d making it ours.
I added a special dinner.
A couples massage.
A sunset photography session.
I bought Leah a beach dress she had admired months earlier.
When she realized what I had planned, she cried.
Then joked that I was creating unrealistic expectations for our honeymoon.
But I understood why it mattered.
For once, she wasn’t being included as an afterthought.
She was the priority.
When our week finally arrived, we drove to the coast with the windows down and our phones mostly silent.
The house was even better than I remembered.
Large windows facing the ocean.
Warm wooden floors.
A kitchen overlooking the water.
That first evening, Leah danced barefoot through the living room.
We sat on the deck afterward and watched the tide.
No family politics.
No obligations.
Just peace.
During that week, we made our own routines.
Coffee walks in the morning.
Seafood pasta at night.
Cards.
Old movies.
Long conversations on the porch.
During the sunset photography session, Leah wore the dress I had bought her.
I watched her standing barefoot near the water and thought:
This is the family I want to build.
By the time we returned home, I wasn’t waiting for an apology anymore.
I began focusing on my own life.
I went back to the gym.
Ate better.
