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Chapter 46
Ella cooked scrambled eggs and toast. She only burnt a few pieces of the toast which she hid in the bin before anyone saw. She served up the eggs, mixed to her special recipe, with a handful of chives too, in a serving bowl on the centre of the table. She added the toast in the two toast racks and set about cooking bacon.
She called the girls and they tumbled into the kitchen for the food. She added a large jug of orange juice and glasses. Then picked up a packet of headache tablets she went to put those on the table when Annie took them out of her hand.
"I love you!" she gasped.
"Me next!" Ruby groaned.
"My feet hurt." Nic moaned biting into a piece of toast.
Ella laughed and turned the bacon on the grill as the timer went on the oven. She opened up the oven and pulled out the muffin tray. Placing the hot muffins on the plate before transferring it to the table.
"Ella you're cooking." Nic said eventually.
"I know. Don't tell anyone." She knelt down and whispered to the girl. "I don't want my reputation spoiled."
Ruby grinned and picked up a muffin, juggling it between her hands.
"Ok it's hot." She said as they looked at her laughing.
"Er Nic." Annie prodded. "The thing from the market."
"Oh yeah." Nic groaned. "My head hurts too." She muttered.
She waited until Ella had served up the Bacon on another plate.
"Ella." Nic called.
She walked over to the girl.
"What's up Nic?" she asked.
"We bought you a present yesterday." They said together.
Nic pulled out the little pouch she'd made to put the ring in and handed it to Ella.
She pulled the ribbon and opened it.
"Wow." She said looking at the ring.
She put it on the middle finger of her left hand with the heart pointing toward her.
"You know the story behind the ring?" Annie asked.
"Yes. Now can I get hug girls?" she asked and they stood up pulling her into the middle so all of them could hug her.
They broke apart eventually.
Ella walked over and poured out a cup of coffee to take through to Roman when Nic stopped her.
"How." She began. "When." She stuttered.
"Your dad?" Ella guessed.
"Well yes." Nic said.
"I want to know the story too." Ruby grinned.
"Well we used to dance when I knew him back then." Ella said and grinned.
"No. I want the full story." Nic said folding her arms across her chest as she sat back down at the table.
"Sorry that's on a need to know basis." Roman said from behind them. He walked over and kissed Ella on the cheek smiling at her as she handed him a coffee.
Nic looked at the others.
"We need to know." They said.
He grinned.
"It's just that we used to dance a long time ago." Roman said looking at Ella.
She was smiling at him one hand pressed on her belly.
She looked at him and nodded and he pressed his hand on her small bump.
"Oh my God is the baby kicking?" Annie gasped.
Ella nodded.
Annie stood up and walked over.
"Can I?" she asked.
Ella nodded again.
Annie put her hand next to Roman's.
"Wow!" Annie said.
Roman and Ella laughed.
"Nic?" Ella asked looking at her.
Nic stood and walked over placing her hand where Annie's had been a moment earlier.
Roman kissed the top of Nic's head.
"It's real." Nic said. "I want one." She added.
Roman went pale.
Ella laughed and Ruby and Annie squealed with excitement.
"Er… everyone… the baby has stopped kicking now do you think you could let go because I'd like some food." Ella said after a moment.
Roman and Nic hastily removed their hands and stepped back.
She stood on tiptoe and pressed a kiss to Roman's cheek.
"Com'on Grandpa I've cooked." She whispered to him pulling him to the table.
He looked at her and smiled.
They sat down and started eating.
"What do you girls want to do today?" Ella asked them.
"Well I thought shopping. There are a couple of vintage clothing shops we could look in." Nic suggested looking at the others.
Annie grinned.
"We came up with this idea for the hen do." She explained.
"Yeah it's going to be so cool." Ruby added.
"We are going to do a joint party so everyone is included then we will split off into hen and stag do's." Nic told them. "But I thought of a theme for it. 1960's and 1970's." she said.
"We bought wigs the other day on the market so we need clothes." Annie added.
"That sound so funky. I can just see your Dad in something like a John Travolta white suit doing disco dancing." Ella told them.
"Like hell." Roman told her grinning.
She just smiled at him.
He laughed.
"No." he told her.
She continued to smile at him.
He shook his head.
She turned to look at the girls.
"You've given me an idea. We'll go to my studio after breakfast so I can show you something." She grinned at them.
Roman reached for a muffin and put his arm around Ella.
"I'll need your muscles too." She told him.
They ate all the food and finished more than one pot of coffee.
Ruby and Annie cleared the table while Ella went to shower and dress. Nic sat with her dad on the sofa.
"She's glowing. This break has done her good." Nic said.
Roman grinned.
"And you guys coming." He told her.
"Is everything ok with the baby?" Nic asked eventually.
"We've had a few problems and Ella has a blood pressure problem so we have to spend a lot of time resting." He admitted. "I know you have suspected there might be a problem Nic and I appreciate you not letting Ella know you were worried."
Nic moved into her Dad's embrace, wondering when it first felt this easy to love him and let him love her.
Ella came out and looked over at them.
"Everyone ready?" she asked and without waiting for an answer she walked downstairs to the studio. She walked over to a door next to her darkroom and opened the door. Roman walked up behind her and watched as she clicked on the light. He saw that it was a normal storeroom.
"You needed me?" he asked.
She turned around and placed a kiss on his lips.
"Always." She whispered softly.
He laughed.
She pointed to a vintage trunk on a shelf.
"Can you get that for me and I warn you it is heavy." She told him.
He grinned and lifted the trunk to the floor.
"You said heavy, you didn't say I should work out for a month before trying to lift it." he grumbled.
She smiled.
"How about I give you a hand with it?" she asked and waited for the explosion.
He walked over to her and kissed her.
"I think I can manage," he told her.
She smiled at him and ran her hand down his back.
"Are you going to tell Nic how you came to be able to dance." She asked him.
He looked at her.
"No." he grinned. "I really don't want her to hear that story." He muttered.
She smiled at him again and stood to one side while he lifted the trunk into the studio.
"Well if you don't want me to accidentally spill the beans you may have to take me dancing more often." She said.
"Are you blackmailing me?" he asked quickly.
"That depends will it work?" she said bending down to open the trunk.
He laughed.
"I will take you dancing again." He told her. "I did kind of enjoy holding you last night!"
He knelt down next to her stroking her shoulder and pushing her hair back so he could kiss her neck.
"I love you." He told her.
She looked over at him.
"I love you too." She murmured and touched the dog tags she was once more wearing.
He straightened and turned to go up the stairs.
"Do you want my muscles anymore?" he asked expecting the answer to be no as she was engrossed in looking in the trunk.
"Maybe later." She muttered distractedly. "Go watch Lethal Weapon." She added.
He was halfway up the stairs when he head her laughing.
The girls wandered down.
"El?" Nic asked.
"Here." She said and walked out of the storeroom with a clothes rail. She took it over to the trunk and started hanging up some of the outfits.
There were flapper dresses and Victorian dresses then she pulled up mod dresses and minis in silver. The girls went over and helped her until the rail was full of outfits.
"These are so cool!" Ruby said.
Ella set up a screen close by and wandered back into the storeroom to look in there.
"Help!" she called.
The girls went over to her.
"Right this one is full of accessories and that one has make-up in. I don't want to lift them although they aren't heavy." She told them.
Annie picked one up and Ruby the other taking them to the rail.
"Hang on Nic, if you look in that corner you should see some things that you might like." Ella told her. "I had a housewarming when I first moved in and I was given a few presents. I've never used them." She explained.
Nic walked over and saw a number of boxes. She looked inside and saw a dinner service, brand new the box not opened, a similar box containing a saucepan set. The other box had a glass set an iron still in original box and a set of cutlery.
"Oh my god! Oh my god! Oh my god!" Nic cried. "Are you totally serious?" she asked.
"Yes. I've never used them, if you want them take them." Ella told her.
Nic responded by hugging Ella and bursting into tears.
"Er… Nic… Are you going to let me go anytime soon?" Ella asked her.
"No. We have you now you can't escape." She said, her voice sounding serious. "If things don't work out between you and my dad promise me you get custody of me." She said.
Ella laughed.
"Come on you." She led her out and over to the others seeing that Ruby had spread the make up on the dressing table.
Ella bent down and clicked the switch and the lights around the mirror came on with a slow flicker.
"Hey!" Ruby grinned.
"Now would you like to model for me?" she asked them. "Not that you have a choice I'm telling you!"
They laughed.
Ella picked up a Victorian lace dress and handed that to Annie. She took the black and white dress and gave that to Ruby, before selecting the silver mini skirt and a matching boob tube for Nic.
"How about we fetch the wigs down?" Ruby suggested.
Nic nodded.
"I think this outfit would go with mine." She added.
"Mine won't." Annie said.
"Tough" Ella told her. "You can get changed first and then chose something else when I'm working with the others. I want to see you in that one!"
Annie laughed.
"Yes Adopted-mama!" she said grinning.
Annie got changed behind the screen while Ruby and Nic went upstairs. Ella selected the Camera and powered up the laptop. She put on a couple of studio lights. And debated whether to ask Roman to move a chair for her but in the end she tested to see how heavy it was and moved it by herself. She really wanted the chaise lounge but considered the size of that decided against it. She would add a bunch of colourful cushions for the other shots to jazz it up.
"Are you ready?" Ella asked.
Annie came out from behind the screen.
"Wow!" Ella exclaimed. "You are so lovely" she told her.
Annie blushed.
"Really?" she asked uncertain.
"Yes Annie." Ruby told her.
The young girls looked up and saw Nic had tears in her eyes.
"Don't." Annie cried out. "Or I'll start crying!" she added.
"I can't help it you are really beautiful and I am so lucky you are going to be my sister." Nic said.
Ella blinked back her own tears.
"Girls focus. You two get changed. Annie come on." She said and pulled the other girls to the platform. She adjusted the lights and started shooting pictures.
After a few minutes she told Annie to choose something else and took pictures of Nic wearing the pink wig and the silver outfit. She'd found big chunky bangles in the accessories and added those too.
"Hey Nic, you look cool." Ruby called to her.
"Ok change." Ella told them.
She looked at Ruby and made her kick off her shoes. She had her sit cross-legged on the chair. After a minute she went round to the accessories box and came back with a large ruby lookalike ring she put on her first finger.
"Ok I want you to looked bored as if you can't bare to be here another minute" Ella told her.
Ruby grinned and looked down her nose at Ella as she knelt on the floor taking the photos.
"Ok I'm done." She told her. "Annie!" she called.
Annie walked out wearing a pink mini dress with white polka dots on it and white go go boots. The blonde beehive wig completed the look and she added chunky white bracelets and clip on earrings in the shape of daisies with pink centres.
Ella added the cushions and beanbags to the platform and had Annie stand at the back to start off with. She then had her sit on the chair, her legs over the arm. After taking lots of shots she had all three girls come up for group photos. Another 20 minutes she finished.
She hooked up the camera to the laptop and put the pictures on the display choosing a few to print off. She saved them to disc and then handed some of the prints to the girls.
"Ella!" Ruby said. "I look like I'm a model." She gasped.
Ella laughed. She powered down the laptop and switched off the lights.
"I'll let you guys play with the clothes before we put them away." She told them heading for the stairs.
"Hey." Roman called. "Did you have fun? I heard a lot of giggling." He stood and walked over to her.
"Yes." She said with a tired smile, she looked at him. "Roman.." she started to say something before feeling darkness wash over her.
Roman caught her before she fell to the floor and he carried her through to the bedroom. He laid her gently on the bed and checked to make sure she was still breathing. Yes, he admitted, he was over-reacting but he couldn't bare anything to happen to her. After a moment her eyes opened.
"Hey." He said softly. "How are you?"
"I fainted again?" she asked and watched as he nodded. "Well I have to keep you on your toes somehow!" she said to him.
He adjusted the pillows and helped her sit up a bit.
"How about something to eat, make sure your blood sugar is ok." he said. "And a drink."
She nodded tiredly and watched as he left the room.
"Listen to me junior I need you to behave yourself before you give your daddy a heart attack." She said to her bump a protective hand on it. She stroked the bump slowly.
She looked up and saw him standing in the doorway smiling at her.
He walked over to her and handed her a glass of juice. She placed the drink on the bedside cabinet before she caught his hand and held it to her bump.
"We're sorry for scaring you." She told him seeing him smile.
"I think scaring is a mild word, I'm bloody petrified." He admitted.
She patted the bed and he climbed on it beside her. She snuggled close to him his arms going around her.
"It will be worth it with the sleepless nights, the endless nappies, the look on you face when you realise he or she is going to cost a fortune. Especially the look on you face when you send a her out on her first date." She told him softly. "How is your panic level now?"
"Oh pretty high." He admitted. "And no way am I letting her date." He added.
She kissed him.
"I'm going to stay here for a bit and see how I feel. You may have to take the girls out to dinner on your own." She warned him.
"No chance. I'm not leaving you and no that isn't over protective."
"Just bossy!" she said with a small chuckle.
He smiled at her before going back to the kitchen and making her a sandwich. When he took it through to her she was curled up asleep.
He watched her for a few minutes before walking downstairs to the studio to talk to the girls.