Maybe It Can Be Real

Chapter 70

Ending of last chapter:

Kissing my shoulder, he picks his head up to kiss my lips. "Remind me why we're married again?"

"You know why," I sass.

Smiling, he kisses me again. "Yeah, I guess I do. But I think I need to step up my birthday present game from now on."

****

"Are we ready? And one, two, three," I say with false excitement, pouring warm water over Willow's short, soapy hair. She has been a handful lately. It's exhausting. Not only is she still not sleeping well at night, not only has she been sick, but Peeta's been gone for the past couple days!

He needed to be fit for a new prosthetic leg because his was worn out, so he had to take a trip to the Capitol, where they still have all the high-tech hospitals and such. I wanted to go with him so he wasn't alone, but I was not taking our baby to that place. It has too many awful memories, and I do not want her there where so much tragedy happened.

Not that there wasn't tragedy here in Twelve, but this is our home. This is different.

Smiling tiredly down at Willow, I tell her how beautiful she is, kissing her forehead. She grins, toothless, back up at me, her blue eyes twinkling just like her dad's. When she looks up at me like that, in her pure innocence and love, I can't imagine life without her. It makes me feel guilty that, really, I did not want her until I held her in my arms for the first time. I've never told Peeta that, and I never will. But we have her now, and I absolutely adore her.

I hope she grows up to be like Prim, kind to everyone and wanting to help people. Brave, too. My little duck was so brave, and I understand now that that bravery ultimately led to her death. It still hurts, but I understand now - she would not have wanted to go any other way.

I pick Willow up and wrap her soft towel around her, pulling the plug to drain the tub. "Do you miss Daddy, honey? I do. He'll be home soon, and we can snuggle with him all we want to make you feel better. But first, you need to go night-night."

After she's all dressed, I gently lay her in her crib, brushing her hair away from her face. "Sleep well, sweet girl. Try not to wake Mommy up too much tonight, okay?" Flicking the light off, I head out of her room and into mine and Peeta's.

8:00. Plenty of time to take a bath before she wakes up again in a couple hours.

I twist my hair up into a bun while the water is filling the tub, then tug off my clothes, leaving them in a heap on the floor. Steam fogs up the mirror above the sink. As soon as I sit in the warm water, the bubbles skimming the surface of the water, my body begins to relax, and I lean my head back, closing my eyes.

Instead of ticking off all the things in my mind that I have to do tomorrow, I just sit there and think of nothing. Sweet, blissful nothing. Despite what other people may say, motherhood is hard and exhausting! I don't remember the last time I had a chance to do literally nothing.

"Hey, Katniss, wake up baby."

I open my eyes, not realizing I fell asleep until now, to see Peeta's dancing eyes looking back at me.

"Oh my god, Peeta!", I exclaim, grinning from ear to ear. "Gimme that towel over there!"

He does, and I stand to wrap it around myself before tackling him with a hug. I laugh as he stumbles a little bit, hugging him even tighter.

"I didn't think you were getting back until tomorrow," I say into the crook of his neck. I can feel his smile against my shoulder as he replies, "That's when I was supposed to get back, but I left on an earlier train."