Ain't This Life So Sweet | Joanne

Chapter Two

"Wow, peanut! You must have been a really good girl this year!" Dianne stared wide-eyed at the pile of presents that were for her daughter. Looking at her mum and dad, she rolled her eyes. "And you definitely are the most spoilt little girl in the whole of Australia."

Dianne's mum chuckled softly. "They're only little things. Promise." Dianne had agreed it would be easiest to send her mum the money to buy Emelia's Christmas presents. Then she wouldn't have to face shopping on Christmas Eve instead of spending quality time with everyone. Her parents had also got Emelia gifts, along with her brothers and her extended family. The pile was easily as tall as the excitable little girl who was currently bouncing up and down.

The family had taken it in turns to open their presents, but Emelia had lost patience pretty quickly and had begun to just open all of hers. Dianne had held up her phone to film most of it- making a mental note that it was probably worth her spending some time this holiday teaching Emelia how to be patient and wait her turn.

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In the evening, once their dinner had been eaten and the adults were settling down in the living room, Dianne reached behind the Christmas tree and pulled out one final box. Walking through the house, she slowly opened her daughter's bedroom door. She had given Emelia a bath and had left her to put her pyjamas on by herself. Dianne walked into the room, holding the box behind her.

"I think Santa must have hidden this one". She held the present in front of her and bent down to Emelia's level.

Emelia's eyes immediately widened as she noticed the Frozen wrapping paper. She went to tear it off, but Dianne held her hand up.

"OK. Let me explain first. This is a special present from mama and Joe. I want you to see if you can figure out from the clues what it is."

Emelia opened the box quite carefully which impressed Dianne. "A t-shirt" Emelia said quietly, unfolding a pink top with a picture of the Union Jack in a heart on it. "And... a Lego plane." She pulled out the box, looking at the picture on the front. "And... and a picture of mama and Joe." The photo was framed, and showed Dianne and Joe smiling on the Strictly dancefloor. "And a bag." The little backpack was covered in tiny images of London buses and landmarks. "And a book". The book was something Joe had found online and had ordered straight away- Dianne had adored the way he had thought so carefully about making this special for all of them.

Dianne picked up the book and pointed to each word on the cover, helping her daughter sound them out.

"The Best Ever"

"Good girl. What about this word?"

"L... Lo...Lon..."

Dianne ran her finger over the word. "London"

"St-sti-sti-ck-er. Sticker. Book"

"Well done. Very good try. The Best Ever London sticker book."

Emelia took the book in her hands. Dianne picked her up and pulled her onto her lap. "You're getting big!" She said, leaning in to brush her wild curls away from her face and kiss her forehead.

She arranged the gifts in front of them on Emelia's bedroom floor and opened the book. "This is where mama has been living. And this is where Joe lives. And..." Dianne took a shaky breath, already feeling herself welling up. "And we thought that you might like to come back and stay with us for a bit. Before you go back to school?"

Emelia leaned into her as Dianne played with her hair. It was clear this was quite overwhelming for both of them. "I've missed you so much, baby, and I want to spend some time with you. Would you like to come back on the plane with me and come and stay for a bit?" Emelia nodded, now sucking her thumb lightly. Dianne cradled her like she had done when she was much smaller, stroking her arm gently.

"Uncle Andrew is going to come a few days later. Mama will have to go back to work, but then Uncle Andrew can bring you home to grandma and grandpa?"

Emelia turned around and threw her arms around Dianne, who let her happy tears fall. Leaning in, she kissed her daughter's head.

"Was that a good present?" She felt Emelia nod her head against her chest.

"Shall we call Joe and say thank you?" She nodded again. Dianne pulled out her phone and dialed.

"Oh hey!" Joe came up on the screen. He was wearing a paper hat that had come out of a Christmas cracker.

"Sorry, did I disturb your lunch?" She still wasn't great with working out the time zones and had accidentally woken him up in the middle of the night a few times since she had been back in Australia.

Joe shook his head. "No, we're just setting everything up." He walked into his dad's living room and sat down on the couch. "Hey, Emelia. Did Santa bring you some good presents?"

She took her thumb out of her mouth as she nodded. Dianne leaned in and kissed her once more. Moving curls of hair off Emelia's ear, she leaned in and whispered, "what do you need to say to Joe?"

Emelia took the phone from Dianne's hand and moved it closer so that her face filled the screen. "Thank you, Joe!"

"That's OK. Are you excited?"

Emelia smiled and nodded.

"What other presents did you get?"

Dianne sat back and watched as Emelia crawled off her lap and talked Joe through the mountain of presents she had received. She could hear Joe commenting on them, making silly jokes which made her little girl laugh. Clearly, the man had exactly the same effect on both of them. The way he made her laugh was one of the main reasons she had fallen for him in the first place.

Travelling half way across the world with a child in tow wasn't something she had ever done before, especially not alone, but Joe made it feel so easy, and she knew they would have so much fun together. It would all be worth it for him and Emelia to finally meet.

"Can you pass me back to your mummy, please?" Joe asked Emelia, who jumped towards Dianne with the phone in her hand.

"Woah! Ouch!" Joe said as he watched Dianne fall backwards. She laid down on the floor, Emelia now laying and resting her head on her chest.

"It hurts a lot less when the person who knocks you flying is only six" she joked. "Anyway, I should probably go put this munchkin to bed. I just wanted to call to... well, I missed you. And Emelia needed to thank you. Anyway, I'll speak to you in a bit."

Joe smiled. "Have an amazing rest of the day. I love you."

Dianne's dimpled cheeks creased upwards at his words. "I love you too. And merry Christmas".