When I awoke the next morning Ashton was snoring softly away next to me, his body keeping me warm.
After our night a few weeks ago where we finally went to second base, we hadn't done anything else. And even if we wanted to, I didn't feel like now was the right time with Gracie now living here. I felt bad because part of me felt like I was neglecting him, but I had so much going on that I didn't really have much time to think about it. I'd talk to him later about it.
Slipping out of Ashton's arms I found my grey slippers on the floor and made my way downstairs to start the coffee pot. I heard a noise behind me and saw Gracie sitting up on the couch, her hair a bit messed up but looking wide awake.
She stood up and walked over to where I was standing in the kitchen.
"Morning, Gracie." I smiled at her. "Did you sleep okay?"
She nodded up at me, her rabbit in her hand.
"Wanna help me walk Bear?" I asked and she nodded again. She followed me upstairs and I slowly opened Ender's door, letting Bear out. He happily wagged his tail and gave Gracie a good morning nudge with his nose. The corners of her lips turned up in an almost smile and it gave me a little hope.
I hooked Bear to his leash and opened the front door, Gracie following me outside. I let Bear walk around in the grass and do his business before letting him back inside. I filled his food and water bowl and he went to go eat while I poured myself a cup of coffee.
"Would you like some orange juice?" I asked her and she nodded. I picked her up and set her in a stool so she could sit at the bar.
I found a glass and poured her some, setting it in front of her. She took it gingerly in her hands and took a sip.
Ashton came down a few minutes later, his eyes tired.
"Morning." He mumbled as he came up to me and leaned down to give me a kiss.
"Hey." I looked up at him and pointed my chin towards the bar where Gracie was sitting.
"Oh." He gave me an apologetic look. "Morning, Gracie." He gave her a smile.
I turned to rummage through the fridge to see what we had for breakfast. Ender would definitely have a say in what we ate so I would leave the decision up to him.
"Uhm, I'm going to go take a shower." I said to both of them. "Are you two going to be okay for a few minutes?"
"Yeah, we'll be fine." Ashton smiled.
"Okay." I said and hurried upstairs to take a quick shower. Once I was done I changed into shorts and a tee and towel dried my hair so It would finish drying on its own.
When I came back downstairs, Ashton and Gracie were sitting on the sofa, cartoons playing on the television.
"Goofy is my favorite. Are you a minnie mouse fan?" He asked and Gracie nodded. "Cool."
"Okay, what about your favorite color, is it blue?" He asked and she shook her head no. "Red? Green? Purple? Pink? Ah, yes!" He grinned when he finally got it right.
I stood silently behind them, watching the exchange.
"Okay so you like strawberries, the movie frozen, minnie mouse, the color pink...what else? Oh, favorite animal? I'm going to guess rabbit, am I right?"
She nodded, hugging her rabbit close to her.
"Is it a boy or a girl?" He asked.
She held one finger and he nodded.
"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.
"Ender it's your day for dishes." I pointed at the chore chart and he groaned.
"Can I do them later?" He whined.
"Nope. We have stuff to get done today."
"Please, Car? I promise I'll do them tonight."
"No room, Ender. You need to finish your homework and Gracie wants to go out on the boat."
"Fine." He grumbled and began to wash the plates.
"Okay Gracie, let's go get dressed." I took her from her seat and she made her way upstairs to my room.
I opened the drawer that was now hers and dug around for a tee shirt and luckily came up with one pair of blue jean shorts.
Quickly I got her dressed and then found a pair of her tennis shoes.
Next I led her to the bathroom where she brushed her teeth and I ran the brush through her hair and put it in a braid for her.
"You ready to go on the boat?" I asked her and she looked up, giving me the first genuine smile I had seen her give and I couldn't help the excitement I felt. Maybe she was finally starting to like me.
We headed out to the boat and decided to take Bear along with us as well, so this would be his first time on the boat too.
This was also my first time since the accident.
Ender showed Gracie how to climb the four step ladder onto the boat and I stood on board to help her up.
Ashton and Gracie stood aside with Bear while Ender and I did our normal routine to make sure the boat was good to put out on the water. I made sure to get Gracie into a life jacket since she was still so little and didn't know how to swim and tied Bears leash to a post on the lower deck so he wouldn't jump overboard.
Once we were undocked and I had raised the anchor, I pushed up on the throttle and began to drive us out into open waters.
I only took us a little ways out and and then dropped anchor again.
I made my way down to where Ashton was showing Gracie over the side of the boat.
"Maybe when you're old enough, Carter can take you diving so you can see what it's like under the water." He told her and she looked to him with wide eyes.
"It's really cool." Ender piped up. "You can see sea horses and fish and sometimes even Dolphins."
Gracie looked to me with curious eyes.
"Once you know how to swim really well we can go diving." I promised her.
We spent a little more time out there, Gracie and Ashton obviously hitting it off nicely because she followed him around everywhere.
He helped her from the boat when we arrived back at the dock and she walked between us all the way back to the house.
When we got in she went straight upstairs to the bathroom while I turned to Ashton excitedly.
"I think she likes us." I quietly squealed and he pulled me in by wrapping his arms around my waist.
"I mean how could she not like you." He smirked and I giggled.
I leaned up to give him a quick kiss and he winked at me.
Gracie's light footsteps were heard coming down the stairs so Ashton let me go and we watched from the side as she reached the bottom, Bear running up to her.
"Hi, Bear." She said softly and the entire room froze. She talked.
She had finally said something.
It was like Christmas morning.
Ashton reached out to squeeze my hand and Ender's head popped over the back of the sofa, grinning.
Gracie didn't pay attention to us as she reached out a hand to touch Bears nose to which he began to lick all over her hand.
She let out a giggle at that and I freaked out from happiness even more.
She was smiling and talking and laughing...maybe this was going to work out after all.
As to not ruin the moment by trying to talk to her, I went to the kitchen instead to find something for lunch.
We ended up having left overs from last night, but Gracie's eyes were drooping during the meal and I knew that after she ate I'd take her upstairs for a nap.
By the time I had finished washing dishes she was practically asleep at the table. I picked her up carefully and took her up to my room and laid her on my bed so we wouldn't disturb her while she slept.
I shut the door as I left and went downstairs but Ender was the only one in the room .
"Where's Ash?" I asked him.
"Luke called him." Ender answered as he was pulling out his homework folder.
By the time I had started a load of laundry Ashton had come back inside and joined me next to the washer.
"So the guys want to take another little vacation and are coming here in a few days." He informed me.
"Cool." I smiled and shut the lid.
"Would it be okay if they met Gracie?"
"Yeah, I think so."
"Good. I sent the pictures I took of you and Gracie at breakfast to them and Michael said that she looks just like you." He grinned.
"They do know she's not actually my kid right?" I laughed.
"Yeah, but she's yours now so." He shrugged.
"You're a dork." I rolled my eyes playfully and he ducked down to give me a quick kiss.
While the laundry was going I received a phone call from Ari who wanted all the details about Gracie and asked if she could come over tonight.
"Do you think it's too soon for Ari to come over?" I asked Ashton who I was currently leaned up against on the sofa.
"I don't know, I mean she just started talking and not even to us." He answered.
"What if we tell her to tone down her...Ari...ness?"
"We just don't want to overwhelm Gracie, ya know?"
"Well I mean Ari is going to be the one who watches them when I can't, so she's going to have to get used to being around her."
"True. And Gracie did seem to get used to us pretty quickly." He thought aloud. "Yeah, I think it should be fine."
"Okay, I'll let Ari know." I smiled and he moved me closer to him with the arm he had around my shoulders.
I texted Ari that she was good to come over and she asked me for a few things that Gracie liked so I sent her a list.
"She'll be over after dinner. I need to wake Gracie up soon." I said as I went to check on the clothes.
"Ashton can you help me with this math problem?" Ender called from the bar and Ashton hopped up to go help him.
At 4:30 I went up to get Gracie who was snoozing away, but if she slept all afternoon she'd never get to sleep at night, that I learned from when I took care of Ender when he was little like that.
"Gracie, sweetie it's time to get up." I shook her shoulder gently.
She made no sound but rolled over, her eyes creaking open.
"Hey, you wanna come help me outside?" I asked her sweetly and she sleepily nodded using her hand to brush the sleepy from her eyes.
She reached up her arms and I realised she wanted me to pick her up.
I put my hands under arms and lifted her up, resting her on my hip. She put her arms around my neck so she could hold on.
"Did you have a good nap?" I asked her as I bent down to grab her shoes.
She nodded and I smiled at her, carrying her downstairs.
"Hey there sleeping beauty." Ashton beamed at Gracie and she gave him a little wave.
"We were gonna take Bear for a walk, do you wanna join us?" I asked Ashton.
"Of course." He stood up and grabbed Bears leash.
I set Gracie down and Ashton opened the door for us, handing me Bears leash.
"So Gracie, my friend is coming over to meet you tonight." I told her and she nodded. "She's really excited to see you."
She didn't respond but bent down to pet Bear.
Ashton shrugged at her no response. Maybe she wasn't going to start talking after all.
Ashton took my free hand as Bear roamed around and Gracie stood up, looking around. Her eyes landed on our hands and when she spoke I almost didn't believe it.
"Are you married?" She asked, her voice so innocent.
"No, we're not married." I answered her, Ashton chuckling lightly beside me.
"My mommy wasn't married." She said as she looked down at a flower.
"Oh." I said, not knowing how to respond. "That's okay though, because she had you."
"Yeah." She said even more softly.
Suddenly it got extremely awkward and I didn't know what to do.
"Uh, let's go back inside." Ashton tugged on my hand, sensing my hesitance and we went back in.
How was I going to be able to talk to her about her family when I didn't even know them? This was going to be harder than raising Ender.
Inside, Gracie sat on the floor of the living room, playing with Bear with the rest of us watching her.
"You okay?" Ashton asked me quietly as I stood in the kitchen gazing at her.
"I don't know how to talk to her." I sighed.
"You'll figure it out." He gave me a little smile.
Honestly, I felt defeated and didn't really feel like talking about it at the moment.
"I'm going to start dinner." I turned and walked to the sink.
Ashton let out a loud breath behind me and went to play with Gracie in the living room.
Ender finished his homework and went to join them, showing Gracie the tricks he had taught Bear.
"How old are you?" Gracie asked him.
"I'm eleven. So that means I'm seven years older than you." He smiled.
"I count to seven. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven." She said proudly.
"Good job, Gracie." Ashton high-fived her. "Can you sing your abc's?"
"Mhmm." She nodded and began to sing them to him, fumbling slightly over lmnop but regaining her herself at the end.
"Wow, you're smart." Ashton said and she smiled.
"You sing your abc's?" She asked him and he sang them to her.
"You sing pretty." She commented when he was done and I silently agreed with her.
"Dinner's ready guys." I called from the kitchen and they all came strolling over.
Ashton lifted Gracie into her seat and I cut up the chicken I had made into small pieces for her.
"I like your food." Gracie said as she took a bite and I smiled.
"Thank you, Gracie."
"You're really pretty too."
"I think so too." Ashton leaned down and lightly elbowed Gracie's arm causing her to giggle.
"Do you kiss?" Gracie asked looking at both of us and I shifted awkwardly, completely embarrassed.
"They do and it's so gross." Ender told her and I reached out to smack his arm.
"Shut up." I guffawed and Ashton busted out laughing next to me.
We finished our dinner and Ender did the dishes while I sat next to Gracie at the bar, waiting for Ari to arrive.
Around 6:00 there were two knocks on the door and then it opened revealing an ecstatic Ari.
"Hello, hello." She beamed, carrying a tray of something in her hands.
"Hey." I greeted her. "Whatcha got there?"
"Well, I heard that a certain someone likes strawberries, so I made some strawberry cupcakes." She said, her eyes sparkling.
Gracie gasped and looked at me with wide, excited eyes and I laughed.
"You must be the famous Gracie I've heard so much about." Ari set the tray down on the counter and walked up to her. "I'm Ari, Carters best friend."
"Hi." Gracie said to her and Ashton gave me a shocked look. She'd taken almost two days to warm up to us but she talked to Ari immediately. Maybe I should've given her cupcakes when she got here.
"You are so adorable." Ari praised her. "Do you want a cupcake?"
Gracie nodded and Ari took one off the tray and handed it to her.
"Gracie, what do you say?" I nudged her softly.
"Thank you." She gave Ari a polite smile and bit into the pink frosted cake.
"You guys can have some too." Ari pushed the tray towards us and Ashton and I each grabbed one. Ender went for two but I batted his hand away.
"You know Gracie, you can come over sometime and help me make these if you want." Ari leaned forward on the counter with her elbows and Gracie nodded eagerly.
Gracie finished her cupcake and Ashton threw her wrapper away.
"You are literally covered in frosting." Ashton laughed and she giggled at him as he poked her rosy cheeks. He grabbed a paper towel, wet it under the faucet and wiped away the left over frosting and cake crumbs.
"I think someone needs a bath." I chuckled.
"Okay well I just wanted to stop by and say hello. It was nice to meet you Gracie." Ari reached across the bar and tweaked her nose.
"I'm glad you came over." I stood up and gave Ari a hug. "Bring Jason by when he gets back in town."
"I will. Have a good night." She hugged me back and then gave Ashton and Ender both hugs before she left.
"Okay, bath time." I swept Gracie out of her chair and carried her upstairs. I turned on the bath and got the water to the right temperature before plugging the drain.
I found the bubble bath and poured a little in letting water bubble up.
"Okay Gracie, in you go." I instructed and helped her get out of her clothes so she could get into the water.
I used a large cup to pour the water over her head and put my hand over her eyes to protect them.
"Okay, shampoo." I said aloud and reached to dig through the cabinets but couldn't find the shampoo I had bought for her.
"Ashton!" I called and heard footsteps pound up the stairs.
"Yeah?" He asked, standing outside the door, not coming in.
"Can you bring me her shampoo? It's downstairs on the counter in a pink bottle."
"Sure." He came back a few moments later. "Uh, am I allowed in?"
I looked to Gracie. "Is it okay if he comes in? I'll tell him to cover his eyes."
"Yes." She nodded.
"Yeah, but cover your eyes." I called out to him.
He came in with a hand over his eyes and the bottle held out in front of him.
I took it from him.
"Thanks." I patted his outstretched hand and he gave me a thumbs up, turning around so he could leave but unfortunately ran into the side of the door.
"Ouch!" He exclaimed and Gracie giggled next to me.
"He's funny isn't he?" I laughed too.
She nodded and I opened the bottle and squeezed some of the shampoo into my hand.
I washed her hair and gave her a loofa to wash her skin and then wrapped a towel around her and pulled her from the tub.
Once she was dried off and into her pyjamas she ran downstairs to the living room with Ashton and Ender.
She jumped onto the couch and took her stuffed bunny in her hands.
"Bed time." I clapped my hands and she crawled over to her makeshift bed and laid down.
"Okay, you have your bunny, Olaf, do you need anything else?"
She shook her head into her pillow.
"Okay then, goodnight Gracie." I pulled her blanket over her.
"Night Gracie." Ashton stood up from the couch and turned off the tele.
"See you in the morning." Ender smiled at her and tugged on Bears collar and they ran upstairs.
"If you need me, my room is right upstairs, just knock on the door."
She snuggled into the cushions and placed her thumb in her mouth.
Ashton and I both made our way upstairs and closed the door to my room behind us.
I went to my dresser and pulled out some fabric sleep shorts and a black tank top.
Even though Ashton had seen me naked (on more than one account), I was still nervous about changing around him. So I waited until he left to go to the bathroom before I hurried to change and then fall into my bed.
"Tired?" Ashton asked when he came back in.
"Just a bit." I yawned.
He tossed his clothes into the dirty clothes basket and then climbed over to his side of the bed, pulling me closer to him.
"Can I talk to you about something?" I asked him after a moment of silence.
"Sure, babe, what's on your mind?" He nestled his head between my shoulder and head.
"I feel bad because I've been so focused on Gracie and I want you to know that I don't mean to neglect you or anything." I said, hopeful he wouldn't say he felt that way.
"Car, baby, stop worrying. If I didn't want to be here I wouldn't be." He responded earnestly.
"Still, it's not fair to you."
"Okay, come here." He sighed and sat up, pulling me with him and into his lap. "Now look at me."
He took my hands in his and fixed his kind gaze onto mine. "I promise you that if I have any concerns about our relationship I will tell you. But I don't, alright? I'm really excited about Gracie and you know I love spending time with Ender." He pressed his lips to my forehead. "I'm just happy to have you in my life, I don't want to imagine it without all of this."
A tingly feeling erupted in my chest at his words and in a bold move I slammed my lips to his his.
He kissed me back just as passionately, trailing his fingers up and down my side. Taking a breath I leaned back so I could look into his face and he gave me a sweet smile.
We got back into our sleeping positions and I pressed my back against his chest.
"I'm really glad you're here." I murmured.
"I'm really glad I'm here too." He kissed my cheek.
Closing my eyes I tried to fall asleep. I heard Ashton eventually start lightly snoring behind me but for some reason I couldn't sleep.
Then thats when I heard a noise coming from downstairs. I tried to listen harder but was unsure until I heard it distinctly: Gracie was crying.
Quickly I slipped from Ashton's arms and padded downstairs where Gracie was sitting on the sofa, tears streaming down her face.
"Gracie, baby, whats wrong?" I rushed over to her.
"I want my mommy." She managed to get out between sobs.
"Aw, come here." I cooed and pulled her into my lap, rocking her back and forth to calm her down.
"I know baby, I know." I said into her hair as she cried. "I want my mom too."
Gently rocking her, she cried until finally she couldn't anymore and fell asleep in my arms.
--
Aw, poor Gracie :(
I have like the next four chapter written because I literally haven't been able to stop writing this story and all I can say is i want to hurry up and be a mom because I want a little girl like Gracie!!!
Well anyways, Thank you guys for reading I love you guys lots and yeah haha Vote and comment if you'd like, questions are welcome as well and i'll see you guys in the next chapter!
Much love xx -M