Chapter 21 - Our Kids

The next day, Rai was busy. He was always on his phone and told me he would not be home till the afternoon to attend to some businesses. He asked me to go with him, but I preferred to stay at home with Leah. He understood. He just smiled and kissed me before going away.

I spent my time with Damian and Leah, and I could say that it was one of the best times of my life. Damian and Leah were inseparable.

“Damian, we are like a family. You, the dad. Me, the mom, and Leah is our child.” I told him as I laughed.

He laughed and stroked Leah, who was sleeping on his lap.

“You know what, Damian. It would be nice to have a child with you. I can imagine you running around the front yard with our little boy, laughing as you catch him. You’ll be a great dad.” I said without thinking, smiling and looking at a distance, imagining the scene.

Damian just raised his eyebrow and looked at me strangely.

“Don’t look at me like that. I’m short; you are tall. Having you as my husband will help improve my offspring’s quality. They won’t be as short as me.” I said to him without thinking again. I didn’t realize I had just told him I wanted him to be my husband.

Damian just smiled softly at me and continued stroking Leah.

During lunch, I called Leah to me as it was her time to eat, but she didn’t come. I thought she was with Damian, so I went to him.

“Damian, can you let Leah go for a little while? It’s time for her to eat.” I told him as I went to him.

“Leah is not with me,” Damian said, looking at me.

I quickly searched for her. Scared something terrible had happened to her since she was so tiny, but I couldn’t find her.

“Damian, Leah is missing,” I said frantically.

Damian stood up so fast to search for her. We called her name while searching for her, but she still didn’t show up.

“Damian, what if something bad happened to her? What if we lost her?” I asked Damian; tears started to form in the corner of my eyes.

“It won’t happen, Kat. Let’s search for her again, okay?” Damian said as he held me close, kissing my forehead.

After some time, I found Leah hiding in the kitchen. I sighed a sigh of relief. But she was quiet, not the energetic Leah we knew.

“There you are, Leah. You scared us.” I went to her to pick her up.

As I picked her up, Leah cried loudly, over and over again. She was in pain. Damian came to my side so fast, asking me what had happened.

“I don’t know, Damian. I picked her up, and suddenly she cried. What if I’ve hurt her, Damian?” Now I was sobbing, thinking that I was the cause of her being in pain.

“It’s not your fault, Kat. let’s get her to the vet.” He said as he pulled me toward the car.

When we reached the vet, there were already a few people queueing, and we needed to wait for our turn. We sat in the waiting room, and I knew that all the females were looking at Damian. Who could blame them? He was handsome and hot and holding a tiny puppy. It was a sight to behold. I noticed a very pretty girl trying to get Damian’s attention, asking him all questions about Leah. But Damian didn’t seem to notice. He kept his gaze on Leah, stroking her while holding my hand with his other. So, I answered for him.

Leah was better in Damian’s arm. Sometimes she still cried in pain, but mostly she sat on Damian’s lap as he stroked her.

We waited for quite some time until it was our turn to go in. I could even see the female nurses eyeing him.

He's mine, I thought irritably.

I used to feel proud that he was mine, but with so many females eyeing him, it became pretty tiring, and I would become irritated.

Damian handed Leah to the vet, and she cried again. The doctor checked her gently and told us that Leah’s front left leg was injured. It seemed like she banged her leg against something. The doctor slowly massaged the injured leg, and after some time, Leah calmed down. The doctor told us that teacup dogs were more prone to this kind of injury since they were small and asked us to keep an eye on her whenever she was running around. He vaccinated Leah and gave her some deworming medicine. He also gave us vitamins to take home. Damian and I sighed a sigh of relief and thanked the doctor.

I was quiet on the drive home with Leah on my lap.

“What’s wrong, Kat?” Damian asked me.

“Damian, it was my fault that Leah got injured. I should have never taken my eyes off her.” I said, my voice small.

“Kat, it is going to happen again, and you know that, right? We can all keep our eyes on her, and she’s bound to injure herself again. She’s a dog. They would just run around, and they would even jump from a high surface. That’s just them being dogs. All we can do is make sure it won’t happen as much, and we will be there for her when it happens. So, don’t blame yourself. Okay, Kat?” Damian took my hand and stroked it with his thumb.

I still kept quiet. All the while thinking, if I couldn’t take care of a tiny little dog like Leah, how was I supposed to take care of my kids when I have them. And tears started to form in the corner of my eyes again. I wanted so much to have kids, but this incident with Leah scared me.

Damian stopped the car at a red light and turned toward me.

“Kat, remember when you said that you could imagine our son and me running around in the front yard? But do you realize even though our son is having fun with me, whenever you call him, he will run straight to you, leaving me behind? Because you are his mom, and he loves you. Just as Leah loves you. Whenever Leah was on my lap or Rai’s, whenever she heard your voice, she would move around looking for you with her tail wiggling. She’s always happy just by hearing your voice. Because you are her mom, Kat. And kids always want to be with their moms because they know how much their moms love them.” Damian seemed to understand what I was thinking.

Damian’s words touched me, and I could feel a tear roll down my cheek. He wiped it away and quickly kissed my cheek as the red turned green. Damian, as always, was able to comfort me. He always knew the right words to say. But my mind was on Rai. What if Rai was angry with me for not taking good care of Leah? I knew how much he loved Leah.

Reaching home, Rai met us at the front porch. “Where have you guys been? Where is Leah? I couldn’t find her.” He asked us until he saw Leah in my arms, sleeping soundly.

We sat on the sofa, with Leah on my lap, and I told him what had happened. I didn’t look at him the whole time, scared that he would get angry at me. He was listening quietly up until Damian told him how I felt that it was my fault.

“Princess, it was not your fault that Leah was injured.” Rai took my chin and tilted my head to look at him.

“But I was supposed to be the one watching her.” A sob escaped me.

“It’s not only you who is supposed to watch her, Princess. Damian and I are supposed to watch her too. Leah belongs to the three of us, so it was not your fault.” Rai told me again, caressing my cheek.

“But..” I said as I sobbed.

“Princess, what happened? Why did this affect you so much?” Rai asked.

“Rai, what if when we have kids, our kids get hurt because of me? What if I look away once, and they fall? Or worse, something horrible happened to them, like maybe we lost them because of my carelessness? What if I can’t be a good mom? What if I’m a bad mom?” By now, I was crying.

“Kat, we have talked about this. Our kids will love you, their mom. Kids will be kids. They will get hurt, and all, and all we can do is just be there for them.” Damian said as he hugged me from behind and put his chin on my shoulder.

“Just like Damian said, Princess. You will be a great mom. You will take great care of them. Our kids will love you with all their hearts. And I, as your husband, will love you even more.” Rai said as he kissed me.

I could hear Damian sigh as he let go of me.

Damian and Rai comforted me until I felt better. Since then, we had always ensured that one of us was always there with Leah. Damian and Rai bought a massive playpen for Leah to keep her safe and put lots of toys for her to play with for the time when we couldn’t hold her. She was one spoiled dog.