After opening presents and eating breakfast, George and I went outside with the youngest kids.
I watched as he played in the snow with the three. The twins and Sebastian.
Georgia was inside with Molly junior and Lucy, watching the girls play games on their phones.
I loved seeing George like this and I knew he loved being able to be all childish with our kids.
"He's a good father." Molly's voice caused me to jump before I looked back as she stepped up next to me. "I always imagined he would blow his kids up with those ridiculous explosives."
I raised my eyebrows.
"It isn't ridiculous." I said. "Every product they make means a lot to him... to Fred too."
Molly shook her head.
"After the war, after we thought your uncle killed Fred—"
Didn't have to mention my uncle.
"— I was so scared that George was gonna end up getting himself killed by experimenting with explosives and fireworks."
"They've got it under control." I said. "And they're grown men. They don't need their mother to tell them what and what not to do. That'll only create distance between you and I'm sure you don't want that."
"Like you tell Leah what to do?" She asked, causing me to look at her.
Had she spoken to Leah?
"I'm sorry, but you can't compare those two situations. Your sons are adult. Leah is twelve years old. I am her legal guardian until she's eighteen." I said. "It is none of your business how I parent my children. How do you even know about the situation?"
Molly shrugged.
"She writes me now and then. I'm the closest she's got to a grandmother."
I sighed.
"I remember when you said she wasn't. That you weren't gonna great her equal to the twins because she isn't your granddaughter."
"Oh Dahlia... I just said that to get a reaction from you." She said. "Which I also want to apologise for. I have been horrible towards you."
"Yeah, you have."
"I'm sorry about that, but George is my son and as a mother, it's my job to protect him. How was I supposed to know—"
"Ten years." I cut her off. "Next month, I have been with your son for ten years. I get that you might've wanted to be a bit cautious at first but I was attacked because of my family's past. You judged me the second you found out who I was and since then, I have changed my last name, cut my parents out of my life and I've fought to be a much better parent than they were, yet you never quit. You didn't change the way you saw me. In your eyes I was just the child of two death eaters, the niece of the man who supposedly killed your son."
"That's why I want to apologise." She said. "I see how much George loves you and I see how much you love him."
As I focused on George, a smile spread across my face. The way his entire face lit up as the children attacked him with snow.
"Have you given any thought as to who you want in the delivery room?"
I looked at Molly, and then it hit me.
She was manipulating me, thinking that if she was just nice to me for a day or two, I'd let her be in the room when I gave birth.
"Unbelievable." I laughed, shaking my head as I folded my arms over my chest.
"I'm her grandmother. I should be allowed to be in the room."
"No." I said quickly. "You shouldn't. I'm giving birth and I need to be comfortable so I get to choose who'll be there and let me tell you something, Molly. I would not be comfortable with you being in there."
"I was there when Freddie was born and I was there when George and Angelina had Roxanne."
"Great." I shrugged. "You and Angelina got along so it doesn't surprise me, but you have treated me like shit so I am not having you in the delivery room."
I turned to walk inside and Molly grabbed my arm a bit too roughly, forcing me to stop.
"Be grateful that Fred told me to back off, or I would've certainly given you a piece of my mind." She said and gave me a disgusted look before letting go of me and marching inside.
I inhaled sharply, watching the door close behind her before I looked towards George whose eyes were glued to me.
He sat in the snow and Sebastian kept giving him snowballs but George just looked at me, his eyebrows raised.
'You okay?' He mouthed, and I nodded. He went to mouth something else but I turned and walked into the house.
I pushed off my shoes and hung my coat on the wall before I marched over to Fred who was sitting on the sofa, talking to Percy.
"Can I talk to you?" I asked, earning the attention from them both.
"Yeah... sure." Fred pushed himself off the sofa and followed me upstairs where I turned to look at him. "What did you tell your mother?"
"What?"
"Be grateful that Fred told me to back off." I quoted. "She said that. You're one of the reasons she's been nice to me."
"Okay... yeah." He nodded softly. "I'm not really catching on. Why is that a bad thing?"
I sighed.
"I can fight my own battles, okay? I don't need you to stand up for me to your mother."
A small laugh slipped past his lips and he looked towards the stairs before he looked at me again.
"Listen, princess... it is Christmas, you are pregnant and I simply didn't want you to be upset because of something she says. George is too scared to stand up to her. He is terrified of her and I feel protective of you so yeah, I felt the need to stand up for you and make sure you have a great Christmas."
He felt protective of me?
"I don't need protection from anyone. I'm—"
"Very stubborn." He laughed, cutting me off. "Listen. Years before even meeting you, I heard stories about you. Nadine told me everything there was to know about you and even back then, I just wanted to make sure you were both safe from all that abuse and I hated that I never got the chance to help you out like Nadine and I had talked about. I even saw you on photographs and seeing you for the first time in real life was shocking. You were grownup but you still looked like the photos and since then I've protective of you."
I took a deep breath, looking at Fred before I laughed.
"What?" He asked. "What's funny?"
I shook my head.
"I'm sorry... every time it's mentioned that you used to date my sister, I remember when she snuck you into the house and into her room and I used one of those extendable ears that I bought from your shop, to listen to you in there."
Fred raised his eyebrows in surprise.
"Uh... every time I was there, we—"
"Had sex?" I asked. "Yeah, I found out the hard way."
Fred laughed again and with a smile, I stepped forward, wrapping my arms around him. He hugged me back, tightening his arms around my shoulders.
"I actually saw you when you bought it." He said. "Dunno if you remember but I was behind the register. You were with a Inez and you were both laughing like two pre-teens would. I knew who you were but Nadine wasn't ready for us to be introduced so I didn't give anything away."
I stepped back and looked up at him as I rubbed my face.
"I don't remember that actually..." I said. "But the world is certainly small."
