GETAWAY CAR

63. Home For Christmas

December 24th 2017

Taylor's POV

"Are you sure you're okay with this?" I smile and kiss Karlie's cheek, and she replies with a nod. "Go out and have fun, we'll still be here when you get home. Plus I think it's good for you to spend time outside of this house or you're going to go insane." She laughs and hoists Maisie up on her hip. "I'll only be a couple of hours." I tell her again, picking up the baby's car seat from the ground and hooking it over my arm as her diaper bag hangs from the other.

"I know, have fun with Abigail." She kisses me and I laugh, "just try not to kill anyone. They're your family remember." I raise my eyebrows and Kar rolls her eyes. Her family have been here three days, and she's already going insane. "I promise they'll all still be breathing when you get home." She laughs and I kiss her again before kissing Maisie. "Kiss Mama, Mais." Karlie prompts her and she kisses my pouted lips. "Bye-bye baby." I coo, waving at her as I open the front door and she waves back, melting my heart.

"I love you." I call behind me as I pull the door closed and I just manage to hear Karlie say it back. "You ready to go and see Auntie Abi, jellybean? Yeah?" I coo as she smiles at me from her car seat, her little smile never failing to bring a smile to my face. "Alright then." I sigh as I sit her down and open her door, throwing her diaper bag onto the next seat and then lifting the car seat up and connecting it to the base. "You're a pretty girl, baby. Yes." I laugh as she stares up at me with her beautiful green eyes and I shake my head and give her butterfly kisses on the forehead to make her giggle.

She hates being in the car seat when she can't see me, so I turn on the little portable white noise machine. She's immediately entranced and calm when she hears the noise, a swear that thing works miracles. I leave that on and give her a soft rattle too, to keep her distracted.

I get in and after starting the engine I pull out of the drive and start heading along to the main gate. The security guard greets me quickly as he opens the gate for me and I tell him to have a nice day before driving away.

"What's all that noise about, huh?" I frown as I glance back at Tilly in the baby mirror. She's making grunting and puffing noises that are making me a little nervous, but she looks fine. "Let's just get to Auntie Abi and then we can get you out of that seat." I sigh and keep driving, keeping a close eye on her just in case.

Abigail doesn't live far from us, only about twenty minutes, so I just take my time and watch Matilda. Ever since Theo passed, I've been so paranoid over the littlest things with the girls. I don't want to take risks and I know that most of the time I'm overreacting, but my anxiety doesn't allow for any misses, especially with my children.

"Here we go, sweet girl." I smile and coo at her as I open her door. "What're you doing, huh? Silly girl." She's chewing on the rattle as I switch off the sound machine. "Oh, thank you." I laugh as she takes it out of her mouth and hits me in the face with it. I pretend to eat her little hand and she giggles, so I kiss her face before lifting the car seat out of the car.

I hook the diaper bag over my shoulder and then close the car door. "Are you ready to see Auntie Abi, munchkin?" I ring the doorbell as the baby babbles and I look up as Abigail opens the door. She smiles brightly as she moves to the side to let me in and I immediately put the car seat down and wrap my best friend in a hug. "How have you been?" She asks and I smile as I let go. "Good, really good actually." I kneel down to retrieve Tilly and scoop her up into my arms as I follow Abigail through her house.