the kissing gate | simanda ✓

9. cuddling

"Mummy, can I sleep with you?" Hollie asked Amanda in the middle of the night during the five days she had off of doing Britain's got Talent auditions. "I had a nightmare."

Amanda sat up in bed and she let Hollie get into her bed. Hollie laid down in Amanda's bed as Amanda pulled the covers over them. Amanda put her head back onto the pillow and  Hollie rested her head on top of Amanda's chest.

Hollie was trembling with fright from the nightmare that she had so Amanda put her hand onto the little girl's side, trying to comfort her daughter. Her other hand brushed Hollie's hair out of her daughter's face and then Amanda hugged Hollie tightly.

"It's okay, darling. I'm right here," Amanda said softly, rubbing Hollie's back in an effort to comfort the frightened girl.

"Will you sing to me, Mummy?" Hollie asked, her eyes starting to close as she laid with her head on Amanda's chest.

"I can," Amanda replied. She started to hum something she knew comforted Hollie easily, a nursery rhyme from a Disney movie that Amanda had accidentally memorized when Lexi had been Hollie's age and obsessed with the Disney movie Cinderella and it had also been the song that comforted Lexi when she had a nightmare at a young age.

Amanda hummed softly and Hollie's trembling slowly stopped with her mother humming to her. Amanda started to sing the words to the song for Hollie because it had been the lullaby she had sung to Hollie when she was a baby while Amanda was trying to get the newborn Hollie to sleep.

"A dream is a wish your heart makes
When you're fast asleep
In dreams you will lose your heartaches
Whatever you wish for, you keep

Have faith in your dreams and someday
Your rainbow will come smiling through
No matter how your heart is grieving
If you keep on believing
The dream that you wish will come true," Amanda sang the last couple of verses of the short song and heard Hollie's gentle breathing. The song worked and her daughter was now sound asleep on Amanda's chest. Hollie was getting older and she wasn't going to Amanda at night when she had nightmares but instead stayed in her bed sometimes. Amanda knew that moments like these wouldn't be happening for that much longer in her life because of her youngest daughter growing up.

"I love you, darling," Amanda whispered to the sleeping Hollie. She loosened her hold on Hollie and cuddled her while Amanda fell back asleep.

×

Hollie was still cuddling with Amanda when Simon came to Amanda's house to pick her up for him and her to go to the airport for Britain's got Talent auditions. Lexi came to the door, saying that Amanda was still asleep because the alarm on her phone didn't go off and it appeared that Hollie had a nightmare sometime in the night.

Simon followed Lexi upstairs to Amanda's room and she told him that he could deal with Amanda in the morning. Simon shook Amanda's shoulder gently and she blinked blearily at him.

"How late am I?" Amanda asked him.

"About twenty minutes but I also slept in a little," Simon replied.

Amanda removed her arms around from her daughter, Hollie, and she gently moved Hollie's head off her chest and onto a pillow.

"Hollie had a nightmare last night so she had to sleep with me," Amanda explained as she pulled down her pyjama shirt so it didn't expose her stomach when she stretched.

"Eric does the same thing to me when he's with me," Simon replied. "You have to love kids when they want to cuddle with you so they'll sleep."

"Hollie always wants me to sing to her if she has a nightmare and it's always the same thing," Amanda said as she went into her bathroom. "You can wait downstairs for me. My suitcase is already packed and I just have to lug it down, call my neighbour to watch the girls, and say goodbye to them."

"Do you want me to head over to your neighbour's to say that you're going to leave in maybe forty-five minutes or so?" Simon asked as Amanda closed the bathroom door.

"That would be amazing of you, Simon," Amanda replied as she turned on the water. "Thanks."

×

Simon went over to Amanda's neighbour's house and introduced himself, although they had heard about him from Amanda and from watching him on Britain's got Talent so they knew Amanda was getting ready to leave sometime soon.

By the time Simon got back to Amanda's house, Amanda had already gotten out of the shower and she was dressed in a pair of dark wash jeans, a black shirt with the word 'cancer' struck on it with a white line, and trainers. Simon had seen Amanda wear this shirt before as she had come to Britain's got Talent in it last year before the live shows for when she was getting ready.

Amanda had woken Hollie up and she was making her daughter breakfast. Lexi was already downstairs with her homework that she had to do over the weekend.

"Make sure all of that gets done today, Lex, because you're not going to have any more time to do it this weekend with your sleepover," Amanda said to Lexi as she scrambled eggs for Hollie.

"I know, Mum," Lexi replied. "Simon's back, Mum."

"I need just five more minutes, Simon, so I can help Lexi with a maths problem and finish Hollie's breakfast," Amanda said.

"You have a problem in your maths homework that you need help with, Lexi?" Simon asked. "I'm pretty good with maths. I can help you."

"Alright. Here," Lexi said, pushing the piece of paper towards Simon with several problems blank on it. "I need help with this one," she said, pointing at one of the problems that was blank under it.

"This one's fairly simple. Look for the parts of the equation you need in the words and then you can solve it pretty easily," Simon said, taking Lexi's pencil and making lines underneath the numbers on the problem.

"Thanks, Simon. Now I can actually do it," Lexi said.

Amanda put a plate in front of Hollie, giving Hollie a kiss on the forehead and then hugged her and repeated the good bye to Lexi.

"I'm ready now, Simon."

[_] hey guys! Happy superbowl Sunday if you like football. I'm rooting for the patriots. Who are you all rooting for? How cute is this chapter because of Hollie and Amanda's relationship? I love writing the kids because they're so much fun. What do you think is going to happen next and what did you love about this chapter? Bye until the next chapter!