Page 68 of Big Island Moonlight
“You basically slept through the night.” Juniper turned on a lamp and put Wilder down on a blanket, where he immediately rolled over onto his belly. “Kudos. All this sleep is doing wonders for mama’s health and sanity. Keep it up, would ya?”
He pushed himself onto his hands and feet, balancing precariously on all four limbs. Juniper got down on his level to see his precious little face.
“Don’t you know that you’re too young to crawl?” she cooed.
“He’s advanced.”
Juniper looked up to see Cody in the doorway.
“Does it count as sleeping through the night if we’re up before dawn?”
“Did we wake you?” she asked.
“It’s okay,” he yawned. “It’s nearly daylight.”
“He basically slept through the night.”
“Close enough,” Cody agreed. He went to fill the kettle with water for tea. “Did he wake up at all?”
“A couple of times,” she conceded. “Barely. Some dream feeds and a diaper change.”
“Sorry I slept through.”
“Don’t be. You need your rest.”
“So do you.”
“I can nap with Wilder.”
“Do you?”
“Sometimes.”
“That’s good.” He grinned. “Hey, you know what we should do?”
“What?”
“Let’s go down to the cliffs for sunrise.”
“Now?”
“As soon as our tea is done.”
“Okay. Let me just grab some warmer clothes for Wilder.” She jumped to her feet to gather the cozy knitted things that she rarely ever had occasion to use in Hawai‘i.
By the time she had wrestled her active baby into booties and a hooded sweater, Cody had two mugs of tea ready to go.
They crossed the property in the moonlight and climbed into Cody’s old silver Honda. It was a ten-minute drive down to the coast, then a five-minute walk through the greenery to the black lava-rock cliffs.
Juniper picked her way carefully across the uneven ground, conscious of the wriggly baby she held in her arms. When they reached a high outcropping of rock, she sat down and put him to her breast. He nursed contentedly, clutching the fabric of her t-shirt in one hand.
Cody sat to their right, shielding them from the worst of the wind. He put an arm around Jun, and his chest was warm against her bare arm. She sighed in contentment.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“More than okay.”
He kissed her temple, and they watched the clouds over the sea turn from silver to gold.
