Hey, thanks for reading the last chapter and those nine people who reviewed, thanks even more. If you added this story and/or me to your author/story alerts but didn't review, please do! I would love to hear your feedback. I hope you enjoy this one and don't forget to review :)
*P.S I DON'T KNOW WHY THE LAST PART WAS/IS ALL ONE PARAGRAPGH! WHEN I EDIT/PREVIEW THE CHAPTER IT'S FINE AND MY ACTUALY WORD DOCUMENT IS NORMAL, FANFICTION HAS MESSED IT UP! SORRY!*
"Why are we going to England, Mommy?" Layla Bolton asked as she peered out of the aeroplane window to see miles after miles of white fluffy clouds.
"Erm..because it's a nice place and we're going for a holiday! We're stopping in a cute cottage with a huge garden where you can make loads of snowmen if it snows and it has a bigger kitchen than ours back home so we could bake some Christmas cookies." Gabriella replied, missing out the real reason for their trip.
"Wow, really!? Daddy will you make snow angels with me?" Layla asked excitedly poking her slumbering fathers arm. Layla was sat between her parents with Gabriella at the window and Troy nearest the aisle.
Troy stirred and looked around confused before taking in the sight of his smiling daughter. "Did you say something, Princess?" He asked.
Layla nodded. "I asked if you would make snow angels with me in the garden at the cottage." She repeated with a pout.
"Of course I will." Troy agreed.
"Yay! You too Mommy?" Layla asked, looking at Gabriella hopefully.
"Sure."
"This is going to be the best Christmas ever!" Layla announced while clapping her hands excitedly before she went back to colouring in her picture.
Troy and Gabriella nodded hoping that this Christmas would be a good one and not end in tears like last year had.
Seven long and tiring hours later the six jet lagged people arrived at the place they would be staying in for the next two weeks. The cottage was surrounded by acres of grass iced with frost covering the tall hills which seemingly appeared to be all over this part of England. The building was painted white with a grey tiled room and two chimneys. Behind the cottage there was a huge garden complete with a slide, swing, trampoline and a table and chairs although the family doubted whether they would all get much use due to the freezing December temperatures. The air around them was cool and crisp, sending a chill down their spines as they exited the car.
"Oh my, isn't it beautiful?" Maria Montez gushed with her gloved hands clasped together in glee.
"It sure is." Troy agreed while lifting a sleeping Layla from the car.
"The scenery is just wonderful, so much better than in pictures." Lucille chimed in as Gabriella unlocked the door to the cottage using the key she had been given. The others followed behind curious to see the indoors. The inside of the cottage was just as beautiful as the outside. The rooms were decorated in a mix of modern and traditional style with red and green theme, perfect for Christmas. The spacious and modern farm-house style kitchen was fitted with white wooden cabinets and cupboards along with a long wooden dining table in the middle of the grey slate floor. The cottage had two good sized living rooms, a double bedroom with an en suite bathroom and two twin rooms.
Troy carefully placed Layla down on the sofa in one of the living rooms and retrieved her blanket from her backpack before resting it atop of her body.
Later that night the group were discussing who should get which room. This created a problem between Troy and Gabriella. Troy's parents were in the double room after Troy and Gabriella refused to sleep in the same bed, Maria and Layla were going to share one of the twin bedrooms leaving the other for Troy and Gabriella.
"I'm not sharing a room with her.." Troy exclaimed.
"Well I don't want to share a room with you either." Gabriella spat back, leaning back on the sofa, tucking her knees towards her chest and wrapping her arms securely around them.
"Will you two stop acting like your two years old?" Jack complained
"I'm not, I'm just saying that I don't want to sleep in the same room as her. Even if it is in separate beds, I would rather not cope with her snoring thank you very much."
"My snoring? What about yours!? You sound like you got something constantly stuck up your nose!" Gabriella retorted.
"Whatever. I'm not stopping in the same room as her. End of." Troy replied, crossing his arms over his chest and staring at the blank TV screen.
"Fine then. You can sleep on the sofa." Gabriella said matter of factly.
"Why me? Why can't you sleep on the sofa? I have to at home!" Troy responded shooting daggers at his wife with his eyes.
"Because I'm the woman!" Gabriella returned.
"Seriously, you two, cut it out, You're going to wake Layla and she won't like waking up to her parents arguing, especially over silly little things like sleeping arrangements." Lucille said calmly, trying to tame the pair.
"Gabriella, you can sleep in my room and Layla can share with Troy. End of. No more arguing." Maria commanded just as Layla's bright blue eyes fluttered open and looked around the room in confusion, beginning to whimper when she didn't recognise her surroundings..
"It's okay, Layla. Mommy's here." Gabriella said softly, going over to where Layla lay on the other couch and sat next to her, stroking her hair.
The little girl stopped whimpering and cuddled into her Mom's arm. "Where are we?"
"We're in the cottage, look how pretty it is and there's a trampoline, slide and swing in the garden for you."
Layla smiled at the thought.
"Shall we go out for Dinner? I saw a lovely...pub, I think it was called, down the road as we passed it in the car." Jack suggested standing up.
The adults nodded in agreement. For the next half an hour they all went to their respective bedroom to change their clothes and freshen up after the long day of travelling they had endured. Troy came down dressed in a blue check shirt, skinny jeans and white converse with his hair in his usual bed-head look.
Gabriella came down five minutes later wearing dark blue skinny jeans, a white floaty top with matching patent ballet flats and a bronze leather jacket. Her hair had been straightened slightly but it still had some wave and her make-up was applied lightly. As the reached the bottom of the stairs she caught Troy's gaze. Troy smiled wryly at her before Layla bounded down the stairs dressed in a denim skirt, pastel colour rainbow striped tights, a white long sleeve Tinkerbell top with a pale pink and white striped cardigan on top combined chestnut coloured ugg boots. Her long dark curls were left natural with a pale pink headband to keep her bangs away from her face.
"Well aren't you a pretty girl?" Troy wooed, smiling at his daughter.
Layla nodded and hugged Troy's legs. "You look pretty too, Daddy."
Troy and Gabriella laughed. "Thanks Princess, nice to know that I look pretty although I would prefer handsome." Troy said while placing dressing Layla in her hat, scarf, gloves and coat. Gabriella wrapped a scarf around her own neck and zipped up her lather jacket while Troy pulled on his thick winter coat.
Fifteen minutes later the group of six were all sat around a large table in the country pub, pondering over the menus trying to decide what they would like to order. Troy, Layla and Gabriella were sat on one side of the table with Layla in the middle while Troy's parents and Maria sat on the other side. The pub was decorated with fairy lights and a huge Christmas tree stood over in one corner.
Once they had all ordered their meals they sat back in their chairs as conversation flowed freely across the table. Around five minutes later Christmas Carols began to play on a guitar as a man, obviously the nights entertainment, began to sing popular festive songs. The man had similar hair to Troy's but a lighter colour and his eyes were also of a similar shade of bright blue. All in all he looked almost identical to Troy. As he began singing Mariah Carey's 'All I want For Christmas Is You' he looked over in Gabriella's direction and winked at her. Gabriella thought he was gorgeous. Maybe not as gorgeous as Troy, but she wouldn't tell him that. She smiled widely at him which did not go un-noticed by her husband.
He stopped mid conversation, his jaw locking in annoyance. The mystery singer looked directly at Gabriella as he sung 'just want you for my own, More than you could ever know' causing Gabriella to blush and giggle. Troy was fuming. 'I just want you for my own'? Sure it was only a song but Gabriella was his. She was his wife even if they were not on the best of terms. Troy's thoughts were interrupted by his mom's voice asking about his job. Troy was a fireman.
"How's work, honey?" Lucille asked, taking a sip of her red wine.
"Busy. A lot of fires because of people having too many Christmas lights." Troy replied. "But I'm glad I don't have to work over Christmas."
"I hope you're being safe when you go out on a job." His Mom warned. "We wouldn't want Gabriella to be a twenty seven year old widow and Layla without her Daddy, would we?"
"I know, Mom. I don't plan on leaving them, even if Gabriella does get on my last nerve." Troy sighed.
Lucille smiled at her son just as their food arrived. Gabriella hadn't noticed the waiter bringing their food and was still transfixed by the singers dreamy voice. Troy nudged her shoulder finally gaining her attention. "Your dinner's here." He informed, digging into his own meal.
"Oh, I didn't notice." Gabriella said picking up her cutlery.
"Well you would have if you hadn't of been drooling over the fourth member of the Jonas Brothers." Troy snapped. Gabriella's eyebrows arched.
"There's only three Jonas Brothers for your information. And I wasn't drooling, I was just enjoying the show." Gabriella shot back.
"I know there's only three. I'm not an idiot."
"Then why did you say the fourth member? It wasn't a funny comment."
"I wasn't trying to be funny I was just pointing out that you were acting as though he was the fourth member of the Jonas Brothers."
"Well I don't even like the Jonas Brothers so why would I act like he was a member?"
"Yes you do! You have all their CD's and don't think I haven't seen that life-size Joe stand up poster you have in your closet!" Troy remarked.
"I got that years ago! I'm just keeping it in case Layla wants it!" Gabriella said angrily.
"Will you two stop arguing! I can't believe your arguing over something as petty as the Jonas Brothers!" Maria said in a harsh whisper.
"We're not arguing over the Jonas Brothers, I'm annoyed because Gabriella is flirting with some other guy! Did you forget that you are married?"
"Of course I haven't! Our marriage is the reason I came here! And what's wrong with a little bit of harmless flirting? It's not as though I'm sleeping with the guy!" Gabriella argued.
"You may as well be." Troy said as he began eating his dinner again.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Gabriella questioned.
"You look at him with more love than you do with me!" Troy returned.
"Are you kidding me? I don't know him! I don't love him you idiot! You know I love you!"
"You've got a funny way of showing it!"Troy said.
"So have you! That is if you do love me, of course."
"You know what?, right now I'm starting to question that myself!" Troy exclaimed
Gabriella's eyes widened in shock at his words and her expression fell at the thought of him not loving her. That hit Gabriella hard. Love was one of the two things that was keeping their relationship going. The other being their daughter. What he had just said had torn her heart in two. Gabriella stood sharply, grabbing her purse. "Fine then. I'll go." She said softly, her tone of voice still hurt.
"Gabriella, wait.." Troy said regretting the words that had just left his mouth.
"No, Troy. I'm not going to sit here with you and play happy families when we're not one. I'm going back to the cottage." Gabriella interrupted, slipping her arms into her coat trying to keep her tears at bay.
"Mommy! Don't go!" Layla cried.
"I'm just going back to the cottage, Sweetie. You stay here and finish your dinner. Daddy and your grandparents will look after you." Gabriella said softly, placing a soft kiss on her daughters forehead.
"But you haven't finished your dinner." Troy said, trying to make her stay.
"I'm not hungry any more." And with that, she stormed out of the pub and made her way back down the road to the cottage.
"Troy, how could you say that to your wife?" Jack fumed.
"I don't know Dad. I didn't mean it. I'm sorry."
"We're not the one's you should be apologising to. It's your wife who is probably crying her eyes out over you."
Troy closed his eyes in regret and stood up. "I'm gonna go and make up with Mommy, okay, Princess? Your Grandma's and Grandad will bring you back later." Troy said gently to Layla who nodded, biting her lip, her blue eyes wide.
Troy sighed. The counsellor was right, this was affecting Layla. He bent down in front of Layla and looked her in the eye. "Me and Mommy are going to be okay. You have nothing to worry about, darling." Troy soothed, wiping away her fresh tears. Layla wrapped her arms around his neck in a hug. Troy rubbed her small back before pulling back and smiling softly at her. "I'll see you later." He kissed her cheek before standing and going out of the pub doors after his wife. Hoping that they could get over this hurdle in the race track that was their life together.
Like it? Love it? Hate it as much as the thought of Zac with another girl other than Vanessa? Tell me! Please review and thanks if you do. I was supposed to do some art tonight seeing as I have been unable to all week because of English coursework, but I did this chapter anyway. I don't want this story to get left behind like my yt series do. The next chapter will be out whenever I get a break from doing my art work and English coursework.
