Chapter 24
Katniss P.O.V.
"What's that?" I ask Peeta as he sets a rectangular package down by the couch.
"You'll see," he replies. He comes over to where I'm sitting and takes Willow from me.
"Peeta, I know it's our anniversary, but do we have to send Willow to stay with Mom for the night?"
"I'm sure she'll be fine," Peeta says as he sits down next to me.
"That's not what I'm worried about," I say truthfully. "I know Mom will take good care of Willow. It's just that I'm going to miss her like crazy."
Peeta chuckles. "Yeah, me too. I'll tell you what, if we get to missing her too bad we can go pick her up later tonight."
"If we're going to do that, then why can't she just stay with us?"
"Because there's something I want to show you and Ellen is wanting to watch her anyways."
"Okay,"I sigh. "But only if you promise me that you were being serious when you said we could go pick her up later."
"I promise," Peeta laughs.
"I'd better go get Willow ready then," I say before Peeta places her in my arms. "I'm supposed to have her at Mom's in an hour." Willow starts crying before I even stand up.
"I'll go get a bottle ready," Peeta says.
"Actually, if you'll give her a bath and dress her, I'll fix her bottle and get her diaper bag ready."
"Okay," Peeta says as he takes Willow again. She stops crying as soon as Peeta takes her. He starts laughing and I shake my head.
"You've already got her spoiled," I laugh.
"That's what I'm supposed to do," he teases before he walks upstairs. I go into the kitchen and fix a bottle. I get a couple ready to send to Mom's and put them in the diaper bag. Just as I've finished packing everything, Willow lets out a loud cry that sends me racing up the stairs. I go into our room to see Peeta coming out of the bathroom with a bundled up Willow in his arms.
"She's okay," Peeta says when he sees me. "She just really hates bath time." We walk over to the nursery and Peeta lays Willow down on the changing table. "Here," Peeta says as he tosses Willow's towel to me, hitting me in the head.
"Hey." I take the towel and ball it up before I throw it at Peeta's shoulder. He turns around to face me.
"You did that on purpose," Peeta says.
"You hit me first," I reply.
"But I didn't mean to hit you," Peeta says. He smiles at me and I smile back at him.
"Sure you didn't," I say. He throws the towel back at me, but I catch it this time. I leave the room and put the towel up before heading back downstairs. Peeta comes down not long after I do and feeds Willow her bottle before I get her ready to go to Mom's.
"Are you coming?" I ask Peeta as I strap Willow into her car seat.
"No," Peeta replies. "I have something I need to do. But I will take her out to the car for you." Peeta picks up the car seat and we go walking out to the car. Peeta straps the car seat in before he kisses Willow on her head. "Have fun baby girl," he says softly. "Daddy loves you."
Peeta stands up and shuts the car door. "I'll be back in a little bit," I say before he kisses me.
"Okay," Peeta replies. He starts walking back towards the house and I get in the car. By the time we arrive at Mom's house, Willow is asleep. I throw the diaper bag over my shoulder before I get the car seat out and start walking to the front door. Before I can even get to the porch, the door opens and Mom steps out.
"Is she asleep?" Mom asks as I step inside.
"Yeah," I reply. No sooner than I get the word out, Willow starts whimpering. "Well, she was asleep," I laugh as I set the car seat down on the floor. I get Willow out and hold her close to me. "Shh." I rock her from side to side and bounce her a little bit. "Mommy has to go for a little while and I don't want to leave you here crying," I say quietly.
When willow stops crying, I pass her to Mom. "Is she still staying all night?" Mom asks.
I laugh a little. "We'll just have to see if we can go all night without her," I say.
"I would tell you not to worry about her," Mom says. "But I know I'd just be wasting my breath."
"We trust you," I say truthfully.
"I know you do," Mom says. "But it's a mother's job to always worry about their baby."
I smile and nod my head. "I'd better go before she starts crying again," I say.
"Okay."
"I'll see you later, Mom," I say before I walk out the door and to the car. When I get home, Peeta is sitting on the steps waiting for me. I walk over to him and he takes the car keys from me.
"Let's go," he says as he stands up. I laugh.
"Where are we going?"
"You'll see," he says. We ride around for a little bit before the car comes to a stop. Peeta gets out of the car and I look at him.
"What are you doing?" I ask.
"Come on," he says.
"I step out of the car and Peeta comes over to my side and puts his hands over my eyes. "Peeta, what are you doing?" I ask as I try to move his hands from my eyes.
"Walk," he says.
"I can't see," I say.
"I'm not going to let you bump into anything," Peeta laughs. "Just walk." I sigh and start walking.
"Peeta, you better not let me fall," I say. He laughs again.
"I'm not," he says. "Just trust me."
"Why won't you let me see where we're going?" I ask.
"Quit complaining. We're almost there," Peeta says. Neither of us speaks again until we come to a stop. "If I take my hands off of your eyes, will you promise to keep them closed?"
"I promise," I say. I stand still for a moment until Peeta gently grabs my arms and pulls me forward.
"You can open your eyes now," Peeta says. When I do, it takes me a minute to figure out that he brought me to the bakery. "I was hoping to have it completely finished by now, but that didn't happen," Peeta says.
I turn around and smile at him. "I like it," I say.
"I still have to paint it and get everything put in it's place," Peeta says. "It shouldn't take me long, though." I look around for a minute before we get ready to leave. "Are you getting hungry?" he asks.
"Yeah," I reply.
"Come on," he says. "Let's go back home." After we get home and eat, we go sit down on the couch. Peeta hands me the package that he set by the couch this morning. "Here," he says as he sits down next to me.
"What's this?" I ask.
He smiles. "Open it." I do and when I see it, my mouth falls open. He's painted a picture of me holding Willow right after she was born.
"Peeta," I say as I look up at him with tears in my eyes. "I love it." I set the picture down on the floor and wrap my arms around his neck. "Thank you," I say. Peeta pulls me back and kisses me.
"I love you, Katniss," he says.
I smile at him. "I love you too, Peeta. Happy anniversary."
"Happy anniversary. Doesn't feel like it's been five years, does it?"
I laugh and shake my head. "Not really."
"Do you want to go get Willow?" Peeta asks.
I shake my head. "She's probably asleep by now anyways." I look back down at the picture. "Our perfect little family," I say. Peeta leans in and kisses me again.
"I love you," Peeta says again.
"I love you too," I reply.
"Always," Peeta says. I smile at him and nod my head.
"Always."
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That's it. That's the last chapter. I'll have the sequel up soon and the title will be Together. Keep an eye out for it and I hope you all enjoyed reading this book as much as I enjoyed writing it.
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