I Knew I Loved You

Chapter Seventeen: Grammy and Nana

"Are you ready?" Elise asked smiling down at Abigail, it had taken some convincing to get both Manuel and Charlene to agree to this trip but she had insisted wanting to spend some time with her new granddaughter. 

Catherine was sat beside her in the front of the car and both women were determined to make sure that Abigail had everything that she might want during this shopping trip. 

The two women had talked over the phone and had agreed that this shopping trip would be the perfect time for them to bond with their new grandchild; it was their chance to spoil her rotten like she deserved. 

Charlene and Manuel had been coping so well with their new arrival and they had done their best to make sure that they had a perfect balance in their lives now especially with Manuel returning to training and being away for matches at times. 

Abigail nodded her head, she had been excited when she had heard that she was going on a shopping trip with the two women; she even had a little money with her so that they didn't have to spend lots of money on her. 

"Let's go," Catherine said smiling, the three of them climbed out of the car and she was sure that they would be able to find her loads of clothes to make up for how little she had arrived with. 

It truly broke their hearts that Abigail had come to them with so little, they had asked Charlene for a list of things that the little girl needed now that it was clear that she would be staying with them. 

Especially with her starting school in a couple of weeks, she would need school items that they could easily picked up on the trip. 

The paperwork had been sent off and the social workers had been encouraging, the only thing that seemed to be slowing them down was Yolanda. 

Getting the woman to sign off on her rights being terminated wasn't easy despite the fact that she was currently in prison for the foreseeable future. 

Abigail would be a Neuer, it was just going to take time and the social workers were certain that the judge would find in their favour especially given Yolanda's past convictions and inability to get clean. 

Catherine and Elise had been warned not to go over the top but they just wanted to spoil Abigail a little bit; they wanted to make sure that she was happy with them. 

***

"What do I call you?" Abigail asked a little unsure of herself, they had just stopped for some lunch in a nice restaurant away from the crowds and Abigail felt safe asking them now. 

The last couple of hours had been sent in and outing different shops and buying more than enough clothes to fill her new wardrobe back at the house. 

There were so many bags below the table now; she had tried to pay for things but both Elise and Catherine had convinced her to let them pay for it as her new grandparents. 

Elise looked up from the menu that she had been reading and looked towards Abigail, she had noticed that she had seemed a little lost when it came to speaking with them. 

"You can call me Grammy," Catherine said smiling at Abigail, she had picked the nickname out herself and she hoped that Abigail would be comfortable with it. 

There had been times that the little girl had spoken of her parents, but there had never been a mention of grandparents; it had made them wonder just how bad things might have been for her before the accident. 

"And me, Nana," Elise stated smiling, she set down the menu and folding her arms on the table; she had always wanted a grandchild to spoil and now she wasn't going to stop.