𝑱𝑼𝑺𝑻 𝑭𝑶𝑹 𝑨 𝑴𝑶𝑴𝑬𝑵𝑻 (18+)

thirty-two || "Don't Tell Me...You Haven't Opened My Birthday Present Have You?"

➳♥

Rachel gave birth to a baby girl on August 31st at 7:32 am.

She named her Kristine.

I drove Liv to the hospital because her mom understandably still wasn't comfortable around the Whites. She didn't hold any ill will towards them, but that didn't mean she was willing to be one big happy family.

Liv was nervous about meeting her little sister, scared she'd break into a million pieces if she held her. It was cute. It took a five-minute pep talk from me and Laura to make her confident enough to attempt to hold the newborn.

"She's sweet," Laura whispered, watching Liv nervously enter the private room.

"The sweetest."

I handed her a bouquet and a small teddy bear for Rachel."Why don't you give it to her yourself?"

"Oh, no I couldn't. I'm just Liv's plus one."

She smiled politely and ran her hand over a few stray hairs that refused to lay down. "I see why Devon adores you so much. You're not just a plus one Summer, Rachel is actually very happy you're here."

Rachel and I had exchanged a few polite words sure, but I didn't think I had a lasting effect.

"She is?"

"Yes, now come, there's someone we all want you to meet."

I entered the brightly lit room finding Rachel rocking her newborn back and forth, singing her a tune. The room was filled with smiles as everyone watched the new mother bond with her child. She caught a glimpse of me at the door and invited me to come get a closer look, upon doing so I paid more attention to her than I did to the baby. She was glowing, but not just because of the sweat. She had an air about her that radiated pure bliss as she smiled down at her baby. Her hair was perfectly waved and parted to the side and her skin looked amazing. It was impressive how she was able to look this good after giving birth.

I looked worse waking up in the morning.

"Would you like to hold her Summer?"

I looked down at the cooing baby and smiled, "are you sure?" Rachel nodded her head and prepared herself to pass the baby off to me. I took a seat in a nearby chair just to add some extra assurance for myself while I carefully rocked her back and forth.

"She's beautiful."

"She is."

I held Kristine for a little while longer before returning her to her mother, her falling asleep immediately once being placed back into her arms.

I checked the time on my phone and sighed heavily, my stomach twisted into knots and I felt the sudden urge to vomit but I held it back. I had two more back-to-back sessions with Kat after our first one. She wanted to get to know my situation more before she made a concrete schedule for us to meet and I was able to get a lot off of my chest during these last three days.

I spoke about Devon and how our friendship led to something more. I discussed my fears for our future and how my relationship with Chris is always present when I'm with Devon. Kat explained to me that it was normal for me to feel sudden memories of Chris coming to the forefront, me and Devon beginning our relationship was the trigger for all of my closed wounds to reopen.

She stressed the importance of me forgiving my past self for staying with Chris even though I knew deep down I should have left him way before I did. She said, "Summer, you won't heal overnight. This will be a painful healing process that can be mentally and emotionally draining. I won't ask you to forgive him, I won't tell you to do anything actually. But I advise you to forgive the girl that stayed with him and to forgive the girl that he hurt. You won't be able to move on if you don't."