No Place Like Home

Chapter 17

Ally's POV
I sat on the couch with Austin as we watched Kinsley play with her birthday present we bought her: her very own baby doll with two bottles and three outfit changes.
"Mama!" She exclaimed from her position on the floor.
"Yes sweetie?"
"Bata!" She said, pointing to her baby's bottle in my hand.
"Here you go Kins." I said leaning down and handing her the bottle. "Do you know how to feed her?"
She glances between me, the bottle, and the baby a couple of moments before shaking her head.
"Come here, me and Daddy will show you how." I said, scooping her and the baby doll into my arms.
I set her in between me and a very quiet Austin.
"Okay," I began, curious at my husband's absence of words, "lean your baby back on your arm like this."
She did exactly as I showed her, "Good baby girl."
"No! She baby guh." She said pointing to her baby.
Austin laughed along with me.
"Alright big girl. Now to feed her, just stick this end of the bottle into her mouth." Austin told her, helping her by holding her hand.
I watched my two as they fed the baby, and my heart filled with love for the both of them.
"What are you going to name her Kinsley?" I asked.
She ponders the thought for a minute, then answers, "Dahlee."
"I think Dolly is a lovely name." Austin said leaning down and kissing her head.
I reached over and rubbed Austin's shoulder as he gazed at our daughter.
"I tink Dahlee seepy." Kinsley announces with a yawn.
"Hhmm, does she look sleepy to you Daddy?" I ask, looking over at my husband.
"Mhm, she sure does look sleepy to me." He says with a smile.
"How about we go upstairs and put her to bed?" I say.
Kinsley nods her head, and Austin picks her up along with Dolly.

By the time we reach the top of the stairs, our birthday girl is out.
We quietly take her into her room and lay her in her crib.
We still hadn't figured out if she was ready for a toddler bed or not, but that's a decision we would need to be making sometime soon.
I wrap my arms around Austin's torso as he lays Dolly in the rocking chair.
"You okay baby?" I ask him.
"Yeah, I'm just..." He looks over at Kinsley beginning to stir, "Let's go to our room."
I nod my head, and we leave Kinsley to her peaceful slumber before we wake her.

As we enter our room, Austin sits on the edge of our bed and motions for me to come sit with him.
I take my place beside him and he intertwines our fingers, looking over at me. "Alls, we have been so blessed to have Kinsley."
I nod and push a piece of fallen hair behind my ear, "We sure have. I could never imagine life without her."
Austin looks away when I say this. "Ally, what about others who aren't as fortunate as us?"
"What do you mean Austy?" I ask as I begin to rub circles on the back of his hand with my thumb.
He looks back at me with tears gleaming in his eyes. "What's wrong?" I worriedly ask.
"I don't know if she wants you to know." Austin says pinching the bridge of his nose.
"What?" I ask confused.
Austin takes a deep breath and then looks me in the eyes, "Trish can't have children Ally."
A hand instantly comes to cover my mouth. My best friend...can't have children.
"What? How?"
"She told me and Dez today. She and Jace went to the doctor and she's infertile. She can't carry a baby."
I shakily take in a breath of air as I pull Austin to me. He holds me while I realize what he has just told me.
Why wouldn't she tell me? I love her. I need to be there for her.
I pull away and wipe the tear that's threatening to fall. "Austin, why didn't she tell me?"
"She didn't want to tell you or Carrie because she felt like you wouldn't understand. She told us that you both have been pregnant and have healthy babies, so you wouldn't know what she felt like."
I look down as my throat becomes tight. "I can be there for her; she was there for me through the miscarriage." I barely whisper.
"Give her some time Ally." Austin tells me, wrapping an arm around my shoulders, "We need to give both of them time."
I bury my face in his shirt while he rubs my back.
"They'll get through this, just like we did this summer." He whispers in my ear, "And in due time, we'll go visit them. Okay?"
"Okay." I say against his shoulder.

Austin's POV
I'm lying awake in the dead of night as my wife sleeps beside me. My thoughts had woken me up, and my thoughts were keeping me awake.
Here we are trying to have another child when Trish and Jace can't have any.
I didn't know if I should feel sad, guilty, or hurt. Me and Ally did lose our baby this summer; we were pregnant before Trish found out she couldn't carry a child.
But should that matter? I ask myself.
I look over at my beautiful Ally. It would make her so happy to have another kid. The way she interacts with Kinsley is incredible; she loves to be a mom.
But Trish loves kids too. The way she played with Kins today only assured me that she was going to be a great mother one day too.
I toss and turn as my thoughts consume me, and soon I hear someone quietly whisper my name, "Austin?"
"It's fine sweetie." I tell her, and she turns towards me as her eyes flutter shut.
As soon as Ally is sound asleep again, I slip out of bed and head downstairs to the den.
I sit down in front of the piano and start fiddling with the keys. Soon I begin to subconsciously play one of Ally's very first singles, Parachute.
I softly sing along with the beautiful melody flowing from the piano, "I remember life before, faraway dreams and locking doors, then you came, then you came."
Those few words take me back to the day Kinsley was born. I had never been more nervous, ecstatic, terrified, or proud in my entire life. She definitely was the biggest blessing we had ever received.
Before I know it, lyrics are flowing onto paper: I hope you never lose your sense of wonder, you get your fill to eat but always keep that hunger, may you never take one single breath for granted, God forbid love ever leave you empty handed, I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean, whenever one door closes I hope one more opens, promise me that you'll give faith a fighting chance, and when you get the choice to sit it out or dance, I hope you dance.

Somehow, throughout the rest of the night, I found the strength through those lyrics that I hadn't even realized I needed, and I knew that somehow, everything was going to turn out for the best, for all of us.

ausllyfied: I was in the writing mood, so I wrote one more chapter, yay! Please vote & comment! God bless!
p.s. the last song is a song called I Hope You Dance by Lee Ann Womack.