Chapter 295: ~ 294
Chapter 294
~Octavia~
Three weeks had passed since that terrifying night at the old shipping warehouse. Three long, quiet weeks of resting, healing, and wrapping our arms around our baby girl. The danger was completely gone, and the mansion felt peaceful again.
But to be completely honest, I was getting incredibly restless. As a senior lead developer at JeffTech, my brain was practically begging for something to do. I loved my daughter with all my heart, but I was tired of sitting on the couch and getting on with the routine of changing her, cleaning, feeding and petting her to sleep.
A few days ago, I finally sat Franklin down to talk about going back to work. As expected, my sweet, overprotective husband did not agree at first. He frowned, his eyes full of worry, and told me he wanted me to take all the time in the world to just stay home and relax.
But I didn’t back down. I gave him a compromise. I told him I would work a flexible schedule: three days onsite at the office and two days from the comfort of our home.
Plus, JeffTech had a wonderful daycare right inside the building, specifically designed for employees. The company also had a wonderful policy where new mothers were allowed to finish their shifts and close by 3:00 PM every day. Once Franklin realized I would be just a few floors away from our daughter at all times, he finally smiled, kissed my forehead, and agreed.
That brought us to today. It was my very first day back at work, and I was super excited.
The morning sun was bright and warm as I walked through the sleek, glass doors of the JeffTech building. I carried Lael in her car seat, a heavy diaper bag slung over my shoulder. I walked straight to the daycare center on the first floor. The room was beautiful, filled with soft mats, colorful toys, and the gentle sound of lullabies playing in the background.
I set the car seat down and began carefully instructing the two women who were on duty to watch her. I was a bit nervous, which was totally normal for a mother leaving her baby for the first time.
The head of the daycare was an elderly woman named Mama Rita. She had beautiful, silver-streaked hair and kind, sparkling eyes, but she wasn’t too old to be active. She listened to me patiently, a warm, knowing smile on her face as I listed out Lael’s feeding times for the third time.
Mama Rita stepped forward, gently placing a warm hand on my shoulder to give me some reassurance.
"Oh, sweetie, please do not worry," Mama Rita said, her voice smooth and comforting. "I understand exactly how you feel. Leaving your little one is always hard. But Lael is going to be perfectly safe with us. Since she is still a tiny baby, I will personally send you regular text messages and photo check-ins throughout the day so you can see her face."
I let out a long breath I didn’t realize I was holding. "Thank you, Mama Rita. That means the world to me."
With one last kiss on Lael’s soft cheek, I turned and rode the elevator up to the development floor. The moment the elevator doors slid open, a chorus of happy cheers echoed through the office.
"She’s back!" a voice squealed.
Before I could even step out completely, Victoria, Ava, and Sarah rushed toward me. The girls were super excited to see me, throwing their arms around me in a giant, warm group hug.
"We missed you so much, Octavia!" Sarah cried, pulling back to look at me. "The tech team has been absolutely lost without you running the code reviews."
"Seriously, the place felt so empty," Ava chimed in, her bright eyes bouncing with excitement. "You look absolutely glowing!"
Victoria stood right beside them, her face bright and full of a happy, relaxed energy I hadn’t seen on her in months. It was wonderful to see her looking so at peace, especially after everything she and Flynn had gone through to fix their relationship.
We all walked over to my large corner desk, which was covered in colorful "Welcome Back" sticky notes and a few cute gifts the team had pooled together for me. I sat down in my rolling chair, a huge smile plastered across my face.
But before we could even dive into any real work talk, a bright rustling sound caught our attention from the main entrance of the floor. A delivery man walked in, holding a massive, gorgeous bouquet of fresh pink roses and white lilies. The arrangement was so huge it practically blocked the man’s face.
"Delivery for Victoria," the man called out.
Victoria’s cheeks instantly flushed a deep, rosy pink. The entire development floor went dead silent for a second before Ava and Sarah burst out into loud, dramatic giggles.
"Oh, look at that!" Ava began teasing, nudging Victoria with her elbow. "I wonder who those could possibly be from!"
"Aw, stop it, you guys," Victoria laughed, hiding her red face in her hands as she signed the delivery slip and took the heavy vase of flowers from the man. She set them down on her desk, carefully pulling a small white card out from the green leaves.
Ava leaned over to me, wagging her eyebrows playfully as she started gisting me about the romance. "Octavia, you have no idea. Ever since they got back together, Flynn has been absolutely raising the bar. He sends a massive bouquet of flowers to the office every single new week just to wish her good luck. It’s like a clockwork tradition now!"
"Every week?" I gasped, matching Ava’s playful tone. "Wow. He is really turning into quite the romantic, isn’t he?"
We all gushed and cooed over the sweet gesture, watching Victoria read the private card with a soft, dreamy smile on her face. It made my heart feel so incredibly light. My family had been through such a dark storm, but seeing Flynn treat Victoria like a queen proved that the cycle of madness had truly been broken for good.
Once the flower excitement calmed down a bit, Sarah rested her hands on the edge of my desk, her face turning sincere. "But seriously, Octavia, we really did miss you. The code repository is a bit of a mess, and we have so much to tell you. We want to treat you to a nice, long lunch today to celebrate your return."
"And we definitely need to go downstairs and check up on baby Lael during our break," Ava added quickly, her eyes wide. "I need to squeeze those little cheeks!"
"Deal," I laughed, my heart swelling with happiness. "I want to hear everything." They told me they couldn’t wait to fill me in on all the company gossip, and I am more than ready to listen.
As the girls walked back to their respective desks to start their morning tasks, I adjusted my chair, pulled my sleek mechanical keyboard closer, and logged into my computer terminal. I looked at the dark screen, watching the code lines light up under my fingertips.
I felt a deep, overwhelming sense of gratitude. My work was always one of my ultimate safe spaces, a place where I felt confident, sharp, and capable. But more than the code, I absolutely loved the people around me. I had a husband who loved me enough to let me fly, a beautiful daughter sleeping safely downstairs, and friends who made me feel like I belonged. The shadows of the past three weeks were officially gone, and the future looked incredibly bright.