Haven Harbor • a.i. •

Chapter 44

"Boy. Okay. Does he have a name?"

She nodded.

"You can tell me later then." He smiled at her. "Do you want some more juice?"

She handed him his glass and he stood up, heading towards the kitchen. When he saw me I broke into soft smile.

"Thank you." I mouthed at him and he grinned.

"Of course." He whispered and pressed a kiss to my cheek.

He went to get Gracie her juice and I went to join her on the sofa.

"So Gracie, is there anything you'd like to do today?" I asked, in hope that she'd respond if I asked her a non yes or no question.

She took her thumb out of her mouth and I got excited but she didn't say anything.

"Do you want to show me?" I asked and she stood up, walking towards the front door. Ashton and I both jumped up to follow her. She went out the door and through the shop back door which I had to unlock for her, and then out onto the dock. I smiled widely when she stopped in front of the boat.

"You want to see the boat today?" I asked.

She nodded.

"Okay, after breakfast, we can take the boat out. Have you ever been swimming before?"

She shook her head no.

"Okay, well I can teach you one day. But for now, lets go wake up Ender and get something to eat." I smiled at her.

We walked back to the house and I jogged upstairs to get the sleepyhead out of bed.

"End. Breakfast." I said as I shook his shoulder and he began to stir.

"Is there bacon?" He grumbled.

"Not yet. But the rest of us are hungry so get up." I ruffled his hair and he yawned, swinging his legs over the side of the bed.

In the kitchen, Gracie was drinking more juice and Ashton was sitting next to her at the counter.

"Hey Gracie, do you want to help me make pancakes?" I asked her and she nodded eagerly.

I picked her up and set her on the counter and placed a mixing bowl between her legs.

"Okay first we put in the pancake mix." I said and poured in the powder from the box. "And next we put in a egg." I cracked the egg on the side of the bowl. "And then the milk." I poured some in the bowl as well.

"Now you can mix it." I handed her the spoon and stood in front of her to help her out. Ashton came up beside us and took a few pictures of us on his phone.

"You know, I used to do this when Ender was little too. Every morning he would jump up on the counter and mix the batter." I said to her as she continued to mix.

When it was done I helped her down and began to cook the pancakes. Ashton started on the bacon and eggs and Ender came down stairs a bit later.

"Hi, Gracie." He smiled at her and she looked at him for a moment before running off to the sofa and coming back with his Olaf, handing it to him.

"You can keep him if you want." Ender smiled and she nodded, holding the Olaf to her along with her rabbit.

"You're not gonna have enough hands for all of your stuffed animals, Gracie." Ashton chuckled and she gave him barely a smile.

Breakfast was ready so I placed Gracie back in the chair and she started to eat away at it slowly.

Of course Ashton and Ender were done in a split second.