⇾ 𝐌𝐀𝐘𝐁𝐄 𝐈'𝐌 𝐀𝐌𝐀𝐙𝐄𝐃 | 𝐏𝐚𝐮𝐥 𝐌𝐜𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐲 𝐈𝐈

𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙉𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙩𝙚𝙚𝙣 ➪ 𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙢

ꕥ June 2, 1969 ꕥ
8 weeks

Mary knelt right on the shore while I rubbed some more sunscreen onto Paul's back. He kept a close eye on her, especially when a wave swept up around her. If it grew too high, she'd raise herself up so that it could pass. Finally, I finished with the sunscreen and told him he was finished.

"Brilliant," he said to me with a smile, turning around to place a kiss on my lips. "Thank ye, love"

"Do I look fat?" I asked as I put the sunscreen away, catching a glimpse of my stomach.

"What? No, of course, you don't," he responded.

"Yeah, I do," I said sadly. "Am I still pretty?"

Paul furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, having no idea where this came from. "Yes, you're still pretty," he said without hesitation. "You're beautiful."

I ran my hands through my hair agitatedly. "No, be honest," I pressed.

"I am being honest," he responded, taking my hands into his and looking into my eyes. "Where's this coming from, love?" he asked.

"I just feel like I was a lot smaller last time I was pregnant," I said, crossing my arms stubbornly. "And that makes me feel bad about myself."

"Hey, don't feel bad," he said, glancing back to check on Mary quickly. "You're growing our baby! That's about the bravest and most beautiful thing you could do!"

I smiled weakly. "You really think so?"

"Of course! Now, let's go play with Mary, shall we?" he said, standing up and reaching down for my hand. I smiled before allowing him to pull me to my feet. He picked up a plastic bucket and handed it to me. "We'll find some seashells. How about that?"

I nodded. "Good idea," I replied. He turned around and we both made our way over to where Mary was sitting, playing with the wet sand.

"Watch this," Paul said to her, sitting down in the water next to her. I did the same. When another wave went through, Paul cupped his hands and reached into the water. When he resurfaced, there were all sorts of shells in his hands. Mary's face lit up in delight. She took one off the top, a brown one that was shaped perfectly, some black speckles splattered across the back.

"Ooh, that one's pretty," I said to her, leaning over to examine it myself. I held out the little plastic bucket in my hand. "Let's start a collection, shall we?" I said to her with a grin. She continued to sift through the treasures in Paul's hand, picking out the ones closest to being completely well.

Next time a wave came through, she tried to mimic Paul, but couldn't quite get the technique right, so Paul leaned over to help her. To all of our surprise, when their hands came back up, there was a sand dollar laying there.

"Look!" Mary squealed in excitement, examining the circular object intently.

"Isn't that cool?" Paul asked her, looking just as excited as she was.

ꕥ ꕥ ꕥ

Mary was in Paul's arms, leaning her head on his shoulder as we walked. We'd decided to take a look around some shops this evening after we had gotten dinner. Mary was completely and utterly exhausted even though she'd had a nap just a few hours ago, but she was having a good time, and I was thankful for that. I loved to see her so happy.

We strolled into a shop that was pretty close to our villa. We were wrapping up our day. Mary was going to go to bed when we got back, and Paul and I planned to have a movie night just for ourselves.

The shop we'd wandered into was small. There was a glass counter up front with what looked to be some jewelry in it. Paul, of course, was immediately drawn to it. He loved to bloody spoil me even when I explicitly told him not to.

"Hey, love look," he said and I turned away from what I was looking at to see him peering at something under the glass.

"What is it?" I asked.

"It's the charm like the one I got you when you were pregnant with Mary," he said with a lopsided grin. "The one with her birth month on it."

I smiled and noticed the charm he was referring to. The one he'd gotten for me last time was the shape of the Golden Gate Bridge since he'd been in San Francisco when he had purchased it. The one that we were looking at now was in the shape of a palm tree. I even had another one of the charms, one with the month of Paul and I's wedding. That one was in the shape of the Eiffel Tower since we'd had our honeymoon in Paris.

"We should get one for this baby," he said with a smile. "It'll say December, 1969. Yeah?"

I smiled. "That sounds great, Paul."

Paul told the man behind the counter what we wanted and he took it back into another room to engrave it. Meanwhile, we continued to look around. Mary perked her head up to look around. "Daddy, look!" she said suddenly, pointing to the other side of the store. Paul trailed over there to see what she wanted to look at.

"What is it, love?" he asked her.

"That bear," she said, pointing to a bear on the shelf just above her head. It was brown and wearing a tiny, blue hoodie that had some elaborate beach print on it. In the top, left-hand corner, it read Corfu.

"You want that bear?" Paul asked her fondly, smiling. He really would do anything to please her. He would have bought her the most expensive bloody thing in this store just to see her smile. Even though she was tired, she still smiled widely and nodded. Paul got onto his tippy-toes and lifted her up so she could pick out a bear. When she had one tucked safely in her arms, he lowered her back down. "You know what?" Paul said. "I think Holly will love that bear. Don't you?"

Mary nodded. "Holly will love Fitz."

"Fitz?" Paul asked. "That what you're going to name him?"

Mary nodded. "Say hello!" she told Paul, holding Fitz the bear up so he could see.

"Hello, Sir Fitz," Paul said, saluting jokingly.

Mary turned the bear towards me. "Say hello!" she urged.

"Hello, Fitz!" I said enthusiastically, grinning at my daughter. It still blew my mind that she was my daughter. I couldn't believe that I had given her her life. I couldn't believe that I'd carried her for all those months and now she'd grown to this. I wanted time to slow down! She was growing up too fast for me!

The man at the counter re-emerged with the charm we had requested and Paul paid for everything. By the time we were back out on the street, Mary was laying on Paul's shoulder again Fitz the bear held against her chest and her other arm around Paul's neck. She was ready for bed. I could see it in her eyes.

So, when we got home, we changed her into her pajamas and tucked her in for the night. Paul sang her a song and when her eyes were finally closed, we slipped out of the room and went towards the living room, collapsing on the couch, pleased with ourselves.

"Let's put that charm on, shall we?" Paul said with a grin, reaching for the small, black box he'd sat on the end table when we got back. He carefully slid the lid off of it and took the charm out. I unhooked the necklace from around my neck and handed it to him. His hands were a lot steadier than mine, so I figured he'd be better at putting it on there than I would. Once it was successfully on, he reached over and hooked it back around my neck. "Beautiful," he mused, his hand coming to rest on my cheek. "I love you."

I smiled, leaning over to steal a kiss shamelessly. "I love you too!" I responded and he leaned back in for another kiss. "Let's find a movie, shall we?" I asked as he pulled away.

"I went out and got some ice cream last night. Figured it'd be better if Mary didn't know it was here." He grinned cheekily.

"You cheeky swine!" I said. "Go get it, then!"

Before he stood up, he kissed my lips again. "Paul," I hroaned. "You can't tell me you have ice cream and then make me wait

"Alright, alright," he said with a little chuckle as he stood up. "I'm going!"

God, I loved him.