"Close your eyes!"

Grace was standing over the picnic basket, poised to open it, looking pointedly to Connie, who, for the second time that day, closed her eyes on command.

There was the soft creaking sound of the wicker picnic basket as Rita helped Grace to unbuckle the stiff leather belt that held it together, and then the lid lifted, squeaking on it's hinges.

Connie shifted slightly so that she could sit more comfortably. They were sat on a waterproof backed woven picnic blanket that Connie vaguely recognised from when Grace was little. Above them the branches of the elm tree stretched out, reaching for the sky, bare of leaves, only the tangle of a few deserted birds nests nestled amongst the bows.

She moved again, her legs were folded beneath herself and her knees were beginning to stiffen.

"Open them!"

Grace announced behind an almost silent murmur from Rita.

Connie opened her eyes again, her lips parted in amazement. Before herGrace, with the help of Rita's steadying hand, was holding a birthday cake. A Victoria sponge topped with soft pink butter cream that Grace had decorated with little multicoloured sugar flowers, arranged neatly all the way around the edge, with a few placed in the centre, and all over the top of the cake were pink candles, their little flames flickering and billowing in the breeze.

Connie expelled a laugh of surprise and touched her fingers to her lips.

"Happy birthday!"

Rita said quietly, adoring how shocked Connie looked, how her eyes sparkled and she couldn't help but smile. This is what she had wanted, just one day when everything went right, and Connie didn't have to worry, or argue, or fight with anybody.

"Happy birthday, Mummy!"

Grace's face flickered and glowed with the light from the flames and Connie glanced up from the candles to her daughters face, reaching out to touch her cheek, feeling the warmth from the candle flames as she moved.

"Thank you sweetheart."

She looked quickly to Rita, the blonde just giving a purse of her lips and a gentle nod of her head, a silent 'thank you' between them.

"Are you going to blow them out?"

Grace asked impatiently, watching with concern as pink wax began to drip down onto the butter cream.

Connie placed her hands into her lap and lent forwards slightly, looking back down to the cake.

"Wait, wait! Don't forget to make a wish!"

Grace exclaimed, her excitement making the plate that held the cake wobble and Rita reached out with her other hand to steady it again.

Connie's lips twitched with a smile as she inhaled, and paused, she had never made a wish before...not since she had been a child, but now, for some reason, she found herself making one, and then all at once she exhaled and blew out the candles, all but one which she let Grace see too.

She leant back, the three of them watching the thin white streamers of pale grey smoke filter up into the air above them.

"What did you wish for?"

Grace asked as Rita helped her settle the cake down on the rug between them.

"Hmm?"

Connie murmured, watching Rita bring out one of her kitchen knives which she handed to Grace before reaching back into the picnic basket for the plates.

Grace's dark eyes were wide and expectant.

"Well, if I tell you it won't come true, will it?"

Connie smiled, reaching out to squeeze her daughters fingers as she huffed and rolled her eyes in a way that Connie recognised as her own.

"Do I get to try it?"

She asked, and Grace wrinkled up her face, suddenly realising that she was the one holding the knife...that Rita had trusted her with it, to cut the cake.

"Big bit, or little bit?"

Grace asked, wielding the knife above the cake in a manner that made Connie want to reach out, to guide her hand.

"Big bit."

Rita answered for her before she had a chance to respond, and Grace grinned, slicing down into the cake, her tongue touching between her teeth as she concentrated on cutting a perfectly straight line, and then another, before slowly, slowly drawing out the slice from the cake and placing it on the little white plate that Rita held for her.

"Perfect!"

Rita murmured, passing the plate to Connie, their fingertips brushing beneath the china.

"Thank you."

Connie set the plate upon he thighs and watched whilst Grace cut Rita's slice.

"I think you made a slight miscalculation with the candles."

She said. There were twenty of them left on the cake, twenty two including the ones on her slice. Oh to be twenty two again...

"Well, at your age the fewer people that know the better."

Rita answered quickly, dipping her chin, looking up at Connie, wickedness glittering behind her eyes as she grinned and Connie raised an eyebrow, watching intently as Rita accepted her own piece of cake and raised her thumb to her mouth, licking off a stray piece of icing.

"Rita said if we put any more on it would be a fire hazard."

Grace spoke as she cut herself a slice, a slice noticeably bigger than both her mothers and Rita's.

"She did, did she!"

Connie exclaimed, narrowing her eyes at Rita, struggling to stifle her own amusement as Rita coughed and broke off a piece of cake with her fingers, popping it into her mouth quickly so that she wouldn't be expected to answer. Connie watched her, the familiar ache of love fluttered somewhere between her stomach and her throat. She drew in a long breath, she was growing used to how difficult it was to conceal a palpitating heart, only to still be fearful as she did so that the beats should come too loudly, and betray her.

She glanced to he daughter, wondering how long she could keep this all a secret.

"Mummy?"

Grace asked, breaking her train of thought and she raised her plate to her chest, breaking off a piece of cake as her daughter swallowed.

"Please can Rita stay over again tonight? I want to watch Frozen with her...she said we could dress up, and have ice cream...?"

She asked, and Rita looked suddenly alarmed.

"I didn't necessarily mean tonight."

She answered, swallowing quickly.

Connie glanced to her, the wind was blowing towards her and she could have sworn she smelled Rita's perfume as she inhaled.

"You'd like her to?"

She asked, looking back to Grace who was shovelling in another mouthful of cake so that she could only nod enthusiastically when Connie spoke.

"Well then it's entirely up to Rita."

She said evenly, trying to force nonchalance but instead she sounded vaguely breathless.

Rita opened her mouth to speak, closed it again and then cleared her throat.

"I'm sure I can manage one more night."

She said eventually, and Grace clapped her hands together, unable to do much else considering the amount of food she had in her mouth, and Connie threw her the flicker of a frown.

An odd silence fell between them, a silence that Grace seemed oblivious to, but one that caused both Connie and Rita great discomfort. Connie shifted, trying to concentrate on the sweetness of the butter cream in her mouth, but instead she couldn't help but feel the tug and pull of her jeans between her legs, a tight feeling that made her clear her throat, her eyes looking anywhere but at Rita.

"Napkins!"

Rita exclaimed suddenly, as Grace surreptitiously wiped her fingers on the picnic blanket by her thigh.

Connie widened her eyes.

"They're in the car, I'll just..."

"I'll get them!"

Grace cut in, snatching the car keys from the blanket and setting down her plate, only a few crumbs left scattered across it.

The little girl was up and running towards the car before Rita could blink and she turned to Connie, her mouth open in surprise.

"She certainly inherited your sense of urgency."

She said quietly, watching as Connie smiled and teased off another piece of cake, holding it between her fingers.

"She seems to like you."

She said simply, making Rita flush, and she placed the cake into her mouth, chewing and swallowing before speaking again.

"This is perfect by the way...the cake, the picnic..."

Rita smiled again and pressed her lips together, glancing down at the pattern on the blanket. Behind them, some distance away they heard the boot of the car open and close.

"So...what did you wish for?"

Rita asked, changing the subject, pressing her fingertip against the crumbs on her plate, capturing them and licking them off with her tongue.

Connie drew in a breath and squinted against the sunlight that filtered through the branches, casting a vague warm shaft of light against her face. Did Rita really believe in wishes? More to the point, did she?

"I wished for it to always be like this."

She murmured, the sun against her lips.

"Just the three of us. Always this easy...always this happy..."

-.-

In the next update (which I will update this afternoon or this evening depending when I complete it) Grace will find out about their relationship. Any guesses as to how she will react?! ;) xxx