Bitter Love

Chapter 15

Lauren's POV
I walked into Juniper's room the next morning to her screaming, more than likely a tooth coming in. I picked up my fevered daughter that was covered in sweat,"Shhh Juniper, I'm here now. I'm here now baby girl."

When I finally had her settled and she was eating I checked the time to see that it was 8:36. That's way longer then she usually sleeps on any given day. She always has one of us up by 7 or even 6 sharp, this little girl is like clockwork.

"Hey baby girl what's the matter?" Luke came in and kneeled down by her and held her small chubby hand.

My heart melted when her eyes fluttered open and she grabbed her dad's hand. I cleared my throat,"I think that her teeth are coming in. She's running a fever and is covered in sweat."

When she was done eating she pushed away from me with her hands and tried her best to sit up. I chuckled and pulled my shirt down and sat her up so that she was facing Luke,"Is that Dad Juniper?"

She giggled and clapped her hands together before reaching for his face and rubbing his stubble. He pulled her from my lap and held her in the air in front of him before rubbing his face into her belly. Her giggles melted my heart and watching her drool from laughing made it that much better.

"Luke careful she's not feeling good." I do try not to be the bad cop but if I wasn't, who's knows what could happen?

"Oh okay." He whined and set her on his hip and when she started to fuss her heald her up,"Hey big girls don't cry right? Cause my baby girl doesn't."

I shook my head I heald my arms out for her,"Come on Juniper I don't want you sitting in a dirty diaper."

He handed over a crying Juniper and I set her down on her changing table. She kept squirming and keeping me from changing her,"Luke could you give her something? She won't sit still."

I had my hand on her stomach as Luke left the room and came back seconds later with her favourite keys to chew on. I let out a sigh of relief as she stopped squirming around and started focusing on the brightly coloured teething toys. I finally had her in a fresh diaper and some comfortable clothes to wear until we go shopping. "Luke I'm gonna clean up her room if you can take her."

I heard the loud padding of feet and he soon appeared in the door and took her from me. I shook my head at how silly he was around her before gathering all of her clothes into a laundry basket. I had all of her clothes on to wash before I swept and mopped with warm water in her room.

When I was all done I looked down at my watch to see that it was nearly 10:30. "Shoot. Luke I'm going to get ready if you can change her and dress her."

"Come on baby girl. Let's go get more beautiful." I chuckled as I heard Juniper squeal.

******
I stood at the door with Juniper on my hip,"You're not coming?"

Luke sat on the couch scrolling through his phone and shrugged,"No but you guys can go shopping."

I sighed,"Please? You wouldn't want to miss this time with her, do you?"

I watched something switch in his eyes before he smiled and stood,"Okay but I have to get my coat first."

We were finally ready to go and driving in silence with just the sound of our daughter babbling to herself. I reached over and took ahold of Luke's free hand and squeezed it.

Without taking his eyes off the road he asked,"You okay Lauren?"

I nodded my head even though I knew he couldn't see me. "Hey Lauren? I was thinking that we should go on even a week vacation before visiting our families. Just so that we can have our first vacation be just the three of us."