lover | ethma

Chapter Thirteen

Emma's POV
The Next Day

Ethan left for work, and today was my day off, so I was hanging out with Tenley for the day.

She fell back asleep in her room after breakfast was over, so I decided just to let her get her sleep.

I was downstairs in the living room watching The Office reruns, and after a couple of more hours, she came trotting down the stairs.

"Morning, sleepy." I said.

She smiled as she walked over and curled up next to me.

I instinctively started playing with her hair as I switched the channel to Disney for her.

Doc McStuffins was on, and that was a show she liked, so it worked.

She was clutching onto and leaning her cheek on my arm as she watched her show. I could tell she was tired. It was so cute because she had a little blankie she was cuddling too, and she was just staring at the tv in silence.

"Tired?" I asked.

She looked at me and nodded her head before leaning onto my arm again.

"We can have a lazy day today, ten."

"Mmhmm." She hummed in confirmation.

-

After watching tv for a while, Tenley and I decided to build a fort in the living room.

We gathered a bunch of pillows and blankets, and I pushed the coffee table to the other side of the room.

Tenley helped me spread one of the blankets across the couch to one of the chairs, and a few minutes later we had a full blown fort complete with pillows on the inside.

I had Tenley sit inside and I took a really cute photo of her, and sent it to Ethan.

It was getting close to lunchtime, so I was thinking we would surprise Ethan and bring some lunch to his work for him.

"Hey, Ten."

"Yeah, mommy?"

Ah I'm still getting used to her calling me that. It's my favorite thing ever.

"Do you wanna go take lunch to your daddy's office?"

"Yeah!"

"Come on. Let's get ready."

-

About a half hour later, Tenley and I were in my car, and we drove to Chipotle to get some burritos.

After that, we headed downtown to go to Ethan's office.

Luckily his building had a parking garage, so I didn't have to take Tenley to the sidewalks by the street.

Tenley grasped onto my hand as we walked to the elevator and went to Ethan's floor.

We stepped out of the elevator a moment later, and there was a guy sitting at a front desk.

"Hello. How can I help you?" He asked. "Oh. Hey, Tenley. What's up?"

"We brought my daddy lunch." She answered.

He looked back at me. "You must be Emma."

"Yes."

"Ethan's straight down that hallway. Last door on the left."

"Thank you."

Tenley raced down the hallway before I could keep up with her, and we went into Ethan's office. He was on the computer, but he stopped what he was doing when he saw us.

"Hey, you guys. What's up?"

"We decided to bring you lunch." I said, smiling at him as he came to give me a quick hug, then leaning down and scooping up Tenley.

"I missed you girls."

"We made a fort." Said Tenley.

"You did? Was it fun?"

"Yeah." She said, giggling.

I set Ethan's lunch on his desk before I walked back over to him.

"This was such a nice surprise. Thank you, girls." He said, kissing Tenley's forehead and then my lips.

"Well, we should let you get back to work." I said as he put Tenley down.

"Okay. Love you guys."

"Love you, daddy!" Tenley said.

"Love you too." I responded.

Tenley took my hand again, and we waved goodbye to Ethan before we left, going back to the parking garage and getting back in the car.

Once Tenley was settled and I was back in the front seat, I turned on a Disney playlist before we started the drive home.

The drive to get out of downtown was long because it was in the middle of the day, so Tenley fell asleep.

Once we got back to Ethan's house, I woke her up.

"Tenley, we're home." I said, shaking her. She stirred a little, but she didn't wake up.

"Come on, Tennygirl. We're home." I sang.

She finally opened her eyes and looked around.

"Morning, sunshine." I joked. She giggled.

I helped her down from the car, and we went inside and sat down to eat our lunch.

We had a fun rest of the day together, and we even got to play outside in the backyard because it was nice out.

Tenley and I even ate vegan fruit popsicles in the fort we made while watching a Disney show. It was really fun.

Ethan came home with some pizza, and we all vegged in the fort to eat it. It was a fun little family dinner.

Tonight's movie was Beauty and the Beast, which is one of my favorites. We watched it in the fort of course.

My favorite was when Tenley and Ethan were both singing along to 'Gaston'. It was adorable.

I always loved seeing their bond. It was really special. The way Tenley's eyes lit up when she saw him, or the way he made her laugh.

I always admired how good of a dad he is to her.

The way that they were best friends always was something I liked seeing, and it was special because I was becoming a best friend to her too.

Ethan was teaching me all I needed to know about taking care of children.

He always reassured me that I was doing a good job helping with Tenley, and that I didn't have to have a lot of knowledge. I just needed to go with the flow, and figure it out as I went along.

Which I did with his help.

He was the reason I was becoming the mother Tenley needed me to be. Because of Ethan's sense of family, I've learned and known for a while that family isn't always blood. Family is love.

And because of that, Tenley was just as much my daughter as any biological one would be.

I'm so grateful for her.