Chapter Seven

"So, dinner was nice last night," Lily sighed as she walked into the kitchen. It was a Saturday and Lily had the day off to spend it at home with Ava whilst Ethan was due to go to work. "I um...I'm sorry," she apologised, watching as Ethan started to stack the dirty dishes into the dishwasher. "About the things I said about Cal, he um...He's your brother and I...I don't want us to lose contact with him again."

"Thank you," Ethan thanked her with a smile, as he clumsily dropped a plate. It landed on the floor with a loud smash. "Shit," Ethan cursed under his breath.

"I'll clean it up," Lily sighed. "You should get going or you're going to be late."

"Late?" Ethan raised his eyebrows at her. "I'm not due to be at work yet, I'm on an afternoon shift."

"You've got your appraisal with Mrs Beauchamp though," Lily reminded him.

Ethan hesitated for a second until throwing himself into action. "Oh god, no! I completely forgot!" Lily shot him a worried look, as he went to grab his case from the hallway. "This has been planned for months! How...How could I possibly forget? That's so not a good start."

"Maybe you should get checked out," Lily said.

"We're doctors Lily," Ethan chuckled. "We don't get ourselves checked out. I'm not ill anyway, I feel fine."

"But um...Poor memory and lack of co-ordination are early signs of Huntington's Disease," Lily informed him. "You should know that, Ethan."

"Don't worry," Ethan said and walked over to give her a kiss. "I feel fine."

"Ethan," Lily whispered. "You never know when the symptoms are going to start. You could...You could be on your way there."

"I'm okay," Ethan reassured her. "Besides, my co-ordination is perfectly fine thank you."

"Please," Lily scoffed. "You just smashed a plate, one of my best ones might I add."

"Just clear it up before Monkey strolls into the room," Ethan said. "The last thing we need is Ava down the ED as a patient. Don't you worry about me though, Lily. I'm confident that I have like another twenty years ahead of me."

"Just...Just text me when you get to work," Lily sighed and gave him a kiss. "Please."

"Message received," Ethan joked and kissed her back, before picking up his case and leaving the house.


"Okay so what's her name?" Lily asked, holding up one of Ava's dolls. Ava giggled and took the doll from Lily, examining her over. "Does she have a name?" Ava shook her head. "Well, what do you think we should call her?"

"When...When will I see Matilda again?" Ava asked.

"Would you like to see Matilda again?" Lily nodded.

"I don't know." Ava said. "She wasn't very nice to me and she doesn't like ice-cream."

"But you still like her?" Lily asked and Ava nodded. "Why?"

"She's pretty," Ava said. "And she's my cousin. I want to see her again."

"You will see her again," Lily said and stroked her hair. "Mummy was wrong about Uncle Cal. Hey, why don't we invite Matilda round for a sleepover? Would you like that?"

"Yeah!" Ava nodded. "Mummy, who are The Beatles?"

"The Beatles are a really popular band who formed in the 1960's," Lily told her daughter. "Daddy may have some CD's of theirs somewhere, he really liked them. Why do you ask?"

"Matilda likes them," Ava said. "But she doesn't like Dora."

"Oh honey," Lily said. "It takes a very special person to appreciate Dora." Ava giggled at her and Lily tapped the doll that she was holding. "Hey, why don't we call her Rachel? That's a nice name, right?"

"Rachel," Ava repeated and placed her inside her dolls house. "I like that. Mummy, why did daddy break that plate earlier? Was he mad about something?"

"No, honey," Lily giggled. "It was an accident, like when you spilled your juice." Ava nodded her head, as she continued to play. Lily bit her lip and said, "Ava, you um...Before you were born, daddy was told some quite bad news."

"What bad news?" Ava asked, keeping her eyes on her dolls.

"Well, he was told that he...He could be poorly," Lily said and stroked at her daughters hair.

"Is daddy going to die?" Ava asked and she looked up to meet her mothers eyes.

"No, no, well...Someday," Lily said. "But that's not going to be for a very, very long time and you will all be grown up then and you'll be able to understand the situation a lot better. You see, daddy has a little something called Huntington's Disease which...Which may cause him to behave a...A little strangely."

"Daddy said that you act strangely sometimes," Ava said and Lily frowned at her. "Like last month, I heard him talking to himself when I was on the toilet. He said, oh god it's that time of the month again here she goes. What does...What does that time of the month mean, mummy?"

"Um...Right..." Lily said. "We...I'm going to talk to you a little bit more about what daddy said in a second. Firstly though, daddy may...he may get a little bit angry at times but that doesn't mean he's stopped loving us, he will always love us and you will always be his favourite little girl. He may get a bit down and...Have trouble with his movement and there will be times where he might not be able to do things by himself. He might need us to help him."

"I can help him," Ava said. "Right mummy?"

"Of course you can help him," Lily said, pulling her into his lap and kissing her on the head. "I think he will appreciate that very much."

"When daddy gets home from work, I'm going to give him a big hug," Ava said. "He'd like that, won't he?"

"Yes, he will," Lily laughed with tears in her eyes and held her daughter even closer. "And I will give him a big hug as well. Now um...How about we go and grab a McDonalds for lunch? Don't tell daddy, it can be our little secret."

"Yes!" Ava giggled.

"Come on then," Lily laughed. "Get your shoes on, Monkey."

Lily stood up and smiled, watching as Ava ran out of the room. They were going to be just fine.

Just a cute chapter that focused on Ethan's illness a little bit. I'll try and write a Cal chapter next :-) x