My Baby Girl

Another Second Chance

Two days later
*Ashley's POV*

I awaken to the sound of birds chirping. Since it is winter in a lot of Northern states, all the birds migrate here, making it unusually noisy. My eyes flutter open and sunlight floods the room. I roll over to see Tyler, who is already awake.

"Good morning, beautiful." He says, in his deep morning voice. I smile.

"Morning handsome." My voice is still groggy from sleep, making it difficult to sound cheery. Just then I hear the bedroom door creak open and moments later, Everleigh scrambles onto the bed.

"Mommy, daddy, wake up!" She says, jumping on top of Tyler, causing him to grunt.

"Woah, monkey! Good morning to you too." Tyler says chuckling.

"Did you and mommy have a good sweep ovar?" She asks, in her cute toddler accent.

"Yeah we did!" I say, smiling at Tyler.

"What did you do?" Everleigh asks. Tyler and I exchange secret smiles.

"Oh, well, um, we watched...a movie." Tyler answers. Everleigh smiles.

"Oh, what movie?"

"Um...uh...it was... Mickey Mouse Clubhouse." Tyler says in a meek voice.

"Oh! What else?" Everleigh asks, sitting up a little taller.

"We ate popcorn, with M&Ms." I add.

"And then we just...went to bed." Tyler finishes. The two of us look at each other, trying not to laugh at our ridiculous answer.

"Dat sounds fun. I wish I could have a sweep ovar wif you." Everleigh frowns disappointedly.

"Hey cheer up Monkey. We'll have lots of sleepovers." Tyler says, ruffling her thin blond hair. Everleigh giggles.

"Ok." I gotta go potty, I'll be wight back." Everleigh says and slides off the bed. I sigh nervously the second she's out of ear shot.

"Babe, it's ok." Tyler says, kissing my hair. "You can do this, for Everleigh."

"I know, it's not that it's just that, I feel so bad about shutting him out like that. I mean, he didn't really do anything wrong...this time. I just got scared and sorta blew up at him. What if he's too angry to forgive me?" I ask. Tyler brushes a piece of hair out of my face and tucks it behind my ear, letting his fingers linger there for a while.

"Well, then you have your answer. You're fixing your mistake, so if he's not willing to except that, then there's no point to keep trying." Tyler points out.

"I guess you're right. Besides, I'm pretty sure he'll be begging for forgiveness." I chuckle and motion to my phone with over a hundred missed calls and texts from him.

"Yeah, the poor guy is probably staring at his phone waiting for you to reply." Tyler says laughing.

"Are you sure you're ok with this?" I double check for the thousandth time.

"Yes, baby. I am one hundred and ten percent sure. No matter how many times you ask me, my answer will never change. As hard as it is for me to see him, because of how badly he hurt you, I need to forgive him too. Plus, you say he's really changed so I believe you. I will be with you every step of the way, and I will make sure he doesn't hurt you again, I promise." Tyler's comforting words put my mind at ease.

"I love you." Tyler says, planting a kiss on my forehead.

"I love you too." I reply, running my fingers through Tyler's thick black hair. Just then we hear the faint sound of the toilet flushing.