Raising Laila

Chapter 10 - Little Girl

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oh darling don't you ever grow up

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December 17, 2017: 11.19am.

Jade had arrived back in South Shields the night previously, everybody was excited to see her, Karl and Shireen who were hopeful that she would work some kind of miracle with Laila, their children who just loved whenever Aunty Jade was there, and Laila. She wasn't fazed, at least she made out that she wasn't fazed. Really she was excited, she missed Jade but was scared to show it, she had become so hidden away in her anger and sadness that she didn't really very often show any other emotions. 

"You both look exhausted," Jade said to Karl and Shireen over brunch. 

"Yeah, we are. It's Laila, she's wearing us all out," Karl confessed. 

"Mmm- The kids can't do it for much longer either," Shireen explained, even Amara and Karl had been tiptoeing around Laila for the past couple of weeks not really understanding why she would suddenly become angry or defiant and Karl would get upset if she was rude or aggressive towards his parents not understanding that he had to be nice and share them with somebody who wasn't being very nice back. 

"I know, I'll take Laila out for the day. You have some time with your three," Jade said, she had planned on taking Laila out on her own at some point anyway and giving Karl and Shireen some much needed time with their own three children was a win-win situation. 

"Are you sure? You don't have too?" Karl asked. 

"Yeah, I'm sure. If I'm going to take her home after Christmas then we've got to start somewhere," Jade explained, pulling her shoes on. 

"Mm- okay. We can do something with Karl and Amara, they've been a bit 'neglected' the past few weeks," Shireen said, Karl agreeing immediately. 

"Laila!" Jade called, "Come on, we're going to go out for the day together. Put your shoes on," she instructed. 

"Just us?" Laila asked quietly, inwardly hoping that it was just going to be the two of them, she missed having time by herself with somebody else, she wasn't used to having multiple siblings and while most of the attention the past few weeks had been on Laila's behaviour, she was missing the positive attention that she got from her parents, she missed the affection and the days out. Karl and Shireen had tried to offer the affection but she wasn't having any of it, pushing them away and the days out they had tried to use as an incentive for her behaviour not allowing her to go if she misbehaved but all that lead to was her never going out and never getting time to run around at the park like a little girl did. 

"Yeah, just the two of us, is that okay?" Jade said. Laila nodded her head still hiding her excitement and pleasure, and ran off to get her shoes on. 

December 17, 2017: 12.06pm. 

"Right, where do you want to go then, angel?" Jade asked sitting in the car with Laila strapped in the back. 

"Mmm- the park!" She said excitedly, it had been ages since she had been to the park, Karl and Amara had been taken a couple of times recently either to the park or the indoor soft play but Laila wasn't allowed, she had been naughty. 

"Are you sure, it's really cold outside?" Jade questioned, seeing the temperature gauge on the car at just 2 degrees celcius. 

"Yes, please! I want to go to the park!" she begged. 

"Alright, if that's where you want to go," Jade said pulling away from the drive towards the park. 

Jade knew there was a park just a couple of minutes drive away, really they could have walked but she didn't want to spend any more time than necessary outside and hoped to go for a nice warm lunch somewhere afterwards. Laila got increasingly more excited as she could see the playground, kicking the back of Jade's chair repeatedly.