Loving Family

Faye: First Summer

Evalynn's first trip to see a musical had gone very well. Even though being in the theatre had made her incredibly excited she'd held on to Tara the whole time we'd been in there out of nerves, which I'd thought was incredibly sweet. She'd loved watching Matilda and had giggled at a lot of the jokes. Walking around the theatre she'd kept close to me, at times clinging to my hand so tightly I was worried it might cause damage so she knew there was no risk of us getting separated. She was still terrified of us getting split up, and I completely understood why but to stop me getting annoyed at myself for that being to do with our past I tended to think of it as just a sweet little thing she liked to do rather than the deeper reasoning behind it. I upset myself about the past often enough. I enjoyed having her little hand in mine anyway; it gave me a completely different set of motherly feelings to holding Benjamin's hand. The one problem we had was walking back to the car I felt sure the inevitable had happened, that someone had finally spotted me with Evalynn and taken a photo for the press. Not wanting to worry Evalynn, and not wanting to stress myself out, I pushed the feeling down knowing I'd had it a few times on dates with Mick before we'd had Ben and it had always turned out to be nothing to worry about - I just assumed I was once more worrying for no good reason.

It was in the car on the way home Evalynn had finally confessed to how she felt. "Tonight was fun. I think I like musicals."
I smiled to myself. I'd been hopeful she'd decide she was into musicals because I had a distinct feeling she'd get to watch me in many over the years, I certainly hoped I'd get chance to do more. "Awh it was nice to have an evening out with you." I told her.
"Can we go to the theatre together again?" She asked.
"Yeah, I'd like that too."
She grinned. "I love you mamma."
"I love you too Evvy."
We let ourselves into the house quietly so we didn't wake Benjamin up and Evalynn excitedly told Mick all about our evening together, bouncing a bit as she did, and then headed to bed. And as ever I tucked her into bed as gently as I could, kissing her forehead, telling her that I loved her and pulling her duvet over her before quietly checking in on Benjamin. I used to do it whenever I was away from home and got back after he'd gone to bed, especially in the lead up to the tour, and so I peeked round the door, found he was asleep and then went to kiss his forehead anyway. Even though he wouldn't know I did it, it just helped me feel slightly better about not being at home for bedtime.

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I smiled as I watched Evalynn and Benjamin messing around in the garden. They were currently having a little water fight, running around giggling and shrieking as they got each other, though still getting on beautifully, and were both soaked now. A lot like my sister and I had as children they seemed more like best friends than siblings and it made my heart sing just watching.
Benjamin ran over to me and tugged on my arm. "Come on! Come play!" He requested.
Evalynn laughed and came up to join us too. "Yeah! Please!"
"Awh no I'm alright watching, you two can carry on though." I replied.
They exchanged a look, grinned at each other and then my reluctance was met by a wet hug from both of them. Evalynn started laughing first, then Benjamin joined in and eventually I had to give up and join too. I loved them both in all their crazy excitement, and I knew I always would. They were both my babies after all.
"Alright then."
Evalynn let go of me and gave me a cheeky smile as she laughed.
"You're so cheeky little missy mini me!" I told her, gently running a finger down her nose and tapping the end.
"I'm not!" She squealed with a little grin.
I gave her a look of disbelief which made her laugh even more. "Are you going to let me go too Ben?" I asked.
He did, with a equally cheeky grin to Evalynn's. He'd definitely changed a bit (for the better of course) since Evalynn had moved in with us in December and he was a bit more confident now as a result of her company.
"Weady Evvy?" Ben asked.
She nodded and I immediately found myself getting sprayed with water by them both. We all laughed and I ran across the garden in the hope it would make me slightly harder to hit. That didn't work too well and I was still getting soaked, so I sat down next to the paddling pool and splashed them both whenever they came near enough. The first time I caught her, Evalynn shrieked and tried to splash me back (though failed somewhat), the second time she was more prepared and managed to get me a little bit at least. The first time I managed to splash Benjamin he giggled, cupped some water in his hand and tried to pour it on my head. So much had dribbled out between his fingers and his hands were so small anyway that the amount which made contact with my head was pretty much unnoticeable. But he giggled about it as if it was much more than it had been all the same.