Hardin's POV
There are my two girls.
Both are sitting at the breakfast nook at the kitchen table. Tessa sits on a stool with Emery right on her lap. Emery's eating strawberries.
"Hey baby," I say to Tessa, kissing her hair. Tessa has cut it a couple inches below her shoulders and when she curls it, it makes her look even more fucking hot.
Tessa smiles at me and arches her chin to kiss me.
"Daddy!" my daughter yells. She hops off of Tessa's lap and jumps into my arms. I could care less for the light pink stain marks from the strawberries that I would find later on my white t-shirt. The white t-shirt Tessa loves.
"Morning Rainbow!" I tickle her stomach and she roars with laughter.
"Daddy! Daddy! Stop it hahahaha!" Her little arms and legs move around violently as if I was an attacker. To avoid getting a black eye from my own daughter and to not drop her due to my grip on her loosening, I put her back on the ground.
I walk over to the other side of the breakfast nook, facing Tessa and Emery. My elbows rest on the counter top, my palms holding my chin.
"Could you bring Emery to kindergarten today? I have to go over plans for some persons wedding," Tessa tells me. She stands up from the chair, wrapping her arms around her small swollen belly. Auden.
"Sure." I can't stop admiring her face. It's the most beautiful thing in have ever seen. For most people when they grow older, it becomes less attractive. Not Tessa's though. Nothing about her is or ever will become imperfect to me, even when we become old and wrinkly.
Tessa all of a sudden winces with her eyes closed, as if in pain. She stands from her seat.
"Tess, are you okay?" I nervously ask, practically panting to the other side of the table. I put my hands on hers, which are still on her stomach.
"I'm okay. Auden only kicked. I was just surprised." Relieve over comes my panic. We both knew why I freaked out. This was our 3rd pregnancy. The first one was a miscarriage and I was so scared for my god damn life. When I forget taking pills before sleeping, the dreams come again. A couple of times it was that time when Tessa was lying on the bathroom floor, covered in blood. It was devastating for us when the news came. We were sad for days. When Emery was born, it was an absolute miracle. We cried in joy when we saw our little Rainbow. This time I'm praying Auden will come meet us.
I lean into her stomach, going on my knees, to hear Auden kick. He sounds so joyous, so alive. Maybe I'm worrying about nothing. "Did you hear that?" I'm incredibly happy, our son is right there.
"Yes. I can feel it too," she smiles, staring right into my eyes and caressing my cheek.
"I wanna feel it too!" Emery comes in and shoves herself in front of me to get closer to her little brother.
I bring Emery closer to my chest, her back facing me, and I put her palms in front of mine and bring it to her mum's belly.
Small movements were made inside. I can imagine Tessa's skin moving along to it.
"Is that really my brother?" Emery wonders, feeling what I'm feeling.
We don't answer her because she says immediately after, "I love you little brother. When you come out I will be the best sister ever. And Mommy and Daddy are the best parents ever, you'll see." Emery hugs her mum's stomach and I cuddle close to her as well.
Tessa and I have come a long way, from our earlier times of complication, but now, we have our own family. Nothing can crumble our wall of security we have now built up.
I look up at Tessa and she watches me and Emery hugging her belly in admiration. She is so happy, I can tell. And so am I.
Tessa's POV
For the 3rd time, I have been mentally preparing myself for another baby. I was doubtful when it came to Emery's pregnancy, but after a successful delivery, I have gained much more hope than before. Hardin and I have been doing many things to help have another successful birth. We have put time aside to eat spicy foods, do yoga, and take hot showers to induce labor. Hardin does all those things with me. He even rubs my feet to make it feel less difficult and heavy when I walk.
After heading out of the house, after Hardin and Emery rushed to get her ready for school, I get into my car and drive to my clients house, where her wedding party would take place.
I pass by expensive looking houses and stop right in front of one. With my planner in hand, I walk to their doorstep. Before even opening the door, it opens and a woman with blonde hair and blue eyes appears. She's probably the same age as me.
"Hi, I'm Therise!" she politely introduces herself.
"And mines Theresa," I laugh, extending the a. "But you can call me Tessa."
She laughs along and shakes my hand. Therise seems very friendly and nice, so I immediately start to like her.
"Come on in." She opens the door wide open and let's me in. Quickly, she noticed my stomach and drags a chair to me.
"Oh no, it's fine," I assure her. When she refuses, I'm thankful because my legs were already getting me tired.
"This is our house and here are some ideas on what I'd like the decorations to be, " she began. Therise hands me a white paper and I read it over.
After a few minutes of talking about the layout of the area and different options, she offers me a glass of water. When she comes back, a toy car stops her, which was blocking her way, and almost makes her stumble over.
"Oh my gosh are you okay?" I ask, rushing to her side.
Therise nods, embarrassment clear on her face. "Yeah, I'm fine."
We sit back down and she excuses, "Sorry, my son-"
"Its okay," I interrupt her, "I have a daughter of my own. She leaves crayons on the ground. My husband picks them up before I trip on them because the baby." My hands touch my stomach.
"I'm glad your fine with it. In my mind I'm going hectic over the house not being clean when guests are over."
I laugh. "That's true for me as well. But I've learned that somethings that you get all worked up for how people would react, people really don't care. They are busy worrying whether how they themselves look fine and wonder how other people care about." Being married to an author got me all wised up.
"Wow, thanks. Now that I think about it, the more I realize it's true," she smiles.
A sound of someone unlocking the door interrupts our conversation.
"Oh, that must be my soon to be husband. He has just come back from bringing our son to school," Therise informs me. She jumps out of her seat and tells me to wait.
Muffled voices filled the room. I awkwardly wait and look around the room. I consider telling her some ideas from mine and Hardin's wedding, but it won't be "our" wedding anymore. We tried to fit both our personalities into it and it turned out to be a beautiful and elegant, yet rustic and natural.
"Tessa, this is-" Therise begins. I stand up to properly greet him, but the arm linking to hers has a very familiar face.
I can't place it, but then I remember those caramel brown eyes. They were burning with anger from the last time I saw them.
"Zed?"
The man examines my face, and just as I did earlier, it clicks. "Tessa?"
(NOTE:
The reason why I have Hardin sometimes refer to Emery as Rainbow, is because she is a rainbow baby. It means a baby that was born after a miscarried one. I know how bad this is cause I really dunno how to capture Hardin's humor and have the charm that Anna has when making her books. I tried the best I could. hehe thanks for reading!!
If you want me to update then tell me XO)
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After All The Hardships (Hessa fanfic)
AcakHardin and Tessa are now parents to a beautiful, 5 year old, girl named Emery. In this book, it explains their lives in between the time when they moved in together in New York to having 2 kids ages 16 and 10 (I think that is what Auden's age was. I...