Matters of the Heart

Chapter 52

Thursday, February 22, 2023

Jesse was now in the last weeks filming the last season of Chicago PD, he wasn't sure what the future was going to hold for him. He had a stack of scripts in his home office awaiting his reading for future projects but he knew he wanted to take some time off to spend with Abbey and his family.

Jaylee was now 19 months old and getting cuter and smarter by the day. She was walking and talking up a storm. Her favorite word being "dada" She was no doubt a daddy's girl.

Abbey was still working part time at the hospital and currently 20 weeks pregnant with their second child. Their next prenatal appointment was days away and they were anxiously awaiting it. The last 2 appointments their baby was "hiding" so they couldn't determine the gender yet and they were hoping this next appointment they would find out.

Abbey had had a long day at the hospital and was so ready to be home with her family until Tuesday. She walked into their house to find the bottom floor quiet. She made it upstairs to Jaylees nursery and found Jesse sitting there in the rocking chair holding Jaylee in his lap already bathed and dressed in her footed pajamas. Jesse looked up to see Abbey in the doorway and smiled.

"There's mama" he said to Jaylee.

Abbey smiled at her daughter.

"Hey baby. How are you today?"

"Mama" Jaylee said.

Jesse stood up with Jaylee on his hip. And handed her to Abbey. Abbey shifted her to her hip where Jaylee laid her head on her mother's shoulder.

"Did you eat baby?"

Jaylee nodded her head on Abbeys shoulder.

"She did. She ate good didn't you baby girl?" Jesse said.

Abbey looked down at her. "You ate good for daddy? And I see you've already had your bath?"

"Mama ubbles"

"Oh daddy let you have bubbles? Are you tired?"

Jaylee just nodded again against her mother's shoulder.

"Yeah. She's been fighting it but she was waiting on you" Jesse told her.

"Well let's get you to bed" Abbey said as she kissed Jaylee's cheek. Jesse took her from Abbey not wanting her to lift a lot. He kissed the top of Jaylee's head and gently layed her down in her crib and turned on her nightlight mobile over her crib. Abbey spread her blanket over her. "Sweet dreams baby" she told her.

"Goodnight Jaylee. Daddy loves you" Jesse told their daughter as her eyes fluttered closed.

They stood there a few minutes and when they were sure that Jaylee was asleep they quietly backed out of the room. Jesse slung his arm over Abbeys shoulders and kissed her temple.

"Long day baby?"

"Yeah so glad to be home for several days. I'm so tired."

"Ok lets go downstairs. I have dinner for you."

Jesse heated up her dinner and brought it to her. After she ate, Jesse was sitting on one end of the couch and Abbey crawled over curling up to him. He wrapped her arms around her placing soft kisses on the top of her head. She closed her eyes against him.

"How are you feeling babe?"

"I don't know. This pregnancy is so different than the one with Jaylee"

"How so?"

"I don't know, it's just different. I was so sick with Jaylee towards the end of the first trimester but then things just kinda got easier. This time I haven't been sick at all during the first and most of the second trimester has been pretty easy but now all of a sudden it's different. I'm just so tired and everything just hurts."