What About Now

Chapter 26 - Castle

Thomas' P.O.V.
"You alright, love?" I yawned and tapped Taylor on the shoulder. She smiled at me in the rear-view mirror, and nodded.

"I'm great! Had a good sleep?" She replied cheerfully. So I'm guessing then that she actually enjoys these long car trips, seeing as I can't stand them.

"Yeah, how long was I out for?" I asked, looking around about the car. Whilst I had slept, Kaya and Taylor must have swapped places, because Taylor was now driving, and Kaya fast asleep with her head resting against Dylan's shoulder, who was fast asleep himself. Only his face was pressed against the window. That must have disturbed drivers as they drove past us... As well as Dylan and Kaya, Bella and the kids were all fast asleep as well. The kids were all snoring quietly, and Bella had curled herself up in a ball on her chair. She looked so sweet and peaceful.

"Erm, about an hour," Taylor said thoughtfully, continuing on down the country lane, "So I've been stuck keeping myself company. Singing along to oneself can get quite boring after a while though!"

"Oh sorry!" I laughed lightly, "So is it far to go?"

"Don't you even dare ask me that question, Sangster!" Taylor cried, "I've had Dylan and the kids asking me that for most of the journey, and I am not having it from you!"

"Okay, okay!" I chuckled, holding up my hands in surrender, "Sorry for asking!"

"Thank you," She nodded contentedly, and continued driving. A couple seconds of silence passed before Taylor spoke again.

"Ten minutes," She said quietly, concentrating on the icy road ahead.

"Aha!" I grinned, "I knew I'd get it out of you!"

"Oh shut up!" She sighed, rolling her eyes.

Fifteen minutes later...

"Home sweet home!" Kaya exclaimed, swinging the front door open, to reveal the inside of the country house. Although to be fair, house was an understatement. This place was huge! From the car window I had only made out half of the house, but the view I had once I'd actually gotten out of the car was completely different. It stood about three stories high, and its large, grey stone walls stood high above us. Large bay windows were dotted amongst the stone; looking out over the surrounding hills of Cornwall, and at the front of the house was the front door; an arch, made from dark oak. The grounds that surrounded the house were incredible - well, from what I could make out, with only the light from the two lamp posts either side of the front door to light up the dim afternoon. I could see that there were rolling hills in pretty much every direction, and fields that stretched far into the distance. Now that I think about it, those hills would be perfect for sledging! I just prayed that it snowed in time for Christmas.

"Oh wow, Kaya!" Taylor gasped, dropping her suitcase at her feet, "This place is incredible!"

"You could say that again!" Bella breathed, wrapping her arm around mine, "This is amazing!"

"It's like a castle!" Mia gasped, craning her neck
to look up at the ceiling. I had to agree with her - the place was huge! On the right of the room, a large staircase started, splitting off at the landing into two separate staircases. I'm guessing that they lead off to the bedrooms. Amongst the rest of the old furniture, numerous sofas and armchairs were centred around the large open fireplace, with a Christmas tree next to it. Although there were no decorations on the tree as of yet, I could still tell that this place was going to look amazing on Christmas morning.

"Right, bedroom decisions," Kaya cleared her throat and brought out a piece of paper from her coat pocket, "Okay, so Taylor, Teddy, Mia and I have the bedrooms up that left staircase, and Thomas, Bella, Ben, Hannah and Dylan are up the right staircase."

"Whoa whoa!" Dylan held up his hands, "There were a lot of names there, girl! Where am I again?"

"Up the right staircase!" I cried, even pointing at the bloody staircase.

"Alright, alright!" Dylan laughed, "Keep your hair on! I was just asking!" I rolled my eyes at Dylan, but looked down when I felt someone tug my jacket.

"Uncle Tommy, where are we sleeping?" Ben almost whispered. Numerous 'awwws', sounded amongst the group, and smiling gently, I crouched to the floor.

"You are going to be sleeping in the room next door to me and Bella, with your sister," I grinned, "So don't worry, I'm not far from you if you need me! You wanna go and check out your rooms now?"

"Yeah!" All the kids squealed, before dropping their bags and charging up the stairs. We watched on and laughed as Teddy got to the landing, walked around in a circle, before finally deciding which staircase was the left. After a little bit of guidance from Taylor, he ran up the left set of stairs and after his sister.

"So how come, when I ask where I'm sleeping I get told off," Dylan complained, "But when they ask, they get all happy faces from you guys!"

"Because they're cute!" Taylor nodded, "And you're not!"

"Rude," Dylan muttered, as the rest of us laughed at him.