Running From The Flames

Growth

April came and went faster than Addie's growth spurts and our little girl suddenly wasn't so little anymore. Our three year old couldn't wait to meet her brother or sister and she had taken her role as a big sister very seriously, preparing herself by carrying around a newborn baby doll wherever she went. It was also how she 'helped' me pack for the trip to Baku by shoving all of the doll's clothes into her suitcase too.

"Sweetheart, you can only pick a few outfits for the doll," I reminded her as I took the majority out.

"But I want to take them all." She huffed and crossed her arms defiantly. "Daddy would let me."

I crossed my arms too. "Daddy is a big softy."

I knew the moment he stepped into the room behind me as Addie's face lit up with a beaming smile and she dropped the doll to race towards him.

Pierre caught her as she jumped into his arms before picking up the doll next. "We have to be gentle with babies, mon fille. It would hurt to drop them."

Addie took her doll back and kissed its forehead. "Besos make it better."

She was busy catching Pierre up on how we spent our morning while he was at Alpine's headquarters so she didn't notice I finished packing her bag alone and prepared to carry it downstairs to the rest of our luggage. "What do you think you're doing?" Pierre asked as he blocked the door and took the suitcase from my hand. "No heavy lifting."

"It's lighter than Addie is, are you going to stop me from carrying her?" I dared.

He chewed his lip as he debated arguing it but the look in my eye stopped him short. "No?"

I rose on my tiptoes and brushed my lips over his softly. "Good answer."

--

May meant Monaco, and with Monaco came our first anniversary.

It was hard to believe that it had only been a year since I met Pierre, but there I was, standing in the very same garage I first saw those eyes I had instantly fallen in love with. He had changed my life so significantly that I couldn't seem to remember the time without him in it.

People told us we moved too fast, even now they still said we wouldn't last. But it was easy to ignore their comments when I was surrounded by the people I loved and who love me. That list had grown a lot since Pierre entered our lives.

In just one year, Addie had a father, I had a husband and we had a new blessing on the way. One. Year. And we still had a lifetime to go.

"What are you thinking so hard about, mon amour?" Pierre asked as he joined me on the balcony overlooking Massenet corner of the track.

"The first time we sat here." I took the mug of ginger tea that he had made to settle my stomach, the morning sickness yet to fade completely, and took a seat on the outdoor settee.

"I didn't think Otmar was going to give me your number that day," he admitted as he sat beside me and draped one arm along the back of the chair while the other hand came to rest on my abdomen that had popped out a little in the last few weeks. "I may have lied to him about why I wanted it, kind of, I mean I did want to thank you for the gel, but that wasn't all."

My lips opened to tease him for lying but a gasp came out instead, my hand coming to my belly.

"What's wrong, Bri?" Pierre straightened in alarm as he took the hot drink from my shaking hand.

"Did you feel that?" I asked as I grabbed his hand back and placed it on the swell of my belly, falling silent as I waited to feel it again. "Talk about something, anything."