Chapter 8
"I will be back in a minute."Steve said leaving his daughter in the living room and heading to the garden. He pressed call on Cath's number and waited for to pick up.
"Cath" Steve said as soon as someone picked up the phone.
"Steve" Cath replied.
"I read your text; I came over to ask you to start over the other day."
"Steve I'm sorry about that, I didn't want you to say it."
"I never came to say that. I came to tell you I love you and we could start again. Aside from Evie in my life you are the best thing that has happened to me."
"I knew deep down that you were never going to say that but I didn't want you to give you the chance to. I thought that now we are both back with our kids that we wouldn't need each other, but I need you, to make me happy."
"I need you so I can be happy too. How about I pick you at 8 tonight and we can go out for dinner? We can start again." Steve wanted to make it work. He knew they couldn't carry on from were they left off, if they were going to be together they would need to start again.
"I can't do tonight, I promised my kids a family night." Cath started, but her kids sitting in front of her telling her they didn't mind. Although she knew they didn't mind she did. She wanted this night with kids, Steve could wait.
"How about tomorrow night at 8?" He asked hoping the answer was going to be yes.
"Yeah tomorrow at 8 sounds perfect."
"I will pick you up at 8 then."
With that they both hung up. He knew that he had made the right decision calling her back, he couldn't be able to live without her. He walked back into the house and sat down next to Evie on the sofa. He was going to tell her but he didn't know how. He wanted to tell her but had mother had sent her away, they had just started getting to know each other, he didn't want to change things before her certainly knew where they were going.
The next day, Steve woke up early, he did his normal routine, he was going out tonight he wanted to spend time with his daughter this weekend before he had to go back to work on Monday. It felt good not to be on call, for so long. Going back to work would be difficult, until Evie had to go back to school. Mary would help out a lot but he didn't want her to think he was palming her off.
Steve could hear that Evie was awake, when she didn't come straight down he knew she was getting dressed, he took this time to make breakfast and call his sister. He needed to ask her to look after Evie tonight, but he also wanted to spend time with her and his daughter together, it had been a long time since he had properly seen his sister and spent time with her in ages. He pulled his phone out and dialled his sister's number.
"Hi Mary," he said when Mary answered the phone.
"Hi big bro," she replied.
"I need to ask you a favour then just need to ask you something. Firstly, I am going out tonight and was wondering if you could look after Evie tonight?" Steve asked.
"Sure, but I am coming to stay at yours with her. What else did you want to ask?"
"Thank you, I was wondering if you wanted to come over and do something with Evie and me?"
"I will be over in an hour." She said hanging up.
Steve sat down with his newspaper, drinking coffee and waiting for his daughter to come downstairs.
"Morning sweetheart, breakfast is on the side" Steve said when she came into the kitchen.
"Morning daddy" Evie replied. She took her plate off the side and sat down opposite Steve.
"Today, I have invited Mary over. I was thinking we could go and have a picnic?" he said looking over the top of his paper at his daughter.
"That sounds fun. Where are we going for our picnic?" Evie asked between bites.
"A place where me and Mary always go for picnics. We go to where your granddad is buried." Steve said, he was a little worried about going there. Over Evie's life she probably spent more time with her granddad than she did with him. She knew he died, she didn't know how he died. He knew that she would ask sometime soon but he wasn't sure how he would tell her the truth.
"Okay," she said accepting it without questioning it.
They spent the rest of breakfast talking about some of the things that they would need to sort out now Evie was living with him permanently.
About an hour later Mary had arrived.
"Hi Aunt Mary," Evie said hugging her aunt. They sat down on the sofa talking waiting for Steve to make the picnic.
About an hour later they were ready to go, they got in Steve's car and drove to the cemetery. The car ride was mostly filled with them listening to the radio, with the occasional bit of chatter. When they got their Steve parked the car and they all got out.
"It's good to be doing this again." Mary said as she made her way over to their father's grave.
Steve and Mary sat straight down, Evie took a few seconds to sit down. She had never really been to a cemetery before and felt it a little odd. She sat down close to her dad. Steve sensed that his daughter didn't like being there, he knew that this was going to be difficult as this was the first time she has ever been to a cemetery.
She had never said goodbye to her granddad properly. She had seen him a few months before, but he sent her home early .She never knew why she was just told she had to go home.
The unloaded the picnic and started eating. Steve and Mary told stories about their childhood. They spent most of the afternoon there until Steve realised the time and knew he had to head home to make sure he was ready for his date with Cath.
Meanwhile...
Cath woke up later than normal. She had started to get used the idea of having a lie in now she wasn't on the ship anymore.
She decided for once she was going to lie in bed and not get up to go for her morning swim. She had started to o back to sleep when both her kids burst through the door.
"MOM!" They both yelled in unison.
Cath was startled when they came through the door. She didn't know they were awake. It reminded them of when they were kids. They would do this if she ever had a Christmas day off work. She only remembered a few, but those the remembered she remembered really well.
"You set a rule that you must not sleep in after 11 o'clock. It is 11.03am" Chelsea said looking at the alarm clock next to Cath's bed.
They both moved so they were sitting on the bed facing Cath while she sat up in bed.
"I'm awake, I was just lying in bed." Cath said trying to defend herself. She gave up trying to defend herself, why were her kids awake anyway. "What are you guys doing up? I thought it would be me trying to get you two out of bed."
"Well we got up because you have your date tonight. We are going shopping mom." Chelsea said with a big smile on her face. The only thing Chelsea loved more than shopping was music.
"Well you and Chelsea are, I am going to stay at home for the day." Jay said looking over at Chelsea.
"Jay you are coming shopping. There is no discussion." Chelsea said, Jay knew he was not going to win this discussion. Despite the fact that he was an hour older his sister had control over making him do things. She was always the bossy one when they were growing up.
"Jay if I am being made to go shopping with Chelsea then you are coming with me too." Cath said smiling at both of her kids.
"Right well we need to go in like the next hour because once we have got the dress mom we need to do hair and makeup and everything." Chelsea said getting excited about the girly day that was ahead.
"Chelsea, before you get to excited, I am not going to dress up like a teenager and I am going to have the final say on what I buy." Cath said making sure her daughter understood, before they went and she made her buy something she would never wear.
"Okay fine, but we need to get ready." Chelsea said getting up and moving to the door.
A little later they were in the mall, Chelsea was taking Cath and Jay into different shops looking for the perfect dress.
"Chelsea, wait here a minute." Cath said walking around through all the shop, to get a little black dress. It was plain and simple, it was like the dress she wore on their first date, well, she didn't really wear it for the whole date, she wore it for about an hour before it lay on the hotel floor in Colordo.
Cath came back holding this strapless black dress and holding it up to show Chelsea.
"I like it, you just need to try it on," Chelsea said examining it closely.
They walked towards to changing rooms, Chelsea and Jay sat outside waiting for Cath to come out with the dress on.
When Cath had the dress on, she looked at herself in the mirror. She thought back to night of their first date.
Steve was persistent. She turned him down 5 times before she said yes. She knew he was a bit of a player and all the girls fancied him. When she said yes at first, they had to take a rain check when he was sent out on a deployment. It took a few months for them to get finally get time off together and in the same part of the world.
For Steve things had changed in that time. He had become a dad, he and Evie's mom weren't together anymore. Catherine knew about him having a young child. She had a children herself but she didn't want to tell him before they went somewhere.
That night she spent 3 hours getting ready. She had the perfect dress, she had found a few months ago when she was stationed abroad. She was ready to go just on time. She heard a knock on her door, she took one final look in the mirror before she opened it and saw Steve.
She looked back into that mirror, she saw herself from that date. She took a minute to just look at herself in the mirror. She knew that this was the dress. She walked out of the changing room to were her kids were sitting.
"Mom that dress is amazing," Chelsea said admiring the dress her mom was wearing. "Once you have worn that dress I am borrowing it." Chelsea said looking at the dress.
"We'll see" Cath said.
"This is the dress mum, a pair of high heels and that would be perfect." Chelsea said.
"Okay, let me go and get changed then we can go home." Cath replied
"That's when the real fun starts." Chelsea said to Jay. This was not going to be a fun afternoon for Jay.
Once Cath had paid they headed for the car to drive home.
Meanwhile...
Once they had left the cemetery they headed home. When they got their Mary popped out to the shop to buy some shoes she had found in a sale.
Evie had gone straight upstairs to her room. She was sitting on the bed a little upset. She didn't understand what had happened to her granddad. She didn't get the chance to say goodbye to him.
Steve noticed Evie was acting strange, at the cemetery he had put it down, now he started to worry a little. She hadn't said much on the car ride home, when they got home she went upstairs without saying anything.
He needed to start getting ready for his date soon but Cath could wait if he was a little late, he needed to find out what was wrong with his daughter.
He walked upstairs and gently tapped on her bedroom door, waiting a few seconds before opening it. He found her curled up on her bed crying. He headed straight over to the bed, sat next to her and pulled her into a hug.
"What's the matter keiki?" he said looking down at her.
"Is mum going to die?" Evie said, still crying. Steve was thinking, he didn't know why she was asking this. Did she know something he didn't?
"Why do you ask that sweetheart?"
"Because granddad sent me home before I was meant to go home, then he died. Mum sent me away to leave with you." Evie said tearfully. It took a few moments for Steve to register what Evie had said. He didn't know what to say. When he told her, she was staying with him permanently he hadn't given a reason. He didn't know what to say. He couldn't tell her the truth. Your mum missed out on a lot when she had you and now she wants to leave a life without you.
"No, you came to live with me to spend time with me as I haven't been part of your life for so long, she thought it would be a good idea for me to get to know my daughter." He said wiping a tear away from her cheek. "You can call her later if you want to speak to her." Steve said. He felt his daughter nod.
They sat there for a while, Steve holding his daughter. It took him a while to realise that she had fell asleep. He was going to wake her up, but he thought it was best to leave her.
He carefully got up leaving her on the bed. He put a blanket over her and headed downstairs.
Mary had returned. He filled her in, on what had happened. He then left Mary while he went upstairs to get ready for his date with Cath.
When he was ready for his date, he went to check on his daughter. She was still asleep. It was almost 7pm, he wanted to wake her and tell her to go and have dinner but she looked so peaceful, he couldn't do that. He carefully kissed her on the top of her head before leaving her room and closing the door.
"Look at you." Mary said as Steve walked down the stairs.
"Thank you, Evie is still asleep, I shouldn't be back too late, don't mess up my house or burn it down." Steve said jokingly as he hugged his sister goodbye.
Meanwhile...
When they got home from shopping, Chelsea made Cath go and have a shower so they could start getting her ready for her date.
Cath looked at the clock she had 4 hours to get ready. She had never spent 4 hours getting ready since high school. Even on their first date she didn't spend 4 hours getting ready.
Cath got out of the shower and walked back into her room. Her bed was filled with makeup and hair accessories. Chelsea stood looking between the dress, that hung up in the corner and the shades of makeup on the bed. Jay had managed to escape the girlyness and decided to hide in his bedroom. When Cath saw all of this she wanted to go and join him.
Chelsea had Cath sit in front of the dressing table. She would be happy to get herself ready, but she had just come back to live permanently with her kids and she wanted to spend as much time as she could with her kids.
Chelsea started on her makeup. There was little conversation between the mother and daughter as Chelsea was trying to concentrate and Cath was told not to move.
By the time Chelsea had finished, Cath didn't recognise herself any more. Her hair hung in little curls around her shoulders, the dress looked better on when she, had the right accessories and shoes with it. She looked in the mirror, admiring how pretty she looked. She never had much of a chance to dress up when she was on the ship. She didn't feel the need but looking at herself now she thought she might have to start doing this more.
She walked down the stairs to Jay and Chelsea who were waiting at the bottom.
"Mom, you look stunning." Chelsea said, she lightly elbowed Jay to get him to say something.
"Yeah mom you look nice." It wasn't what Chelsea had in mind, describing a girl as nice would be something that they would have to work on.
She glanced at the clock on the wall. She had 5 minutes before Steve was going to pick her up.
Next chapter will the date. Hope you guys are enjoying the story. Don't forget to review.