The Holiday That Changed My Life

Part One Hundred and Seventy Nine

Astons P.O.V.

"Liv, sit still for us babe." I told Olivia as she kept wriggling about on my knee.

It's been seventeen years. And that's a long time come too fast if you ask me. All my kids are all grown up, I hate that. But I wouldn't have changed the past twenty years for the world.

Right now me, Luce, Ava, Ethan and Olivia were all sat outside in a huge garden with hundreds of other proud families as we watched Soph graduate from Harvard. Soph had made us all so proud by carrying on with the whole medicine thing and becoming a fully qualified doctor.

"Look, there's Mummy!" I said cheerily, pointing at Soph who was walking up to the stage as her name was called out.

No Olivia wasn't my daughter, she's my four years old granddaughter. I was less than impressed when Soph came home from college one afternoon with the news that she was expecting with her boyfriend, Spencer, at just seventeen. But she told us that she wanted to keep it and me and Luce had no other option but to accept that, we weren't in control of her life. Plus, she told us the plan that she had, including working hard at college to get the grades she needed to get into Harvard.

As for Ava, she actually took after Luce and followed in her footsteps in the fashion industry. She absolutely loved going to Luce's shows when she was younger, a lot more than Soph, then throughout high school she thoroughly enjoyed textiles and anything to do with fashion so once college was over she decided to go to university to get herself a full qualification. Ava was adamant that she was going to do this herself, without the help of her mothers name. Luce wasn't insulted by that, she completely understood but she made sure that Ava knew she could go to her if she ever needed any help. And right now she's fully qualified and is an intern at Vivienne Westwood. And I'm so proud of her for doing this all by herself, we both are.

Then there's Ethan, the nineteen year old who's only ever had an interest in football. He tried to duck out of high school in his third year saying that he wanted to pursue his football career and although me and Luce were happy that he was so passionate about something, we made sure that he stayed on in school, and college for that matter, so that he at least had some qualifications that he could fall back on. Not that any of that mattered, throughout his first year in college he was approached by Chelsea's Under 18's coach and offered a contract with them after a few meetings etc. I was definitely unhappy that my son was playing for Chelsea rather than Arsenal but I was immensely proud that he was playing for such a high profile team. Once Ethan turned eighteen the team made the decision to move him up to the first team; he was officially a Chelsea football player, one of the best (not that I'm biased). Luce was just as proud as I was but she wasn't too pleased with the reputation that Ethan's gained over the last two years. But hey, he's having fun, I was exactly the same. And I've told him, no glove no love, and hopefully he's stood by that. As long as he's safe there's no problem. Luce also had a problem with the fact that Ethan's our youngest child, Soph and Ava have both moved out, and he doesn't spend that much time at home due to training and overseas matches.

As for me and Luce, we're still as strong as we were when we first met. Years of marriage and I still find myself falling in love with her just that little bit more every single day. I'd stopped singing a few years back, once you've been in the business for a while you need to take a step back and let the young ones have their turn. I didn't leave the business completely, I started my own record label so that kids who have their hearts set on a music career can have a shot, rather than be embarrassed on national TV. Alongside that I decided to have a go at the whole producing thing, which was actually a lot of fun and I beat myself up for not trying it sooner; I love it.

Luce is still going with her designs, everyone still loves her, you can't find a single person on Twitter who doesn't like her stuff. She still does her fashion shows and they're all big successes just as they were before, in fact she's actually off to Paris next week with Ava. Soph's taking that week to spend some time with Olivia as she hasn't really seen her properly for the last two weeks and Luce completely understood when Soph told her just a few days ago, she wasn't even expecting Soph to come. As for Ethan, he's been to a few of Luce's shows before he was signed and after that he rarely had time off so he couldn't come as often any more. But he's always at the ones in London if he's in town showing support for his mum.

"Mummy!" Olivia grinned as she waved her hands in the air.

"We can see Mummy in a minute, go sit with Ethan for a sec." I told her as she jumped off my knee and toddled over to her uncle whilst I got my phone out to take a few pictures as did Luce.

We had to stay seated for another half hour as the other students were handed their diplomas but once that was all over, we were moved to another part of the field so that the chairs could be cleared away. Soph came over in her hat and gown, grinning away with her diploma tight in her hands. She hugged her mum and her brother and sister before picking Olivia up and giving her a big squeeze, putting her down just before jumping on me in the biggest hug ever.

"I'm so proud of you darling." I smiled, wrapping my arms around my daughter.

"Thanks for believing in me Daddy." Soph grinned as she pulled back.

"I knew you'd do it." I smiled before kissing her cheek.

"Well-Ah!" Soph shrieked, placing her hands over her mouth before running past us all.

We all turned to see what Soph was doing, seeing her running towards a tall, dark haired man in his military gear. Spencer came. For the last three weeks Soph's been so upset that Spencer couldn't get a weekend pass to come to her graduation, but she knew that what he was doing was just as if not more important. At the age of eighteen Spencer began his training, being transferred when he was twenty. He comes home for Christmas and Olivia's birthday, Soph's birthday too if he can get a weekend pass. I respected Spencer very much for what he's doing for our country, but what I respected most was that he always always put his girls first. I admired Soph immensely as she was doing a full time course and also being two parents whilst Spencer was away.

"Liv," I said as Olivia looked up at me. "Who's with Mummy?"

"Daddy!" Olivia screamed as she turned around before running over to her parents as fast as her little legs could carry her.

Soph pulled her lips away from Spencer's as Olivia tapped her leg, Spencer dropped his bag to the floor and crouched down to gather Olivia in his arms, standing up as he wrapped his arms around her. It's still so weird seeing my little girl all grown up with her own family, especially considering I still remember the exact minute she was born.

"This is crazy." Luce laughed quietly as she rested her head on my shoulder and slowly linked her fingers with mine.

"I know," I smiled, kissing her head. "It's too weird."

"I love how happy they all are." She sighed contently as I gently squeezed her hand.

"They're doing what they love and they have two parents who couldn't be more proud of them." I grinned as Spencer and the girls came over.

This is my family, this is my life. And it never would've happened if I didn't make that snap decision to catch that plane, that's the holiday that changed my life.

THE END

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