Hey all! I promise I haven't given up on this story. This chapter like a good chunk moving forward will be more of a filler chapter, showing how family life is going for them.
Have a good weekend, and I'll have an update of something next week.
Enjoy!
"Do you think Mom will be mad?" Aurora asked, looking at her arm covered in the bright pink cast. When it happened, she thought she'd be in trouble for breaking a bone. It was the first bone she ever broke and with her brother playing football, he has yet to break a bone. And she broke hers over something silly.
"Why would she be mad, sweetie?" Wade asked, using the rearview mirror to look at his daughter in the backseat with a solemn look on her face. Broken bones happen and there isn't a reason to be mad about it.
"Because I broke my arm and I can't do ballet for at least 6 weeks," she sighed, looking out the window. She loves ballet, and she's mad at herself for messing up the dance she knows by heart. She's mad that she'll miss out on the recital in three weeks.
"Mom won't be mad," Wade assured her. "Accidents happen. Mind filling me in on how you broke it?" He asked, passing the welcome to Bluebell sign.
He freaked out getting a call from the school. Became worried when he was told that his daughter was sitting in the nurse's office with a potentially broken wrist. Freaked out even more when he couldn't get a hold of Zoe. She wasn't in town, she had gone to the away football game to cheer Will on. He assured his wife he could handle everything while she is away. Their daughter breaking her arm isn't his fault, yet he still feels guilty and bad that his daughter has to go through a broken arm.
"I tripped myself," she sighed, looking out the window, happy to see their neighborhood come into view. "Landed wrong on my arm, that's all. It wasn't some fight or anything of the sort. A total accident," she explained, wanting her dad to know that she hadn't been fighting with anyone, that she wasn't covering for anyone that may have been being mean to her.
"Why don't we get some ice cream?" Wade offered, seeing how broken his daughter is over an accident. He wants to do everything he can to cheer her up. There's nothing worse than seeing his baby girl in pain and not able to do anything to take that pain away. "And we can settle in to watch a movie. Have a little father/daughter day?" He asked her, parking the car.
"I'll get the movie started while you get the ice cream. Extra chocolate please?" She asked, unbuckling her seat belt.
How could he refuse his little girl extra chocolate after the awful day she's had? Once in the house, Aurora headed to the living room to find the movie she wanted to watch while Wade headed to the kitchen to work on the bowls of ice cream. He held the extra chocolate from his and added a few extra cherries to his. With not knowing about the sprinkles he left them off taking the small container to the living room, letting Aurora decide if she wants them and how many she wants to add if she wants them.
While the movie played Wade paid very little attention to it. He'd lost track of the times he's watched the movie she picked out. They had spent a month watching nothing else than make believe princesses and princes. He wants to say he was surprised, but the movie has been one of her go-to movies when sick or upset over the years. At one point he could recite the whole movie, act it out if the occasion called for it. Thankfully it never came to that.
Zoe went from being a mom in the stands cheering her son on, to being on the sideline, filling in as the medic for the team. The game had been rough on a few players getting injured. Nothing too serious. Being in the stands is great, but being on the sideline was better. She stopped herself from doing anything to embarrass her son. He'd never live it down, not in Bluebell.
Being on the sideline gave her plenty of chances to record a few plays for Wade. Will has played a few different positions since he joined the team, trying to find the perfect spot for him. Tonight he's playing on defense as a safety, and he's enjoying himself on the field more so than he has previously. And the position fits him, and he's been breaking catches up.
Zoe smiled watching her son head for the end zone, covering the guy headed that way. With a flick of the wrist from the opposing team's quarterback, the ball flew through the air. Will covered the guy beating him to the ball, coming down with the interception, keeping the opposing team from scoring. Tossing the ball to the ref, Will headed off the field with the rest of his team as the offense took the field, a huge smile on his face. He gave out high-fives, coming to stand next to his mom.
"Did you see that?" Will asked, his excitement bubbling over.
"How you think I missed the best play of the game by my favorite player, astounds me," Zoe remarked, bumping him.
"It was great, huh?" He beamed.
"Best play of the night," Zoe smiled. She wasn't just saying that because it was her son that made the play. It helps that it was Will, but with the interception it helps them get back down to their endzone to try and tie the game up before halftime.
Will surprised Zoe, hugging her. She happily hugged him back. "A hug won't hurt, and I can deal with that bit of teasing. After all I did just save us from being down by 14 points," he commented, letting his cockiness come out.
"Just like your father," Zoe laughed. "Would it still work if I kissed your cheek and left red lipstick lip prints there?" She teased her son.
"Mom, don't you dare," he warned, his eyes growing double in size.
"I would dare," she smirked, turning her attention back to the field to see them get another first down, ten yards closer to the endzone.
A look at the game clock showed they still had a minute left before halftime. Plenty of time to go another 30 yards to tie the game up. A few missed passes and bad breaks in the forms of tackles kept them from the endzone. With enough time for one more play, and still 20 yards from the endzone. It was a hold your breath sort of tense moment when the ball went sailing through the air. Only broke when Bluebell scored a touchdown. With the extra point being good, the game went into halftime with the game tied at 14 points a piece.
Zoe sat on the now vacated bench as the team headed inside to the locker room. She called Wade back having seen she missed his call earlier. For a second as she listened to his phone ring, didn't think he was going to pick up.
"Hey," he answered, his voice filled with sleep. "How's the game?" He asked, pulling the blanket around his daughter.
"Tied at halftime. Our son got the interception to make it happen," she explained with a smile on her face, looking at the scoreboard.
"That's amazing," Wade whisper shouted, careful not to wake his daughter, who found his leg to be the perfect pillow. "Make sure to tell him he has a proud dad at home," he smiled, happy to hear how his son is thriving in the new position and football in general.
"I'll make sure he knows," she assured him. "How's our girl?" Zoe asked.
"She had a mishap at ballet today," Wade sighed into the phone, his gaze landing on their daughter's pink cast. "She tripped herself, landed funny on her right arm and broke it," Wade explained. "She's fine and sleeping."
"I feel bad. Give her my love if she wakes before I get home," Zoe told him.
"I will," he nodded. "Zoe, she thinks you're going to be mad at her for breaking her arm. I told her that's not the case, but I'm certain she needs to hear that from you," Wade explained with a bit of a heavy heart.
"I could never be mad at her for any injury," Zoe sighed, feeling horrible her daughter would think that way. "Give her my love, a kiss and a hug for me will you?" Zoe asked, seeing her son come out to join her.
"Is that dad?" Will asked, sitting next to her. Zoe nodded her head, holding a finger up letting her son know it'd be a minute.
"Will you do that for me?" She asked, Wade easily agreeing to it. "Will wants to talk to you. I love you, and I'll let you know when we're on our way home," she told him.
"I love you, and be careful. And baby, do focus on the game and Will, Aurora is fine," he told her, ready to listen to his son talk about the amazing play he made on the field.
She tried to keep her focus on the field before her when the second half started. It wasn't that easy to let the worry, sadness and the anger you have with yourself for even making your daughter question if you'll be mad at her for an accident, go. She wants to hold her daughter and soothe her fear and pain away. For the most part she had been able to keep herself in the present when Will was there by her. She didn't want him to know what happened to his sister, not until the game was over. He needs to keep his focus on the game. She doesn't need two kids hurt.
"What's going on?" Will asked, once they were on the road, having already stopped for pizza and celebratory milkshakes. He could tell something happened during halftime. They had won by one point. Their opponents missed an extra point, which would have tied the game and sent them into overtime.
"Your sister broke her arm in ballet today," Zoe told him.
"And you guys thought karate would be the sport to injure her," Will teased. He felt bad for his sister, but knew she'd be okay. Right now he wanted to focus on cheering his mom up, they still have an hour drive ahead of them.
Where Will was only interested in football, Aurora wanted to try everything she possibly could. Ballet and karate being the two she wanted to try first. She does love both of them and is content with only having those two activities for the time being. Wade and Zoe don't want her schedule to be stressful on her. They want their daughter to have fun and be a kid.
"It could still happen," Zoe sighed. Will nodded, not having anything to say to that. "Did coach say if he'd be keeping you at safety?" Zoe asked, easily moving the conversation onto her son.
"It's a good possibility," Will nodded. "He wants to see how this week's practices go. I told him I like the position more than any other position I have played," he shared.
For most of the remaining car ride had been filled with football talk, until Will dozed off. His adrenaline from the game fading. Zoe let him sleep, trying to figure out what she could say to her daughter to let her know that she wasn't mad at her for breaking a bone. Accidents happen and it's no one's fault.
Getting home Zoe woke Will up. Half asleep he got out of the car, mumbling he'd grab his stuff in the morning. Zoe locked the car up and headed inside behind her son, locking the house door behind her. She smiled seeing her husband and daughter sleeping on the couch. Carefully she placed a kiss to her husband's forehead. She'd wake him up after she took care of her daughter. Waking Aurora, she helped her daughter to bed, asking if she needed anything while getting her tucked into bed.
"I fine, mom," she said, on the verge of falling back to sleep.
"Love you, my girl," Zoe whispered, pressing a kiss to her forehead. Having a talk and just having a day out with her daughter could wait until morning.
Getting Wade to bed took a bit more effort than her two kids did. She was about ready to leave Wade to sleep on the couch, letting him suffer with the stiff back. The want to cuddle with her husband outweighed the option of leaving him to suffer on the couch.
Wade and Will headed off to play catch at the park, talks about football and what Will could do different promised, along with talks to the mayor, one Lavon Hayes. While they headed out for a day of fun, Zoe took Aurora to Fairhope to have brunch to start their day.
"Sweetie, why would you think I'd be mad about your arm?" Zoe asked, as they ate their food.
"Dad told you," Aurora sighed, placing her fork down. Zoe nodded, not wanting to discourage her daughter. "Because I'm mad at myself. I won't get to be in the recital, and I can't do karate, I hate it," she explained with a sigh.
"It's not fun," Zoe told her. "I'm not mad that you broke a bone, it will heal in time. Sweetie there will be another recital, karate will be there. And in the meantime you can focus on things that make you happy that you can do with a cast on your arm," she told her daughter.
"Like what?" Aurora asked, skeptical about their being an activity she can do with a cast on her arm.
"You can read, we can play board games, and we can make our stories come to life," Zoe offered.
"It all sounds great, but it's not the same," she sighed.
"Okay," Zoe nodded, taking a drink of her coffee. "How about when we're done here, we go talk to your ballet teacher and see what she says about you still having a part in the recital, and we go talk to your karate instructor and see what he says about coming to class and what can be done there," she offered her daughter. As long as none of it hurt her daughter, then she'd be okay with her still going to both classes.
"Really?" She asked, giving her mom the biggest smile Zoe's ever seen on her daughter's face.
"Yes," Zoe said. "I want you to be happy and if there's no danger in you hurting your arm any worse than I'm okay with it. And Dad will be too," she assured her daughter. It might take Wade a bit of persuasion, but he'd get there in the end.