They had just finished the ride on the Santa train and were heading to where the festival of light displays were. Sam walked between Molly and James the three of them holding hands, every few steps they all counted 1,2,3 as they swung Sam into the air between them, sending him into fits of giggles every time and begging "again daddy and Molly, again,again!" Molly couldn't believe how lucky she was that Sam was so comfortable around her, so quickly, Charles must have done a lot of talking behind the scenes whilst she had been away on her second tour which made her think how sure he must have been about his feelings for her all along. His son was the most important person in his life and there is no way that he would compromise that relationship if he wasn't really in this for the long haul.
They reached the festival of light area it was late afternoon and it had already gone dark, they walked through the gates to be met with the most beautiful display of enormous lanterns twinkling and glowing, giant Chinese dragons,lions,pagodas,pandas. Sam let out a loud squeal "wow Daddy and Molly look at the dragon" Charles had his arm around Molly at one side and was holding Sam's hand at the other as they wandered through the display. He pulled Molly closer and whispered to her "thank you for today, you are a natural" this made her feel very proud of herself she had been nervous about how it would all go down "he has made it easy for me though, he is a lovely lad Charles" He swelled with pride "yes he is, everyday I spend with you I keep thinking it can't get better than this, but it does, it just keeps exceeding my expectations, you keep exceeding my expectations and to have the two of you with me, happy like this, well I never imagined life could be like this again for me." He held her tighter and squeezed Sam's hand who was pre-occupied in awe and wonder at the giant lanterns. "Come on you two" Charles ushered them through the exit gate "let's get home and have some tea"
When they got back to the house, Sam raced up the path carrying his dragon lantern that he had brought back as a souvenir of the day looking very pleased with himself. They got into the house, Charles insisted that Molly and Sam relaxed in the lounge whilst Charles made some pasta for tea.
Charles got busy in the kitchen whilst Molly and Sam made their own entertainment in the lounge, Charles could hear lots of chatter and the occasional giggle coming from the lounge, when the pasta was ready he went through to the lounge to be greeted by Sam and Molly sat at the entrance to their den built with a throw and a couple of armchairs, lit by Sam's new dragon lantern. He chuckled at the sight of the two of them pretending to be the prince and the princess of the dragon castle. "Prince Sam and Princess Molly, your highnesses, tea is now served in the kitchen, please follow me" Molly grabbed Sam's hand and they followed Charles back into the kitchen.
After tea, Charles scooped Sam into his arms off the bar stool and blew a raspberry on his belly "come on scamp it's bath time for you, if you are quick and get your pyjamas on ready we can watch a movie together before bed" he dropped him back down onto the floor and gave him a pat on the backside to usher him up the stairs "come on, up you go pal" Sam stopped on the stairs "daddy I want Molly to do it" Charles smiled "Ok one second" he moved back toward the kitchen door where Molly had started to tidy away the dishes from tea Charles cleared his throat as if to make his announcement "Princess Molly there is a certain Prince that would like you to help him have a bath and get his Pyjamas on here" Molly stopped what she was doing and turned around beaming at Charles "I will be right there" she replied in a similar voice that Charles had used so that Sam could hear...Charles blew her a kiss as she moved past him to join Sam on the stairs. "come on the mate, let's see how many bubbles we can fit into that bath" Charles watched them both disappear up the stairs and turned to go back and finish the dishes, walking on air his heart feeling like it was going to burst.
A little time later Molly and Sam joined him on the sofa in the lounge and they settled down to watch Despicable Me as the credits rolled Sam had fallen asleep between them and Charles shifted to lift him up and settle him in bed. He came back down shortly afterwards and sat back down beside Molly putting his arm around he shoulder and snuggling in next to her, kissing her on the temple as he moved closer. "Thank you for being amazing today Molls" she shook her head " just doing my job boss" he smiled knowing exactly what she meant.