A little break away from the series for this chapter...
Richard and Rosemary's anniversary lunch was to be held at their local golf club. Clive, Martha and Olivia were the only other family members present, with the majority of guests made up of their friends. As they all started to gather for lunch, Clive's parents introduced them to all their friends. Olivia was the centre of attention being the only small child present.
The lunch was a delicious buffet and there was a toast afterwards, with Clive having been asked to say a little something about his parents as well as do the toast. After all the formalities, people spent the rest of the afternoon milling around and catching up with each other.
Being the only child around, Martha could see Olivia was starting to get a little restless and was casting longing glances at the little play area the golf course had to accommodate visiting children.
"Do you want to go and play?" She asked her daughter and got a nod.
"Can you come wiv me, Mummy?" Olivia asked.
Martha picked her up before letting Clive know they were heading over to the playground. The next hour or so, was spent with Olivia trying out all of the equipment. Her mother had pushed her on the swings, sat opposite to her on the little seesaw and was now stationed at the bottom of the slide catching Olivia on every turn.
"How are you two?" Asked Clive as he approached them.
"Watch me, Daddy!" Olivia commanded as she once again hurled herself fearlessly down the slide into the waiting arms of her mother.
Martha picked her up and they headed over to Clive. "The party's starting to wind down," Clive explained. "How about we head back home and spend some time in the pool whilst Mum and Dad wrap things up here?" He asked and was met with agreement from both his girls.
By the time Martha had got Olivia dressed in her swimming costume and had made her way down to the pool, Clive was already swimming lengths. He was a good swimmer, and he definitely had the body for it, Martha thought as she watched him for a few strokes.
Olivia had been swimming with her father a few times as he was keen for her to learn to swim relatively young. Whilst she still needed her armbands to swim, she wasn't afraid of the water any more and was quite the water babe once she got going.
"Come here," Martha said as she grabbed hold of Olivia before she scampered off to the pool edge. She quickly put her armbands on, which proved to be a little difficult with her daughter hopping about impatiently, anxious to join her father in the water.
Clive swam over to them, waiting for Olivia to be ready. "I was looking forward to seeing you in your bikini, Marth!" Clive teased when he saw that Martha was still in her day clothes.
"I'm just going to sit and watch I think," Martha replied as she handed Olivia to her waiting father. She wanted to text Billy to check he was ok after his operation the previous day. She was a bit worried as she hadn't heard from him yet.
Sitting on one of the loungers around the pool, she sent a quick text before resting back and watching her daughter play with Clive. A little later, she heard a ping from her phone indicating she had a message. She was glad to see it was from Billy. Everything had gone well, and the doctors were very pleased with him. He hadn't been able to write yesterday as he was quite groggy from the anaesthetic, but was now spending the day with his family who were on visiting duty that day.
"Mummy, watch me!" Olivia instructed as she started to paddle quite vigorously towards Clive who had moved about five metres away from his daughter, encouraging her to swim towards him.
"I'm watching," Martha replied as Olivia finally made it to her father and got praise from both her parents. Once she got bored of swimming, she moved onto jumping in. As long as her father was nearby, she knew she would be safe.
"Mummy! Daddy! Watch me!" She shouted as she jumped in with a splash. She went under for a little bit, but reemerged soon after, gave a bit of a splutter before paddling over to the steps, climbing out and running a couple of steps along the pool edge, before starting the whole cycle again.
She was still going when Clive's parents finally returned. Clive and Martha were beginning to get a little bored by this time. "I think it's time to get out now, Liv," Martha suggested. "You're all wrinkly,".
"Just a couple more jumps, Mummy," Olivia begged. After two more, Clive picked her up before she swam off again, and handed her off to Martha who was waiting at the side with a large fluffy hooded towel, before he got out and started drying himself off. Bundling Olivia up, Martha headed off to the bathroom, to give Olivia a bath and hair wash, whilst Clive used the shower in another bathroom.
Once all were washed, everyone headed out to the garden to enjoy a light supper and make the most of the nice summer weather. After a big lunch, no one was particularly hungry. As the sun slowly began to set, the day began to catch up with the little one. Sliding off her chair she walked over to her mother with her arms up. Martha picked her up and sat her on her lap. To the accompaniment of the adult chatter, evening bird song, dimming light and the gentle touch from her mother as she rhythmically stroked her daughters hair, Olivia drifted off into dreamland.
"You alright Marth?" Asked Clive as he spooned up behind Martha in bed a bit later. "You've been a bit quiet this evening,"
"What would you say if I said I wanted another baby?" She asked hesitantly, as she turned onto her back to look at her bed partner.
"Honestly?" Clive asked after a beat, hoping he wasn't going to screw this up.
Martha nodded, wondering what his answer would be. They hadn't discussed this before despite Olivia's recent demands.
"I think I'd quite like it, Marth,".
"Really?" She asked. "Because it won't work if you don't really mean it,".
"Of course I mean it. It would mean I get to experience all the little things I missed out on with Liv because we weren't living together,".
Martha looked in his eyes and could see he was telling the truth. She gave a little smile when she processed his last words. "You do know you've just volunteered for the three am feeding and nappy shift," she explained when Clive had asked her what was funny.
"So does that mean we're going to start trying then," Clive asked as he waggled his eyebrows and repeated his caresses from the previous night.
"Not now, you idiot," she replied as she repeated her slap from the previous night. "When we get back to the privacy of our bedroom," she explained. Clive started nuzzling her neck as she continued on. "Besides there's no point tonight, because I'm on the Pill and my period's due in a couple of days. We can start after that's finished,".
Clive stopped his nuzzling when he heard the word 'period'. "That just killed the mood," he exclaimed as he settled down onto his back. "Can I ask what's brought this on?" He asked as he nestled Martha into his side.
"Couple of things really. I was asked a few times at your parents do if we were going to have anymore. And Olivia really wants it. She hasn't let it drop like she usually does when it doesn't really interest her," she replied with her chin on his chest. "I think it would do her really good as well, to have someone close to her age to play with and create mischief with, instead of one of us,".
"Fair enough," Clive answered as he brushed a curl away from her forehead. "And what about work? I take it this means you are dropping out of the head of chambers contest?".
"Yes. I think Alan put me off over that lunch we had. Besides, it doesn't really interest me all that much if I'm honest, accounts, meetings and all that stuff. I'd much rather be in the court room fighting for my clients" Martha admitted. "How about you? You still want to be head?".
"I think so. You don't mind do you?".
"Not at all," responded Martha truthfully. "I think you'd be better at it than me. And I can tell everyone I'm sleeping with the boss," she teased.
The next morning, and Olivia was back to her energetic self, after recharging her batteries overnight. Martha heard her chattering to herself in her bedroom, and decided to fetch her before she woke Clive's parents up.
Returning to bed, she got the iPad and mother and daughter watched some CBeebies until the rest of the house started to stir.
"Ready to have your peace disturbed?" Martha asked Rosemary and Richard as they entered the kitchen with Olivia as wide awake as ever and on chatty form. Sunday morning at Clive's parents was quite a relaxed affair. Everyone in their pyjamas whilst Rosemary cooked up a storm.
The plan for the rest of the day was a walk around a nearby park, stopping off for lunch before heading back to the cars. Clive, Martha and Olivia would head back to London from there.
Just before everyone left the kitchen to get dressed and start packing, Rosemary announced she had a little surprise for her granddaughter.
"Mum!" Said Clive. "You didn't need to do that. You already got her her new bedroom furniture,".
"Yes I did," she argued. "Everyone commented how well behaved she was yesterday. I know it wasn't the most exciting thing for a three year old to go to, so I wanted to say thank you," she explained as she disappeared into the utility room. "Now I don't know if you have one of these Darling," she continued, "but all the children round here seem to have one. If you have, then it can stay here and you can play on it when you come to visit again,".
As she finished, she reappeared in the room holding a bright pink scooter. Olivia's eyes lit up.
"A scooter!" She exclaimed joyfully.
"What do you say?" Asked Martha.
"Thank you, Grandma!" Olivia replied as she went over to her grandmother and hugged her round her legs before examining her present.
"Have you been on one before?" her Gran wanted to know.
"Uh huh. My friend Ruby has one and we scoot at her house when I go to play," Olivia replied. "My one is better though," boasted the little girl as she took in the sparkly tassels on the handlebars, the bell, and the plastic basket on the front. Martha found it quite funny that she had been a tomboy as a little girl, whereas her daughter was quite the girly girl, loving anything pink and sparkly. To complete the present was a safety helmet, to keep her safe.
"Can I scoot at the park?" Olivia asked her parents, who agreed. In fact it was difficult to keep her off it once her helmet had been put on. Heeding her mothers warning, she didn't go to far ahead or get in other peoples way, but she was dashing around all over the place before scooting back to her family, ringing her bell and dashing off again.
"I wish I still had her energy," Rosemary commented as she watched Olivia zip around. She was happy her present had been so well received.
"I think she must have covered about three times the distance we have," Martha commented keeping a watchful eye on her daughter.
After a lovely roast, the family set off for the car park, Olivia adamant she was going to scoot all the way. However, her earlier exuberance began to take its toll and soon the adults were ahead of her.
"Daddy, I don't think I can scoot anymore," Olivia admitted beginning to feel really tired. She had ground to a complete standstill. Picking her up and carrying her in one arm, and the scooter in the other, she was fast asleep on Clive's shoulder by the time they got back to the car. She roused briefly to say goodbye to her grandparents but was fast asleep again by the time she was strapped in her car seat, and she remained that way for the whole of the journey home.