Letting Go Of The Past, Holding On To The Future.
Part Thirty-Eight.
Karen's eyes fluttered open, to find Rob peering down at her. His big blue eyes glistening as the sun shone through the blinds. "What time is it?" Karen asked, suppressing a yawn. "Half Ten" he replied, just as tired. "How long have you been up for?" She questioned. "Not Long, Ten Minutes Max", "I'm exhausted! I didn't think I had that much energy left after the day we had!" She commented, giggling. "Last Night Was Amazing" he grinned. "It was.. Hope they went to sleep long before though" she winked. "We best get up anyway" he kissed her lips softly, sitting up. Karen pulled the duvet over her head before pulling it back off and wrapping it around her body as rob got up and dressed. Half an hour later and karen was at her dressing table, doing her make-up and rob came up behind her, slotting her head on her shoulder. "You're very beautiful"
Karen looked smiling pecking his lips, "and your being requested by our beautiful daughter", "there really is no pleasing you girls is there", "Oh stop feeling sorry for yourself, after all you got a lie in thanks to Isla's tantrum last night, now go put her out of her misery. Karen finished getting ready before giving her little girl a good morning kiss and hug before getting her dressed into a very pretty little turquoise poker dot dress and lighter little t-shirt, she was a picture as always. She was sat on Rob and Karen's made bed as Karen placed a clip into her hair, "Isla please sit still darling", Karen looked up at Rob who was teasing her by moving her elephant around and hiding it behind her back, "Rob!", "what?" He tried to play the innocent, "pack it in or I'll leave you to do her hair", Rob placed the elephant in front of Isla, "thought that would put you in your place", she smiled, "there we go Isla!" Karen picked her up looking at her on her hip. "You are just like your father sometimes", Karen commented at Isla who was now coping Rob's attempts of hiding her elephant, "see what your doing to her", Karen teased, "right shall we head down for breakfast before I turn into a very hungry billy goat", "billy goat?", "dear oh dear Isla, mummy doesn't remember the story of the three Billy Goats Gruff", Isla placed her hand in front of her mouth shocked, it was rather sweet. "You are like a 6th child at times!", Karen ushered him down the stairs, "you shouldn't listen to what daddy says", "what was that?", "oh nothing", "hmm", he pretended to still be confused, "right then Isla time for breakfast sweetheart".
They made their way into the kitchen, seeing ava and niamh sat at the table talking. "Morning Mammy, Niamh" Karen smiled sitting next to her mum, isla on her knee. Rob sitting next to her, placing a hand on her knee. "Morning" rob smiled. "You two are up early," niamh commented, sending a wink In the direction of Karen and Rob. "Yeah, it sounded like you settled in nicely" ava commented. Karen's mouth dropped as she looked towards rob for help. He simply shrugged, just as lost for words as her. "I hope you used something Karen Elizabeth Byrne!" Ava said, her voice slightly raised, more in concern. Karen lost all colour in her face, she didn't know what to say..From sheer mortification.. Or from the fact of having to say no.. So she distracted it for a minute.. To buy her some time to think. "Its scotcher now mammy"
Karen looked down at Isla who was babbling away to herself, she smiled. "So what's cooking?", Rob asked smelling the sweet smell of food, "fry up, thought we all deserved a treat", Ava replied sweetly before carrying on with the interagation, "well Karen?", "mammy! I'm far off being a teenage girl!", "karen you don't know where he's been!", Niamh joined in, "think I know perfectly well where he's been", Karen didn't mean it to come out as awkwardly flirtatious as it did, "so aren't you surprised Isla didn't wake up early this morning?", Rob tried to change topic but he actually began to dig himself a hole, "yes! The rate you two were going at surprised she got a wink of sleep!", "yeah alright Niamh, your hardly the rolemodel! I seem to remember Bex walking in on you and some bloke when she was a toddler!", "well should have taught her to knock before she entered!", karen just laughed Ava added in, "Knocked! Niamh she was 2! How about realising that your niece was patrolling the corridors in hope of running away from mummy who was trying to get her dressed", "yeah alright! And how did this get on to me anyway", "think it's called karma", Rob added skillfully, "oi thought you were on my side", "sides? What sides?" Rob winked, "any anyway I'm with Isla on this, sat on the fence".
"So, Karen. You still haven't answered my question!" Ava persisted. "Mammy, I'm not a child!" Karen said matter of factly. "No, but I want you to answer my question Karen" karen looked to Rob. "Mammy...why do you want to know?" She sighed out. "Karen your my eldest daughter..I just want to know.. So we can prevent anything.." She looked at Isla. "No..no mammy, we didn't" "Oo black mark against your name!", Niamh added, Karen just glared, "for god sake Karen", "mam, what's the worst that was going to happen, we already have a baby! Can we just drop this Isla's hungry I'm going to sort her something out...Rob will you hold her", "sure", Rob hugged Isla as she looked over at her mummy who was a little agitated she cried out for her seeing she was a little upset, "aye munchkin, she'll be back in a second she's sorting your breakfast out", she looked round at Rob all wide eyed her fingers in her mouth, "thought you'd stop at the mention of food", "is daddy being mean Isla", Niamh commented, Isla smiled at her auntie before burying her head shyly in Rob's chest, "I think somebody's gone all shy because there not quite awake yet", Rob kissed the top of her head watching Karen and her mum sort out all the food Isla had scrambled egg and a cut up sausage and even a mushroom or two! "Right here it is Isla", "does that look good!", karen sat down placing Isla in the highchair that attached to a chair, belting her in and moving her towards the table a little. "Is Isla going to do it? You do it?", Karen asked as she loaded up the fork for Isla to eat off, Rob tucked in to his food as did everyone else, everyone smiled as Isla managed to feed herself "well done Isla! Are you my clever girl", karen kissed her head before helping her to put some more food on her fork, smashing it against the plate wasn't really working for Isla. Isla had finished before everyone else, she lifted her dress up and looked at her belly, "wow! Now that looks like a very full belly", Niamh commented, "Isla put your dress down, it's not very ladylike now is it", Karen tucked her dress back down, Isla had other ideas, "no one wants to see your tum bubba", Rob looked at her shaking his head Isla took it as a bit of a game, "Isla, stop being silly", karen said a tickle in her throat, every one giggling, "well I'm proud of my granddaughter, she's proud of demolishing all her food, well done Isla!" There was an awkward silence between ava and karen. She knew that, that wasn't going to be the last she heard of the issue, she was likely to get a lecture later on. Soon after the doorbell went, and Ava excused herself from the table to go and let eathan,his wife and children in. Niamh took this as an opportunity to speak. "Karen Elizabeth Byrne, ay? She only say's that when she's really disappointed. Tut tut, Karen. Tut tut" niamh teased. "Don't Niamh. Its not like your a saint.. Do I have to remind you about when you were 15? Or more recently.. Chris?" "Alright if you stop name dropping I'll get mammy off your back", "Deal", "hey", Karen got up as did the other two, she took Isla out of the chair and greeted her brother, "morning!", "hey, did we all sleep well?", "yes eventually once this one decided she'd go to bed", "you wouldn't dream of keeping everyone up would you squirt", Ethan commented, Karen moved on to the rest of the family, "this is Gemma, Ethan's wife and my niece and nephew Oscar and Poppy... And this is Rob and Isla", "nice to finally meet you both", Gemma commented, "you to", Rob smiled, "hello Isla", Poppy said, she was very sweet and Isla seemed to take a liking to her, "do you want to say hello to your cousin properly Isla? Yeah?", Karen passed he to Poppy she whimpered a bit, "your okay, Poppy's more fun than mummy anyway", Isla felt better after a while and really warmed to her cousin. Rob nattered away with Ethan and Gemma laughing at Oscar's witty lines every now and then. "So how's Uni then Oscar?", Karen asked, "Yeah it's good I'm really enjoying it", "we all knew you would", "how's Bex finding it?", "yeah she's really enjoying it too!", Oscar smiled, Ethan walked over, "you said hello to Isla yet?", he asked his son, "no, not yet", "Ethan leave the kid alone, you know he gets all shy with new people", Karen defended her nephew with a smile, "Ethan was about to say some other comment when his wife came to join Karen, "Ethan! Seriously! You insisted that he came in the car with us so you boys could bond and then just wound him up the whole way!", "that's dad's for you", Karen added. Poppy walked back towards Karen, Isla was very content in her arms, "now is this my gorgeous little niece", Karen smiled at Gemma's comment, "it sure is, you going to say hello to auntie Gemma Isla?", Isla turned her head all shy before kicking up a bit of a fuss which Karen quickly silenced by picking her up from Poppy, "that's enough Isla!", Isla rested her head down against karens chest. "Anyone want a drink?" Karen offered. Everyone nodded and she smiled. "Ill give you a hand" rob said following her into the kitchen. Karen got out eight glasses and rob poured the champagne into the glasses. He took a sip out of his glass, as he slightly over-filled it, suddenly feeling the urge to kiss Karen he took her wrist, pulling her round and into his arms, his lips crashing down onto hers, letting the fizz of the champagne tickle their tongues. They finally broke away, and she looked at him. "What was that for?" She asked. "Do I need a reason?" He grinned. "No" she kissed him again, she began to undo his shirt, the top three buttons now undone, she broke away, knowing if she continued they would end up, upstairs. "Not Now, Now come on. Let's pass these drinks out" she smiled. He picked up four glasses, as did karen and handed them out, keeping one for themselves."I'm sure your shirt only had one button undone before Rob, not three. Come to think of it, you were both gone for a while" niamh teased. "Niamh we were pouring the drinks, there is rather a lot of us", Karen replied defensively "hmm", Niamh replied with an eyebrow. Isla was on the floor, under Karen's feet as it were. "Isla why don't you go play with your toys", isla looked up her cute little smile on her face, Karen croutched down her glass of champagne in one hand, Isla stood up and rested her hand on her mummy's knee. She giggled a little before turning her head to the pile of toys. She winged out for them, "go on then, you can play with them", she moaned some more, "you are a silly billy sometimes", Karen took her little hand and tried to walk her (which she could do with a little help but she hadn't quite got the hang of it yet) , but it was a failure as Isla's little legs left her and she fell to the floor, karen couldn't stop her as she only had one hand though she stopped, "woopsy, come here, your alright aye", Karen picked her up and bounced her on her hip, "that's a very sad little face Isla", she grizzled some more after her uncles comment. "Not quite walking are we Isla", Rob commented wiping away her tears as Isla looked down at her. "Did isla sleep well last night?" Ethan asked smiling, no idea what he just brought back up. "Surprisingly she did" ava said looking in the direction of Karen and rob. "Why? Was there a party on down the road or something?" ethan asked, niamh now laughing. "Not exactly, although Karen and Rob sounded like they were having a party of their own with the noise they were making" ava added again. Karen looked to Rob and giggled a little. He leant over and whispered in her ear. "It was worth it" he winked. She nodded sheepishly. This didn't go unnoticed by niamh, who took this opportunity with both hands. "Arranging another quickie are we?" Niamh teased again. "Oh definitely I mean it's not like we're busy doing stuff now is it", Karen shot back frustrated which Ethan picked up on, he took Isla before whispering to Karen, "she's always the baby of the family", Karen smiled, "may have to use that to our advantage later", Karen winked at him, oh sibling revenge tasted sweet. "You okay now Isla aye", isla just looked around the room, "you are such a fidget sometimes Isla", Rob commented, Isla looked at Rob, "yeah you missy", "right I'm going to start the spuds", Ava commented, "I'll help grandma", Poppy commented, Gemma went and sat down with Karen, Rob and Ethan stayed where they were but miss fidget was now on the floor. Karen had her eye on her. Isla sat looking up at Rob, "Isla look what I've got", Isla didn't hear Karen, "Isla", she said with inflextion, she crawled over, "is that your elephant Isla, " Gemma replied, Isla took the elephant, "ta", Karen stressed, Isla sat with her elephant in her lap as she began to play with her toys, her hoop stack caught her eye first. Karen sat on the edge of her seat, blankt in hand and dummy. Rob moved closer, lacing an arm around karens waist and pulling her even closer, nearly on his knee. She turned and smiled at him pecking his lips shyly before turning back and resting her head lightly on his shoulder. Ava came into the room again, "dinners ready you lot" everyone got up, and made their way to the kitchen, rob stood behind Karen wrapping his arms around her from behind, isla in karen's arms. He pressed his lips to the back of her neck as they walked to the kitchen together. when they walked through the door, he moved away and took her hand leading her to the table, karen placed isla down into the highchair, and karen sat down next to rob at the table. Rob put his hand on her thigh and she put hers on top, stroking it with her thumb. Ava put the plates down, and the eight of them engaged in light conversation till they had finished their meal. Karen cut up Isla's in to pieces Isla would be able to manage and helped Isla to feed herself, "you hungry Isla?", Karen asked a smile on her face as she gobbled up her food like a good girl, that was the one difference between her three other children she wasn't a fussy eater! "Nice to see someone enjoying my cooking so much!", Ava commented proudly at her granddaughters actions. Poppy and Oscar smiled at Isla, with Oscar making stupid faces, Isla giggled back which made Karen smile. Rob and Ethan were having a good old natter about children and Gemma and Karen were just rolling there eyes at there conversation.
"Do you think you'll have anymore kids?" Ethan asked rob. Karen felt a bir awkward. Rob shrugged. "I don't think so, our relationship isn't really about that anymore" rob smiled as he felt karen clutch his hand tighter. "That's not what it sounded like last night!" Niamh teased. "For god sake Niamh!" Karen shouted,standing up quickly from the table. "Will you just give it a bloody rest, its not like your a saint, are you!" She didn't wait for a response before leaving the kitchen and heading off upstairs, leaving everyone speechless. "Well done, niamh" ethan sighed. "ill go see her" ava said. "No, its alright. Ill go" rob said standing up. "Be good you!", Rob kissed Isla's head before heading up to find a distressed Karen who was just stood in there bedroom, Niamh's teasing had gone to far now, they weren't that bad last night were they? To be honest she wouldn't have been surprised if they'd been listening out on purpose, "there you are", Karen turned around at the sound of his voice, "sorry", "aye, nothing to be sorry about!", Karen smirked a little, "I overreacted", "yes you did, but Niamh crossed the line, come downstairs and finish your dinner", "okay, just give me a minute", "okay, but Isla's on her own with a bowl of food", karen laughed, "well Niamh can have fun cleaning that all up then! That'll teach her.", Karen smiled as Rob took her in his arms, "that sounds more like my Karen", "I love you so much, Rob" karen said, looking up at him in his bright blue crystal like eyes. "And I love you" he tightened his grip around her, "I can't imagine how different my life would be if I hadn't met you" karen said nestling her head in his chest. "Different good? Or different bad?" He asked. "Different bad of course. I couldn't begin to imagine my life without you Rob. Seriously, you and Isla completed me. You've helped me through more in that last year and a half than charlie ever did in over twenty. I can never thank you enough for that" karen said seriously. "You don't need to thank me, waking up next to you in the mornings, your fave being the first thing I see when I wake up, you Being my wife, having a child with you, and getting a house together, is all I need karen, you. I could like in on a street and still be the happiest man alive if I could call you mine" rob added. Karen now had tears running down her face at how sentimental he was being. He wiped her tears away with the pad of his thumb, "so you don't want the puppy anymore then rob?" She winked. "Oh yes. But I want you too" he said kissing her lips, as she replied hungrily. "Right come on you, should probably go meet the car crash", Rob laughed, "so do you think Isla is going to have thrown her dinner everywhere? Sat in her seat crying or do you think she'll be being good?", "good of course", Karen winked though she knew Isla too well to know that that wasn't going to be the case since mummy and daddy had both disappeared. Rob took Karens hand as they walked downstairs to the kitchen to find that it was empty and all the washing up was done. Just how long were they gone? They looked at each other, before walking into the front room after filling up their glasses to find everyone sat down watching home movies. Karen's mouth dropped and she felt a blush cover her cheeks, as rob noticed exactly who was on the TV singing. They rob walked in and sat in the corner of the living room, on the floor, karen following, sitting in-between his legs. His arms wound themselves around her waist and she relaxed against him. "I didn't know you sang" he said shocked. "It never came up. I did chicago at uni" karen explained. She was still blushing, because she wasn't exactly wearing a lot. "Mmmmm..mrs scotcher. You may have to do that routine for me" "watch it Scotcher or you'll be the one doing the routine", they giggled silently, Isla crawled over her blanky in hand and dummy in mouth, "hello you", Rob said Karen picked her up and sat her on her lap for a cuddle! "I think I'll be having this Isla for now", Karen went to take the dummy from her, "just let her have it she'll be going to bed soon, plus I'm enjoying this time would be a shame to ruin it with a tantrum. Karen smiled at him and just let isla cuddle into her, obviously she was tired, and karen was liking just sitting there with him and isla. He was right. "Can you still do the splits?" He asked shocked, tilting his head to one side sweetly, as he watched the telly. Karen nodded. "I think so" she grinned. "I don't know why I'm so surprised! You are very energetic" he winked. Karen playfully slapped his chest discreetly. "Says you!" She winked. "You can teach me that routine tonight. Maybe we can add some of our own moves in" he winked. "I'm sure that could be arranged" she grinned widely. "Good" he leaned further back against the wall. karen now nearly lying on top of him. She giggled quietly as he pressed a kiss on her neck. "Stop it! Not now rob" she whispered sternly. He giggled and sat up a little. "Niamh isn't staying tonight is she?" He asked, still whispering. "No" she grinned shaking her head. "Good. We can get away with it tonight" he grinned widely. She smiled and kissed his lips softly. "You really do have a one track mind sometimes! Anyway I'm enjoying time with my little girl at the minute", "as am I", "yeah, really getting that vibe right now", Karen looked down eye lids eye lids looked heavy, she wriggled her mouth tightly wrapped around her dummy still as she winged, "aye, what's the matter", Rob commented tickling her belly but she didn't laugh she was really tired, "shall we get you into bed Isla", Isla winged at the thought, "or we could stay here", Rob laughed. Karen giggled, and within no time isla had fallen fast asleep in karen's arms. "She was a tired little girl" rob whispered. Karen nodded, and stood up carefully. Rob doing the same. "Were just putting her to bed mammy" karen said. "And yourselves" niamh said under her breath. "What was that niamh?" Karen said sternly, she obviously heard. "Nothing" she said sighing. "Thought so" karen took hold of rob's hand and walked upstairs. Karen placed Isla down gently into her cot and tucked her up in her blanket all nice and cosy. She kissed her forehead and took rob's hand as they made their way back downstairs. They walked back into the lounge to find ethan,poppy,niamh,gemma and oacar in their coats. "Are you all going?" Karen asked. Ethan nodded. "We didn't quite realise the time. We'll try and pop down again before yous go, bye sis" he said hugging Karen. "Bye auntie Karen" poppy said smiling at karen, as did oscar. "By my darlings" ava,rob and karen saw all five of them of at the door, before closing it and walking back to the lounge. "I think I'm going to go have a nice long bath. Its been a long day" ava sighed. "Right think we're going to call it a night too", "sleep well, will see you in the morning", Ava replied, karen and Rob smiled as they headed to there room, Rob wrapping his arms around her waist as they approached the door, he began to whisper sweet nothings in her ear as she opened the door to see Isla sat up in the cot crying her eyes out, "Oh Isla", Karen picked up her little girl, "it's alright mummy and daddy are here now" Isla continued to cry as Karen cradled her in her arms. She kissed her forehead and passed Isla her elephant. She stopped crying and cuddled into Karen sucking her thumb. She drifted off into a peaceful sleep, and Karen placed her back in her cot, tucking her in once again. "Now, you. Let's see this routine" rob winked. placing a hand either side of her on her hips. She shook her head. "No. That can wait" she crashed her lips onto his, as she loosened his tie. "Now if we really are going to do the routine, we'll need this, for later" she winked pointing to the tie. She trailed her fingers up his shirt to from the bottom to the top, undoing them as she did so. "Who said anything about me doing the routine", Rob commented cheekily, "oh your doing it". Rob began to undress Karen as she did him as they forced there way back to bed. Isla was in a lighter sleep tonight but that wasn't the part Karen and Rob had on there mind it was her mum! Well they hadn't actually said goodnight properly, so who knows who may make an entrance... Rob unzipped Karen's skirt, letting it fall gracefully down to the ground, as he captured her lips. She pushed him back down on the bed, he pulled her down on top of him, rob skilfully flipped them over so he was on top. His hands travelled down to her sides, pulling her top over her head. She threw his shirt to the side of the room carelessly and unzipped his jeans, as they fell from his legs, landing in a heap on the floor. "Mmm.. So how does this routine go? I seem to have forgotten.. Do you mind jogging my memory?" He said breathlessly, his voice seductive. Karen just kissed him. His hands travelled round her back, un-clasping her bra, just as he chucked it aside, ava walked in. "Karen I'm going to be-" Karen and rob's head's flung around to the door, Karen's eyes rolled and Rob looked like a rabbit in headlights to be frank! "Urmm I'll see you in the morning.", Ava was really embarrassed, "why does nobody knock these days!", Karen moaned her cheeks flushed pink, Rob began to kiss her again, Karen broke away, "no not now Rob", Karen got up and grabbed her robe of the chair wrapping it around her quickly before racing out to find her mum. "Mammy!", her mum stopped in the corridor, "sorry I just didn't think", "don't worry about it, honestly it's fine", Ava smiled politely, "mam we're not here for much longer, 2 more days that's all, I don't want to spend that in an awkward silence", "me niether! we okay, me and you?", "yeah", Karen took her mum into a loving hug, a much needed hug, "you better get back to Rob, he had lots planned for you", "mammy!", Karen replied shocked a smile on both there faces, "I don't think there will be anymore of that tonight", "don't let me stop you", "your not but Isla is", Karen made her mum aware of her crying. Karen could tell it would be a long night with isla and wasn't in the mood for her long night of passion with Rob after that palava of being caught, still it was her mum's fault. Karen made her way back to her room having it cleared it all up with her mum. Karen headed back into the room, "you okay?", Rob asked Isla in his arms, her eyes showing signs of having cried again, "yeah I'm fine, but doesn't look like this one is", Karen went and sat with Rob on the end of their bed, "oh sausage, don't cry", Rob wrapped his free arm around Karen as she inclined her head on to his shoulder as they sat there just in silence. "Time to get back to normality tomorrow aye", "yeah, catch up with the palava with Harry!", "what?", Rob was confused, "well, when has Harry gone to his dads and something not gone wrong?", "doesn't mean it will have this time", "your very sweet Rob, this has been nice but can't stay in this dream world forever", "Isla I think mummy needs a hug", Karen looked at Rob, she held her little girl in her arms, "looks like you'll be happy to get back to your own bed aye", "Karen, stop looking at this whole trip as a negative", "I'm not, honestly I'm not", "we're going to go home tomorrow and I'm going to cook us a lovely family roast and we can catch up with our children", "okay", Karen smiled at him as Isla nestled closer to Karen as she fell asleep once more.