Disclaimer: I own nothing.
*************
Answering her Trivial Pursuit question correctly, Emily Lightman puts out her hand for her wedge of the pie that her father was currently holding out of her reach. When leaning over the table failed, Emily dashed around the table and tackled her father.
Gillian laughed as she watched this interplay. It was rare to see both young and old Lightman relaxed at the same time. The laughter slowly died on her lips though as she sensed movement. It was as if Tadpole knew that her father and sister were having fun, and wanted to partake in it too. Rubbing the side of her stomach where she'd felt the twinge, a huge smile lights up her face as Tadpole kicks again.
Cal was trying to get Emily to answer another question before he would allow her to have the wedge, whilst she was objecting loudly that she'd already answered one, and didn't need to answer another when they heard Gillian's soft voice. 'Hey, you two.'
Turning to Gillian and noting how she held her stomach, Cal moved to her instantly. 'Are you okay?'
Emily rolled her eyes. You would think that Gillian was an invalid, not pregnant, from the way her father was acting. Emily stood back as she watched her father kneeling down next to Gillian, his hand firmly on the rounded bump. He looked so attentive as he waited for more movement.
It was nice seeing him happy. When Gillian had taken her out – just the two of them – a month and a half ago and told her that she was pregnant, she'd been excited for her, but knew Gillian was holding back on something. When the news had come that her father was in fact the father of Gillian's baby too, she'd been momentarily shocked into silence before she'd hugged the shocked Gillian senseless.
The idea of being a big sister thrilled her. And it was even more exciting that Gillian was going to be the mother. Gillian was good for her father, and she was thankful that it wasn't going to be her own mother and father providing her with a sibling. That would have been hell in the making.
She'd remembered how excited her dad had been after he'd gotten home from an ultrasound appointment. He'd stuck the photo on the fridge, and when she'd arrived home from school that day, he'd guided her to the fridge immediately, giving an in-depth analysis of what was what! When Gillian had arrived home from work later on, they'd shared amused looks as her father had gone off into another spiel about the photo.
Gillian had been staying at his house ever since she'd come home from the hospital. Whenever she was over, Gillian always tried to make herself sparse so that she could have father/daughter time with her Dad. And she'd had to reassure her a fair few times that she was indeed okay with the fact that she was staying at her father's house. She'd even suggested that if she found them in the same bed, she wouldn't object to it! Her father had exclaimed 'Emily!' and Gillian's face had flushed, and all she'd done was grin at their 'outrage'.
It was fascinating watching them as they went about their morning routine. It was like they'd been married for twenty years - not living together for mere months. Her dad would put the water on to boil and pour his coffee and her tea, so that when Gillian came in she had a drink ready. And when they got their breakfast ready, it was like watching a dance as the two of them handed bowls, spoons, cereals and yoghurt between them without a word.
Coming back to the present, she notes how Gillian is absentmindedly running her hands through her father's hair. Now if only they could get their act together and be a mother and a father in every sense of the word for her new sibling coming, she would be satisfied.
Heeding Gillian's call, she makes her way over, adding her own hand to the pile already present. She grins when the baby immediately makes a movement under her hand. 'Look Dad. Tadpole knows who the important people are.'
Grinning at her father's scowl, she quickly snatches her wedge from his lax hands and jumps back into her chair to fill up her pie. She was so going to win this! Sure, she couldn't beat her father's never-ending depth of knowledge, or Gillian's head full of random facts, but she could land on the spaces that she needed – much to the frustration of the adults playing with her!
*************
Next chapter: Gillian has to face Alec.
