CBloom2: I absolutely agree with you. Enjoy this chapter.

Chapter Six

"I don't understand why we had to invite him over," Lily whined, as she and Ethan cooked dinner together in the kitchen. Cal was due to arrive any time soon and Ava had already eaten her sausages and chips, the plan was to let the girls play whilst the adults had dinner in the kitchen. "I told you that I didn't want to have him round for dinner."

"What have you got against my brother?" Ethan asked. "Look, I know he left us and stuff but he's my brother and I want him in my life. I want him in Ava's life."

"Well, I don't!" Lily snapped.

"Why?" Ethan sighed and folded his arms across his chest. "Just tell me and I'll maybe re-think this dinner."

"I just..." Lily trailed off and shook her head. "I'm worried he might...He might want to take Ava."

"What?" Ethan frowned. "Lily, that's ridiculous. Ava is our daughter and his niece, he has his own child. Is...Is this about the dream you had last night?" Lily just shrugged her shoulders and Ethan walked over and rubbed her arms comfortingly. "Hey," he whispered. "I promise you, hand on heart, that no body wants to take our little girl. You understand me?"

Lily faintly nodded her head. "Yeah," she whispered to him. "I understand."

There was a knock on the door.

"Well, it's too late to cancel now anyway," Lily added.

"I'll get it," Ethan sighed. "Just try and be nice and Cal said that Matilda is really looking forward to seeing Ava."

"Whatever," Lily muttered under her breath, as she carried on with the cooking.


Ava was sitting on the grass in the garden digging in the mug, when Matilda walked out with her stuffed dog. Ava glanced up and looked the older girl up and down, she was wearing a white dress with sandals and she had a small, white satchel hanging across her. Matilda also looked Ava up and down, taking in her long sleeved, red t-shirt, her grass stained jeans and her wellington boots.

"Hi," Ava greeted and got back to her digging.

"What are you doing?" Matilda asked, kneeling down on the grass and tucking the strands of hair behind her ear.

"Digging for buried treasure," Ava said. "What's your name?"

"Matilda," she introduced herself. "You're Ava, my daddy's told me all about you." She looked down at the dirt and bit her lip. "Girls aren't allowed to get dirty, it isn't lady like."

"Me and my daddy always dig together," Ava said. "Do you like Dora?"

"No." Matilda smiled and shook her head. "I like The Beatles."

"Is Dora in The Beatles?" Ava asked and Matilda shook her head. "Oh," Ava whispered and eyed up the stuffed dog in Matilda's arms. "Can I pet it?"

"This is Sparky," Matilda said, holding the dog close. "Except daddy said that we could be getting a real doggy soon."

"Real doggies make my mummy sneeze," Ava said. "But when I turn six, I might be getting a rabbit!" She stopped digging and looked at Matilda. "Where is your mummy?"

"I don't live with my mummy anymore," Matilda said. "Daddy said I don't need her though because it's me and him to the end of the world."

"I need my mummy," Ava whispered.

"Do you?" Matilda raised an eyebrow. "I heard daddy on the phone to your daddy, your mummy didn't look after you when you were born did she?"

Ava hung her head. She sniffed and dropped her trowel before rushing back into the house. Ethan, Lily and Cal were all sat at the table eating dinner and drinking wine. Ava popped her head round the door and hurried into the kitchen and over to her mum.

"Ava, what have I told you about wearing boots in the house?" Lily sighed, as Ava lifted her arms up to her. Lily smiled and lifted her onto her lap for a cuddle. "You okay, baby girl?" Ava nodded, rubbing at her hair and eyes.

"Where's Matilda?" Cal asked.

"Ava obviously doesn't want to play with her," Lily said, tying her daughter's hair into a tiny plait. "You can't force children to be friends."

"Ava," Cal said, leaning across the table to speak to her. "Do you want to go back outside and play with Matilda?"

"No." Ava shook her head. "I want to stay here with mummy."

"And you can do, baby girl," Lily said, kissing her head. "You can do."

Cal watched them and took a sip of his wine. Matilda soon arrived at his side, Sparky tucked under one arm. She remained at Cal's side, watching Lily and Ava having their cuddle. She couldn't help but envy the young girl, having both of her parents there to look after her.

"What were you girlies doing, eh?" Cal asked, stroking his daughters hair.

"Ava was playing in the mud," Matilda informed her dad.

"Ah, the buried treasure game," Ethan said. "She loves it, never finds anything though."

"I'm not allowed to get dirty," Matilda told him.

"Right," Ethan sighed. "How about we get you kids some ice-cream and you can take it into the garden and have your own little picnic? That sounds like fun, doesn't it?"

"Ice-cream isn't very good for you," Matilda said. "My best friend, Amanda said that to me back home."

"Well, we can have it on the odd occasion can't we?" Ethan said, giving her a small wink as he cleared away the empty plates. "It's Ava's favourite after dinner treat, right pumpkin?" Ava nodded with a smile and laughed as Lily tickled her tummy.

"Did you ever want more kids, Lily?" Cal asked.

"I don't think so," Lily whispered and gave him a small glare. "Ethan and I have one perfect child, why would we want more?"

"I think Ava will be a good big sister," Ethan said, picking up the empty bottle of wine and kissing Lily's temple. "We haven't really discussed it, Cal. I think we're fine with just the one for now though."

"Jordan is having a baby," Ava said.

"Who's Jordan?" Lily asked her.

"A boy in my class," Ava said. "He's having a baby. He told me at lunch time yesterday."

"Well, I don't think he's having a baby is he?" Ethan asked. "His mummy will be having the baby, he'll just be the brother."

"Where do babies come from?" Ava asked, causing everyone in the room to fall silent.

"Children aren't supposed to ask that question," Matilda said. "It's rude and we're not supposed to know until we start secondary school. Isn't that right, daddy?"

"Um...Yeah," Cal sighed. "Something like that."

"Are they brought by stalks, like in Dumbo?" Ava asked. "So if mummy did want a baby, all you would have to do is ask mummy and then a stalk will bring you which...which ever baby you like, a boy or a girl. That's right, right?"

"You know what?" Lily said, shifting in her chair and patting Ava's back. "I could really do with some of that ice-cream. Ethan?"

"Coming right up," Ethan chuckled, grabbing the ice-cream out of the fridge. He grabbed a couple of pink plastic bowls and scooped some ice-cream into each, making it an equal amount. He handed one to his daughter and the other to Matilda.

"Thank you," Matilda whispered, too polite to mention that she didn't actually want any.

"Chocolate sauce?" Ethan offered and whilst Ava nodded enthusiastically, Matilda shook her head. "Now, how about the two of you go back into the garden and play," Ethan said. "And us adults can finish our conversation."

Lily kissed Ava's head and let her jump down from her lap. Ava held her bowl of ice-cream and chocolate sauce under one arm, grabbed hold of Matilda's hand and led her into the garden, skipping as she went.

"Matilda is um...Very mature, isn't she?" Ethan laughed and sat back down next to his wife. "I mean, she's only seven."

"Well she had to care for her mum quite a bit," Cal said, finishing off his glass of wine. "Taylor wasn't capable of looking after a child, she was often getting drunk and sleeping in and...Matilda had to do everything for herself at an extremely young age. Can you blame her?"

Ethan and Lily were silent, none of them sure of what to do or say.

"Um...Do you want some more wine?" Ethan asked but Cal shook his head. "It's good to have you back, Cal. I um...I've missed you."

"Yeah, I've missed you too," Cal sighed and glanced briefly at Lily. "Both of you. How's um...How's Ava doing at school anyway? It's just, I have to enrol Matilda in somewhere and I'm not quite sure where."

"Well, Ava goes to the little village school down the road," Lily said. "It's really small so they might not have any places left."

"We can ask," Ethan said. "It's a really good school. Ava's getting on well there."

"She's having trouble with her reading," Lily reminded him quietly.

"Yes but...We can work on that," Ethan said. "That isn't the schools fault, it's just something that Ava struggles with. Isn't it her parents evening next week? Maybe you could ask if they have some places."

"That'll look good, right?" Lily said sarcastically. "I go along to talk about my own child but instead I start talking about someone else's."

"Just at the end, before you go," Ethan said.

"Won't it be too far for you to travel though?" Lily asked Cal. "I mean, it's quite a way from Holby. Ethan and I have an hours journey into work, sometimes hour and a half."

"We can manage that," Cal said. "Matilda loves school and she's quite an early riser as well so I'm sure we'll manage."

"We'll check it out, Cal," Ethan promised. "Now a toast! To family."

"Yeah," Lily whispered and raised her glass. "To family." But all she could feel was Cal's gaze on her the entire time.

This may sound like Cal's being horrible and stuff but he isn't. Obviously he thinks Ava is his child and just wants Lily to consider it and stuff. There's more to come so everything will start to make sense but just bare in mind that Cal isn't a bad person in this. Don't worry :-) x