The Perfect Storm 3

Chapter 291

"Is she asleep?" Miles asks and I turn my head back to the baby chair that Sandra let us keep and the baby inside it.

Becky's eyes are closed and her breathing is soft and without a care in the world.

Miles nods before slowly approaching me into the bedroom, this situation feels completely different from what I used to and I don't know how to handle it, Becky is barely a year old and we've taken this responsibility upon us.

"Are you sure you, um . . ." I never seem to know exactly how to bring something like this up; something we've never talked about, but I know that Miles is different now although my instincts still remain the same.

"Yeah," he runs his fingers through his hair, and then his hazel eyes spot me; staring deep into mine.

"You?" he asks, his eyebrows lifted to me as I nod, without saying the words.

"How are we going to--um take care of everything, I mean, I . . . wasn't expecting--" he stops himself, runnings through his hair one more time as his eyes stay focused on the road this time. I turn my head to look back at Becky who is asleep in her baby car seat.

"I don't know," I whisper quietly, and then a smile forms on my lips and I place my hand on his, staring at him now as he turns his head to me.

"But it will be okay," I speak and he nods with a smile of his own appearing on his lips.

WE COME TO A SLOW HALT BEFORE our house. It's something Miles never really did before I was pregnant and now he seems to be extra careful when we have another baby with us. The car doesn't throw gravel around like it used to and instead it comes to the most delicate stop I've ever seen Miles do.

He looks at me one more time with a smile before opening his door and letting me know he'll help me out.

Miles then quickly opens my door and helps me get up which has oddly become more difficult in the span of a week, but in only a single week I'll be two months pregnant.

His hand is on my back as his other one pulls mine to get me to stand up on the hard gravel. I watch the beautiful windows that cover our home and I can't wait to get inside. I open Becky's car door slowly, everything surrounding her seems to need delicate handling and I'm almost afraid to unlock her seatbelt or pull her out but when Miles's strong hand pushes me behind him, I smile. Knowing that he wants to help our new family heals my heart and soul in a way I didn't think was possible.

Miles unhooks her seatbelt and as Becky is lifted into his arms, Miles makes sure he supports her head and I feel bliss. He closes the door gently with the baby resting against his chest, her head on his shoulder as Miles holds her with both hands, one underneath her and the other on her small back.

I stand there in absolute awe and then I quickly understand that Miles wants to get her inside the warmth quickly and I nod.

We unlock the home with my key and step inside, Miles kicks off his shoes and so do I before we walk up the nursery, Miles holding one of my hands to help me up the stairs, making sure I'm also okay.

We watch as only one bed rests in the room, fully clothed and prepared for a child that has now arrived much sooner than expected and in a way we never thought of.

"Do we have a baby monitor?" Miles's voice is low and careful and I nod, grabbing the pair quickly out of the shelves and placing one besides the small baby bed.

Miles places Becky slowly on top of the bedsheets before pulling them from underneath her carefully and allowing. Becky to adjust to any position she's comfortable in. I didn't understand what Sandra fully meant with not being able to take care of Becky but as I watch the small child lying in the baby bed, I realize that she's not dressed well enough to have been in Sandra's arms from her car to David's house.

She's only wearing a teddy-bear white onesie and thick socks on her small feet, no extra layers, nothing to protect her head, and it all seems to feel real now, Sandra really couldn't take care of Becky, even if she had tried, she has gone through too much and I don't even want to imagine how long David has acted like this toward her because only mentioning the situation even if not vocally, I could see tears filling her eyes and pain beyond anything I could imagine.

Miles pulls the socks off her and I find myself smiling, we'll both love Becky just as much as her younger sibling.

Miles turns to me, his lips smiling as his hands reaches to hold around me as we stare at the sleeping baby in front of us.

"It's so peaceful, just to--to watch her breath and to listen to her breathe," Miles speaks and I nod with a smile, I feel my cheeks getting rosy in the warm room but it feels perfect to be here; the four of us.

After what feels like five long minutes of silence and peacefulness as we watch Becky, I part my lips. "Do you feel like she's your half-sister?" I ask, looking up at Miles, my voice quiet and blending in with the baby's slow quiet breathing.

He stays quiet for a few seconds as if this is something he's never let cross his mind.

"No . . . because she's not," he speaks, "no matter how fu--messed up this situation is, she's not my sister and he, not my dad; he never was. Becky is our daughter," he says and the words taste different, even to me as he speaks them but they also feel right.

AFTER SOMEHOW MANAGING TO close the door to Becky's small baby room, Miles and I have somehow gotten ourselves into our bed. And even though we've both walked into Becky's room at least a hundred times to make sure she's okay; that she's still there, we've now forced ourselves to trust the baby monitor beside her's and our bed.

"Here," Miles says, his eyes peaceful and his lips tucked into a smirk. Miles hovers with a small pearl necklace so delicately wrapped around his fist and I place my open palm beneath it. today has been much more than I expected and I managed to even forget about the necklace completely after we walked inside of Sandra's now old house.

"Thank you," I whisper, my voice slow and calm. I lean into him for a small and quick kiss and when he smiles, his strong arms pulls me into his warm chest. The cologne that has blended with his hot chest somehow makes me feel so safe in his arms.

I HEAR SOMETHING and my eyes open slightly and then close again. is someone crying? who is crying? I turn to the other side and fall back asleep in the warm sheets that feel like heave, it feels like I'm laying in a thousand pillows and it makes my body relax instantly again. Miles is so warm.

I hear the crying again and I can't seem to completely fall asleep although I thought I had. Maybe it's the kitten? I try to listen closely, my eyes closed and I feel myself sink in and out of sleep somehow while still being awake as if my brain can't fully turn off.

"Mmm . . . mmMiles?" my voice is raspy and tired as if I haven't spoken in a year or two, I rest my hand on him but all I can feel is the empty mattress, my eyes fling open, but not in panic and the pain of having them open rushes into me, it feels as though they're red and tired beyond belief.

I slowly get out of bed and only then I realize that the crying stops. But what was it? my bare legs want to collapse underneath me even though nothing is resting on me but Miles's long shirt.

I manage to spot the clock on Miles's nightstand as I walk past it; 5:03 am.

My feet take me slowly and difficultly out of the bedroom and then I walk toward the open nursery door, slowly but surely and when I finally approach the door, I spot Miles there with Becky in his arms, the lower part of her sticking out in his arms, the white giraffe-print diaper looking much too big on her and her soft bare baby chest, resting on his bare chest.

I lean against the door frame, just staring, just watching at the perfection and the heaven in front of me.

"Apparently she likes skin to skin or whatever the hell," he says, his voice raspy too as I just stand there, smiling at him and watching the perfect sight I don't want to take my eyes off.