Cool Mom

68: Big Girl

I feel something tickle my cheek making me groan and roll away. I open one eye to find Daniel in bed next to me, propped on an arm and I can tell that he's biting his tongue.

"Sorry. Didn't mean to wake you up." He kisses my cheek which reveals that the tickle was in fact a kiss.

"It's okay." I say and reach for my phone to check the time which is 7 a.m. which means that Daniel turned off my 6 a.m. alarm again.

"Daniel we can't do this every morning for the next seven months." I sigh and sit up.

"You need your rest." He tells me.

"And so do you." I scold him, "You may have not had any episodes of fainting recently but your sugar levels still fluctuate. Dangerously."

"I know." He groans and sits up too.

I take his hand in mine and tug on it to get his attention, "You have so much on your plate right now. Work here, the Paris division, new clients and most importantly your own health. Please just let me deal with Hazel. All I do is rest while she's at school and while I may get tired from time to time, Ana is confident that everything is alright. Please don't worry about me." I whisper the last sentence.

Daniel's gives me a small smile, "Okay but only if you promise to take care. No risks."

I nod, "I will if you promise to share more workload with your directors so that you have time to rest."

He shakes his head and laughs softly, "Alright, I promise."

"I promise too." I say and kiss his cheek as he gets out of bed to get dressed for the day.

I find Hazel's room empty, no Hazel or Vanessa in sight when I go to help her get ready for school. I call for the helper whose usually wakes up early to help me in case I need to find anything or get something ironed.

"Have you seen Hazel?" I ask her.

"Yes, ma'am. She's in the dining room." She tells me.

"Thank you." I tell her as I leave her to collect Hazel's laundry while I head off to find my daughter.

When I walk into the dining room, Hazel's dressed in her uniform, her hair pulled back in a sleek ponytail as she munches on toast.

"You're dressed!" I exclaim, "Did you do so yourself?"

She nods and informs me proudly that she did it all herself except the ponytail which she asked the helper to do for her. I check and to my surprise she's packed away her lunch too and the brown paper bag is neatly stowed away in her bag pack.

"Wow! I'm impressed." I say out loud, smiling at her.

"I'm a big girl now." She tells me in reply.

It then dawns on me that she's claiming responsibility for herself because she turns four in a week. I smile to myself as I sit down across from her and look at her serious face as she struggles to butter a second toast.

"Do you need help?" I ask, slowly.

She shakes her head, "I can do it, mommy."

"Okay." I smile at her as she continues her culinary journey.

A few minutes later Daniel arrives and quickly has breakfast before leaving for his office but only after reminding me of my promise to him from this morning. And I remind him of his. Five minutes later, Hazel and I are also in a car as I drive her to school.

"Hazel." I say to get attention.

"Hmm?" She asks from her car seat.

"Your birthday is next weekend. Daddy and I were discussing a birthday party." I tell her and since we've stopped at a traffic signal, I see her eyes light up and face stretch into a smile.

"Really?" She squeals.

"Yes. You can invite friends from school, your old playdate friends, friends from your swim class and of course family will be there." I turn around in my seat to smile at her and she grins back.

"Thank you, mommy." She leans forward to kiss my cheek.

"You're welcome, Bunny." I tell her as I start to drive again.

I drop Hazel off at school, ten minutes early and promise her that we can look at invitation cards for her friends once she gets back home from school.

On my way back home I get a call from Tess which I take over the car's Bluetooth.

"Hey baby sister." I say as I answer.

"Hey Emma!" She says back.

"Finally remembered me, didn't you?" I tease her.

"Actually, I'm calling ahead to let you know that may need to get one of your spare bedrooms ready." She tells me.

"What?" I ask, confused.

"I'm coming to Pasadena!" She screams.

"No way!" I scream back, my heart jumping.

"Yes. It's not a bad time is it?" She asks.

"Not at all! When do you arrive?" I inquire, already thinking of all the things we can do together.

"Thursday and I leave Tuesday for New York." She tells me.

"That's perfect! You can help organize Hazel's fourth birthday party." I smirk.

So excited to welcome Tess back into the chapters! :)

-T