Passion's Instinct

Thirty One

Natalie

"Mommy! Can we swim in the pool today?" Sawyer asked me as soon as I opened my eyes that morning.

Hayden knew I was tired and I hadn't gotten a good night's sleep last night, so he stepped up and told Sawyer he would take him outside when they were done breakfast.

"Thank you," I mumbled to him as Sawyer ran out of the room and Hayden got out of bed, standing and stretching.

"Sure," he said, leaning down over me and burying his face in my neck. It tickled, and I laughed. He lifted his head, looking at me an smiling. I couldn't say enough how much I loved his smile. His smile made me so happy.

"I love you, Hayden."

"I love you too."

There was a moment where it was quiet and we just looked at each other, smiling. Hayden tucked my hair behind my ear. "Hey, by the way... I was going to talk to you about something."

"What is it?"

"So... well, since we have another baby on the way and things aren't completely settled in yet, um... Natalie, I want to move."

"Like, move out of the house? To where? Where would we go? The baby -- "

"Hey, hey," he said, his voice calm. "The baby won't be here until another six months." He took a deep breath and looked me in the eyes. "I want to move back home. I want to move where I can play hockey for my team again. I want to move to Vancouver."

It was quiet, and I sighed. "I understand. Listen... I'll look into it."

Hayden smiled and drew his fist into his body, like, Yes. Victory.

"I'll think about it, I said. Not that we're going to move there for sure."

"I know." He kissed me and walked out of the room, all happy.

I wasn't completely sure about moving to Vancouver in Canada. I'd never even been there before, much less play sports there. But I wanted my husband to be happy, because if he wasn't I wasn't happy either. It was just a lot to think about.