Chapter 119: Mariana, Part 1
Six months later…
I wake with a start. My eyes may only be half open, but my mom-senses mean I can take stock of what's going on around me almost instantaneously.
Is a kiddo crying? No.
Is there a burglar ratting around the apartment? No.
Did I get a leg cramp? No. I'm still face down in my pillow, starfishing across the bed with one leg sticking out of the blankets.
Now that I know everything is fine, I let myself fall back into dreamland.
I wake with a start a second time. Now I know something is happening. I don't move, almost hoping it's a leg cramp, just so I don't have to move for a few more minutes.
No such luck. Theo begins to cry in his crib across the room. I sit up, wipe my eyes so I can see the clock without any blur, and look at him.
"Really? It's six-thirty-seven. Is it necessary to be up so early?"
His little bottom lip quivers as he stands there looking at me. I sigh. Someday, I'll get to sleep in past seven again. Someday.