A Second Chance

Camilla woke up a little later than she had planned. Steven was already up and making something to eat. "You awake!" he exclaimed.

Looking at the time, Camilla responded, "Why didn't you wake me up?"

"You've been awake a long time, so I decided to let you sleep a little later. Come sit down, the food is ready."

"How's Marshall?" she asked.

"He's okay, his fever didn't spike again through the night, and he has had his breakfast and a bottle, and he's gone back to sleep," he smiled at his wife.

"What! Is he sleeping again? What time did he wake up?" she was surprised.

"He woke up at 7a.m. We played in his room, I gave him porridge and his bottle, and he just went to sleep about ten minutes ago," he explained the routine to his wife.

Camilla sat at the table and began eating the bacon and eggs her husband had prepared for her, along with a couple of slices of toast with strawberry jam. "This is a lovely spread, thank you, Steven," she complemented her husband.

Steven smiled at her and said, "It's been a while since I made breakfast for you."

"Definitely," she agreed with him. Camilla wasn't going to ruin the morning, so she just left what had happened till when it would be a more appropriate time for them both. Right now, she just wanted to savour the moment.

Camilla wasn't sure how long this would last or if it would last, so she just appreciated the moment, the here and now moment. "So what are your plans today?" Steven asked while they were eating.

"I don't have any plans for today," she responded.

"How about we go for a drive. The weather is much warmer now. We can go for a picnic in the park. What do you say?" he suggested.

"Sure," she said and went to prepare a picnic basket.

While she was busy packing the basket, Steven went to the room to get Marshall ready. As they were driving, Steven began apologizing for what happened. "Camilla, can we try and make this work, please?" he begged.

"I'll forgive you, but that doesn't mean you need to stop trying," she informed him, "I'm not that easy of a pushover. You need to work on it and prove yourself." He nodded and pulled her into his arms while he was driving.

They had a beautiful time laughing and singing and playing ball with Marshall in the park.

It was quite late when they got home and their son was exhausted. While Steven unpacked the car, Camilla went inside and put Marshall down to sleep. They had never had an ounce of problem with their son and his bedtime routine. He ate and slept well. He rarely woke up if he went to sleep around 7 in the evening unless he was sick.

After coming out of the room, Camilla turned to Steven, "Thank you for today," she said softly.

"It's a pleasure, I enjoyed doing this today," he smiled at her, pulling her into his embrace, holding her close to him. She lifted her head to meet his eyes, and he started putting butterfly kisses on her lips. The butterfly kisses grew deeper and hotter. She couldn't remember when last she actually felt her heart flutter the way it was at that moment.

He whisked her up in his arms and carried her to the bedroom. Laying her onto the bed, he began to undress her, slowly placing kisses all the way down as he undressed his wife. She was breathless. He crawled back up, placing his body over her. She wrapped her arms around his neck, drawing him in.

That night, they spent the whole night making love, even though her belly was big.

When they awoke the next morning, they were still intertwined exactly as they fell asleep. Looking into her eyes, Steven said, "Morning!"

"Morning," she smiled back.

Camilla got up and went to the bathroom to take a shower. As soon as she was done and dressed, she went to Marshall's room. He was awake already, playing quietly in his cot. She picked him up and gave him his bottle while he sat in his high chair, waiting for his breakfast. She always fed him first. That way, he would allow her to eat in peace.

Camilla had just finished preparing breakfast for herself and Steven when he came from the bedroom. "Morning," he greeted her and placed a kiss on her lips.

"Morning," she responded, standing on tiptoes to reach him.

For a while, they sat quietly eating their breakfast, Marshall began rubbing his eyes, and Steven got up to lay him down for a nap. "Are you not going to work today?" Steven asked his wife.

"No, I took a few days' leave from work, so I will keep Marshall with me," she responded.

Steven headed back to the room to get ready for work, putting on his burgundy suit, white shirt, and black tie. He appraised himself one last time before picking up the keys and heading out. At the door, he paused and turned back to draw his wife to his embrace, giving her a long, hard, passionate goodbye kiss.

After cleaning up and folding the laundry, Camilla got Marshall dressed and took him for a stroll to the park and then to the shops. She had planned on making something special for them for dinner that evening.

As she was finishing off the evening meal, she started getting pains in her abdomen and lower back. She quickly picked up her phone and called her husband. Steven answered the call, "Hello!"

Camilla didn't have time to greet him. She just said, "Please hurry. I am in excruciating pain, I think this little one wants to come now."

Steven didn't know what to think. He went straight over to Matthew, who said, "You go, let me know when it's over, I'll handle the workload this side." Steven thanked him and left.

It didn't take him long to get home. Fortunately, Camilla's bag was already packed. They dropped Marshall at Camilla's aunt's place and went straight to the hospital.

After six hours of labour, six long hours of pushing, and, finally, Camilla gave birth to a beautiful baby girl that weighed 3.4 kilosat birth. They named her Meghan. "She's beautiful," they both said. She had thick black curly hair.