noise filtered through the haze of sleep. I came abruptly awake. Nora was warm and curled up against me. I blinked and glanced around before realizing I was hearing our daughter, Laney. She wasn’t crying; she was laughing.
I rolled away from Nora, swinging my legs off the bed. The hardwood floor was cool under my feet as I took the three strides from the bed to where our daughter’s crib was against the wall. When I lifted her, she made a little giggling sound and wiggled. I did a quick diaper change on the changing table immediately by the crib.
I slipped back into bed, propping the pillows against the headboard so I could hold her comfortably. I knew what was coming. I might not’ve been a father all that long, but I knew she wanted to nurse and would get irritable any second now.
As if on cue, she let out a disgruntled sound, something between a snort and a cry. Nora rose swiftly, moving to climb out of bed before I caught her by the shoulder. “I’ve got her already,” I whispered in the darkness.
Nora turned toward us, a sleepy smile curling her lips. Although the room was mostly dark, we had two night-lights, so I could see a hint of her smile in those glimmers of light.
“Hand her over,” she mumbled. She shifted the covers on her lap and propped the pillows behind her.
I carefully passed the small bundle of our daughter over, and a moment later, our baby was nursing. Nora leaned back, rolling her head to the side to look at me. “Thanks for getting her out of her crib,” she whispered.
“That’s my job,” I said, entirely serious.
Nora giggled softly, and the sound was a silk lasso cinching tighter around my heart.
Now that we’d been together for more than a few years, every so often, it was startling for me to contemplate that there’d been a time when I believed I wasn’t cut out for love or commitment.
Now? I couldn’t imagine life without Nora. Every day was another stitch in the fabric of our shared life and family. That world extended far beyond just the two of us and our daughter, the stitches encompassing our friends and more.
Even with sleep elusive now that we had a baby, I would take every bleary, tired morning as long as I could have it with Nora and our daughter. I shifted closer to them, sliding my arm over Nora’s shoulders to sift my fingers through her hair while she nursed. She eventually fell asleep after Laney finished nursing, while I waited a few more minutes before carefully returning our baby girl to her crib.
The next morning, I woke up to find myself alone in bed. Because I didn’t want to miss a second of our life, I hurried into the shower and then down to the kitchen, maybe five minutes later.
Nora was standing by the counter with Laney in her arms. “We beat him this morning,” she whispered as she pressed a kiss to Laney’s cheek and glanced over at me with a bright smile. “I already have coffee ready.”
I chuckled and stopped in front of them, resting my hands on either side of them on the counter, encompassing my small family in the cage of my arms. “Good morning,” I murmured.
Nora gave me a lingering kiss before I lifted my head and curved my palm over the downy soft hair of our baby girl. She had Nora’s big brown eyes paired with wispy locks of auburn hair.
“What are we doing today?” Nora asked when I looked back toward her.
Our daughter gargled and squeaked as if answering.
“I don’t know what you’re doing, but I’m hanging out with you. Remember? No flights for either one of us today.”
The curve of her smile deepened on her cheek. “Oh, that’s right. We promised ourselves a day of nothing.”
“It’s never nothing.”
“What do you mean?” she asked when I stepped away to reach for the mug she’d placed beside the coffee maker on the counter.
“I just like hanging out with you, and that’s not nothing.”
Nora’s smile was bright as I circled my arms around her again, abandoning the coffee. When I accidentally squished our baby girl, and she let out a sound of protest, our heads peered to look at her together.
This morning couldn’t be any more perfect. It hadn’t just been about getting back to us. It was so much more.
Thank you for reading Back To Us - I hope you loved Nora &