It was decided at breakfast that the family would spend the morning at the beach, they'd find somewhere nice to have lunch and then they'd spend a quiet afternoon at the villa before Shelby and Rachel took Lily and Max out for dinner so Amy and Jim could go out for a 'date night' on their own.
Lily and Max were both eager to get to the beach, and neither Shelby nor Rachel were surprised when Lily came to ask them to hurry up. What did surprise them however was that, as Lily sat on their bed chatting happily to her cousin and Aunt as they got ready, Max came to join her, sitting with his sister until Amy came to find them both.
It didn't take long for them to walk to the beach, Max and Lily so excited that they almost ran all the way there. It was still fairly early so they managed to find a spot that wasn't too close to anyone else and, once they'd made themselves comfortable, Jimmy drew a big square in the sand around them much to Rachel's confusion, "a lot of people might come here later" he told Lily and Max once he was sure he had their attention, "you can play here" he gestured to the space within the square, "but you don't go outside these lines unless Me, Mommy, Auntie Lelly or Rachel are with you, okay?" He got an okay from both his children and kissed them both, "okay then, you've got your buckets and spades, why don't you show us how good you are at building sandcastles."
"Rachie" Lily and Max hadn't been playing together for five minutes before Lily turned to her cousin, "come help us!"
"Lily" Amy raised one eyebrow and the girl smiled sweetly at her.
"Please Rachie? Sorry Mommy" she grinned.
Shelby saw Rachel glance at her and she gently squeezed her hand, "I'll be right here" she promised, go build your sandcastle, and then, if you want, you and I can go for a walk or something."
"Okay" Rachel nodded, moving to sit by Lily and Max. She knew she wasn't going to be that far away from her Mom but she still felt a little anxious, and it had been a long time since she'd spent a day at the beach, everything felt so new and different, and she needed a little more reassurance to usual.
Lily and Max started off building their own sandcastles, but with Rachel's help, decided to join them together to make a 'super-duper, mega bestest' castle. And once they'd had their pictures taken with it, they seemed just as happy to jump on and destroy it as they had been to build it.
Rachel played in the sand with Lily and Max for a while before, as promised, Shelby asked if she wanted to go for a walk, the pair strolling slowly down the beach, Shelby taking Rachel's hand when she felt it brush against her own, "how are you feeling today?" she asked.
Rachel smiled, "I'm okay" she nodded, "I…" Rachel thought for a moment, "I think you were right, about me being out of my comfort zone, being here, at the beach… I'm enjoying it and I want to be here, it's just different to what I'm used to and I feel a little…" she shrugged, "like I don't want to be too far from you because I know I'm safe with you."
"I think that might be your anxiety" Shelby said softly, "but you're right, you are safe with me, and Amy and Jimmy too."
"I know" Rachel nodded, "I just like being near you."
"Then it's a good job I have no plans to go anywhere isn't it" Shelby joked before telling Rachel, "I know your next appointment with Alice isn't for a couple of weeks after we get home, but if you need me to ask if she can bring that forward then I will, you only have to ask."
Rachel nodded, she no longer saw her therapist every week, she'd recently dropped her appointments down from every two weeks to once a month, but Shelby had always told her that if she needed to go back to more frequent appointments then that was fine. "Can I think about it?" she asked.
"Of course you can" Shelby squeezed Rachel's hand, "now, I think if we keep walking along the beach, we'll end up not far from the place where we got ice cream when we came on our own, how about we get something for everyone and then head back?"
Rachel nodded, "that sounds good to me."
It didn't take them long to walk the rest of the way along the beach, and, although they hadn't been away from the rest of their family for long, Rachel appreciated the time with her Mom, she was grateful that her Mom seemed to understand that sometimes she needed time away from everything, she needed space but at the same time she didn't want to be alone.
The ice creams were beginning to melt as they made their way back to their spot on the beach but everyone enjoyed them anyway. Rachel couldn't help but chuckle at the fake look of shock on her Uncle's face when Amy handed the kids Jimmy's tshirt to wipe their hands on before they ate. "What do you say?" Amy asked them both as Rachel and Shelby sat back on the sand.
Both Lily and Max thanked Shelby and Rachel before Max told them, "Daddy says we can swim in the ocean soon, will you come too?"
"Yeah" Lily beamed, ice cream all over her face, "please Rachie, please Auntie Lelly."
Shelby looked to Rachel, not wanting her to feel forced into anything she didn't want to do. "We won't be going in far" Amy reassured her niece, sensing her fear, "maybe waist deep, just enough for the kids to splash about a little, I'm not a huge fan of swimming in the ocean either."
"Okay" Rachel nodded, "I'll come in with you."
"They're going to need a good splash to get all that ice cream off them" Jimmy chuckled, as he saw the amount of ice cream on Lily's face, hands and chest, "you're meant to be eating it, not wearing it."
Lily giggled and shrugged, "oops?"
"Oops indeed" Jimmy laughed.
As promised, they didn't go far into the water, Rachel noticing how Shelby stayed right by her side, and, although he was splashing with Lily, Jimmy also stayed close, silently reassuring Rachel that she was safe, that paired with the fact that the waves were only gentle reassured Racchel slightly and she wasn't quite as worried as she had been before getting in the water.
"Do you trust me?" Shelby asked Rachel gently.
"Of course I do" Rachel frowned.
"Can we do something?" Shelby reached out a damp hand to push a loose strand of Rachel's hair out of her eyes.
Rachel nodded, "what…"
"Wrap your legs around my waist" Shelby said softly, "like I'm carrying you."
"I'm too heavy Mom."
Shelby smiled, "I proved yesterday that you're not too heavy for me to carry, and anyway, it doesn't matter in the water, you won't weigh anything. I know you're not confident in the water but I want you to know how it feels to just bob in the waves."
Rachel thought for a moment before nodding,"okay" she said softly, wrapping her legs around Shelby's waist and letting her Mom hold her.
"Okay?" Shelby asked, holding Rachel tight enough to make her feel safe, but still letting her float a little, letting her rise and fall slightly with each wave.
"Mhmm" Rachel nodded as she let her head fall onto Shelby's shoulder.
"Are you sure?" Shelby kissed her temple.
Rachel nodded again, "sometimes I like to think about what it would have been like if I'd have lived with you when I was a baby."
Shelby smiled sadly, "you would have been loved so much more than you'd ever know, Nana and Grampy would have spoiled you rotten, and you'd have had a nine year old Aunt and sixteen and fourteen year old Uncles who would have helped you get into more trouble than I even want to think about."
"I think I'd have liked it" Rachel said softly.
"I'd have liked it too" Shelby smiled, "but I've got you now, and I have no plans to ever let you go again Darling."
After staying in the water for a little while they moved back to the sand, Shelby carrying Rachel until they were back in shallow waters where, at Lily's request, Rachel spent a while jumping over the waves as they hit the shore, Rachel, Lily and Max all laughing happily as Jimmy took photos of the three of them. Rachel was happy to stay with her cousins until they tired of playing in the shallow water when they walked back up the beach, both Lily and Max holding onto Rachel's hands, Rachel once again feeling proud of the fact that, not only did Lily and Max trust her to keep them safe, but her Aunt and Uncle trusted her with their babies too.
Shelby and Amy were reapplying their sunscreen as the kids flopped down onto the sand, Jimmy rubbing sun lotion onto his wife's back. "What are you doing you fool?" Amy laughed as, after massaging suncream into her back and shoulders, Jimmy moved to gently rub it into her stomach too.
Jimmy smirked and dipped his head to kiss Amy's bump, "I'm being a good daddy and stopping my baby from getting burnt".
Amy laughed and rolled her eyes, "you're mad" she gently tugged on his hair, telling him, "but I love you" before kissing him softly, quickly pulling back and reaching for her water with a frown, "you taste like suncream."
"At least my mouth won't burn".
Amy rolled her eyes and swatted at Jimmy as she gestured for Lily and Max to move closer, "you've been in the water so you both need to dry off a bit and put more sunscreen on."
"Here" Shelby handed Rachel their sunscreen, "you need to put more on too Baby. Do you want me to do your back?"
Rachel nodded, "yes please."
The family spent another few hours on the beach, Lily burying her own feet in the sand 'because it feels funny' before, with help from Max, trying to bury Jimmy in the sand, the man making a game of it by moving occasionally, causing Lily and Max to shriek with laughter as they tried to bury as much of their Dad in the sand as possible before he moved.
As lunch time rolled around and the sun reached its peak, they packed up their things and made their way to a nearby restaurant for lunch, Amy fanning herself with the menu to cool herself down once they were seated on a large covered terrace overlooking the ocean.
"Rachel" Max tilted his head inquisitively, "do you like burgers and pizzas?" he asked after hearing her order a salad.
"I think they're okay" Rachel nodded, "but sometimes they make me feel a bit sick so I don't have them too often."
"But you like salad and veg'bles?"
"Yeah" Rachel nodded again, "I do."
"You like ice cream too" Lily nodded, "and apple juice like me!"
"I do like ice cream and apple juice" Rachel smiled, "you're right."
"I don't like salad" Max frowned, "but I like ice cream."
"And that's okay" Jimmy told him, "just like it's okay that Rachel likes salad, because it's okay for everyone to like different things isn't it?"
"Yep" Max nodded, "I just don't want to eat salad because it's yucky."
They found easy conversation as they ate, laughing and joking together as they spoke about things they'd enjoyed, things they had planned for the final few days of their vacation, and, although Rachel did join in with the conversation, she also took time just to let it wash over her, everything felt so 'normal' so right, her fathers didn't even speak to each other over the dinner table unless it was to snap at one another and Rachel didn't think she'd ever get sick of not having to worry about saying too much and making someone angry.
"Mommy" Lily smiled up at Amy once she'd finished eating, the look on her face telling the woman that her daughter wanted something.
"Yes?" she raised an eyebrow.
"I eated all my food."
"I can see that" Amy smiled, "you did really good."
"But Mommy. Can I have more ice cream because I've eated it all?"
Amy laughed, "I suppose so" she looked up at Shelby, "Mommy and Daddy are going out tonight so Auntie Lelly will look after you if you feel sick."
"Oh thanks" Shelby laughed.
"Can I get a really, really big ice cream?"
"Not to yourself, if you want to get a really big one you have to share it with Max, and Rachel if she wants some, if she doesn't then you and Max have to share it with Daddy okay?"
Unsurprisingly both Lily and Max were both excited to share the biggest ice cream sundae on the menu with Rachel, Lily climbing onto her lap, Max sitting on Shelby's knee so they could eat it, "do you want some?" Rachel asked Shelby.
"No thank you Baby" Shelby wiped away a smudge of chocolate sauce from the corner of her daughter's mouth, "you enjoy it."
They did enjoy it, but it was so big that even between the three of them they didn't manage to finish it, Amy said she thought she'd be sick if she ate any so Max pushed the bowl across the table, "you eat it Daddy" he told him. Jimmy just laughed and took the spoon from his son, finishing off the ice cream without any issues. "Wow" Max looked impressed, "well done Daddy!"
"Thanks Bud. Is everyone ready to head back now or…?"
Amy shook her head, "give me another five minutes before I try and tackle that hill" she told him as she reached for the jug in the middle of the table and poured herself another glass of water.
Eventually everyone felt ready to make their way back to the villa, but they'd barely started the walk when Lily began complaining that her legs were tired and Jimmy simply scooped her into his arms and swung her up to sit on his shoulders, "better?" he asked as he held onto her ankles.
Lily nodded and gently patted the top of his head, "ta Daddy."
They were almost back at the villa when Max began to flag too, "Daddy" he sighed, "my legs are tired now too."
"Here" Amy held her arms out, "let me take Lil."
Shelby shook her head, "I'll get her."
The two sisters began bickering, Amy insisting she was capable of carrying her daughter, Shelby telling her that she didn't doubt that, but she didn't have to carry her. Rachel meanwhile looked up at her uncle, the two sharing an amused look, "you can put her on my shoulders" she told him.
"Are you sure?" he asked.
Rachel nodded, "yeah, she's not that heavy and we're almost back anyway."
"Thank you" Jimmy sat Lily on Rachel's shoulders, "are you okay with her?" he asked before picking Max up.
"Yeah" Rachel nodded again, taking a moment to get used to the weight of her cousin on her shoulders, "I'm okay."
"Okay" Jimmy lifted Max up to sit on his own shoulders, "let me know if she gets too heavy for you" be said before turning his attention back to Shelby and Amy, "are you two coming back with us or are you going to stay here and argue all day?"
"We're not arguing" Both Shelby and Amy said simultaneously.
"Look" Lily grinned, "Rachie got me now."
"I can see that" Amy laughed before asking Rachel, "are you sure you're okay with her?"
"She is" Jimmy answered for his niece, "I've asked her twice, and she's going to tell me if she gets uncomfortable, so can we go now?"
"I suppose so" Amy rolled her eyes as she and Shelby began to walk together, talking and laughing together like they hadn't just been stood arguing in the street about who was going to carry Lily back to the villa.