The Heartbreak Factor - Part Four

Chapter Forty-One.

"Don't worry about anything," mum grinned as we rushed down the stairs to the lobby to make sure we checked out of the hotel on time. "I'll take your dress back to mine and then you can collect it when you're back home. I'll collect the photos next Wednesday and I promise that I won't look at them until you see them and.."

"And we'll make sure that we have fun!" George added as he carried Katy down beside us, making funny faces at her to entertain her. 

"Good because you deserve it," mum smiled. 

"So where is it you're going?" Kayla asked. 

I looked at Katy with a huge grin on my face. "Disney!" I giggled like a four-year old.

To be honest, I wasn't sure who was more excited - me, George or Katy. Katy was still at the dosile age where she was completely oblivious to anything that was happening, but I knew she understood what we meant by 'Disney'. I think every child knows what is meant by 'Disney'. 

As soon as we reached the lobby, George went to check out of our room whilst I stood with all our cases by the front entrance. 

"Mummy," Jack grinned to mum. "Why can't I go to Disney?"

"Honey.."

I interrupted mum. "Jack, if you can promise me that you'll behave for mummy and daddy and do well at school then I promise that for your sixth birthday, I'll take you to Disneyland."

Mum looked at me with a concerned look on her face. I nodded and grinned at her to reassure her that I could carry this promise out.

"I promise," Jack grinned. 

As I stood holding onto Katy with mum, Jack and Kayla, Chloe rushed through the doors - or hobbled with a quick pace - towards where I was stood, waiting for George to finish at reception so we could head to the airport. "I couldn't let you go without saying goodbye," Chloe smiled, wrapping her arms around my neck, dropping her crutches in the process of hugging me, meaning she was clinging to me for support. 

"I only found out last thing last night so.." I paused. "You already knew, didn't you?"

Chloe looked at mum and Kayla as they all had identical grins on their faces, before nodding in unison with each other. 

"There's one last surprise," Chloe smiled as I handed her crutches back to her. 

"What?" I asked, dreading the surprise. I hated surprises as it was - I couldn't stand the idea of other people knowing something concerning me that I didn't know myself. Majority of surprises were worth it, but that still didn't stop me from hating surprises. After all the surprises that George had arranged for me so far, well in fact all the surprises that George had arranged overall, they had all been worth the surprise, but I couldn't help but dread this surprise. How many more surprises could I deal with?

George walked back over to join us, just in time for Kayla to hand over a small purple envelope with a white ribbon wrapped around it. 

"What is it?" I asked, exchanging Katy for the envelope.

"Just open it," George grinned, watching me anxiously as I held onto the envelope in my hand, studying it carefully to see if I could work out what it was before I opened it. 

Reluctantly, I followed the instructions and opened the envelope, carefully untying the ribbon first. Kayla, Chloe, mum and George watched me as I opened it and pulled out a passport. "Katy's passport?" I grinned to George.

George didn't say nothing - instead he smiled at me as he waited for me to open the passport up. Turning to the details page, I saw that it wasn't Katy's passport at all - it was my new passport with my new name on it. 

"Samantha Leona Shelley.."

It took a few times of reading the name line a few times over and over again before I was able to look at George in shock. 

"Sammy Shelley," mum smiled, tearing up. "The last Jones of the family is gone."

I shook my head as George put my passport into his bag. "I'm always gonna be a Jones," I smiled.

*

Sat in our own little seating area in first class, I grinned at George as he cradled a sleeping Katy in his arms. Watching him slowly rock Katy back and forth made me feel like I was on top of the world - theoretically and literally since we were 20,000 feet above the Atlantic Ocean. 

"Champagne, Ms. Shelley?" the air hostess smiled to me as she walked by with a tray of flutes that were filled with sparkling champagne. 

It took me a moment to realise that she was talking to me. "Thank-you," I smiled as she handed a flute to me and then placed a flute down on the table for George. 

"It's gonna take you ages to get used to it, isn't it Ms. Shelley?" George winked.

"Certainly is, Mr. Shelley," I beamed.

*

Ten relaxing hours after we took off from London Gatwick, we landed in Orlando. Luckily, Katy had slept the majority of the way there and only woke up twenty minutes before we were due to land so she didn't cry much. Every flight I seemed to go on always had screaming children on it who seemed to cry from the moment the plane took off to the moment the plane landed at its destination; thankfully, this flight was different. The second we walked into the terminal to make our way through customs and collect our luggage, I couldn't stop singing Disney songs to myself. Katy was grinning away as I sang the songs to her, propping her up against my chest as I carried her through the empty queue for customs, walking alongside George. We collected our luggage and headed out to collect our rental car. The second we walked out into the car park, we were met by a warm blast of heat from the Florida summer sun that was shining down on us. 

"Wow," George and I grinned as the sun glistened down on our skin as we made our way through the car park - or parking lot - to the car.