A Family's Dream

Happy

The morning of the outing was here. Alice and FP were up early. They had to pick up the girls at 9am at the orphanage. It was decided that they would go for a picnic this morning and hopefully a dinner as well. It all depended on the girls.

Alice was busy packing the picnic basket. She was putting a lot of goodies in. Sandwiches, potato chips, fruits, sweets, etc. Anything she thought the girls would like. She hoped they would.

"FP, honey, can you bring the blanket downstairs for me please?" She shouted towards the stairs.

"Coming!" FP shouted back.

She waited for him at the bottom of the stairs. When she saw him coming down, she couldn't help but give a cheeky smile. That was her man. Her handsome husband.

"And what are you looking at?" He asked her.

"Nothing." She said, taking the blanket and walking off.

She smiled as she walked away.

They got everything into the car and drove off to the orphanage. On the way they were making small talk. Both of them hiding the fact that they are extremely nervous. The drive to the orphanage didn't feel that long today. Before they knew it, they were walking up to reception.

"Hi Mr. and Mrs. Jones." Joline said behind the counter. "I'll let them know you are here." She stood up from behind the counter.

They just smiled at her, too nervous to say anything.

"Don't be nervous, everything will be great today." She told and started walking away.

Alice and FP sat down and was very quiet for a few minutes.

"I'm nervous." Alice broke the silence.

"I know, so am I." FP said, taking her hand in his. She smiled and laid her head on his shoulder.

A few minutes later, Joline came back. The girls right behind her. The couple smiled.

"Can you please sign this paper for me?" Joline handed them a piece of paper. They signed and turned to ghe girls.

"You girls ready for some fun?" FP asked them.

They smiled and nodded, this made Alice smile too.

"I'm definitely ready." Vicky said, running off first. The other girls just shook their heads and laughed.

They walked to the car, with FP and Alice right behind them. They got in the car and drove off. The drive to the park was only 5 minutes long, so they didn't talk much. Just little conversations.

They got there and the girls helped them take everything out of the car. They chose a spot and sat everything down there. They were not many people at the park, since it was still early. Everyone helped with the blanket and then packing the basket out. While they did this, they started talking about their hobbies.

"I like to read and be out in nature like this." Rosie said. Alice smiled at her. "I have started writing some of my own stuff too."

"You should show us sometime." FP said.

"She never shows anyone." Becca said.

"It's not ready yet."

"Same as Rosie." Said Ann. "And also spending time with family and friends."

"I like books a lot." Becca said, shyly. "They always tease me about it." She said rolling her eyes.

"And you Vicky?" Alice asked.

They all turned to Vicky and she was stuffing her face with food. The girls looked at her open mouthed.

"What? I didn't have breakfast." She said with a mouth full.

"She was too nervous to eat anything this morning." Rosie told Alice and FP.

They smiled.

"It's fine. There's more than enough here. Mrs Jones made sure of that." FP said, smiling at Alice.

"I see you girls have quite a lot in common. That's so sweet." Alice said.

The day went on and the girls and Alice and FP had created quite a bond. They learned so much about each other. FP even taught Vicky how to perfect her handstand. The others watched it from afar and just laughed at what they saw before them.

Later the girls were all playing around the park and FP went to go sit with Alice. He smiled at her and gave her a kiss on the forehead.

"You look so happy, honey." FP told her.

"That's because I am. Extremely. Today turned out to be great. We were nervous for nothing." She said.

Alice noticed Rosie sitting on a tree stump near the girls. Book in hand, looking very serious and writing something.

"I'll got to her." She said, getting up.

"No, let me go." FP said.

Becca stopped him midway. "She gets like that. We usually leave her to finish. She just needs a few minutes to write some ideas and then she's back." She smiled.

"I'm just gonna check." FP assured her.

"Okay, oh and Mr Jones," she said, " thank you for today."

He smiled and nodded.

He walked up to Rosie. "Hey sweetie, you okay here?"

"Yes, thank you. It's just when I get an idea for a new chapter or story, I wanna write it down immediately so I don't forget it." She said, still writing.

"I would really like to read it someday. What kind of stories do you write?"

"Mostly novels, but lately I've been fascinated by true crime stories. And thrillers and stuff like that."

"You are scaring me." FP said playfully.

She laughed and put her book away. "Ill show you when I'm satisfied with it." She smiled.

"Something tells me I'm going to wait for a very long time."

They both laughed.

The other girls were already sitting with Alice. They saw FP and Rosie laughing and smiled.

"Isn't that sweet." Alice said.

"You and your husband are very nice people, Mrs Jones." Said Vicky. "Thank to Mr Jones I can do a perfect handstand." She said, making them all laugh.

"Thank you sweetie, I really am the lucky one." She said, looking over to where FP was.

"So, did you girls enjoy the day?" Alice asked them.

"Definitely." Ann said.

"I had so much fun." Becca smiled.

"I'm so happy you guys enjoyed it."

FP and Rosie walked up to them.

"No luck in trying to persuade her into letting you read her work?" Vicky asked.

"There's always next time." FP said.

They laughed.

"So girls, we were wondering if you would like to have dinner with us tonight?" FP asked.

The girls looked at each other.