Falling Like The Stars (Book 3)

Chapter 10 - 'Single' Ladies

Emily reached out and careful extracted Alex from Constance, holding him tightly to her body against her shoulder and the little bundle started to wriggle and gurgle.

She was really embarrassed right now, but just wanted some space away from everyone and everything for a while, so left Constance and Shannon to battle things out and walked back into her room snatching up Alex's blanket from his basinet and a thick throw that she had draped over the back of her couch.

Swaddling Alex in his blanket and wrapping the fleece blanket around her own shoulders making sure to tuck it tightly around Alex as well, she made her way over to the stairs that led up to the rooftop terrace.

Slowly and carefully, she used one hand to steady herself with the banister and moved to take each step, one at a time, feeling her stitches starting to burn slightly with every step she took.

"Let's get away from all that loudness for a bit, hey Sweetie?" She whispered to Alex, reaching out and adjusting the little hat he wore on his head to cover it more fully. "Let me show you the stars and how beautiful it is around here." She leant down and kissed his forehead before reaching out to push open the door that lead out onto the terrace, instantly being hit by a wall of frigid air that took her breath away for a second.

"I know its cold Pumpkin, but I'll put the poolside heaters on and we'll be snug in no time, OK?"

Making her way around the pool, and watching as the slight ripples on the surface were illuminated by the poolside lights, Emily made her way over to the seating area and ever so slowly; wincing as she did so, lowered herself down onto one of the poolside loungers, that had the back to it propped up.

Alex gurgled and wriggled slightly.

"Hey you. Little wriggler. You're going to be an active one, hey?" She turned her gaze back down to the little warm bundle in her arms and laughed as she felt Alex moving against her chest.

Pulling back the blanket a little, she revealed Alex's blue and white cloth covered head and saw his dark eyes looking at her. He had the longest eyelashes that made her jealous, but it was something she had noticed about James almost right away. It looked as though that was something Alex had inherited from him.

She was particularly intrigued as to what Alex's eye colour would be, as he got older and it started to form. Whilst she had emerald green eyes, James had rich blue/grey ones, whilst it wasn't entirely impossible that he could eventually end up with brown.

Alex made to reach out with a mitten covered hand and Emily held out a finger, which he grasped lightly. She laughed and booped him lightly on the nose with a finger from her other hand. He gurgled. She did it again.

"BOOP!"

He gurgled again, seeming to like what she was doing.

"BOOP!"

She did it again and he kicked his legs a little.

"You like that huh? You like it when Mummy boops you on the nose?"

She did it once more, before allowing her finger to lightly trace around his little lips.

"See Alex, see how pretty the stars are in the sky? Can you see them twinkling. They're saying 'Hello' to you." She raised a hand at them and moved to cup her fingers and move them up and down, waving back at them. 'Hello stars. This is Mummy and Alex." She smiled back down at Alex. "One day when you're much older, I'm gonna teach you some of the constellations and show you the Northern Lights, like I showed your Daddy one day when he was here to see me."

"EMILY?" A voice called out from the other end of the pool, and she saw Shannon appear through the doorway and out onto the terrace. "What are you doing up here? It's freezing! You'll both get sick."