This little snapshot was one that I don't even remember having the idea for, it just...happened.
It's an Isabel-centric piece set about six years after the last snapshot. I honestly planned for this next piece to be a group occasion but since this is written and complete, I thought it might as well be posted too.
As ever, I hope you enjoy.
...
Haley frowned at her husband as he squirmed in his seat, his arms folded tightly over his chest, "Nathan, you're worse than the kids! What's the matter?"
"Why are these seats so small?" Nathan scowled, shuffling again.
"Because they were made for first graders." Haley told him softly, hiding her laughter. "You're over six foot, what do you expect?"
Nathan pouted, "Just because you're a midget. I can already feel my legs cramping up, why don't they do Parents' Evening somewhere adult friendly?"
"Adult friendly?" Haley echoed, "That sounds like a strip club."
"Mr and Mrs Scott!" Miss McCann said in a breezy tone as she slipped easily into a seat on the other side of the tiny desk. This time Haley shuffled, wondering if Isabel's teacher had heard her mention a strip club. "I'm Miss McCann."
"Good to meet you." Nathan nodded and Haley blushed.
Miss McCann opened her notebook and threw a kindly elementary school smile in their direction. "Now then, Isabel. She's a wonderful member of the class, extremely sociable and such a happy little girl."
Nathan smiled, "That's Iz."
"She's happy to help anyone out and works well in groups, I think she gets along with just about everyone." Miss McCann continued, "And she certainly has a creative flair, she flourishes in Art and Music and Physical Education. Some of her pictures are remarkable."
"She comes from quite a creative background," Haley nodded, "One of her Aunts is an artist and the other's a fashion designer."
"It certainly seems like she takes after them." Miss McCann pressed another practised smile to her lips, and then squinted to the couple cautiously, "Mr and Mrs Scott, First Grade to Kindergarten is a big step for children, a big change,"
"Our son's in the fourth grade." Haley nodded.
"Of course." Miss McCann shuffled her note pages, "And some children struggle with that jump,"
Nathan shook his head, "Izzy's doing well, you just said so."
"She is." Miss McCann nodded, "But I do have some slight concerns to share with you."
Both Nathan and Haley frowned and leaned in towards the teacher. Haley's brow puckered, "We weren't aware of any concerns."
"It is very early on in Isabel's education but we aim to tackle any issues that may become something as early on as possible." Miss McCann heaved a deep breath, "I think that Isabel may have some dyslexic tendencies and I'd like to get her to take a little test to confirm it either way."
"No," Nathan shook his head, "She's really smart, like so clever, she tells me about all these things she's learnt."
Miss McCann clasped her hands together, "Mr Scott, this is not a question of her intelligence. I whole-heartedly agree that Isabel is a very bright little girl; I just believe that she needs a little help with her reading."
Haley frowned, digesting the news, "I'm sorry, but I have to agree with my husband. We've not noticed any kind of struggle with her and we're around her all the time. We do her homework with her and read stories to her every night."
"Does Isabel actively read? Or is she more likely to have someone else read to her, or perhaps she'll suggest an alternative activity? She is very competent and able in so many of her subjects and as you say, very smart. She retains everything she learns and she's extremely enthusiastic too. I have noticed though that she tries to avoid reading where she can. If we find out if she is in fact dyslexic, we can begin to help her." Miss McCann explained.
Running her hands through her hair, Haley shook her head, "Okay, I guess that sounds logical. I mean, I'm sorry, I wasn't expecting this. I can't believe we missed this!"
Miss McCann nodded sympathetically, "Children are incredibly resourceful, they're more adept than we could ever imagine at concealing the things they don't want us to know."
"Hales," Nathan shook his head, his jaw set, "This is Izzy we're talking about. This is Our Girl. She's not stupid, she's not. We know her. We know her better than anyone."
"Mr Scott, I'm not-,"
Haley sent the teacher a short apologetic look, "I'm sorry, could we have a moment?"
Miss McCann nodded and extracted herself from the table to greet some other parents.
Haley put her hand on Nathan's arm and squeezed softly, "Nathan,"
"I can't Hales, I don't want this for her." Nathan shook his head, his jaw tight.
"Hey, I want this as little as you do but we have to look into it, for Isabel. It may turn out that everything's fine but just in case, Miss McCann's right, the earlier we realise, the more we can do to help her." Haley said.
Nathan's face fell and he scrubbed a hand over his face, "How could we have missed this?"
…
The next afternoon Haley returned home from the recording studio where she'd been rehearsing to find Nathan sat at the table with a frustrated looking Isabel. Their little girl was sat with her chin rested on her hands and her red cheeks puffed out.
"Hi, what's going on?" Haley asked, putting the grocery bags on the counter.
From nowhere Ben appeared and began rooting through the bags. Haley rolled her eyes and gave him an apple. At nine years old it already seemed that he was hitting his growth spurt and constantly hungry.
"Izzy's reading her school book to me." Nathan said slowly, as though he was telling Isabel as much as he was telling Haley.
Haley arched her brow as Isabel wriggled away from the table and threw her arms around her Mom's waist. "That book's boring, Momma. Can we have sausages for dinner?"
"No Baby, we're having chicken." Haley answered as she threw Nathan a look. She knew what he was trying to do and she could understand it but she also knew that forcing Isabel into reading wouldn't help matters. "How about you go and play for little while before dinner?"
Isabel nodded and Haley smacked her butt as she ran out of the room to her freedom.
"Nathan, what are you doing?" Haley sighed, slipping onto his lap.
"She's not stupid, okay?" Nathan said quietly. "And she's six, I don't think I could read at six either."
Haley bit down on her lower lip and pushed away the tears forming in her eyes, "Nathan, you can't protect her from this."
"I'm her Dad, that's my job."
Haley's gaze softened, "And she's lucky to have you."
"I'm not sure," Nathan frowned, "I don't know much about this dyslexia thing but she definitely didn't get this from you, did she?"
"Nathan." Haley brushed her hands over his arms, "This is not your fault. It's no one's fault at all, okay? I know how much you want to take the burden from her but it's not about where it came from or why it might be here, should she be dyslexic at all. We'll just need to work out where to go from here."
Folding his arms around Haley, Nathan pressed a kiss into her hair, "I don't know where that is."
Peeling away from her husband, Haley threw out a conflicted look. "I've, um, been doing some research actually."
Nathan's face blinked back at her with surprise. She knew that he was still digesting the idea but her way of dealing with things was knowledge and, ironically, reading as much as she could on the subject.
"There's an absolutely fantastic school that has a specialised unit with the opportunity of much more one-to-one time with each child. The write-up in the newspaper was extremely complimentary." Haley explained, "I have the page in my purse."
Stiffening in her arms, Nathan frowned, "What do you mean school? She's not moving schools."
"It's only an idea, of course. I mean we still don't know either way but if it were to come to it, I think it could be a great option for her." Haley said in a calm voice. "We want to give her the best possible prospects."
"That doesn't mean sending her to some show-off school." Nathan pouted, strolling to the kitchen to pour some drinks.
"We want to help her, don't we?" Haley asked, frowning sadly after her husband, "This is one of the highest ranking schools in the state. We should consider it at the very least."
Nathan looked to her evenly, "It feels like you're already writing her off."
"Of course I'm not." Haley gasped softly, "Nathan, I know she's your little girl but you can't get on the defensive with every idea; that's all they are at the moment, okay? Just ideas."
Resting his weight on the countertop, Nathan heaved a sigh, "I'm sorry, I just want to pretend that everything's okay for a while longer."
Haley folded her thoughts away and nodded, "Okay."
"Moooommm," Ben charged into the room and barrelled towards Haley, "Bel took my felt tip pens again!"
Isabel trailed in after him, her cheeks tinged pink and her fingertips stained with the telltale colours of the felt tips. She rushed to her Daddy who scooped her up in his arms, "I was drawing a rainbow, I needed them!"
"Isabel, they belong to Ben, you're supposed to ask his permission to use them." Haley told her, "And I think I remember saying that those pens should only be used at the kitchen table when me or Daddy are with you."
Pouting, Isabel burrowed her face into Nathan's neck.
"Haley," Nathan drawled.
Throwing him a pointed look, Haley pursed her lips, "Isabel, please say sorry to Ben."
Isabel mumbled something quietly against Nathan's shirt and he kissed her, "How about we see that picture, Izzy?"
He set her on her feet and she bounded away happily. Ben frowned at the exchange he'd witnessed and then scrambled after his sister. Haley arched her brow toward her husband.
"You don't need to tell me I'm being soft." Nathan assured her, turning away.
He missed the smile she gave him.
…
Armed with a brown paper bag of pastries, Nathan jogged up the stairs to Red Bedroom Records. Haley was a partner in the business that Peyton had set up after Piper and Holden were born, usually helping out with the producing but sometimes recording her own tracks as well. Today Nathan knew that Haley was in the studio with Mia, one of Peyton's other artists and they were trying to finalise what would be Mia's first single frpm her new album.
When Nathan entered the studio, Peyton glanced up, her eyes glistening with surprise. "Hey, Nate. Oh, did you bring pastries?"
He placed the bag on the desk and suppressed a smile as she dove inside.
"I'll call Haley in, she and Mia are recording," Peyton offered, as she set a croissant on a napkin.
"No," Nathan sank into a seat beside her, "Let her play."
Peyton nodded, her brow furrowed, "Is everything okay?"
"She didn't tell you?" Nathan questioned, surprised. He knew how close Haley, Peyton and Brooke were. It wouldn't surprise him, nor anger him, to know that Haley had talked things out with either of them.
"No, but she's been playing melancholy ballads on the piano all morning so I guessed that something was up." Peyton shrugged. "She didn't seem ready to talk."
Nathan sighed and hung his head, "That's my fault."
"What's going on?" Peyton asked. She knew that when Haley was chewing something over it was best to leave her for a while, until she was ready, but with Nathan it was sometimes better to beat it out of him.
"We went to Parents' Evening at the school." Nathan began slowly.
Peyton pulled a face, "We were there the other day too."
"How did you get on?" Nathan asked, and not just out of politeness.
"Holden's doing great; he was off sick the other week with a chest infection and he cried because he couldn't go in. Honestly, have you ever known a kid like it?" Peyton shook her head, her curls bouncing. "And Piper's a little madam who likes to do the opposite of what her teacher tells her to do."
Nathan chuckled lightly, "Remind you of anyone?"
Peyton couldn't hide her smile, "You should have seen Luke apologising to the teacher, it was hilarious, well, until the teacher death glared me. Anyway, enough about my rule breaking daughter, how did you two get on?"
"The teacher thinks that Izzy might have, well, she might be dyslexic." Nathan revealed.
Peyton's eyes shone, "Oh, Nathan,"
"We don't know yet, for sure, but Haley's already talking about special schools and I just really don't want to think about any of that. Really I'd like for it to not be happening at all." Nathan explained. "But I might have been a bit unreasonable in listening to her ideas; I just don't want Iz to have to leave that school."
He sighed and shook his head, "When I was little, my Dad had the chance to transfer me to another school - one that had great basketball credentials - but he didn't. And he probably did it for a whole bunch of reasons that I don't agree with but I'm glad he didn't. I had friends at my school, I knew it and I was happy there. I don't want to take Izzy from everything she knows. Ben's at that school and her friends are there. So are Theo, Holden and Piper; I don't want her singled out and pulled away."
Peyton nodded along, thinking it over. She knew how it was to be moved from school to school and how little it had done for her confidence. She couldn't imagine how much worse it would be for Isabel, if she knew that she had to go to another school for extra help. "Surely that's not the only option? Your wife's Tutor Girl; she isn't called that for no reason. Ask Brooke."
Nathan leaned back in his seat, "I don't know, this is more…specialist, I guess."
"Maybe you could get a specialist in?" Peyton pointed out lightly.
"You think that would work?" Nathan asked dubiously.
Peyton swallowed down a bite of pastry, "Honestly, I don't know, but it's got to be worth checking out, right?"
"Yeah, I'll suggest that to Hales." Nodding slowly, Nathan threw the idea around his mind, "You know when people say that parenting is the hardest job in the world? I always thought that was about things like having to get up with them in the night and watch them constantly, that kind of thing, but it's not that at all. Its things like this. All the stuff you can't protect them from."
"I'm sorry, Nathan." Peyton said in a soft tone. "It's not fair and Izzy's the last kid on earth to deserve this. She'll be okay though, she will; she'll have you and Haley fighting her corner."
A crooked smile flew to Nathan's lips, "Yeah, she will."
…
Haley sifted through the letters in the pigeon hole, stuttering over one that had the franked mark of the institute that ran the dyslexia test. She sighed and turned the envelope over in her hands; between her fingertips was the fate of her little girl. Squeezing her eyes shut for a moment she took a deep breath and pushed the envelope into her purse. She would only open it with Nathan at her side. Not only because it was the right thing to do, but also because she needed him to be with her.
"Okay, you two, let's go." She called to her kids who were playing some kind of leap of death game on the stairs. She refrained from rolling her eyes and reached out her hand for her youngest to take.
Their walk to school was quiet. Isabel held onto her hand but seemed to be dreaming as she skipped along whilst Ben ran on ahead, zipping up and down the sidewalk with the kind of energy that Haley associated with a jet engine.
She watched as Ben zoomed into the school gates and dissolved into a game of tag with his friends. She smiled softly at the instinctive qualities children had; how they recognised the game on the playground instantly or somehow knew, without question, that they didn't like green vegetables.
Haley and Isabel reached the gates a few moments later, still tightly hand in hand. Haley frowned down at her little girl, noting how unusually quiet she seemed; she wondered absently if she was noticing things now only because the seed of doubt had been planted. It made her question if she'd blindly been brushing over the tell-tale signs; too busy to notice her little girl was struggling. She pushed the stinging feeling in her eyes away and crouched down to her daughter's level.
"Don't you want to go and play with your friends, honey?" Haley asked, trying to keep her voice bright.
Isabel shook her head and pushed her thumb into her mouth, a habit she'd broken years ago.
Haley felt her heart shattering. When Isabel had been in Kindergarten she'd flown through the school gates, laughter sailing in the wind behind her. Now she looked afraid.
"Baby, are you feeling okay?" Haley said gently, pressing her hand to Isabel's forehead.
"I wanna sing with you." She whispered, wrapping her arms around her Mom's neck. When they pulled apart, Isabel's dark eyes were swimming and her lower lip was trembling.
Licking at her lips, Haley nodded slowly, "Okay, we'll go and say bye to Ben and then we'll see what we can do today."
Silently Haley cursed herself. If she'd been a bad parent before; missing the clues, she was becoming a worse one now by allowing Isabel to skip school. She was in a moment of complete terror; wholly unaware of what to do for the best. It was something out of her hands and her control and she hated that.
Maybe taking Isabel out of school for the day was the wrong thing to do but she was sure she didn't know what the right thing was anyway. The answer to her fears was burning hotly in her purse.
…
Nathan stood at the free throw line and launched the ball at the hoop. It hit the rim and bounced to the floor with a dull thud. Groaning, he went to collect the ball, wondering where his game had gone.
"Is this like in Space Jam? Where the little aliens come and steal the NBA players' talent?" Lucas smirked crookedly from the doorway.
"No." Nathan sighed and looked up at his older brother, "This is like the time when the world throws a stinking heap of dung at your kid and you don't know what to do about it."
Lucas's expression melted into one of sympathetic concern, "How are things?"
Nathan shook his head and turned away, dribbling the ball purposely towards the centre of the court. Taking the hint, Lucas shrugged his jacket off and took his position opposite his brother.
Launching forwards, Nathan played a trick-step and rounded Lucas easily. He jumped at the hoop and roared as the ball slammed through. But it didn't feel like winning. It didn't feel like a victory. He could still feel failure prickling all over his skin.
He sank to a crouched position and pressed his head into his hands. Lucas stood silently opposite him, spinning the basketball between his fingertips. "You don't know yet, Nate."
"That's almost the worst part." Nathan scoffed.
"Daddy!" Nathan's head snapped up at the sound of his daughter's voice and her feet slapping against the hardwood floor.
He collected her easily in his arms and frowned down at her, "And why aren't you at school?"
"I'm sick." The words rolled from her tongue easily, panicking Nathan. He hated to think that she may become a masterful liar and may try sneaking out in her teenage years.
His gaze crossed to Haley who was hesitating in the doorway, a guilty look covering her features.
"Sick, huh?" Nathan began to tickle his hands over her tummy, causing her to collapse into a fit of laughter. "Yep, I think you're right, it's a serious case of tickle-itus. Giggling's the first sign. Mommy, I don't know if we can save her,"
"Daddy, stop!" Isabel squealed, kicking her feet.
Nathan lifted her up and threw her over his shoulder as she screamed deliriously. Haley smiled at the exchange as Lucas strolled over to her.
"Hi, Lucas," She greeted.
He arched his brow, "Playing hooky?"
"I'm a terrible mother." Haley groaned.
"Peyton let Piper have a day off school to go to a concert." Lucas countered, "I think you're good."
Haley smiled and narrowed your eyes up at her friend, "Hey, Uncle Lucas, how do you feel about a day with your favourite niece?"
He stuttered a laugh, "Like I'd be a terrible person if I said no. Of course I'll spend the day with Isabel. She's not contagious is she?"
"Haha." Haley slapped his lightly on the arm, "Hey, Miss Isabel! How do you feel about going out with Uncle Lucas?"
Nathan stopped spinning Izzy around and frowned, reading Haley's face silently. "That sounds like fun, huh, Iz?"
"Okay." Isabel shrugged, "Can we go sing like Mommy?"
Lucas nodded easily, "Sure thing."
…
Nathan and Haley stared at the envelope between them on the table. It almost felt that if they left it unopened, whatever could be inside might not be true.
"Whatever's in there, we can totally deal with." Nathan said in a steady voice.
"Of course we can." Haley nodded, hoping it was true. "I mean, it is going to be okay, isn't it? I can't imagine her growing up in a world where reading scares her. It seems like the saddest thing in the world to me; my childhood revolved around stories and make-believe worlds. I feel…and this is so terrible…but I feel so suddenly disconnected from her because I don't know what she's going through, at all. And I want to, so that I can do everything I can to help her."
Nathan rounded the table and pulled Haley tightly into his arms, "I'm not going to let this break any of us, alright?"
Haley swiped a finger beneath her eye, "Yes, I'm sorry. You know that I'd do anything for her."
"I know." Nathan nodded, "That's why it doesn't matter what it says; she's still our little girl and we'll find a way to deal with it."
"Open it." Haley whispered.
Nathan reached for Haley's hand and squeezed, "Are you ready?"
"Not at all." Haley smiled weakly.
Slowly he tore through the envelope and unfolded the letter inside. Feverishly their eyes scanned the page to learn their daughter's fate.
…
Peyton sat at the piano beside Isabel and played a few short broken pieces. She was far from a musician but she had musicality, and it was hard not to pick things up from the artists who passed through the studio. Her fingers glided over the keys, hitting out the chorus to her favourite of Mia's songs.
Isabel watched her with a concentrated stare and then took her own turn with the higher keys. Peyton beamed at the sound and inclined her head when Izzy hit a deliberate different note repeatedly.
"You were playing it wrong." Isabel informed her and paused for a second to point at the sheet music, "See?"
Blinking at the page, Peyton almost laughed; the little girl was right. "You'll take my job, kid."
"No, I wanna be a singer, like Mommy." Isabel told her matter-of-factly. "I don't know what your job is anyway."
Peyton snorted swiftly, "You got your Mommy's talent and your Daddy's tongue."
Tilting her head with confusion, Isabel frowned and took her tongue between her thumb and finger. "Did you drink Aunt Brooke's crazy juice again?"
"Crazy juice?" Peyton echoed, her eyebrows arched with suspicion; this had the marks of Nathan written all over it.
"It looks like grape juice." Isabel explained, and Peyton assumed that she meant wine. "Daddy said I'm never allowed to drink it but Mommy said he was being rid-ic-u-lous."
Nodding, Peyton couldn't help from agreeing, "Your Daddy gets a bit ridiculous sometimes."
"Can I play guitar now?" Isabel asked, effectively ending the conversation as she slipped down from the stool, her little skirt riding up with the movement.
Lucas pushed open the door to the studio as Isabel reached the instrument, his arms laden with lunch. "Hey, you two, I've got food."
Either Isabel didn't hear him, or she chose to ignore him, not looking up from the guitar she now had rested precariously on her lap. She began strumming softly, her little fingers struggling around the chords. Lucas went to call out to her again but Peyton stood up and pressed her fingers to his lips.
"Let her play." She whispered and pulled him out of the room by the hand. They took a seat at the window and Peyton listened in a dreamy gaze for a moment as Isabel eased into a melody. "She's so concentrated when she plays, listen to that; it's confidence in sound."
Lucas nodded, although sure he wasn't hearing quite the same as Peyton. "She's a lot better than the last time I heard her."
"I know!" Peyton gushed in agreement, "And she reads the music, Lucas. It's incredible."
Squinting a little, Lucas took his eyes from his niece to study his wife, "Oh, I recognise that look, Blondie. You know you can't sign a six year old."
"No." Peyton agreed, "But I can bribe her into promising she won't sign to any other label when they all come after her."
"When you say she can read music," Lucas frowned.
"I mean she's fluent." Peyton finished, nodding knowingly.
…
Isabel scowled at her Mom and Dad, her chin sat in her hands, her elbows rested on the table. "I don't want to."
Haley who had been stood at the end of the table turned her face towards the window, and Nathan knew that she was hiding her tears.
"When I was at school," Nathan began as his hand stroked his daughters', "I wasn't doing so good. I couldn't do Math at all. I was the worst at it."
"I can do sums." Isabel cried out.
"I know you can." Nathan nodded, "But Daddy couldn't, so you know what I did?"
Isabel shrugged, her pout stubbornly lingering.
Nathan swallowed, "I didn't do anything. I sat at the back of the class and didn't do any of my sums. It just got harder and harder. Then your Uncle Lucas made me go and see a tutor. I was so mad at him, because I didn't want to go,"
"You were mad at Uncle Lucas?" Isabel asked, surprised.
"Sure." Nathan shrugged, thinking of how much the kids didn't know about the tangled relationships of the past. "But you know what? He was right, like he always is. I went to the tutor and he got me to understand. I didn't think I needed to know Math but I did. I needed it to add up the score in basketball games, and to know how much change I'd get in the store….and reading's the same, Iz, you need it all the time."
Shrinking again, Isabel covered her face with her hands, "I can't do it."
"Yes you can." Haley turned around and pulled Isabel into a tight hug, "You're so clever! You read music, don't you?"
"It's different." Isabel argued.
"Not many people can do that, you know." Haley told her in a soft tone.
Nathan sighed, he hated that they were having to have this conversation, "I'll come with you, to your lessons, every single one, okay? So you don't have to be scared of it."
"Mr Holiday is really nice and you know what else he does? He teaches music," Haley told her, a slow smile forming across her lips. After much scourig of the directories, they were sure they'd found the right tutor for Isabel. He was a retired elementary teacher who specialised in visual learning; often using pictural tools as reading aids, "He said he wants to hear you play."
Isabel hugged onto Haley firmly and finally conceded with a quiet okay.
…
Dressed in her pyjamas, Isabel raced into the lounge, a delighted grin over her face. Haley was curled up on the couch, Ben pressed at her side. Nathan was stood awkwardly by the piano, his face a rare shade of crimson. It had been three months since Isabel's first meeting with Mr Holiday and now she was ready to read for the first time to an audience. It was though, on the sole condition that Nathan also performed for the first time in front of an audience, to show them what he'd learnt in the presence of Mr Holiday, something he described as painful piano playing.
"Daddy first!" Isabel announced and pulled him towards the stool. He sat down reluctantly and she positioned herself on his lap which obscured his vision somewhat. "He's gonna play Chopsticks, but I'm gonna help him."
Haley nodded and Ben looked on sceptically. It was a well-known fact that Nathan had no rhythm.
Following a deep sigh, and the further reddening of his cheeks, Nathan hesitantly began to play. Haley stuffed a cushion into her mouth at the sight, Nathan's stiff body language amusing her no end. Isabel joined in and carried her Daddy through the performance, her eyes barely looking at the keys.
At the end of the short piece, Haley and Ben burst into a smattering of overenthusiastic applause. Haley may even have wolf-whistled.
"Very good." Haley congratulated them.
"It was all Izzy." Nathan told them.
Haley smiled, her eyes creasing at the corners, as she watched her little girl bouncing around the room. Her confidence was sky-high.
"And now we're going to read Where the Wild Things Are." Isabel told her Mom and Brother. They nodded politely as Isabel skipped to the first page of the book.
Isabel looked up at Nathan who nodded to her encouragingly. She smiled and concentrated on the page, "The night Max wore his wolf suit and made mis-ch-ch…mischief of one kind, and an-other, his mother called him; 'Wild Thing'!"
Haley cheered and Nathan laughed, throwing Isabel over his shoulder in celebration.
"Daddy! That's only the first line!" Isabel berated through giggles.
"It feels like a happy ending already." Nathan noted, spinning her around to her delighted giggles.
...
Rest assured that the other kids will no doubt end up having chapters focused around them too. I think it's a cute way to get to know them. I hope that this chapter won't paint Isabel just as being dyslexic, but also showing the many colours of her character.
Thanks for reading, more to come. Thoughts appreciated.