Page 79 of Teach Me to Laugh

For that, I would forever be thankful.

It was summer and she’d been awake since the ungodly hour of five o’clock in the morning. She’d been doing this a lot these past three months, but sleep was coming a little roughly for her. Still, whenever I noticed her slipping from the bed in the mornings, I wasn’t far behind.

My work schedule was hectic and I’d come to appreciate an early morning with my wife. But these past few months were the best, because I’d find her on the deck off the kitchen, watching the sun rising over the mountains with a tea steaming on the table and her hands caressing her swollen belly.

Every time I saw her hands on her belly where our baby was growing, I felt a sense of life that I’d never before experienced. Not for the first time, or the last, this woman made me want to fall to my knees and thank Heaven for all the beauty I’d been given in this life.

“Good morning, beautiful.” I said, coming to stand behind her. She tipped her head back and smiled up at me. Again, I wanted to fall to my knees.

“Good morning, handsome.”

“How are you feeling this morning?” I asked, my hands moving to rub her shoulders.

She groaned and the sweet sound had my lips curling up at the corners. Beautiful. Sweet. Simple. Blissful. Life.

“A little sick to my tummy, but we’ll be okay. I have to be at work at eight,” she sighed, but we both knew she loved working at the Library in Banff. It was a close enough drive to the house we now owned. I’d taken over the mortgage my parents had for the house where I first made this woman mine. Now, it was ours.

“You’ll let me know if it gets worse?”

“You know I will, Dr. Davis.” She teased, and I liked that too. I also liked that I’d gotten a killer residency in the Banff Hospital. We were close to each other and close to home.

Life, if I’d written it into a book, couldn’t have been more perfect.

“Austin Xavier Weir!” I objected, because my first born, at only three and a half years old, was a terror. “Get back here right this minute!”

Kaiden laughed, like he usually did when I groaned about our son’s antics. “He’s just being three,”

“He’s going to scratch his knee. And then he’s going to be upset, and I’m going to be upset because then he’s going to want me to carry him—and my back already hurts, because every child you make comes out the size of a baby giant, Kai.” I huffed, “I don’t want him to hurt himself.”

Kaiden caught me by the nape of my neck, kissing me hard. It was at that moment that I felt the pain in my back fade away as an entirely new sensation rolled through my body. “He’s just like me when I was young.”

“I love that.” I said, because I knew it was true, and I wanted our son to be just like his daddy.

He smiled against my mouth. “And the guys watch out for him.”

“I know, but still.”

“He’s safe.”

“I know, but still.” I repeated. It was when I pulled away from my husband to take in the sight of our almost completed home on the land we loved in Spruce Grove, close to our parents, that I smiled.

We’d put the plan for our dream A-frame house into motion last fall and now, in June, we were nearly ready to move in. The finishing touches were being put on the big wrap around deck. In just under a week we’d be moving our belongings from the trailer Kaiden had shared with his brother, Austin, before he’d passed away too young, into the new house. And then the trailer would be gone, but it was on this land where the memories of Austin would forever live.

Our son had a lot of his daddy in him, but I’d be a fool if I didn’t see the beautiful bits of his uncle living in his soul. His brilliant blue eyes and ever-present grin was all Austin. He had life by the reins and he was riding it for all it was worth. Even now, as his little legs took him up the long stretch of moveable metal walkway to his favorite worker Jim, he was caught around the waist and flipped upside down over his shoulder; the sound of his giggle piercing the air was unbridled joy.

I couldn’t help but smile, because maybe our son had a bit of his uncle and daddy in him—but he was also his mother’s son. Filled with a gypsy energy that couldn’t be denied.

My hand roamed over my belly and I hoped for a daughter who would take life for all it was worth when she finally made her way into this beautiful world. I acted like I minded chasingthe little life my love with Kaiden created, but I didn’t. If I were being entirely honest, I’d have to say I loved chasing him. Day in and day out, I would chase my babies, however many Kaiden gave me, so long as they were chasing life and love and laughter.

I still missed my brother every day, but I honored him every day that I lived and loved and laughed to the fullest. So I did that. Every single day.

It wasn’t a hardship as I had a woman who made it easy, every minute of every day. She’d given me a son, and because she was the perfect woman for me, she gave him my brother’s name.

I never imagined I’d be the one who’d build a family and a home on this land. That was Austin’s dream—but when he saluted this world for the better that waited on the other side, he left the dream for me. I was living it for all it was worth.

And now, as I moved through the house I’d built with the woman of my dreams, I had to admit I was happy. Life was good. Busy, hectic, absolute insanity. But it was good.

I cracked the door of my daughter’s nursery and she stopped crying, her tiny hands coming to her mouth where she nibbled her fists. Novalee Isabelle Weir was the sun in my sky.Her mother was my angel, but this little girl was the sun and the moon.

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