From the future with love – Chapter four
" I wanna put the star on the tree!" Phoebe wines at Christian, and I soon hear her giggling. I look up from my paperwork to see Christian swirling her around in circles, fits of laughter erupting out of her.
" She has such a perfect laugh." I say idly, watching them both swirl around the Christmas tree.
" She must have gotten it from her mother." Christian says, his eyes connecting with mine. I roll my eyes at him, and enjoy the reaction I get from his dehydrating eyes.
" Up!" Phoebe commands, and Christian instantly goes back into daddy mode. I sigh, realising that both of my children had inherited Christian's bossy attitude. I watch as he lifts Phoebe up to the top of the tree, so she can place the star on it. She smiles in glee of her triumph. I hear a crisp packet rustle, and turn my head to see Ted standing and looking at the tree.
" Look Teddy, The star! The star!" Phoebe exclaims whilst running over to her brother. Ted surrenders a rare smile, crouching down to lift Phoebe up and into his arms.
" Be gentle with her. You're stronger than you think." I warn Ted cautiously, suspiciously eyeing his biceps.
" It won't be long now before you come close to beating me at boxing." Christian laughs, as he pretends to throw a fake punch in Ted's general direction.
" I could beat you right here, right now, old guy. You may have learned from a great trainer, but I got to learn from you." Ted says, his strong attitude being no surprise.
" Old guy?" Christian asks, raising his eyebrows in amusement. I get up from the table and take Phoebe out of Ted's arms and away from their brawling.
" Mum, you know we'd never fight with Phoebe around. Especially not at Christmas." Ted adds sarcastically. Before I can reply, I am interrupted by the doorbell. Everyone's eyes look towards the sound, and then the house is filled with joyous shrieks.
" Sophie! Sophie you're home!" Mrs Taylor's voice yells from the front door, as me and Christian look at each other with the same happiness in each others eyes. We rush to the front door, where Sophie and a taxi man stand in the snow. Christian pays the man without a word to anyone, and nods in gratitude to the taxi driver. I see the short look of shock on his face from seeing the Grey household in live action before the door is shut. Sophie shakes the snow off of her dark pink coat, as Christian offers to hang it up for her.
" We weren't expecting you back for Christmas." Christian says, smiling and hanging up her coat. Sophie hugs her mother, who is weeping into her shoulder.
" I wasn't expecting to make it home, but I managed to get the work I needed to get done on time." Sophie informs us.
" You should have let us know. I could have driven you home." Taylor's voice comes from the bottom of the stairs. Sophie manages to escape the arms of Mrs Taylor and runs towards her father, both of them joining in a tight hug.
" I wanted it to be a surprise. Besides, I didn't want to make you or Sawyer have to drive in this weather!" Sophie laughs, pulling away from her dad. I look up to see Sawyer give a nod in appreciation to Sophie's kind gesture, and then turn and leave the room after understanding what the commotion was about.
" Where's Ted?" Sophie asks, looking at each of our faces. I look around and realise that Ted hadn't followed us. I look at Christian who is already walking back to the tree. He quickly returns, shrugging at me. I look at Sophie, and I can see that she's slightly hurt that Ted is the only one who isn't here.
" He won't be far, I'm sure. I'll go and find him." I announce, and I see the gratitude on Sophie's face. My heart begins to hope again for romance between them, and I wonder why Ted is acting so strange. Surely he would want to see her? I remember back to when she had left almost 2 years ago, and those final words Ted had said that she hadn't had heard. I go upstairs and knock on Ted's bedroom door. After a long silence, I hear his voice.
" Come in."