Page 127 of Our Broken Pieces
I look down, running my hand through her red curls, messy from a sleepless night. “It’s the last place you had him, right?”
She nods, her big brown eyes still filled with concern. At four years old, your stuffy is your life, so I know she won’t be back to normal until she’s holding it.
Adam answers the door. “Hey, Aunt G.”
“Hey, sorry it’s so early, but I think Wren left Alastair here last night.”
Jax rounds the corner, holding the beloved bear. My shoulders relax as Wren starts jumping up and down, holding out her hands. “He’s really here! Thanks, Uncle Jax.”
Jax hands it to her. “You’re welcome.”
I smile at him. “Thank you.”
“No worries. Do you want some coffee?”
“No thanks. I need to get started on everything for Millie’s birthday party.”
He nods. “We’ll all be over in a couple hours to help. Do you need anything before that?”
“Don’t think so, just have to get the decorations up before the caterers get there.”
“Well, if you need help, text us, and we’ll come over.”
“Will do. Thank you again for keeping Alastair safe.”
He smiles at Wren, stooping down so he’s at eye-level with her. “Anytime. Wren-fest, you and I are going to have cake together at Millie’s party, right?”
“Oh, yes. We will have all the cake, Uncle Jax!” She flings her arms out to her sides.
Jax laughs. “You bet. See you later.”
“Bye Uncle Jax. Bye Adam.”
They both say goodbye, and we walk down the steps of the porch to the sidewalk to go back home. Jax and Audrey bought the house across from Linc and Melonie’s, right down the street from Marcus and me, five years ago. Having all of my friends living on the same block has been such a blessing. We rotate dinners, game nights, school carpools, sleepovers. The kids can walk into any of our homes and know that there are snacks and people who love them.
The chilly air of November whips around us as Wren skips beside me, elated that her bear is back in her presence. Sometimes, I wish I could make time stop, keep her this age forever. I’ve felt that way at every age. But then she learns something new or does something on her own for the first time, and I realize every day, every year, is more fun with her. Being a mother is the biggest mixture of happiness, sadness, pride, and frustration that I’ve ever experienced.
Marcus and I sold the spa shortly after we got married, and I started watching Adam for Jax and Audrey while they worked. Linc and Melonie welcomed Asher a few months after our wedding, and then Gary two years later, just a month after Wren was born. Being pregnant at the same time as my best friend was so fun. We puked together, took naps together, and we both gained more weight than our doctors preferred, due to shared craving binges. But we had the blessing of our men to eat what we wanted in controlled portions and Audrey’s knowledge of the best take out in the area.
Marcus and I hadn’t touched the subject of having our own child very often until one evening after dinner at Melonie and Linc’s. We were getting ready to leave, and Millie looked up at him with her big blue eyes and said, “I love you,” for the first time. I had only seen tears in Marcus’s eyes once before that, and later that evening, he told me to throw my birth control away.
After watching him with Millie for so long, I knew he would be an amazing father, and we both deserved the chance to do better than our own parents. That’s our pact: to provide Wren with stable, secure, loving, and supportive parents. All the things that were missing from our broken childhood homes would never be a concern for her.
So, we started trying, and a few months later, I was knocked up. We figured out that we had conceived the weekend we attended a Renaissance Festival. The combination of ovulation hormones and seeing Marcus dressed up in a tunic and tight leather pants was a deadly duo, I guess. So, when we found out it was a girl, we landed on the name Wren. Once the group figured it out, they started calling her Wren-fest. A nickname that they will have the obligation of explaining one day once she’s old enough.
We walk in the front door of our home, and Wren runs to Marcus. “Daddy! Alastair is safe!”
He scoops her up. “I’m so glad, my love. I know you were worried.”
She lays her head on his shoulder and says in a serious voice, “I really was, Daddy.”
“Now that he’s back home, are you ready to eat breakfast?”
She nods her head, and he places her in her booster seat at the kitchen table. I stand and watch as he moves around the space, placing a plate of eggs and fruit in front of her, along with some juice. The curls at his temples have a dusting of gray now. There are lines around his eyes—not as many as mine—but I love those changes in his appearance. Being his wife and watching him grow into a hot, silver fox Daddy is my privilege. He’s so fair and loving with Wren that my heart falls deeper in love with him with each passing day. And I’m so blessed to have a partner who understands me, makes sure I know that I’m loved everyday, and cared for in a way that I never imagined possible from a man.
Wren sets Alastair on the table beside her plate, and Marcus takes the chair beside her. He pokes her side, her laughter filling the room and egg shooting from her mouth. He looks up from the table to me, smiling. “Baby, come eat breakfast.”
Wren points at my plate with her little finger. “Yeah, Mommy, you have to eat all your food or no cake.”
