Forever And Ever.

8

I sat at the end of Eliza's bed and finished the story I was reading her, The Princess And The Pea, a classic story that was one of my favourites as a child. "Are yer ready for tomorrow?" I ask as I place the book back on the shelf.

"Yes. Its going to be so fun" she says "where are we going first?".

"Well its the very last leg of daddy's tour so we are going to Paris, then some parts of europe, then all the cities here in England" I smile.

"Wow. Paris?" She smiles "I must get to sleep quickly so we can get there quicker".

"Ok" I tuck her in and kiss her forehead. "Goodnight sweetie".

"Night mum" she says as I turn the light out and close the door.
Someone knocks at the front door as I am near the stairs. "I'll get it" I call up to Noel, who was in our bedroom.
I run down the stairs but halfway down I hadnt noticed Benson sitting there. I stopped just in time to not hit the ginger ball of fur, but my foot got caught on the step and I tumbled down rather dramatically, although I was unhurt. "Stupid ginger prick" I mutter as I stand up and reach for the door.

I woman in a plum coloured suit, like something out of the 80's, with dark brown hair and light blue (almost grey) eyes stands at my door. "Mrs. Gallagher?" She asks.

"Um, yes?" I reply, half hiding behind the door.

"I'm Constance Matthews" she says "I'm Noel's new assistant".

"Assistant? I wasnt informed of no assistant?" I question "why are yer here so late?".

"Well if you just let me expl-" she starts.

"Let me call my husband yer can explain it to him" I reply and shut the door. "NOEL? NOEL?" I shout "CAN YOU COME DOWN HERE?".

"What is it?" He asks from the top of the stairs.

"Theres a woman here, Constance Matthews, says she's your new PA" I reply as he walks down the stairs.
He walks past me and opens the door.

"Connie? You arent due until tomorrow, what are you doing here?" He asks.

"We have to leave tonight" She replies.

"For the tour? I cant. I'm meeting Meg in the morning. She'll sue me".

"You didnt tell me you were meeting meg in the morning" I reply with my hand on my hip and one eyebrow up. I was being mroe sarcastic than anything.

"Look the flight's been moved to" Connie looks at her watch "three hours away, come on lets get ready". Noel was thinking of an excuse.

"Tell me later" I mutter to him. Luckily our bags were already in the hallway "get the bags into the car, i'm gonna go get Eliza".  I muttered nonsense and ramblings to myself about how stupid this was as I climbed back up the stairs. "And take the cats next door" I call down from almost at the top of the stairs. The next door neighbour was having them this time as peggy was off to see family in Ireland.

"Alright" noel calls from downstairs.

I open eliza's door slowly to find her looking at a book with a flashlight. She understood some of the words but she had a ways to go. She was only four, well five in two months, so it was ok for her to just look at the pictures and admire them. It was The Cat In The Hat by Dr. Seuss, one of my favourites. I had brought her an entire collection of his books as I liked them very much. There was also Funnybones (I forget the name of the author), which although published when I was 13, was one of my favourites too. Childrens stories are just so simple and wonderful. I think it was the simplicity and art style that always drew me to them.
"You should be asleep" I smile.