Page 133 of Blinded By Hate

I pass him a water and he takes huge gulps, to the point where the bottle is almost empty.

It’s my birthday today. Hayden and the boys woke me up this morning with breakfast in bed. They made crepes, eggs, and bacon. I taught Hayden how to make crepes a long time ago so he taught the boys this morning.

They turned out good and we all ate in bed before the boys started tackling each other.

Hayden takes them to training so that they can learn even though Junior is only ten and Easton is four, turning five soon.

We are going to Rowan’s house for dinner later to celebrate my birthday.

We live in Italy now. Lombardy to be specific.

Hayden and I had a long conversation about it because he said he wanted to be close to Killian instead of traveling back and forth so much since a lot of his work was in Italy.

I didn’t want to take the kids, especially Junior since Easton didn’t really go to school and was a baby, because then he would have to start fresh while also learning new things in a new country. It was a huge culture change and I thought it’d be scary for them.

But since we moved to Italy, things have been easier. Hayden is home more and we still visit the US whenever we have time. Hayden has fights out there still but he’s thinking of retiring and starting a clothing company called Night Apparel.

It’s something in the works.

But at least we get Hayden every night and we spend more time as a family.

The kids like the school and had an easy time adjusting to everything.

Hayden taught us Italian so that we’d understand things. It took me a good year to fully understand it since I had a little trouble with adjusting to a new language.

“Thanks, mom,” Junior says before giving me the water bottle and running back to Hayden and Easton.

Junior doesn’t have any resentment towards his father like I thought he would. He loves Hayden and being with him all the time. Hayden loves him just as much and hangs out with him a lot. They are both so alike while Easton is calm like me but looks like his father. Junior is just like Hayden, both in looks and personality.

They spend time together in the gym and Hayden shows Junior how to control his anger.

Easton is still young so he’s mainly calm for the most part.

For the past five years, things between Hayden and I have been good. Obviously there were ups and downs but that mostly had to do with me and my constant overthinking. Hayden was still there, even when I tried to push him away because I thought he didn’t love me.

Patience was there with me to help as well.

Whenever Hayden would see me deep in thought, he would distract me because that would be the only way to quiet down my mind.

He knows whenever I’m overthinking and helps me through it.

Like now, he turns his attention to me instead of the boys.

He immediately walks over while the boys keep playing. Hayden sits down behind me and pulls me closer to him.

His mouth is next to my head as he whispers, “You okay?” I nod my head and turn to look at him. “What are you thinking?”

“Just how far we’ve come,” I admit. “We’ve been through a lot.”

“And you’re still here as strong as ever,” Hayden whispers before kissing my neck softly. “What else?”

“I’m thinking about how lucky I am to be able to have you and the boys.”

And in the future, another addition to the family.

“You’ll always have us. No matter what,” Hayden says and he turns me around so that I’m facing him. “You never have to worry about me leaving, trust me.”

“I know,” I whisper before leaning in and kissing him gently. Hayden of course takes control and dominates the kiss. I close my eyes and breathe heavily into his mouth desperate for more but we’re on a beach with our kids. Plus I have news to tell him. “You won the bet by the way,” I mumble against his lips and Hayden freezes.