Symphony

Quality Time

Jack kept his word and managed to get his Mum to watch the three other girls while Jack and Nikki spent the day with Poppy. The three-step out of the house once Josephine has arrived and Jack looks down at his daughter, placing his hand on her shoulder. "What's it to be? What are we doing?" Jack asks curiously as he unlocks the car.

"I don't know," Poppy responds as she clambers into the back of the car. The parents look at each other she always was the child that really didn't ask for much and was happy with very little.
"Anything you want we can do... within reason your Mum is preg-" he stumbles on his words and decides to stop.

Poppy thinks to herself as she puts her seatbelt on and then looks back at her parents. "Can we go to the big park by Granda's?"

Jack chuckles with a smile on his face as he glances over at his wife in the passenger seat, "Anything in the world and you want to go to the park?" Jack responds.
"Jack, leave it... she wants to go to the park," Nikki speaks softly placing her hand on his leg.

"Okay, let's go to the park," Jack speaks as he turns the keys in the ignition and pulls off the drive.

A short ten-minute journey and the three arrive on a small gravel car park, on the outskirts of London. Getting out of the car Jack opens up the back door letting his eldest daughter out of the car, they walk across a small playing field with Poppy skipping ahead of her parents, "It's been a long time coming you know," Nikki smiles as her hand slips naturally into Jack's.

"It has... she deserves this. She's a great kid and is forever helping you with the girls..." Jack smiles.
"Why don't we take her for pizza later?" Nikki suggests knowing her eldest is exactly like her father when it comes to food.
"Now you're winning my heart..."

Poppy pushes the gate open and makes a dash for the swings, she sits down on the swing and looks over her shoulder at Jack. "Dad... push me please," She beams.
Jack looks at Nikki and rolls his eyes with a playful smile, "Right get ready to be wrapped around the top bars," He teases.

Poppy shuffles on the seat of the swing and holds the bars tightly as her father walks up behind her and pulls the seat up high before letting go, Poppy squeals with delight as he pushes her every time she swings back causing the eight-year-old to swing higher and higher each time.

Nikki stands a safe distance in front of Poppy and pulls her phone out of her jeans pocket, snapping a photo of the pair she stands and watches running her hand over her small bump. A rush of excitement filled her body, she loved that though of having another child she always got the rush with each pregnancy.

After spending a good forty minutes on the park, Nikki drops the suggestion of having a pizza before heading home. Naturally Poppy is beaming from ear to ear over the idea of going for pizza in an actual restaurant without the worry of her younger sister Maddison having a meltdown because of the loud volume of the restaurant.

In the restaurant, Jack and Nikki order them all separate pizzas allowing Poppy to eat her favourite toppings without the fear of having to pick mushrooms off her pizza. Jack had ordered himself and Nikki a meat feast with extra veggies while Poppy had opted for a simple yet favourite dish of pepperoni and extra cheese. "She's a kid after your own heart Jack," Nikki smiles as she watches Poppy absent-mindedly colour in the small kid's menu she had been given.

"She may look like you Nik, but she is definitely my child."
"Well she couldn't be anyone else's," Nikki whispers softly placing her hand on top of Jack's.

"Eight years ago you weren't too sure, remember? It hurt me when you told me she may not be mine. I still remember the shock rushing through my body when I found out about her, bursting into your house because I thought you were being held against your will... and there she was, one week old, still fresh out of the womb. five pounds and eight ounces of her..."

Nikki's heart flutters at his strong memory, she couldn't believe he had remembered all that information about that day and Poppy.
The clearest image in her head of Jack stood with Poppy in his arms she was so tiny against him, she wasn't even the length of his forearm back then.

"You remembered all that?" She whispers holding back all the emotion that is threatening to spill over.

"Of course I did, I remember all their birth weights and the first time I held them, I remember all their births..." Jack smiles moving his hand from underneath hers and placing it on top instead.

Nikki blinks away a couple of tears and then glances over at Poppy, "How's the puzzle going Pops? solved it yet?" Nikki asks.
"O f course I have, it was easy," Poppy responds.

She glances over at the small puzzle book provided by the restaurant, she couldn't believe how smart Poppy actually was, it was times like this she had cursed herself and Jack for having four daughters. She sometimes questions herself to if they only had Poppy what life would have been like for them, but she knew they both realistically had plans to have a big family due to compensating for their own up bringings, Nikki's more than Jack's.