Shadows of The Past

Epilogue II

Alaska's POV

"Really? Again?" I asked, a little amused. I stood in front of my husband, who had gracefully knelt down before me and looked at him with a grin.

"Yes, again." He confirmed as he slowly lifted my shirt up and revealed my 8 week old baby bump. "The doctor said that our baby would have slowly started to develop ears so I'm going to make full use of it."

"Okay, but can I sit please?" I laughed a little and moved to sit on the edge of our bed. My husband helped me to get comfortable before he crouched before me and rubbed my stomach again.

"Aren't you tired of this? I mean you did the same for Claire too, every single day. And you still do. Doesn't it get annoying?" I asked as he continued rubbing circles on my stomach and leaned down to kiss my baby bump occasionally.

"You're the one carrying a baby in you for 9 months. I saw how much you struggled when we had Claire and yet you stayed strong for both her and us. How can this be annoying when you're going through so much more, baby?" He asked and I smiled as I combed his smooth hair with my fingers.

"You never fail to make me feel like a princess." I replied. My husband leaned forward to whisper sweet nothings to the baby growing inside of me and I chuckled whenever he mentioned how much he would pamper our child once he came out.

Truth be told, we didn't know what the gender of our baby was but in my head, I imagined it to be a boy. Since our first child was a girl, we thought that maybe we would be blessed with a child of the opposite gender this time. But no matter what gender the baby might be of, I knew that we would love the child unconditionally.

"Mummy! Daddy!" I heard Claire's squeals even before I saw her. She dashed straight into our room with her coat hanging loosely off her shoulders and her boots untied.

"Claire, come on sweetheart we need to get you dressed properly." I said as I started to get up but my overly caring of a husband kept me still and seated on the bed.

"I've got this." He said. He then turned to Claire and adjusted her coat first. "You're excited to meet your grandparents, aren't you?" He asked as he buttoned up Claire's little coat.

"Yes!" Claire screamed and I smiled at how ecstatic she seemed. I never got tired of watching her get excited over the smallest things, ever.

And it was no surprise that she was more than happy to go visit her grandparents on the eve of Christmas. My Mum and Dad always hosted the Christmas dinners at their place because it was big enough to hold the whole family. Aunt Alice and Uncle Jasper had moved into an apartment in Olympia while Aunt Rosalie and Uncle Emmett still stayed in their old house.

Mum and Dad were still in our old house as well and it warmed me to know that I was going to return to my childhood home this year again.

"I think we should go now, my parents would be expecting us." I said, standing up. I pulled out my coat from my cupboard and put it on while Claire ran out of the room with her Dad behind her.

I collected my hand bag and made my way down the stairs where my family was waiting for me. Claire grabbed the presents that we had wrapped for my parents and tried to balance them all on her tiny hands. I smiled and took the big ones off of her hands while she carried the smallest gift. I reached out to hold her hand as the three of us walked out of the house. The cold air greeted us fiercely and I crouched down to fix a scarf around Claire's neck before I let her run into our warm car.

"Jace?" I called out as my husband walked down the front steps and came to my side instantly. "Ready to go?" I asked and he nodded as he took the presents from me and assembled them next to Claire. I went to the other side of the car and strapped Claire's seatbelt for her.