His Heart Bonus Scenes

Family dinner: Lizzie

"Mum, can I help you make dinner?" Maddie asked, entering the kitchen.

"Of course you can, cariño." I replied, turning to smile at her.

Maddie chuckled.

"Cariño." She said.

"Cariño." I repeated, copying her best I can.

"Perfect." She said, coming to stand next to me.

She was so beautiful. I hoped she knew how beautiful she was. I opened my mouth to tell her before I was cut off by the boys arguing.

"Mummy! Liam won't give me the remote." I heard Luke wail from the living room.

"Liam..." I called, turning to the door.

"I've got it, mi amor." Charlie said, as he entered the back door.

"Hola, Papá." Maddie smiled.

"Hola, cariño." He pecked his daughter on the cheek and gave me a kiss on the lips before heading into the living room to see the boys.

"PAPÁ!" The boys shrieked.

"Let me sit down first and we can see what's on." He said in his usual quiet tone.

I poked my head around to the living room to see him sat on the sofa with the twins either side of him and Leo curled up in his lap. I smiled.

"Coffee?"

"Yes please." He smiled, ruffling Luke's hair. "Do you need any help?"

"We're ok. I'll pop the kettle on." I disappeared back into the kitchen, where Maddie smiled at me.

"You can go to the living room with the boys if you want to, cariño." I said.

"I like helping you." She said. "It's nice to have someone to cook with."

I smiled and kissed her forehead gently.

"Mum, can Thomas come over tomorrow after school?" She asked.

"Of course he can. He and your papá are due for a catch up." I joked.

Sometimes I think Charlie loved Thomas more than Maddie did. I'm glad she's found someone who makes her happy.

Maddie chuckled.

"I'm sure Thomas is missing his best friend." She said.

"What was that?" Charlie asked, re-entering the kitchen.

"Can Thomas come over after school tomorrow?" Maddie asked, turning to her papá with puppy eyes that always made him melt.

"No problem." Charlie said, stroking her hair, before picking up the mug I had left on the side for him.

He was just about to take a sip when he was interrupted, again.

"Papá, help." Liam came running into the kitchen.

Poor man couldn't get a break nowadays. Then again, he can't say I didn't warn him.

"What happened?" He asked, looking down at Liam.

"Luke is stuck."

"Stuck?" He frowned.

"Behind the sofa."

Charlie turned to me. "Why is it always the youngest getting stuck in impossible places?" He asked.

"Size." I replied. "I'm pretty sure Liam bullied him into a corner in the womb."

His laugh tinkled as he went to the living room to help Luke out of his predicament.

Liam looked up at the counter.

"Can I help?" He asked, jumping up and down, eagerly.

"Can you set the table, sweetheart?" I asked.

He nodded and slowly counted out the spoons.

"What's for dinner?" Luke asked, as he entered the kitchen on Charlie's back.

"Gazpacho with a calamari side." I replied, watching Luke slide to the floor with a giggle.

The twins looked puzzled.

"You'll like it." I said, encouragingly. "It's a soup and you've had calamari before."

They nodded and I gave them a spoon to try it.

"Mmm." They approved, trying to go back for seconds.

"Boys wait." I said, with a laugh. "It'll be ready soon enough."

"It smells delicious." Charlie said, standing behind me and kissing my cheek.

"Papá." Luke held his arms out for a hug and Charlie picked him up, kissing his cheek.

"Have you washed your hands? Let's all go and wash our hands for dinner." He suggested to the boys to try and get them out of the way.

He herded them out of the kitchen, flashing me a smile as he went.

I turned to smile at Maddie who watched the boys leave with a grin. I loved her smile. Loved seeing her happy.

"Do you want to go for a walk after dinner?" I asked.

"Sure."

It was our routine. A nice way to spend a bit of time with just the girls. At first I felt a bit guilty leaving Charlie to wrestle the boys alone, but he had insisted it was ok. That he liked the fact we had our own little thing.

We had just put everything on the table when the boys came back in.

"Buen provecho." I said, as we sat down.

The kids squabbled over the spoons as they served themselves and I looked up at Charlie who sat opposite me and smiled.

He smiled back.

Te amo. He mouthed.

I mouthed it back before turning to Luke who was trying to wrest the spoon out of Liam's hand.

"Luke, be patient, baby. You'll get a turn." I said, as Charlie chuckled.

"So how was everyone's day?" Charlie asked.

The table filled with chatter as the kids spoke about what they had been up to and vied for his attention as I simply sat back and watched them all with a smile, Leo and Luke competed to see who could stack the most carrots on their spoon. Liam reached for the spoon to serve himself some more whilst Maddie moved the bowl closer to him.

I met Charlie's eye once more and thought about everything I had been through to get to this. One thing was for sure, it was worth it. Everything that had happened, it was all worth it, for this.