An absurdly short part for y'all tonight, but sweet I hope ;) Enjoy! Jessie xx
Honey, I'm home
"Stop laughing. I mean it," Mia pleaded with her father as he refused to obey her. "Please! It's not even that funny."
Robert Strickland gathered all his repose and took a deep breath. Then he looked at his daughter and started laughing again.
"Oh, shut up and leave her alone," Sandra said, whacking him on the shoulder with the tea-towel she was carrying. "It's not her fault, my mother wrong-footed her into it. If she hadn't let slip, I would have. Besides, I think we got away with it."
"What, like mentioning the war?" Robert managed to choke between guffaws. "I mentioned it once, but I think I got away with it! Alright, alright, I'm sorry. It's not funny. So you've looked at dresses?"
Sandra sighed and sat down beside him. "I tried to start thinking about the wedding. And about a million other things. I only looked at dresses 'cause Mia suggested it was somewhere to start. I didn't get very far. I honestly think I'm just going to turn up in my dressing gown and have done with it!"
"Mmm," Robert murmured. "Will you be wearing anything underneath this dressing gown?"
"Urgh! Dad!" Mia exclaimed only in half-jest. "I'm going to put Bella down and try and finish this book for English. I'll see you both in the morning. Good night."
"Good night, love," Rob responded still grinning. He wasn't going to lie; it had only been two days (and two nights) but he had missed his family terribly. Being home, truly home, felt more right than it ever had done before.
"What?" Sandra queried as his face contorted into a cross frown in answer to his thoughts.
"I'm just thinking," he told her, lifting his arm and inviting her closer. "This time last year, I'd have almost welcomed a weekend away from the flat. And now, there's nowhere I'd rather be."
"It's been a funny old year," she agreed, laying her legs over his and snuggling up to him. "Not even that when you think about it."
"No," he mused. It had only been seven months since his life had turned around forever when Hermione had arrived on his doorstep. Six months since he'd become a grandfather. And two months since Sandra had let him into her life. "So," he continued shaking off his silent calendar marking. "How did you get on with wedding planning? And possibly more importantly, what are we going to make Mia cook for us?"
She laughed. He loved her laugh; the sparkling peel of infectious amusement that filled the room like the chime of a pretty music box.
"I don't think they suspected anything," she said seriously. "Well, Esther maybe, but she didn't say anything. And my mother was distracted enough by Bella to not notice if the café had ignited around her."
"So…" Rob began suspiciously.
"So the bet is still on," Sandra said sternly. "The first out of us two to let slip is the loser and has to cook dinner for a week. Meanwhile, how was the conference?"
"Ah," Rob hesitated. "I was going to save that for tomorrow."
"Hmm?" she looked at him. "Why?"
"Listen," he rubbed her arm and held her closer to him, savouring the contact that he'd missed over the weekend. "We agreed not to talk about work at home."
"Ah," she echoed.
"What?"
"Well, there was something I wanted to talk about," she said, picking at a loose thread at the knee of her jeans.
"To do with work?" Rob stilled her hand. The gentle force of the action made her stop and shuffle in her seat to face him better. If he hadn't been filled with curiosity as to what she wanted to say, he might have found it amusing how obediently the strongest woman he knew responded to a simple gesture. "Can it wait 'til tomorrow?"
"Why?" she asked curiously.
"Well, I've been away all weekend, I'm quite tired," he winked.
"Are you?" she frowned in confusion.
"Well, maybe not tired," he admitted cheekily as he placed a hand on her cheek and drew her lips towards his. "And this idea of a wedding in pyjamas…"
"Oh," she replied with dawning realisation. "I see…"
As their lips met, and the kiss deepened, both forgot what it was they'd wanted to say.