Dear Amelia & Willem

My daughter, I don't have to see you walking down the aisle in your wedding dress to know how beautiful you'll look.

One thing I didn't see coming is how young you would be when that day came. Younger than I would have liked.

You will be eighteen by the time you read this letter and I guess it's time I started treating you like an adult. You and Willem are married for a year now and I know the two of you have figured out by now that marriage isn't as easy as eating ice cream in the park. I wanted to go down the cliche route and say a walk in the park, but the older you get, walking becomes a struggle for some of us.

Your father and I haven't exactly been honest about the reason you're getting married to Willem, but your father has squandered all our money. There's nothing left. You know what that means for the restaurant. Your father is devastated.

As a mother, I had to do something. I couldn't let your dream and the life you'd grown accustomed to, to be taken away from you like that. Was it the best decision? No.

But know this, Willem is a good man. He was raised by two amazing women who I've come to consider my friends. His father, on the other hand, is a troubled and controlling man. But I think you've figured that out by now.

I know deep in my heart that you and Willem can make your marriage work. But please, Amy, all I ask is that you stand up for yourself in your marriage. Hopefully, Willem is sitting next to you while you read this letter. If he isn't, get him.

Your father and I have sheltered you from almost everything bad in this world, and if I could go back, that's something I would change. You're seventeen and I don't think you've even kissed a boy yet.

You've been living your life up until now in a fairytale, but life and marriage are anything but. There will be days where the sight of your significant other will annoy you. Maybe it's because he left your daughter in shitty diapers the whole day because you had to go away for a work conference.

But don't worry, you'll get on his nerve too. One surefire way to do that is not to listen to his outrageous demands, both in and out of the bedroom. Don't tell him I told you that. Oh crap, I forgot he's reading this with you. Oh well.

Now Willem, my son by marriage. You accepted the offer to marry my daughter with open arms, although I must admit some of your reasons for doing so were a bit shady. Shady... such a cool word. Learned that one on the gram.

As I was saying, this might be a marriage of convenience but I'm hoping that's not all it's ever going to be. Amelia may take a minute to warm up to you when it comes to executing her wifely duties. Be patient with her. Give her space when she needs it and I promise she'll come back to you.

I want to conclude this letter by saying that I couldn't dream of a better son-in-law for my daughter. And Amelia, you're going to be a great mother. You've always been great with children, however, you two should hold off with the children for now. Take time to get to know each other first. But if the children come, I will welcome them with open arms.

Happy first anniversary, my loves. That's quite an achievement. I wish you all the best moving forward.

I will also write a letter for five years down the road. I tend to get ahead of myself sometimes, you know how I am. I think I'll talk more about marriage after kids in that one. For now, love upon each other. Be kind to each other. And last, but not least, never lose respect for your significant other. Because if you can't respect the person you sleep next to every night, you might as well throw the whole relationship away. Without respect, there's no trust, and without trust, there's no love.

I will do my best to keep my nose out of your marriage, but I'm worried the two of you are just too young to understand the kind of commitment you got yourself into. I will be here to guide you along the way, but only if you think it's necessary. I don't want to be the fussy, meddling mother. You will figure out how to love each other in time.

As for physical attraction, Amelia, I know Willem is your type. I've observed the men you like from the shows we've watched together, especially that one guy on Grey's Anatomy with the beautiful eyes. Yeah, eyes are your weakness and Willem has a perfect pair of grey eyes.

I have to go now. I promised your father I would help him figure out a way to pay for our bills in the coming months. He won't like the solution I came up with.

Your father and I have always lived paycheck to paycheck until the restaurant started turning in a profit. Although I've been married to the man for almost twenty years, I just never knew he was bad with money. But that's marriage for you, my dear. The people we think we know can surprise us sometimes, especially when circumstances change.

Goodbye now. Make the best of your anniversary and I hope you can look back and not hate me for pairing you up with a stranger.

I love you.

Amanda Miller

: Amelia :

My hand shook when I lowered the letter to my thighs and tears sprung to my eyes. Willem regarded me with sober eyes as our daughter struggled in his lap to grab the letter from my hand.

We were sitting on the beach in Bali to celebrate our second anniversary, and sand clung to Amira's chubby cheeks and legs. "Cry," she said.

"Yes," Willem said, moving her away from the letter she was desperately trying to grab with her tiny hands. "Mommy's crying. She misses her own mommy."

I looked out into the distance, disregarding the beauty of the turquoise blue waters and the green hills in the distance. "I can't believe she thought I would hate her. I could never."

"Maybe if I turned out to be a total asshole, you might have," Willem said softly.

"Who says you aren't?"

He smirked, his gorgeous grey eyes bright with amusement. "I'm a lot of things, schatje, but that isn't one of them."

Amira fought to come out of her father's grasp and he reluctantly let her go. She plopped herself down on the sand next to her sandcastle toys. She had a head full of curls that I didn't know what to do with and light brown intelligent eyes that reminded me a lot of my mother's.

I turned to look at my husband, who - just like my mother predicted - was definitely my type. He wore blue and white swim shorts and nothing else. He'd gone into the water not too long ago and I could see his dick print through the wet fabric.

He caught me looking and his gaze roved over my face to settle on my lips. I licked them absentmindedly, not taking into account that doing that usually drove him mad with lust.

"Are you feeling better?" he asked.

"I am. Although this," I waved the letter about, "brings back a lot of memories. It's like she's physically speaking to me from the dead."

"It's a beautiful letter. I'm glad she included me in it. Sometimes I feel guilty when I think about how she died."

"It was an accident, Will. Nothing you could have done to prevent it."

"I know." He sighed and placed his hand out toward me. I put the letter in his hand and he read it again. "She told us to wait with the kids, at least for five years it seems. Oops." He laughed. "All it took was one month."

I joined him in laugter. "We're so careless and now we have a beautiful daughter to show for it. I don't regret it."

He glanced at our daughter who was busy putting her sandy fingers in her mouth. "Amira, don't do that," he said sternly. "Why is she eating sand? Do you think she's hungry?"

"Maybe," I said. "Amira, are you hungry?" She ignored me. No surprise there. The only voice she listened to was her father's.

"Amira, sweetheart, are you hungry?" he asked.

Amira turned her head to look at us. "Mama." She stood up and wobbled her way to my lap, her small hand going straight to my breast.

"I'll take that as a yes," I said, whipping my breast out. I waited for her to latch on. She placed one sandy hand on my chest and closed her eyes as she suckled. I smiled at Willem and then looked down to touch her soft curls. I brushed them away from her angelic face, loving how peaceful this moment always was.

"Do I still make you happy, schatje?" William asked.

"Of course, you do. What kind of question is that?" Amira sucked on my breast a little too hard and I winced.

"I'm just checking in. Sometimes we have so much going on around us that we forget to stop and assess our marriage. I want to continue loving you right but sometimes our needs change with time. I've had to do a lot of adjusting in the past months. The way I love pregnant Amelia is quite different from baby mama Amelia."

I chuckled. "Oh really?"

He moved closer to Amira and me under the umbrella to get away from the sun. He brushed grains of sand off Amira's cheek before settling back on his towel. "Yes, you were quite clingy when you were pregnant. But now, you seem to know what to do and what to expect with Amira."

Amira released me and went on to crawl in her father's lap. She was such a father's girl. "And when it comes to knowing what I need to do when it comes to you, how's that going?" I asked.

"No complaints there," he said, smiling.

"Maybe more blowjobs in the morning before you go to work?" I studied his reaction and I noticed the very second his eyes darkened and he looked at my breasts as I struggled to get them back in my bathing suit.

"I won't say no to that."

I laughed. "I know."

"Should we go and get something to eat at the restaurant? I think we've been on this beach long enough. Amira's not impressed by her toys anymore."

"And I wonder why?" I said getting up.

He got up as well, holding Amira in his tanned arms. "Don't tell me it's because she's spoiled."

I turned to face him as I folded the towel in my hand. "That's exactly why. You buy her every toy she points at." Amira cooed. "That's right, little girl. You have daddy wrapped around your little finger." I kissed her round cheek, and when I looked at her father he was playfully glaring at me.

"What about you, schatje? Don't you have me wrapped around her finger as well? Do you see what I have to go through? I can't win. It's cuteness overload on all fronts. It's hard to resist you two. Especially you."

"Oh yeah?"

"Oh yeah," he said, pulling me close. He leaned forward and claimed my lips, kissing me until my head spun with need. I moaned when his tongue slid into my mouth. He tasted like fresh mint and tequila beer. I would never grow tired of kissing this man.

"No," Amira said, slapping my face.

I pulled away, laughing. I had a perfect little family all thanks to a decision my mother made over ten years ago and I wouldn't change it for anything.

Thanks, mom. I love you.

~ THE END ~