If She Gives You Her Heart Don't You Break It || Kate & Leo Oneshots

Lucky.

Kate- 38

Leo- 39

Mia- 13

Joe- 10

Bear- 3 months

--> Ned does not exist in this timeline. Bear is Leo's child.

***
[MOTHERS DAY, 2014]

It's 6.45am. The day is just beginning and I have already made breakfast for all of us; pancakes.

The syrup sits prettily on top in a golden stream. It slowly meanders down the sides of them and pools at the bottom, glazing the berries that I placed to go alongside it.

There must be at least five pancakes on each of the four plates that I have set out, eleven berries on each. That's an awful lot of food just for four people, I think, sprinkling a light drizzle of sugar along the top.

Of course, there are five of us, but baby Bear is only little and can only have milk and drink himself into a milk coma.

I saunter to the fridge, silently chuckling at the thought of Bear's face squished on Kate's chest as she breathes in silent exhaustion, smiling.

I grab the orange juice carton. There is just about enough for us to have half a glass each.

Pouring the last drop into Kate's glass, I take a step back and admire my work, nodding at the sight of what looks to be the best breakfast scene ever.

There's still about twenty minutes until Bear is due to wake up so I sit on the sofa, cross one leg over the other and glance at the book that Kate is reading.

"The dressmaker- Rosalie Ham." I look at the cover from beneath her reading glasses and smile. The corner at the bottom has a thumb dent pressed into it and the pages are slightly curled into each other; a dead give away that Kate is enjoying it.

Sweeping her glasses onto the table, I pick the book up, holding my thumb where hers would sit, tracing the curly font of the author's name just as she would.

Then, I flick through, seeing paragraphs of print alongside her scribbled notations. One particular page strikes me and I immediately open to that page, smoothing it down as I do so.

"But you want them to like you...They're all liars, sinners and hypocrites."
It is Molly Dunnage who speaks this line and beside it, in small scratches of black biro ink, an annotation.

"She consoles her daughter by claiming that the self-righteous act by the townsfolk is just that, an act. Tilly faces condemnation, she finds support from the few individuals close to her offering reassurance of her worth."

I run my finger over her handwriting again, whispering each word and smiling.

It's neat. Neater than mine.

I realise that I'm reading her thoughts and quickly place the book back onto the table and her glasses back on top before stretching my arm across the back of the sofa and leaning back into the pillows.

"It's okay, you can read it."

The voice forces my eyes open in a wave of startle and I stand up, taking long strides to close the gap between us.

She's holding our baby inside her robe and he is squirming, almost begging with his puckered mouth to be let down.

"Alright teddy Bear. Fine." Her laugh is cathartic and almost brings a tear to my eyes.

She's so fucking perfect.

She places the baby onto his play mat and ruffles the fabric animals, making soft cooing noises and tickling his knees, earning a small laugh as she stands back up and walks over to me.