His Heart Bonus Scenes

The Park: Charlie

"Kids, who wants to go to the park?" I asked, as I entered the house after work. 

The boys were sat in the living room floor engaged in a game of Frustration. They looked up at me and smiled. 

"Papá!" They squealed, jumping up to tackle me in hugs. 

I crouched down to embrace them as Lizzie walked in. 

"The park, huh?" She asked. 

"Please, Mummy? Please can we go to the park?" The boys turned to her and pleaded. 

She laughed. 

"Sure we can." 

"You're not too busy?" I checked, standing up to kiss her on the cheek. 

"Of course not." She said, turning around to see Maddie heading down the stairs. 

"Maddie, do you want to go to the park?" She asked. 

"Sure." Maddie smiled, as she gave me a hug. 

Luke held his arms out towards her and she picked him up with a smile. 

"Will you push me on the swing?" He asked in that sweet tone he knew would make her melt. 

"Of course I will, Lukey." She replied, kissing his cheek. 

He giggled as Maddie swayed him back and forth with a grin. 

"Ok, kids. Put your shoes on and I'll get changed." I said, pecking Lizzie on the lips before disappearing upstairs to change out of my work clothes. 

I could hear the twins quibbling over something as I went and changed. As I went downstairs, the boys clamoured for piggy backs and I smiled at Maddie and Lizzie. 

"Who's taking who?" 

The girls opted for the twins and I shifted Leo onto my back. 

"We'll race to the park." I said. "Ready Leo?" 

We got outside and lined up. 

"Three, two, one...GO." I yelled, as the girls took off. 

"Go Papá!" Leo cheered as I tried to catch up to them, unfortunately, Lee was older and bigger than the twins, so I watched as the girls disappeared around a corner. 

"We'll take a short cut, Lee." I told him, taking him the back route to the park. "Don't tell the others." 

We crossed across the car park separating the shop from the park and headed towards the park gates just as I saw Maddie and Luke turn the corner. 

"Run, Papá!" Leo said, as I raced for gates, just as Maddie and Luke broke into a sprint. 

We approached the gates a split second before they did. 

"We won!" Leo cheered. 

"No, we did!" Maddie and Luke argued. 

"You call that a win?" I teased. 

"You all lose." Lizzie called where she was already pushing Liam on the swings. 

Maddie and I turned to her in disbelief. 

"How did you get here so fast?" Maddie asked. 

"I've been coming to this park since the boys were babies." She said. "I know all the shortcuts." 

"That's not fair." Maddie muttered. 

"We've been fleeced." I agreed. 

"Loser has to buy the ice cream." She said, laughing with Liam as she placed Leo next to his brother and started to push them both in turn. 

"Come on." I grumbled to Maddie. "Let's go and find some ice cream." 

I turned to the others. 

"What flavour does everyone want?" I raised my voice to ask. 

There came the clamour of flavours and I smiled, making a mental note before heading to the ice cream truck, Maddie following me.

"What flavour would you like, cariño?" I asked. 

"Fresa, por favor." She smiled. 

I smiled and ordered, handing her three ice creams. 

"Can you manage them?" I asked. 

"I think so." She said, holding them awkwardly. 

I paid before picking up the remaining four ice-creams. 

"Maybe we should have gotten one of the boys to help." I said, as we slowly made our way back to the others, praying I wouldn't drop any of them. 

The boys looked up and raced towards us, we handed them their ice creams before walking back to where Lizzie was waiting. 

"There you go, cariño." I held out her ice cream which she took with a smile. 

"Gracias, cariño." 

I sank onto the bench next to her and watched the kids as they lay on the ground at our feet, talking at hundred miles per hour as they ate their ice creams, soaking in the evening sunshine. 

I turned to Lizzie who smiled at me over the kids heads. I reached out a hand to stroke a strand of hair out of her face with a smile, leaning in to kiss her cheek. Trying to make this feeling last as long as possible. 

I looked down at the kids and laughed out loud. 

"Look at you three." I chuckled. "It's a good job Mummy always brings wipes with her."

Lizzie laughed and dug in her bag for some wet wipes. 

Luke squirmed away. "No Mummy." 

She chuckled. "Yes, poppet. You're all mucky and sticky." 

He pouted as she swiped the wet wipe over his face. 

"Yuck!" He yelped, squirming away. "Papá, help me." 

He crawled into my arms and I laughed, wiping away the last sticky mark, before giving him a kiss. 

Maddie looked up and smiled. 

"Thomas!" She said, waving as he approached. 

"Hey everyone." He said, kissing my daughter hello before Leo demanded a hug. 

He sank onto the floor, wrapping an arm around Leo. The boys adored him. If Thomas and Maddie broke up, they would be more heartbroken than she would. 

"Play with me! Play with me!" The boys clamoured, trying to pull Thomas to his feet. 

He laughed as he and Maddie went off to play with the boys, leaving me and Lizzie to watch them go. She turned to look at me with a smile that still made my heart skip a beat after four years. 

"Hi." She whispered. 

"Hi." I replied, as she rested her head on my lap, watching the children for a minute before turning to meet my eyes. 

"Te querio." She said. 

"Te querio." I whispered, stroking the top of her head. 

The children played together as we watched until the sun began to set. The boys crawled next to us and curled up next to our side. 

"Time to go home, kids." Lizzie chided. "It's dinner time. Are you coming over for dinner, Thomas?" 

"If it's not too much trouble?" He asked. 

"Of course not, darling. You're always welcome." 

Maddie leaned into his side and he smiled, kissing her cheek. 

"Thank you." He replied. 

I held Luke and Leo's hands and Thomas boosted Liam onto his shoulders as we started to walk home. 

I looked at Lizzie as she took Luke's other hand and we walked along, heading home. 

Lizzie smiled and looked down at our boys, and I looked at the love dancing in her eyes. 

I hoped I would never have to forget what this felt like.