There was a loud crash outside the window as the storm rolled in among the night sky. I didn't particularly care for storms, but Damon was laying beside me so I felt okay.
When another crash elicited from the sky, I curled myself up into Damon's side, burying my face into his arm. He stirred slightly and reached his free arm to clasp my hand.
"You okay baby?"
"Yeah it's just the storm bub."
He went back and forth, tracing circles on the back of my hand and running his own up and down my arm. My eyes stayed shut as I let his touch distract me.
A few moments later a crack of lightning illuminated the sky as the house shook from the rumble outside, followed by the sounds of a pitter-pattering of tiny feet across the floorboards.
"Momma, I'm scared." a small voice peeped through the door.
"Come lay with Daddy and I, baby."
The door creaked as toddler hands pushed it open to let a soft stream of light in, just enough to see Evelyn's shadow move across the floor as she came to join us on the bed.
"I'm gonna get Mason and bring him in here with us too." Damon whispered to me as he pulled back the covers.
Our bed was too high for Evie to climb up on by herself, so I reached down to lift her up, but was beat to it by Damon who gave me a pointed look and a glance towards my stomach as he set Evie down next to me. The doctor said no heavy lifting, but it's so frustrating.
"Sorry babe." I say curling Evie into my side.
Damon offered me a sympathetic smile. He knew how much that part of pregnancy frustrated me.
Evie's breaths calmed me as we waited for Damon to come back with Mason. The storm continued to relentlessly beat down on the house.
"We have ourselves a sound little sleeper." Damon says carrying in a now awake, but content mason. "He was fast asleep when I went in to get him."
"How are you not scared of storms momma?" Evie puzzled.
"I am scared baby." I mused into her hair as I placed a soft kiss on her head.
"You don't look scared."
"Well it's cause you're here. And Daddy and Mason."
Evie seemed stumped. As she should be. How is it I was so scared only 10 minutes earlier?
"Do we help you not be scared Momma?" the wheels in her little head were turning a thousand miles a minute trying to grasp the concept of such maturity.
"Yeah, you do. You make me forget about the scary stuff outside cause I'm having so much fun inside with you."
"But we're not doing anything fun. We're just laying here."
I chuckled. Evie didn't find it very funny though and gave me a sour look.
"That wasn't funny Momma that was a question."
She could be quite serious for a four year old. Her face mimicked one of her fathers as she ever so preciously cocked her head and raised an eyebrow with pursed lips.
Damon climbed back into bed and laid mason on his chest, pulling the covers over the both of them.
"You and daddy and mason make me feel safe, so I'm not scared anymore."
"And baby. You forgot to say the baby too mama."
I heard damon let out a soft laugh and I could picture the happy smile on his face as he echoed her sentiment with a "yeah mama you forgot to say the baby."
"You two knuckleheads knock it off" I said as I lightly tickled Evie's sides.
She squirmed as giggles erupted from her smiling face and she curled closer into my side.
We all fell silent for a few minutes. I was so content, so in awe of this life we'd built for ourselves. Moments like these when it was the four, soon to be five, of us simply existing. It was peaceful and it was unpredictable with Damon Salvatore as your husband and his DNA running through your children. It wasn't until Evie spoke up with a "Mama, it's just raining now. The storms are gone. You can sleep now" that I even realized I truly wasn't scared anymore. Not only of the storm outside, but the storm of a life lived long ago that raged on in nightmares had every now and then. A glistening of tears sprung to my eyes in the wonderment that this life, is mine. I felt Damon run his free hand through my hair and when I peered my head towards his face the look in his eyes said it all. He was happy. My heart swelled as I placed kisses on Evie's and Mason's heads, and a soft one on Damon's lips as I whispered "goodnight's" and "i love you's" with a final wish to the life growing inside me after a gentle insistence from Evie. My eyes fluttered shut as I listened to the soft breaths of my family lull me to sleep mixed with the light tapping of rain.
This is my life. I wouldn't have it any other way.