Bella had to press her hands over her mouth to muffle her laughter. She felt like an infatuated teenage girl, sneaking out of the house. Except, in her hand, she held a baby monitor. The grin on Nathan’s face reflected the silliness that Bella felt. She placed the baby monitor on the veranda table and shook her head. “I can’t believe we’re running away from our kids.”
Nathan chuckled and wrapped an arm around her. In his other arm, he held a blanket. “We’re not running away. Just making a brief escape from parenthood.” He glanced at the baby monitor. “Sort of.” The playful grin ever left his lips and Bella truly felt like a girl with a major crush. How could someone be adorable and sexy at the same time? Once the blanket was spread, they sat and Bella leaned back on her elbows. She glanced up at the sky. It was pitch black aside from the moon and the billions of stars. “We could never see this in New York,” said Bella. Sometimes it was still so unbelievable that they’d made a major move from a large city to the middle of nowhere. “I wouldn’t trade this for New York any day,” said Nathan. “Same.” For a while, they admiring the stars and chatted casually. Bella cuddled up to Nathan, her head on his chest, her ear right over his heart. She loved listening to the cadence of his heartbeat. It reminded her that she was living a reality. Her life wasn’t perfect, but it was still a dream come true with the potential for achieving even bigger dreams. “This is going to sound mushy. Very non-Bella-esq.” She grinned and lifted her head to look at Nathan’s handsome face. “I know I don’t go declaring this very often, but I don’t want you to ever forget. I love you more than all the stars in the big, wide, African sky.” For a moment, Bella looked at him seriously, and he looked back at her the same way. Seconds later, they both crumbled into laughter. Still chuckling, Nathan kissed her softly. “I love you too. More than words can say.”
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Bella never thought she see the day when she admired sheer girlishness. The twins, in their summer dresses, were overwhelmed with eagerness as they ran around in the warm sand. They giggled at the way the sand felt between their tiny little toes. Eryn had already ruled out that she couldn’t eat the sand, and Mya was too busy staring in fascination at the water to care about tasting the sand. “We have happy babies,” said Bella, her arm sliding Nathan’s waist from the side. “We sure do.” “And a happy marriage!” she added with a smile. Who would’ve thought that Bella, the girl who once avoided men like the plague, the girl who couldn’t even get her own life together or her emotions under control, would be happily married for three years. To some it may sound like a little, but it was a lot. She and Nathan had withstood three years overfilled with excitement. Not all of it had been positive, like the lost of their first child or the struggles with Bella’s condition, but there had been enough positive to overrule the negative. The girls were still running around, nonstop, and they had yet to get into the water for the first time. There was still a day or two left at the coast, so there was plenty of time to bring the girls back to the ocean with their swimsuits. But for now, the twins were more than contented, running around in the sand, the wind billowing under their dresses. ![]() Bella kissed Nathan’s shoulder. “They’ll be really tired tonight,” she said with a smirk. “That’d leave plenty of time for just the two of us.” Nathan reflected her playful smirk. “Oh I love the sound of that,” he said. Time was flying before Bella’s very eyes. Her nephew and kobeson Anthony had turned one, as had Andrew. The kids were all growing up so quickly, including the twins who she was amazed at more and more each day. Ithemba was under the watchful eye of the media on a daily basis. Nathan and Bella hadn’t expected their little documentary to turn into something more ongoing, but the film crew were beyond interested in the lives of the couple who left behind ‘civilization’ to start their lives in the middle of nowhere for the benefit of helping animals in need.
There were talks of a reality television series, but Nathan and Bella weren’t too keen on the idea, especially with the twins. It was already annoying enough dealing with the cameras to get the documentary done. A series, perhaps, but not a show that required X amount of episodes per season. Surely not. Outside of the twins, the documentary and Ithemba in general, another important event was fast approaching. Bella and Nathan’s anniversary. Soon it would be 3 years since they said “I do” in front of close friends and family. It didn’t seem like 3 years had passed already, yet at the same time, it seemed like Bella had known Nathan forever. Long gone were the days that she was consumed by darkness and mental illness. Long gone were the nights of hopelessness and despair. These days, Bella was living her life to the fullest, and enjoying even the most difficult of moments as much as she could. “A-da!” A sticky little hand suddenly came down hard against Bella’s cheek. Bella gently held on to Eryn’s little hand and chuckled nervously. A cranky Mya sat on one knee while Eryn sat on the other. The twins had already eaten, been bathed, changed into nice clothes, their hair was neatly done, pulled back with a floral headband. They were pretty much camera ready, but Bella forgot one thing: naptime.
“I’m sorry,” she said, bouncing the twins on her knees as Mya fussed, wiggling to get down. Eryn was grabbing for Bella’s face again for some reason. “Can we take five?” She looked apologetically at the camerawoman. The director of the documentary had some brilliant idea of interviewing Bella alone with the twins. For what reason? Bella couldn’t figure it out but right now, she thought it was the worst idea ever. “Sure, let’s take five,” said the woman. “Or better yet… maybe we can film this after the girls are rested? You’ll soon hear their not so harmonious duet if we keep this up.” The woman chuckled. “Okay, how about after naptime for the twins, we get Nathaniel in on this interview? Maybe while they nap you can tell me about what it was like coming into the profession of wildlife management?” “Sure,” said Bella, shouting over the beginning of Eryn’s cranky babbles. She let Mya wiggle out of her grip, and just as Mya made a run for it, Nathan entered. “Whoa!” He exclaimed, scooping up the little one into his arms. “We have an escapee here, I see.” Bella looked a little defeated. “Yep. Interview over for now. Want to help me put the girls down for a nap?” Suddenly, the camerawoman was interested again. “Mind if we get that on camera, actually?” Bella and Nathan exchanged looks. “Uhm okay. Sure,” Bella said after a while. |
Isabella Kaylee DwyerWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
December 2017
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