E I G H T - Y E A R S - L A T E R
My daughter has so many of my traits, and none of it is helping right now.
"Sophie!" Vesper cries as he chases our daughter down the stairs and into the kitchen, the five-year-old demon in the form of child laughs and continues to duck and crawl away every time her father makes a move to catch her.
Her perfect amber coloured ringlets bounce behind her as she suddenly turns and runs in the direction of me, her palms outstretched and vomit coloured green painted on them. "Oh no, you don't!" I scream horrified as she grows close enough to get her dangerous little hands on my clothes.
Just as she jumps to attack Vesper scoops her up, and gently throws the giggling little troublemaker over his shoulder. His handsome smile grows across his face, clearly proud of himself for saving my white jeans, I roll my eyes and give him a peck.
Then I gesture to the back of his shirt where Sophie was currently whipping her hands over the fabric and seemingly quite amused when doing so, "Baby, I think you are going to need to get changed before the lunch."
The smile washes off his face, "Why does this look bad, shit. Uh, what shou-" I cut off his ramble ramage with another peck on the lips.
"You look great, but I really don't think a green splattered shirt is a great fashion statement for Nathan and Cassey's Chrismas party. You are welcome to try and escape Cassey, the fashion critic if you want."
He frowns, "Nope that doesn't sound to fun. I'll change, and I will make sure Ms Troublemaker gets cleaned up."
Sophie playful squirms on Vespers shoulder as he trudges up the stairs, purposely trying to frustrate him but with the amount of pure love he feels for our daughter, I doubt that's impossible.
"Mooooooommmmmmmmmm!"
"Sshhhaaaaaaaaannnnneeeeee!" I hear the familiar huff of a frustrated seven-year-old boy as he stomps into the kitchen a bright blotch of green across his cheek. I attempt to be a mature parent, but a laugh escapes my lips when I realise what got him pouting. A tint of pink flushes his cheeks, and he frowns but humour swirls in his eyes.
I try and sober up my giggles, but the evidence still lies in the upwards twitch of my lips. I grab a rag and walk over to him and cup his cheek angling it upwards. I press the damp cloth to his cheek and pat away the paint; he watches me with the green eyes that belong to his father.
"Sophie got to you before your father could get to her?" I asked wiping away the final layers of green. He nods, and a sour look overtakes his baby face.
"She so annoying. I hate her," Shane complains.
His eyes widen suddenly at the stern look that I give him, "Shane, she is your little sister, and she loves you, you both need to protect each other no matter what. Be thankful that you have her, and don't ever say you hate her because deep down you know that you don't, okay?"
He drops his eyes to his hands and fiddles with the scruff of the bottom of his shirt, "I know mommy, I'm sorry."
I kiss the top of his head and brush the hair out of his eyes, "Hey, don't be sorry. We all make mistakes. Now go get changed." He rushed up the stairs, and I turned to continue preparing the food. Around ten minutes later all three members of my family are downstairs and ready to leave, I hand Vesper the cheese platter and pick up Sophie.
Shane rushes out the front door first, eager to see his cousin while Sophie pouts in my arms angry that she is going to have to socialise. Sophie wasn't like most five-year-olds, she didn't have a hyper attack at the park or bounce around making friends or even like talking to people. She turned into a quiet little shy shell of herself whenever we left the house, hence why the five-year-old was currently pouting and glaring at the side of my face like she was hoping she would be able to mind control me into returning home.
Vesper stumbled behind us, trying to balance the food plates and Christmas presents like the stubborn 'I am the man of the house; I do the lifting' kind of macho husband he is trying to be, Sophie notices his struggle, and it brings a cheeky smile to her face.
"Can we push him over mommy?" She mumbles in my ear thinking that it would be quiet enough for Vesper not to catch it, but then again, I don't recall children being the best at whispering. Vespers eyes snap up, and he gives me a pleading look.
"I would if he wasn't carrying our dinner," I joke.
I open the car, and I place Sophie in her seat while Shane climbs up in on his own. After the kids are settled, I walk over to my stubbornly adorable husband and steal the presents from under his arms much to his protest.
We pack the car quickly and quickly jump in before Sophie makes an escape and runs back into the house like she did last time. Vesper pulls out of the driveway, observing his movements, a sigh escapes my lips.
I adore the subtle tilt of his head when he turns onto the road. Every action seems as though he's planned it out ahead of time. Eventually, his face glazes over and I know he's thinking about his sister. I reach over and entangle our fingers, I swirl around in my chair and lay my head on his shoulder. It's been eight years, but the wounds are still raw, its time of quiet that the stinging returns and Vesper momentarily shuts down. I know today was going to be hard for him, to see everyone around with their families. He squeezes my hand, and I squeeze back, I made a promise eight years ago, and every second since then I have spent my time ensuring that I keep to my word.
"Mommy, are we almost there?" Sophie asks her voice ever so slightly dejected.
"Almost," Vesper responds for me, soon after we arrive at Nathan's house. The second the car slows to a stop Shane springs from his seat and jumps out of the car running inside. I grab Sophie and Vesper continues to pursue his Macho manliness and denies the idea of letting me help with the bags. Unlike my son who threw the door open and instantly rushed up the stairs to Rubens room I knock on the door and wait for Cassey or Shane to open up.
Soon after the door is thrown open and a tall head of red hair stand in my way, "Oh, it's you guys." He shifts out of the way of us and his eyes dropping down to my chest as I walk past. My eyes narrow and my lips pop open to tell him off.
Vesper speaks up before I get the chance too, "Hey Kevin, mind keeping your eyes off my wife's chest remember what happened last time you didn't?" Kevin still had the scar under his eye. It was from when we where at my twenty-first and Cassy brought him along with her. Long story short the creep couldn't stop staring and even tried to force me into kissing him when he was aware that I had just officially gotten together with Vesper.
Kevin's eyes snap up, "Yep. Understood. I am gonna go find Ruby. My fiance."
I flinched. Whenever I was around Ruby I panicked, even if she made sure that I there was no longer rough ice between us, she still had no clue that Ryder hadn't died when we first thought he did.
Instead in his two years of hiding in the shadows, he never reached out to even tell her he was okay. Damian pulled enough strings to get the story back to her that they had found his body after it had been killed when he first went missing, two years before he really died. There was no point putting her in more pain by telling her that he was in perfect health and didn't even care to tell her. Ruby had no clue that her cousin's death was by my hand, even if in high school she was certain it was my fault there was never a confirmation.
"Hate that asshole," Vesper grumbles and I nod in silent agreement. I place Sophie on the ground, and she clings to my hand as we go into the kitchen. Cassey stands by the stove stirring something that smells amazing, and Nathan hugs her from behind.
"Hey guys," I greet grabbing the cheese platter out of Vespers hands and place it on the marble counter top. Nathan turns, and before he acknowledges Vesper and me, he scoops up Sophie causing a shy little smile to cross her face.
"Hey cutie," Cassy does the same thing turning and kissing the top of her head. Sophie blushes at the attention; I grin at the adorable sight. Nathan and Cassey really wanted to have a daughter, but before they got a chance to give birth to their second child they found out the Cassey was no longer fertile and it was not possible for her to have another child after Ruben.
So they pamper Sophie and treat her like the daughter they never had. While Shane does get a little jealous, he has Ruben to hang out with.
"I am so hungry; please tell me foods ready!" Vesper cries and Cassey jumps remembering that she was cooking.
"Almost!" She throws over her shoulder.
Ten minutes later we are all sitting at Cassey's beautifully styled table. I watch Nathan ruffle his son's hair, and Ruben sink down in his seat with a playful, angry look on his face while Cassey watches quietly from the side. I look to the side to see Kevin and Ruby currently glaring at each other like they wanted to rip each others hair out, but I knew that in a few minutes I am going to have to cover my daughter and sons eyes to help them maintain their innocence. Then to my husband and son who are currently playing a game of scissor paper rock under the table thinking that they are sly.
With a soft smile on my face, I look down to my plate. The moment doesn't last long as I feel the sensation if someone staring at me. My eyes twist downwards to where they meet eyes almost Identical to them staring up at me. Sophie stares with her big brown eyes like she's trying to put together some of the pieces of one of her pony puzzles.
"Are you okay, mommy?" She mumbles quiet enough for only me to catch. I genuinely smile at my sweet child and pick her up before placing her in my lap. She happily nestles into me and plays with the ends of my hair.
"Yes, baby. I am more than okay." I glance to Vespers who is already looking at me with a concerned look on his face, I smile, which seems to calm him enough to bring his smile to the surface.
All I can think in that perfect sweet moment is that we did it, we survived.