Us. | A Joe Jonas FanFiction | Book 3

sixty-six.

"Are you sure you're okay with this?" Joe asks. "If you want to do something at home instead, we can, baby. We don't even have to do anything at all."

"Are you kidding me?" I ask, peeking around out of the bathroom. "It's your birthday. We're doing something. Willa's been needing some one-on-one time with the both of us and it's not like we'll be gone for hours on end. I'm going to nurse before we leave and if we're lucky, she won't need to eat again until we get home but if she does I trust Jessica can heat a bottle of my breast milk."

"Yeah, but I know how you were about going out without Willa after she was born and I just, I don't want you to go out if you don't feel up to it."

I sigh. "Willa needs a little time with just the two of us and I'm trying to do better this time by spending time away from the newborn and letting people help. We hired Jessica to help with Willa and decided to keep her to help with both when we got pregnant again. Del's six weeks old, I'm not leaving her all day, just a couple hours so we can get lunch for your birthday."

He nods. "Okay, as long as you're sure that you're okay with it."

"I'm okay with it," I nod.

"Okay," he grins. "I'll go get Willa ready."

"I set out a romper for her! She can just wear her Crocs and have Jess do her hair!"

"Got it!" He calls back.

I take a deep breath, letting it out slowly as I stare back at myself in the mirror, finding my mind spinning.

I know I just told him that I'm going to be fine, and Delphine will be fine, but I can't help but wonder if this is a good idea. I mean she's only six weeks old, we're going to get photographed and everyone's going to see that I'm not pregnant anymore. There are going to be so many articles, comments, and posts about how I left my newborn at home while I went out instead of staying home with her. Everyone's going to think I'm a terrible mother. I just want to go out and celebrate Joe's birthday with him. And Willa hasn't gotten any one-on-one time with me in six weeks. She deserves some undivided attention from both of us. No, I need to go out of the house for a little while. I need to go out with my husband and my daughter and celebrate his birthday. This is good. This is healthy. It is okay for me to spend a couple of hours away from my six-week-old when she is in the care of someone that I trust with her. It's okay to go out. It's okay to go out. It's okay to go out. Delphine will be okay. Willa needs me too.

If we're going to go out, I need to get out sooner rather than later before I talk myself out of it. I leave my hair the way it is, no makeup as there's really no need. I dress in a simple long-sleeved black shirt and black shorts, slipping on a pair of green slip-ons before going downstairs as Jess finishes Willa's hair.

"Okay, I'm going to nurse Delphine really quickly, and then we can go," I tell Joe, grabbing Delphine out of the bassinet and sitting down before letting her latch.

"I'm going to order some food for myself, actually," Jess says, turning to Joe. "What do you recommend, Joe? I'm still not used to food in Miami."

He chuckles, walking over and scrolling through some places before letting her know a couple of his favorites and helping her decide as I finish feeding Delphine, Willa tugging at his arm.

"Daddy, go!" she says.

"Princess, we're waiting for mommy," he tells her.

"Mommy coming?" she asks excitedly, turning to me now.

"Yeah, baby, mommy's coming," I tell her, grinning.

She smiles wide, running over and hugging me the best she can.