juliana Reid, I love you as my wife, I love you as the mother of my child and I love you as my best friend"
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Hey it's May!
I just wanted to say for the last time, thank you for reading and goodbye.
Juliana and Derick have been characters I have been getting to know for three years, they have grown as people I know, they were built as parts of myself and the people around me, their situations reflected my own and they led to fictional ways I wish my own ended.
I loved my time on Wattpad, it was so fun, I loved writing something I wanted to read, I loved seeing the feedback, someone telling me they enjoyed my story inspired and motivated me to write more.
Thank you and goodbye. ❤️