Page 61 of Burden to Bear

It wasn’t long before we were back to enjoying the rest of our day on the beach together. We ate, laughed, played in the sand, and even went for a walk along the beach.

We had the best time.

In fact, we’d had so much fun, we got caught up and lost track of time.

Before we knew it, we were back in the car, heading back home, and Brock had called his brother to let him know we’d be arriving a few minutes past the time Chris had been planning to pick up Izzy.

Following a fun-filled drive home—one that made it impossible not to have the same thoughts I’d had on the way to the beach—we pulled into Brock’s driveway. Another vehicle was already there, waiting for us.

As we pulled around that vehicle, Izzy practically squealed from the back seat. “Daddy’s here!”

Though I loved it for her, my heart squeezed. The way things were now, my baby would never be able to say those words. It was devastating.

Doing my best to ignore that, I joined Brock and Izzy in their efforts to get out of the truck. And the next thing I knew, Izzy was reaching for my hand and leading me toward her dad.

“Daddy, look. This is Mia.”

He chuckled, and I couldn’t stop myself from smiling as Brock walked beside us with the laughter spilling out of him.

“It’s so nice to finally meet you, Mia. I’ve heard so much about you. I’m Chris.”

He extended his hand to me, so I lifted my free one to it. “It’s lovely to meet you as well. You’ve certainly come up in conversation a few times, too.”

Chris released my hand, diverted his attention to his daughter, and asked, “Did you have fun today, princess?”

“I had so much fun.”

Before Chris could respond, Brock chimed in. “Yeah, we got a little carried away with the fun today, and we lost track of time.”

“Ah, don’t worry about it. As long as you all had a good time, I’m happy. But we do need to get going now, because I’ve got a surprise celebration for Izzy tomorrow that we need to make sure she’s had a good night’s sleep for.”

“Oh, that sounds exciting,” I said.

“I can’t wait to see what we’re going to do.”

“Well, then you better get home, so you can have some dinner, get a bath, and get ready for bed,” Brock told her. “How about a hug before you go, buttercup?”

God, the name he had for her melted my heart.

Brock crouched down and held his arms out to Izzy. She stepped close to him and wrapped her arms around his neck.

“What do you say to Uncle Brock for taking you to the beach today?” Chris asked.

“Thank you for taking me to the beach.”

“You’re welcome, Izzy. We’ll plan another beach trip soon, okay?”

She pulled her face back from his neck and nodded. Once he let her go, Izzy turned and wrapped her arms around my thighs to hug me. I reached down, my hand landing on the middle of her back, and offered a gentle squeeze. “I had so much fun with you today, Izzy. I can’t wait for you to come back to your uncle’s house for another visit.”

“Me, too.”

As soon as Izzy loosened her hold on me and stepped back, her dad reached his arms out to her and lifted her. “Ready to go, princess?”

She yawned as she nodded.

The three adults laughed before Chris said, “Thanks for taking her out for a day of fun today.”

“It’s no problem at all,” Brock insisted. “We had a blast.”

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