A New Beginning

Chapter 54: Birthday Surprise

Chapter 54: Birthday Surprise

"Come on Emma, We're going to be late!" Peter calls from the base of the stairs.

"I'm sorry Peter, I'm just finishing up this page for my essay,"

"Okay, but you know Holly and Carl are expecting us to help set up."

"I know, but I only got a 64 on my last law essay, I need to make sure this is free of mistakes and such."

Peter sighs, he knows that Emma is working so hard on these courses, but he's worried that she's overwhelming herself too much. He knew that Emma wanted to prove herself to be worthy of running her father's company but... she's fighting an unwinnable battle, especially in today's world. He was sure that her professors looked down on her and deliberately gave her bad grades because she was a woman. They probably never even read her assignments fully and assumed that they were all weaker than the men in her class. He knows that Emma wouldn't give up, she was a fighter and he loved her. He just wished that the people would look past her gender and see that she was equally as strong as the men in her class. The young girl had survived a full night clinging to a lifeboat in freezing temperatures during the greatest maritime disaster ever recorded.

Sybil sits at Peter's feet, playing with a small toy. He had a tough time keeping the child in one place. Ever since she started crawling, Sybil was everywhere all at once, always underfoot. She was also in everything. They had to put things in front of the stairs to prevent the little girl from falling and put anything breakable out of her reach. Also, anything within her reach went straight into her mouth. Buttons, spools of thread, the couple exhausted themselves trying to keep Sybil safe. Emma was quite easy going about it though as Sybil was exploring her environment, something that her baby sister had wanted to do since the Titanic.

Emma finally comes down in a sensible dress and has the present wrapped and ready to be presented to the birthday boy. Peter leans in and kisses Emma before scooping up Sybil and heading to the car.

The ride to his sister's house was relatively quiet, Emma staring straight ahead while Peter drove through traffic. Peter could see the circles under his fiancée's eyes; running the company during the day, taking classes at night, maintaining a household and raising an infant around the clock, left very little time for anything else, especially for sleep and for each other. Peter tries to be proud of Emma, but she was so immersed and committed to all these things that he felt a distance between them. He hadn't said anything yet because he wanted Emma to achieve her goals and not make her feel guilty. He knew he just had to wait until the classes were over and then they could focus on each other again.

Once they arrive at the house, there are balloons hanging on the front porch and a colourful banner inside reading Thomas is 4. The three come up the path to the house and open the door to a grinning Thomas. He was dressed in his Sunday suit, very clean and pressed, complete with a little bowtie. His dark hair had been combed to near perfection and even his shoes had been shined for the occasion.

"UNCLE PEETA, AUNT EMMA!" the child practically yelled before throwing his whole body around his uncle's legs. "Did you know I'm four today. I was only three yesterday and today. poof, I was four! It was magic! Is that my present? What did you get me?"

The child chatters happily as Holly came to the door to pry her son off her brother. Emma hands over the present to Holly and then brings Sybil down to the living room. There were several games laid out on the floor, ready for young children to play with as well as colourful ribbons and balloons hanging around the house. Holly, however, looks flustered and very tired. She was covered in flour, assumingly from the cake. Emma immediately goes to help Holly prepare the drinks and snacks, while Peter heads out back to help Carl set up some more games in the back.