Page 107 of Burdens

Noah placed a hand on her hair before crouching down to her level to take her in his arms.

“Hey there,zwina diali?1,” he murmured against her hair before picking her up. “Did you need something?” he asked her, but she was too busy roaming her hands over his face.

Selena placed her small hands over his cheeks and squished them together. “You’ve got a funny face, Tonton Noah,” she noted with a small laugh.

God, she’s adorable.

“Oh yeah,” Noah managed to get out, but the words were distorted by the way she was pushing his cheeks together. “Ghadi naklook?2,“ he whispered before surprising her by playfully nibbling on her hands when they got close enough to his mouth and blowing raspberries on her face and neck.

Her infectious laughter rang out in the air and the sight of them together warmed my heart.

Is it too early to want another baby?

Suddenly, our daughter’s cries echoed through the baby monitor that was clipped to the back pocket of my pants.

“You want me to go get her?” Noah asked over his shoulder.

I shook my head. “No, it’s okay. I got her.” I lifted on my tiptoes and kissed his cheek. “I’ll be right back,” I said before I headed for the back door.

“All right, let’s go seemamak ou babak?3while Tata Amalia gets baby Ameena,” Noah said to Selena before they walked away, and I headed for our daughter’s nursery.

Once I made it into Ameena’s nursery, I marched to her crib, her cries gradually subsiding when she sensed my presence.

Gently lifting her into my arms, I cradled her close, whispering soothing words and tenderly stroking her cheek until her cries softened into small whimpers.

She nestled against me as I grabbed a pacifier and draped a blanket over my shoulder before heading back outside. And as I made my way toward our friends and family, a sense of tranquility washed over me.

I’d always secretly longed for a bigger family. Antonia, Ángel, and I only had each other growing up, and it had been us against the world.

But we’d hidden our pains from each other for so long that we didn’t get to enjoy our childhood as much as we would have liked because we had to help each other to survive.

This little family Noah and I had created and all of our friends together felt like the perfect extra piece to our story.

This felt right and I couldn’t imagine being anywhere else.

1 My beautiful girl.

2 I'm gonna eat you up.

3 Your mom and dad.