"Rebecca!" Colby called as he walked into their home and all three girls ran quickly up the stairs
"Hi love" she said with a smile as she walked into the living room from her office and wrapped her arms around him "What's wrong?" she asked
"You've got some explaining to do" he said and grabbed her hand, leading her to the couch
"What?" she asked as she sat next to him and he looked her over "Why are you looking at me like that?" she questioned
"Context clues" he said and the confusion was clearly written on her face
"Context clues, what are you an english teacher now?"
"I'm serious" he said and she shook her head at him "When were you going to tell me?" he asked
"Tell you what?" she asked and he took a deep breath
"Were you afraid to tell me?" he asked and she just stared at him "because I mean we have done this before and we can do it again, No it wasn't in our plans but we'll make it work"
"Colby!" she exclaimed "What the hell are you rambling about?"
"You're pregnant!" he yelled and her jaw dropped
"No I'm not" she shook her head
"Rebecca" he said and she shook her head once more
"I'm not!" she exclaimed "I promise you I'm not" she said "You would have been the first person I went to if I was" she said
"but.. Ava.."
"Let me guess, Baby brother?" she asked and he nodded and she laughed "She wants a baby brother" she nodded "I told her not a chance" she shook her head "but to please her I told her I would talk to you about it but it was a secret and not to say anything, I thought she would forget about it and you'd never find out because we would never have the conversation"
"This is the same little girl a few months ago yelling about how boys are gross and she wanted no part in having a brother" he said
"A few of her friends she's made in her class have baby brothers" she said "She wants to fit in" she explained and he nodded
"Speaking of school, when were you planning on mentioning the back to school dance to me?"
"After it happened" she said with a small smile and he glared at her "It's on a Friday and you have live events all weekend, you weren't going to be home anyway and your mom has already agreed to watch the girls because I'm chaperoning"
"My mom is in on it too?" he asked
"It's a dance Colby"
"She's going with a boy!" he exclaimed
"I'm chaperoning for a reason!" she laughed and he shook his head
"She's too young"
"She's eight, She will be fine, she already went on her first date remember?"
"When she beat up Brent.." He laughed
"Exactly, she could handle herself back then, she's even better at it now, no thanks to you"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"You're the one who is supposed to be training her to wrestle right?" she asked and he nodded "Then why am I the one in the ring with her almost every time?" she asked
"You're her mom, it's easier for you than it is for me"
"How?" she asked
"I don't want to hurt her" he said
"That's the problem, that's exactly what I'm talking about.. you don't want to hurt her and I would never hurt her on purpose but she's got to learn, she has to fall.. when we were teaching her to walk, how many times did she fall?"
"Too many" he grumbled "You should have caught her more" he glared at her and she shook her head
"How was she supposed to learn without falling?" she questioned "She has to be able to fail in order to learn what to and not to do"
"What does this have to do with this dance?" he asked and she rolled her eyes
"The point is, you've got to let her grow up a little bit" she said "She's a smart kid.. too smart for her own good sometimes, it's actually scary because I honestly think she's smarter than us"
"Speak for yourself" he said and she shoved him and they heard the thundering footsteps coming down the stairs
"MOM! MOMMY!" Ella yelled and held her iPad out to her "School, Email, Ireland" she said
"Ella breathe!" Colby said and she sat on her mother's lap and pointed to the screen as Rebecca read the email
Miss Ella Lopez,
I am delighted to inform you that the committee of admission has admitted you to the 2019 term. Please accept my personal congratulations for your outstanding achievements.
In recent years nearly ten thousand students have applied for the three hundred and fifty places in the school. You are one of three hundred and fifty, that is an outstanding achievement.
You will get an invitation in the post in the coming weeks to come for your official school visit.
We look forward to seeing you in the future and helping you on your journey to a higher education
Sincerely,
David Stettler
Headmaster
"You got in.." Rebecca said in a whisper and looked at her daughter who was smiling up at her
"When can we go?" Ella asked "I'm gonna go live in Ireland!" she exclaimed
"What?" Colby grabbed the iPad and read the letter for himself
"Now hold on.." Rebecca shook her head "Just because you were accepted doesn't mean We're just going to let you go" she said
"That's not fair!" Ella yelled "I worked really hard!" she said
"Ella, let us talk for a minute" Rebecca looked to Coby as he stood up, throwing the iPad on the couch and walked towards the backyard
Rebecca waited, she waited a few minutes before going out there to let him calm down. She knew she was going out to a very infuriated husband and she took a deep breath.
As she closed the door he turned to face her and shook his head
"What the hell was that?" he yelled and she walked to him carefully
"She was talking to my mom, she told her about it and Ella wanted to apply, I let her apply but honestly it was out of ten thousand kids..and she's not even in the country I didn't think she would get accepted" she shook her head
"Well she did!" he yelled and ran his hand over his face "No" he said
"Colby" Rebecca said "You read it! It's out of ten thousand applicants! She made it, they obviously see something in her, she worked so hard! She deserves to go"
"Absolutely not' he shook his head "I'm not sending my eight year old daughter to a different country without us"
"Who said she's going to be without us?" she asked
"What are you talking about?" he asked
"Maybe we move.." she said and he looked at her like she had two heads "Or just me and the girls" she offered
"We're married Rebecca!" he yelled "You don't just take my kids and move to another country without me, I can't move! I've got everything here"
"She's going Colby" Rebecca stated "I'm not letting her give up this opportunity because we want to keep her" she shrugged and he shook his head "She's not going over there alone, she's got my mom and dad until I get over there" she said
"Rebecca.." he warned and she shook her head
"I don't care, you have everything here.. I get that but this is a once in a lifetime opportunity for our daughter, this is my home country.."
"If you move over there.." he took a deep breath "Where does that leave us?" he asked and she stared at him
"I don't know, where does it?" she asked him
