It's Harder Before It's Easier

Chapter 6

"Mommy grandmas here!" Benny ran into the kitchen hopping up onto his chair at the table. My mom walked in right after him, her hair greying in places.

"Nice of you to come by." I laughed placing the bowl of cereal down in front of Benny. "It's been what, like 6 months?"

"You know how busy Simon and I have been. We just got back from South Africa yesterday." She placed her bag on the table and sat down across from Benny. "I thought we could go out to breakfast. I'd like to talk to you."

"We can talk here. The boys will be leaving soon, Niall is taking them ice fishing today." I smiled looking over at Benny who was way to excited and eating way to fast. "Slow down bud. You'll get a stomach ache and not be able to go."

"I hope you boys have a lot of fun. Maybe whatever you guys catch we can cook up tonight. Wouldn't that be nice?" Benny looked up at my mom and grinned nodding his head.

"Fish sticks!" He cheered hopping down from the chair and reaching up to put the bowl in the sink.

"Remember dress warm, it's super super SUPER cold out!" I warned him, picking him up and spinning him around. I kissed his forehead and placed him back down as he ran down the all and up the stairs.  "Coffee?"

"Yes, black. It's good to see you're getting better. Niall kept me updated. I wish I could've been here, you know." I turned around to face her and her face showed genuine feelings.

"I'm good now. I'm just glad I've got my boys to keep my mind off of it. But I'm a lot better, feeling happy again." I smiled putting the coffee on.

"Kayle- Oh hey Maria." Niall smiled walking in, struggling to get his jacket on over his other layers. I walked over and helped him pull his arms through.

"Hello Niall, nice to see you." She smiled, as I struggled to get his coat zipped up.

"Jesus Chr-"

"Kaylee!" My mom scolded me as Nat and Benny walked in.

"Ohhh mommy got in trouble by her mommy!" Nat laughed as Benny shortly joined in. I stuck my tongue out at them as Liam and Louis walked into the kitchen. 

"Oh hey guys, nice use of the doorbell." I smiled sarcastically as the two made themselves at home.

"It was open." Louis shrugged. "Hey Mrs.Cowell, didn't expect to see you here."

"Like wise, just came over to chat with Kaylee." Louis leaned over and kissed her cheek as Liam did the same.

"Is everything alright?" Niall asked walking over and pouring out a cup of coffee. 

"Fine, just want to talk to her about something. You boys should get going, it's only supposed to get colder and coldert today."

"Yeah, let's get going. Did you guys get the bait?" Niall asked chugging the rest of his coffee. Liam and Louis nodded pulling out a container with squirmy worms.

"Ugh ew, get that out of here." I gagged over dramatically as Nat and Benny rushed to get a closer look. 

"I'll see you later babe. I'm not sure how long we'll last to be honest so we might be back shortly." Niall chuckled giving me a kiss. I walked them all out and waved goodbye to all the little bundles of warm coats and scarves as they drove off. 

"Alright so what did you want to talk about?" I asked sitting down and placing the two cups of coffee on the table.

"I've been thinking about this a lot recently. You've really grown up and I'm finally seeing you as the mature woman I knew you would be one day. I've been waiting to tell you something until you reached this point."