Try

A Mother's Love cont.

Grace and Connie walked along the streets of the park past shoppers and characters still going about their job.

The snow was settling lightly on the ground which seemed to make the time Grace was getting with her Mum even more magical. "So where do you want to go first?" Connie held onto Grace's hand as she pointed towards one of the shops.

They went inside and Connie followed Grace everywhere she went. Pointing out things before she turned to Connie. "If only the dwarfs were girls because this would be for you-" "Hey!" Grace laughed as she held up a mug with Grumpy on it. "I am not Grumpy, Jacob on the other hand when I wake him up in the mornings..."

The girls laughed deciding to get one and take it home before Grace wanted to buy her friend something. They walked around this shop for a while before Grace asked if they could try somewhere else.

After a few hours of just wandering shop to shop laughing Grace picked up a bracelet and plush Pluto for her friend Jessica. Connie had offered to buy Grace a bracelet too before they paid for the few bits and walked outside again.

It was still snowing and the layer across the ground was becoming thicker. "Fancy something to eat yet?" Grace nodded as she held onto Connie's hand once again. They walked all the way along the path before coming to a few different places.

"Can we go to that one over there?" She pointed to a small place which seemed to have an Italian theme to it. "Of course we can." They headed in the direction of the restaurant and took a seat.

Someone came over to them almost straight away and handed them two menus. Grace laughed as they began speaking in French with a heavy accent to Connie.

"Bonjour et bienvenue. Voici les menus . Quelqu'un at-il jamais dit que vous êtes très belle ?" Connie blushed as Grace pulled a face watching. "Bien merci..." He turned walking around before Grace glanced over. "What was that all about?"

Grace waited for her Mum to say something. "When did you understand French?" "When I understood it at school, now can we order dinner please?" Connie noticed the waiter coming back as Grace smiled up at them.

"Vous êtes une très belle femme , est -ce votre fille?" Connie nodded pointing to Grace. "Oui , cette grâce." Grace had no idea what was going on just recognised her name so smiled. "Ah , bonjour Grâce. Are you ready to order madame?"

Grace ordered a pizza while Connie chose to have some pasta. "Very good choice, it shouldn't be too long. Thank you." He walked away again causing Grace to laugh. "Since when did you speak French-" "Since I spoke it after living in France for a year."

"You lived in France!?" Connie nodded. "When-" "Before I became a doctor. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do so I got out and travelled a bit." Grace questioned her Mum about other places she'd been. "I've been to America, obviously but I've been to a few tropical islands with my ex-husband Michael who I knew before your father. Then I went to Australia... and Thailand on the way home from Australia-" "Wow Mum, why'd you come back to England?"

Connie was shocked she'd asked that. "Well, after visiting all these places one thing I realised was that I hated seeing people hurt or unwell so knew I needed to train as a doctor-" "Do other countries not have doctors then?" Connie laughed shaking her head. "Yes they do but it was best to do it back here. I guess I just never thought about travelling again after that."

Their food was bought to the table as they continued their conversation. "If you could would you want to go back to any of them?" Connie nodded. "I'd love to go back to so many places but I think my favourite must have been Thailand... All of the beautiful beaches, elephants everywhere you looked. Bright blue skies and green mountains everywhere."

Grace listened nodding planning on telling Jacob all of this. When he had asked Grace about her Mum's birthday they'd thought about going on a holiday together but had no idea where. Grace didn't know much about where Thailand was but it seemed like her Mum would love to be there again.

"So tomorrow I thought we could go out into Paris for the day? Maybe go up the Eiffel Tower and go on a boat around the river?" Grace nodded. "That sounds good. Have you heard from Jacob since we got here?" Connie shrugged. "I don't know, my phones back at the hotel. I didn't want anything distracting me today, I'm with you not anyone else."

Grace smiled before finishing her pizza. Connie had a glass of wine while Grace just had Coke but after a while she was becoming tired. "Did you want to head back-" "Do you mind? I'm just really tired Mum." Connie smiled standing from the table and taking Grace's hand.

Luckily the hotel was only a 5 minute walk as they were staying at the park. Once in the room Grace laughed from over Connie's shoulder. "That was my response too!" Jacob had in fact text her, several times saying how bored he was. Connie took a picture of the pair of them sitting on the bed in their pyjamas sending it to him with the caption "Miss you too but definitely not bored! x"

Connie lay down beside Grace watching her as she drifted off to sleep. "I love you so much Grace... You'll never know just how special you are to me baby. Always remember that no one in this world will ever take your place." She kissed the top of her head before turning the light out closing her eyes. A smile appearing in Grace's face as she cuddled into her Mum to sleep.