Selfless

86

"Actually I think we are gonna part ways from the group, I want some alone time with my girls." Colby said and pulled me to him by my waist, "okay but we should go back to the hotel to get cleaned up since both of your girls apparently suck at being on a boat." I said with a laugh as I looked down at Mia who was smiling at me.

"Alright yeah, we are gonna head back to the hotel, we will see you guys tomorrow." Colby said and waved to everyone, "use protection!" Tara yelled causing me to roll my eyes, "we have Mia! We won't need it!" I yelled as Colby took my hand and led me away from them.

"They are so annoying sometimes." Colby said with a laugh, "yeah, but I love them." I said with a smirk as we got into the Uber we ordered.

When we got to the hotel I took a shower and bathed Mia so we would be fresh and clean for your little family outing. I felt the pit in my stomach drop when I remembered I would be leaving Colby again. I hated how clingy that sounded, but I don't have panic attacks when he's around me and I just feel overall safe in his presence. Leaving him again was going to be hard.

"Do I have to come in there to get you?" Colby asked with a laugh as I tried to cover the bruises on my face, as well as the hickeys along my neck. "Well MAYBE if you didn't suck on me like a damn leech I wouldn't have to spend an hour on my makeup." I said and opened the door for him. "You don't want me to suck on you like a leech?" He asked and lowered his face into my neck and started kissing it.

"Stooooop you'll rub off the makeup." I pouted and pulled away from him. "It looks good babe, come on we will be late for our reservation." He said and took my hand in his, leading me out into the bedroom where Mia was crawling around. "Ya know she's like 4 seconds away from walking." I said and looked at her as she tried to pull herself up to a stand by gripping onto the bed sheets.

"Hmmm," Colby said and walked over helping her stand up, she wobbled as Colby hovered his hands around her. "Come on sweet girl! Come to mommy!" I cooed and crouched down, holding my arms out as she started to fall.

Colby caught her and steadied her before letting go again, "come on princess, you can do it!" He encouraged as she swayed awkwardly, "come to mommy!" I cooed again and wiggled my fingers as she stared at me. "You can do it!" I said with a smile as she shuffled one foot forwards and took her first step, "oh my god Colby! She did it! Come on sweetheart do it again!" I yelled happily and looked up at Colby with a smile.

He looked down at her with a wide smile as she took another small step as he put his hands on her arms steadying her a little bit. She giggled and took another step forwards, towards me. "A couple more!" I cooed as she got a steadier pace.

I felt tears prick in my eyes as she took another small step towards me, before falling onto her butt. "Good job sweet girl!" I yelled and wiped my cheek, "I'm so proud of you, little one." Colby said and picked her up. She looked at us and cuddled into Colby's neck with a giggle.

"Now we are really gonna miss our reservation." Colby said with a chuckle as I grabbed my purse, "it was worth it, our baby is starting to walk." I said and frowned slightly at the thought of her getting so old.

"I know, she's getting so old." Colby said quietly and grabbed the diaper bag. "I feel like if I blink she's suddenly going to be going off to college." I said and bit my lip as we walked to the elevator. "Don't think too hard about it baby girl, she's still a baby, let's live in the moment." He said and kissed my head as I sniffled, "yeah, let's live in the moment." I agreed and took his hand.

Colby was taking us to some fancy restaurant in Salem, because that man can't do anything without being hella romantic. "Did you check to see if they had anything Mia could eat?" I asked as he pulled my chair out for me. "Mashed potatoes and spinach." He said with a chuckle as he got Mia situated in her highchair. "Good dad." I said then took a sip of water, "I think you mean daddy." He said lowly causing me to choke on my water, "Cole." I said with wide eyes, scolding him.

"Sorry, I had to." He said and held his hands up in surrender as he looked at the menu. I rolled my eyes playfully as I looked at the menu myself.

"What if you guys just traveled with me for the next two weeks?" Colby asked as he took my hand in his, rubbing small circles onto it with his thumb. "You know we can't do that." I breathed our quietly, "Mia may be doing fine on this trip but it's only a two day trip, she wouldn't be able to handle being on a plane every couple days." I said and bit my lip as I brought my free hand over to caress her cheek with my fingers as she giggled and played with one of her toys.

"Yeah, I just wish you didn't have to go. I love spending time with you two." He said as the waiter came over to take our order.

We ordered our food then looked at eachother again, "I love spending time with you too, and I love that I don't have to worry about everything when I'm around you. You and I make a pretty good team." I whispered as he brought my hand to his lips.

"Yeah, we really do." He said and smiled at me, "plus it's only two more weeks. We can do it." I said and scrunched my nose at him.

We enjoyed our dinner and talked about Mia's first birthday which was coming up in a couple months. I couldn't believe she was already almost a year old, it seemed like just yesterday we found out I was pregnant with her.

Colby and I have grown so much since then, it's insane. When we found out about my pregnancy we weren't ready but now seeing us almost a year in, I think we did a pretty good job.

"What are you thinking about?" Colby asked as we walked through downtown Salem, hand in hand with Mia sleeping in her carrier.

"Just how far we have come since finding out I was pregnant. We really had no idea what we were doing." I said with a laugh as I leaned my head on his arm as we walked.

"Yeah, I honestly can't believe we did that. I think once she was born though some instincts kicked in. You're such a good mom." He said and turned his head to kiss the side of mine.

"You're a great dad. You remind me a lot of my dad in some ways." I said with a sigh, I really missed my dad. Maybe we could go visit him soon.

"That's the best compliment you could have given me. You're dad is an amazing dad." He said and squeezed my hand. "Yeah, he is." I said with a smile.

We walked through downtown Salem for a while before we decided to go back to the hotel. I had an early flight and needed to get some rest. We put Mia to bed then got in the bed ourselves.

"Thank you for surprising me, Cor." He mumbled and kissed my head, "I'm so glad I did." I said quietly and melted into him more. "Get some rest baby girl, I'll see you in the morning.  I love you." He said as I closed my eyes. "I love you too." I whispered then drifted off.

I was so happy I surprised him, but it made leaving him again ten times harder.

I was dreading it.