InfinityAndOne: He is bless him, not long to go until the end :-)
Chapter Thirty Seven
Lily was staring out of the kitchen window with a cup of tea in her hand. In the living room, she could hear the joyful sound of her two children. Ava was giggling and talking to Zack whilst Zack gurgled and made the usual baby noises from his playpen. She sighed and sipped at her tea just as Ethan walked over and wrapped her arms around her waist.
"Are you okay?" He whispered softly in her ear.
"I think so," Lily sighed. "I was so scared, Ethan. I...I actually thought that I'd lost my kids forever, I had no idea what Cal was going to do to them."
"Hey, they're back now," Ethan comforted. "They're back with us. It's over, everything's over." Lily nodded and rested her head against his chest, a small smile on her face. "Come on, Ava is dying to have a game of Scrabble with us."
"Scrabble?" Lily raised an eyebrow. "Such a logical game. We've raised her well."
"She's a mini you," Ethan chuckled. "Come on. She's getting excited."
Lily nodded and carried her tea through to the living room. Ava was sat on the floor, setting up the board for Scrabble on the mini coffee table. Lily placed her mug on the end table next to the sofa and lifted Zack out of his playpen before sitting down on the floor with him in her lap. Ava finished setting up the board and crawled onto Lily's knee, making sure to be careful of her brother.
"My babies," Lily said, kissing each of them on the head. "Okay Ava, why don't you go first? Is Zack on your team?"
"Yes!" Ava smiled at her. "But I have to make the move because he's just a baby."
"That's right," Lily said. "Go on then."
It felt nice sitting there as a family, enjoying a board game together. For a second, it made Lily and Ethan forget about everything that had happened. They had their children back and they were still going to have their struggles with Ethan's illness but Lily now knew to just take it one step at a time. For now he was okay and that was all that mattered.
"Hey, are you okay?" Ethan asked Lily halfway through the game. "You're really quiet."
Lily gave a small shrug. "I'm just enjoying the family time," she replied. "It's nice."
"Yeah, it is," Ethan agreed, smiling lovingly at his wife.
"Look!" Ava squealed and pointed to the board. She'd spelt out the word, 'doctor.'
"Wow!" Lily laughed. "Look at you!"
"Just like Mummy and Daddy," she said. "I'd like to be a doctor when I'm older."
"Would you?" Ethan asked. "Why is that?"
"Because I can help people," Ava said. "And I can be like you and Mummy. I'd like that."
"Well I've always said that you would make a good little doctor," Lily said, bouncing Ava and Zack up and down on her lap. "Whose turn is it anyway? It's Daddy's, isn't it?" Ava nodded. "Go on Ethan, your move."
Ethan was about to make his move when there was a knock on the door. "You can take my go Ava," he said, seeing that Lily had her hands full with the kids. "I'll go and see who's at the door." And he got up off of the floor and walked through to the front door.
"Ethan," Connie greeted, as soon as he opened the door. "How are you doing? Can I come in?"
"Yeah, of course," Ethan said and let Connie in, before shutting the door behind her. "Um...Do you want a drink?"
"No, I'm fine," Connie said. "Did I come at a bad time?"
"No, not at all," Ethan said. "Lily and I are just having a game of Scrabble with Ava. She was desperate to play. Can I help with anything?"
"I just thought I'd come and check up on you both," Connie said. "You've been through a lot recently. How are you handling things?"
"Okay," Ethan said. "Lily's quite shaken up because...Well, we almost lost our kids didn't we? Can you blame her?"
"No," Connie whispered. "Is Cal really leaving?"
"I think so," Ethan sighed. "I haven't spoken to him much but as far as I'm aware, that's still the plan. I was so happy to have my brother back Mrs Beauchamp, I can't believe he's leaving again."
"It's for the best though, isn't it?" Connie said. "After what he's put you and Lily through. The two of you can now move on and be happy again. You don't have to worry anymore."
"Lily's still worrying though," Ethan whispered and leaned back against the wall with his hands in his pockets.
"What do you mean?" Connie asked.
"She said she's fine but she's still worrying," Ethan said. "She was just stood staring out of the window earlier and she wants Ava to sleep with us tonight. She's still paranoid, scared that Cal's going to do something again. You knew what she was like after Ava and Zack were born."
"I know," she sighed. "Well she's still having the sessions with me but maybe we need to get her some proper counselling in place."
"I don't know," Ethan said. "I just want to move on from everything, be a family again."
"You were always a family, Ethan," Connie said.
"A broken one," he corrected her. "I thought I was losing my wife at one point, then I lost my kids and now I'm losing my brother."
"You're not losing him," she said. "You'll always be brothers. He can come and visit and you can visit him and he's just at the other end of the phone."
"I just don't know if I can forgive him yet," he whispered. "He took Ava and Zack."
"You will forgive him," Connie said and gave him a comforting hug. "Some day. It might just take a little bit of time."
