Six Years Later
"Are you ready?" Troye held my hand as we stood, waiting, by the arrivals door at the airport. My eyes were trained on the line of people emerging, scanning their faces for that one familiar one.
"I'm so ready. It's been three years. So much has changed for us." I said to him, tearing my eyes away from the door for just a second to smile at him. Had it been any other time, he probably would have laughed at me for barely looking at him but I knew he understood how important this moment was for me.
"Just remember; things have changed for her too. Don't expect her to be the same little girl she was."
"I know."
"Hey, Connor, isn't that her?" Sam spoke up from behind me and I looked to where he was pointing, seeing my beautiful Penny just coming through the door, her eyes scanning the waiting crowd, looking for me. She looked so grown up, her golden hair flowing behind her and her hand curled around the handle of her rainbow suitcase that she'd bought as a symbol of the fact that she had two dads.
"Penny!" I called, waving at her and letting go of Troye's hand to run towards her. A huge smile spread across her face when she saw me and quickened her pace until she threw herself into my arms.
"Bonjour, papa. Oh, tu m'as tellement manqué."
"I missed you too, ma chérie."
"You learned French?" She laughed, switching to English as she pulled back from me.
"A little. Mostly just picked it up from listening to you and Jacob. How is he?" As always, I got that little tug in my heart when I thought about my ex-husband. Some part of me wished we'd been able to make it work but I knew that if we'd stayed together we wouldn't have been able to maintain as good a friendship as we had since splitting up.
"He's great. Spends most of his time at work or at home, making sure I'm doing my homework."
"And are you?"
"Of course I am. Papa, French isn't my first language. I have to work twice as hard as the other students at the school."
"Just making sure," I promised. "Now, I'm sure you're excited to meet your new brother."
"I'm so excited." I moved to stand beside her so Troye could bring our son forward. The little boy looked up at Penny shyly, not sure what to make of the blonde girl staring at him.
"Ethan, this is your big sister, Penny," I said to him, gesturing to my daughter. "Remember how we talk to her on the computer sometimes?"
"Computer Penny?" He asked me, eyes wide. I laughed at the nickname he'd made up but nodded.
"Yeah. Can you say 'hi' to her?"
"Hi." He mumbled, still staying close to Troye's side. He was five years old but the first three years of his life had been traumatic for him and as a result, he was usually very shy around new people. It had taken nearly three months before he would allow Troye and I to hug him without him flinching away.
"Hey, there Ethan. How are you?" Penny crouched down to be more at his height which seemed to be a good thing as the little boy inched a little closer.
"Are you my big sister? Like Jessie?"
"If you'd like. Or I can be your friend."
"I have a friend." Ethan frowned a little, trying to figure out how it was possible to have more than one friend at a time.
"That's okay. I can be your special friend from Paris. Does that sound good?" I looked up at Troye with a proud smile, loving that my little girl was so eager to form some sort of relationship with our new son. Troye grinned back, giving Ethan a little push towards Penny.
