A Beautiful Forever

chapter 36

SIX MONTHS LATER

Elliot

A happy Grace is gripping tightly onto my fingers as I hold her on my knees and bounce her up down. She smiles broadly; her two

tiny teeth in the middle of her bottom gums are absolutely adorable as she gurgles and grins.

“Who’s Daddy’s little girl,” I ask as she cranes her neck in an attempt to chew on my finger.

“Watch those teeth,” Paige warns from beside me, smiling as she wiggles her finger in the middle of Grace’s stomach, causing her

to erupt in a fit of baby giggles. “They are very sharp.”

Suddenly Grace’s laughter turns to whining and we both shush her as Paige reaches out for her. “She’s getting tired,” she

announces settling Grace against her chest to feed her to sleep. Watching the way my wife is with my daughter, I feel a great swell of

love for the both of them, greater than I ever thought I was capable of feeling.

I look out the window of the plane and can see nothing but clouds blanketing the sky. We’ve decided it’s time to return to Australia. I

really want Grace to grow up in the sand and the surf just like I did. I’ve loved living in the UK, but Australia is and always will be my

home and now that the two girls I love most in this world are coming back with me, I won’t ever have to live anywhere else again.





Paige


I slide my shirt closed as Grace’s mouth falls away from my chest and position her more comfortably as she sleeps. Elliot reaches

over and slips a blanket over her tiny body and kisses me on the side of the head.

I’m really nervous about going home to Australia, but I know it’s the right place for us to be. Elliot has his whole family there, as well

as all of his friends and I agree that Grace should get to grow up the same way her daddy did, and we’ll travel back to the UK

occasionally so she can see her grandparents there.

I have really appreciated the time I spent in the UK because not only did I find Elliot, but I got a chance to get to know my mother and

father. My relationship with them is never going to be fantastic because I still have all of those bad memories from long ago, but at

least now I can put them aside and move on with my life, and I can use them to make sure that my own family is treated well.

Elliot is the most magnificent husband and father; he's always taking care of me and is so enamoured with Grace that he already

talks about having more children together.

Through my therapy, I have realised that the only way I'm ever going to heal is to let myself love and be loved. Now that we’re married

and have a family, Elliot and I have vowed to be connected to each other forever.

As I rest my head on his shoulder, he reaches over and hooks his finger under my chin to tilt my head up and kiss me, my head

swims slightly as we pull away from each other.

“I love you Paige Roberts,” he whispers.

“I love you too,” I say, filled with more happiness than I ever hoped to have in my life time.

He lifts the arm rest between our seats and puts his arm around me, resting his other hand lightly on the body of our daughter,

sleeping soundly in the crook of my left arm. I lightly touch the band of vine and script that’s tattooed around his forearm, featuring

both, mine and Grace’s names. I have a matching one on my wrist for him and Grace. We felt that since I had marked my body to

remind me of all the things I didn’t want to be again, we should both mark ourselves, to remind ourselves we’re in this life together,

forever and that’s all that matters to me anymore.

When the captain’s voice comes over the speakers, we’re told that we’re only an hour away from landing in Sydney, my stomach

starts dancing about inside me, I’m sure it spends a little time up in my chest as well, dancing around with my thudding heart.

“You ok?” Elliot asks.

“I’m just nervous. I've only met your mum a couple of times, and now we’re going to be staying with her for god knows how long. I’m

just nervous is all,” I say, rambling slightly.

“You’ll be fine, Paige. She loves you. You have nothing to worry about,” he assures me.

I breathe out slowly, trying to calm myself as I wait to touch down and start a whole new life with my husband and child.





Elliot


As we move towards the baggage claim, I leave Paige watching the conveyor belt while I go and get a trolley to hold our bags. She

looks nervous; it's actually kind of sweet. She's always so tough in life but the very thought of staying with my mother and possibly not

being liked by her has got her all worked up. She doesn’t need to worry though, my mum already thinks she’s amazing, so does my

step father Steve.

After loading our bags on the trolley, we follow the flow of people outside to find my mother waving frantically at us in the pick up only

line of cars. She rushes towards us and envelopes us both in a cloud of hugs and kisses before hurrying us towards the car, so she

doesn’t get in trouble for taking too long.

Before we know it, we’re on our way, I’m in front sitting next to mum who’s driving, and Paige is in the back with Grace all clipped

into her car seat.

“Mum, thanks so much for getting everything organised for Grace, it’s really great of you.”

“Elliot, don’t be silly, it’s my pleasure, and I have to admit a little selfish of me. If I have everything ready for her, then I can pinch her

whenever I want,” she laughs.

“Good luck with that mum,” I laugh.

“What you’re not going to let me take my granddaughter every now and then?” she teases.

“Of course you can take her out with you,” says Paige from the back seat, getting in some ‘good daughter-in-law’ points.

“Thank you Paige,” my mother smiles, poking her tongue out at me like a child. I laugh as I let my head lay against the seat, tired

from the trip, but so glad to be home.





Paige


The car ride lulls Grace off to sleep and when we arrive at Elliot’s mother’s house, a large brown brick, two storey home in

Westmead, near Parramatta, I’m happy to let Kathy take her from me and place her in the cot she has set up ready for her.

I practically collapse onto the couch next to Elliot. You'd think we would be sick of sitting but after a whole day of travel, we’re both

too exhausted to move. We just need to make it until dinner time before we can safely close our eyes to ward off jet lag.

Kathy returns with the receiver for a baby monitor in hand and places it on the coffee table, offering us something to drink. She

bustles about in the kitchen for a bit and brings in a tray laden with coffees and slices of cake.

As I take a sip of the coffee I’m grateful for the nourishment, the cake tastes wonderful, it’s a simple madeira cake but everything

tastes different from the food in the UK, and I realise how much I’ve missed it.





Elliot


“I hope you don’t mind, but I've invited friends and family around for a bit of a BBQ this weekend. I wanted to celebrate you coming

home and introduce Paige and Grace to everybody,” my mother says, clasping her hands in front of her and looking at us earnestly.

We’ve been at her house for maybe ten minutes, and she’s already dropped this bombshell on us. I reach my hand over and rest it

on Paige’s knee. She seems a bit frightened by all of this family attention.

“I don’t know mum,” I start. “We just got off the plane, and Grace won’t be used to the time change yet…” I was trying to think of some

sort of excuse to get out of this. I know my mum is excited, but Paige has been on her own for so long – that many people may be

too much for her.

“Oh,” she says, looking down trodden, “I just thought…”

“It’s fine Kathy, if you’ve already invited everyone, it’s fine,” Paige interrupts. I look at her briefly, having one of those facial

expression conversations with her to make sure she’s fine.





Paige


As much as I don’t want to be bombarded with so many people, I know I have to meet them all eventually – it can’t stay just me, Elliot

and Grace forever, no matter how much I’d like it to.

Elliot keeps looking at me, trying to make sure I’m ok. He understands how hard I worked just to be on a first-name basis with my

own mother and father without feeling anger and resentment every time I look at them. So he’s worried that having all of his

supportive family and friends around me might be hard for me.

I try to give him my best, ‘I’ll be fine!” smile as Kathy says, “Really? Oh thank you Paige, they’ll all love you, and of course, they’ll love

Grace!” she exclaims.

“I’m sure I’ll love them too Kathy, thanks for going to so much trouble for us,” I smile at her. Elliot’s arm goes protectively around me

as he hugs me towards him.

At that moment Grace’s cries burst out of the monitor. “I’ll go and get her,” Elliot says rising from the couch. He returns quickly

handing Grace to his mother, who is more than eager to accept her. I smile at Kathy’s easy loving nature. She is such a kind woman,

and I’m actually looking forward to spending more time with her.

“Mum, do you mind watching Grace for a bit while we get settled into our room?” Elliot asks.

“Of course! I think I might just keep her,” Kathy replies, focused only on playing with Grace while she squeals and giggles from her

grandmother’s attentions.

I go and help Elliot with our bags and drag them to his old room, when he opens the door, I breathe out a little as I take it all in. “Wow,

you weren’t kidding about the collage,” I say, as my eyes travel over a large cork board covered with every single photo we took

together that first three months in the UK.

His arm goes up as he rubs sheepishly at the back of his head, “Is it too much?”

Laughing, I shake my head. “Elliot, my whole flat had framed photos of us together. I love this. Can we take it with us when we find

our own place?”

He walks over to me and slides his arms around my waist pulling me towards him. “Of course,” he whispers, closing the distance

and kissing me softly. I whimper slightly as his tongue slides against my own, I don’t think I could ever be tired of kissing this man in

front of me.

Sighing, he rests his forehead against my own. “Are you sure you’re ok about this BBQ? I don’t want to bombard you with a bunch of

strangers trying to hug and kiss you.”

I slip my arms through his and pull myself tightly against his chest, resting my head on his shoulder. “I’ll be fine, Elliot, as long as they

don’t use tongue – I think I’ll cope.”

Sighing, he gives me squeeze. “Alright, as long as you’re sure…Do you want to grab a shower at all?” he asks releasing me.

“Why? Do I stink?” I laugh.

A grin creeps over his face as he winks at me. “ A little,” he says.

I slap him good naturedly on the arm as we laugh, and he pretends I hurt him. He shows me where the bathroom is and leaves me to

clean up. The thought of a hot shower is heaven right now. Besides a little extra cuddle time with my husband, I’d love nothing more

than to wash all of the travel grime away.





Elliot


After leaving Paige in the bathroom, I walk back out to the lounge room where my mother is walking around with Grace, showing her

pictures on the wall and talking about them. Grace is rapt. She's either grabbing at my mum’s face or trying to pull the pictures down

with her chubby little baby hands as she coos out her response to my mother’s chatter.

“Oh look, it’s daddy!” my mother says to Grace, who claps her little baby hands and beams at me. The moment I get close she

reaches out, so I take her off my mum and bounce her against my side, while she plays with my ear and drools all over my shoulder.



“Is Paige ok?” my mother asks.

“She’s fine. She's just taking a shower.”

“I’m sorry about the BBQ. Everyone is just so excited you’re home.”

“It’s fine mum. I just didn’t know how Paige would react. She's never really done a big friends and family BBQ before. Remember her

upbringing was a bit different to mine?”

“I know and I didn’t think. Will she be ok?”

“I’m sure she’ll be fine mum. It'll be fun,” I say, hoping that it will.