With Frosty in Theo's arms, I rang the doorbell of the gorgeous white house right by the beach.

No neighbours or other houses were in sight, so I knew this must be a very private and relaxing place for him to come to.

I heard shuffling from inside as I adjusted the bag I was carrying over one shoulder, containing my things for one night here.

Frantically, the door opened and a gorgeous dark featured, and slightly breathless, woman revealed herself standing in the entrance hall.

"Ah!" She almost squealed and raised her arms up, surprising me by almost lunging at me and wrapping me in her arms.

I laughed and hugged her back. This had to be one of the best hugs I've ever gotten. One of those hugs that has you feeling very warm, cared for and appreciated.

"It's so good to meet you..." we pulled back, and I realised I had no idea what Theo's mother's name was.

"I'm Anne. I've been waiting for so long to meet you, Scarlett," and then she was hugging me again, squeezing the life out of me this time, "you're such a beautiful creature."

I laughed gently while my eyes met Theo's dark ones studying me now from inside the house. He had just been observing me, still very caught up with whatever he had been thinking about during the end of the car ride as well, before giving me a small smile and then looking away almost shyly.

"I think I already love you," I told Anne when we pulled back the second time, and a wide smile made the sides of her eyes crinkle. I could tell Theo had definitely received his eyes from her mother.

"I know I already love you, honey. Come in, Ellie's been so excited to meet you as well," she welcomingly took my hand in hers and guided me inside.

The house was gorgeous; everything you'd expect of a house by the beach. I could definitely see myself spending my retirement days somewhere such as this.

"Thomas! Ellie!" She called over to a living room area, from where a man appeared with a blur of blonde hair running around by his feet.

"Well, hello there," Thomas, I presumed, gave me a kind smile and stepped up to me to give me a hug, "it's great to get to meet you."

"You too," I returned his smile once we pulled back from the hug, "I love your shirt."

He was wearing a Coldplay merchandise tee shirt, and I was jealous I hadn't got one like that myself.

"Ah, you like them?" Thomas glanced down at his front briefly, pinching the material.

I nodded, "yes. They're my favourite."

He grinned and looked over at Theo, who had lifted the pretty blonde girl into his arms and was just observing me from afar.

"She's perfect, marry her before I do," Thomas joked lightly and I laughed quietly, carefully taking in Theo's expression.

My laughter died down at how intense his eyes were on mine suddenly, and I felt almost shy. Why was he acting like this?

"You must be Ellie," I cleared my throat and broke away from his gaze, before directing a smile over at the girl in his arms, legs wrapping around the side of his body while her arms hugged his neck.

She blushed when I took a step closer to the two, now standing in front of Theo. She buried her face into his neck, shying away.

"This is Scarlett, Ellie," Theo spoke up, his eyes still focused on me, but now much less intensely. He gave me a small smile and shrug, mentally telling me not to get offended by her shyness.

"Isn't she pretty?" He continued, sending me a teasing grin.

I gently nudged him, before the girl pulled back a little and took me in. I gave her a gentle smile.

"She is," she murmured a quiet reply to Theo.

"You're very pretty, Ellie," I decided to tell her, "I love how you've done your hair."

She had a ponytail right at the top of her hair, with half her blonde hair left from it and cascading down to her shoulders.

"Daddy did it," she whispered, pulling back from more from Theo's side to be to see me better.

"He did a good job," I told her, and gained a small smile from her.

"Do you want to see my cars?" She then wiggled away from Theo's hold, and he placed her down onto the floor carefully.

"Kids, we've got dinner in five!" Anne called from the kitchen.

"Sure," I nodded down at Ellie, who reached to take her hand in mine. Without saying anything, she began guiding me towards the living room.

"Wait," Theo cleared his throat, and I glanced back to see him walking towards us, "let me take your bag, I'll bring it to our room."

"Thank you," I managed to hand it to him along with a soft smile, before Ellie was tugging me along again.

Thomas joined Ellie and me on the living room carpet, where mini cars were seemingly having some sort of race.

Ellie's knowledge of cars had completely surprised me, as well as the feeling of home and comfortability I had instantly been enveloped in after stepping into this house.

She also seemed very keen on Frosty, who'd decided to join us after a moment.

__

"Mum, please stop..." Theo groaned, leaning his face down into his hands.

I placed my hand on his thigh underneath the dinner table and continued listening intently to what Anne was telling us.

"He licked the girl's cheek and thought he had gotten her pregnant," she comically told us about a wild 8-year-old Theo, "he cried for days!"

"Wasn't days, mum. Maybe an hour or two..." he grumbled, not very pleased, "you're embarrassing me in front of Scarlett."

"No, I think it's adorable," I giggled, gently leaning against his side, "I had no idea you were so sexually active at eight..."

"Jesus..." he groaned again and shook his head with a chuckle, "you're all absolutely mad."

Ellie had gone back into the living room to play with her cars once we'd finished dinner. It was just Anne, Thomas, Theo and me, drinking wine and having a grand time.

"Anne shouldn't be given wine. Otherwise all the embarrassing stories start flooding out," Thomas grinned, lovingly teasing his stepmother who smiled.

"I think they're funny," she reasoned.

"Me too," I grinned lightly.

"Exactly!" She raised her glass of wine toward me as a sign of respect.

"That's because they're not embarrassing stories of you two," Theo pointed out, leaning back casually in his chair beside mine, "I have plenty of stories to tell about you, Scarlett..."

I laughed and let him take my hand into his, "oh, no. You're not embarrassing me, Theo."

"But my mum gets to embarrass me?" He shrugged innocently, eyes moving between his amused mother and me.

"It's not embarrassing. You just licked a girl's cheek and... and thought she was pregnant!" I couldn't hold in my laugh as I reached the end of my sentence, and Anne joined in.

"We've all done that, right?" She nodded, laughing gently.

"Scarlett, what about the time you—"

"Nope. Not happening," I grinned and shushed him with my finger raising up to cover his lips quickly.

He just gave me a smile, relaxing beside me with a gentle squeeze to my hand from his.

While Anne began telling me another story from Theo's childhood, he remained calm and quiet, gaze focused down on his lap where he was slowly lacing our fingers together and drawing small figures into the back of my hand.

Once it began getting late, and Thomas left to get Ellie ready for bed, I offered to help Anne clean up.

Theo told me he had some business call to make and gave me a side hug with a simple kiss onto my temple, before leaving the dining room.

Anne and I brought all the leftovers and plates into the kitchen.

"Have you ever thought about letting someone lick your cheek?" She asked me randomly, and I laughed.

"Excuse me?"

She chuckled and shook her head, handing me plates to place into the dishwasher, "having kids. Have you ever thought about it?"

I gave her a sweet smile, "Theo told me you might ask me about that..."

"Ah. Well, I guess he knows me too well," she shrugged, as happy as she had seemed since I'd met her, "have you, though? Is that something you're looking forward to at some point?"

"I've thought a lot about adopting, actually," I told her, "there's so many children in need of good homes. I want to be able to help someone to a life they deserve, a good life."

"That's incredibly kind of you. Theo really wasn't exaggerating when he told me you were very kindhearted," she told me, "he's been telling me non-stop about you for the last few months. He's incredibly in love with you."

I smiled almost shyly, focusing my attention to the plates I was situating down beside each other, "that's sweet. I love him too. I've never been so grateful that someone got a concussion and ended up in the hospital because of it..."

She laughed, "that's how you two met, right? The universe has a strange way of bringing people together."

"I agree."

"You two seem to be doing so good now. He's told me about how the past month has been for you two..." Anne lowered her voice a little and gave me a sympathetic smile, "my son's stubborn, but he's very caring of those he loves. I hope you two have moved past what he did..."

I guess Anne didn't know about Theo breaking up with me.

"I also tried telling him not to break up with you," she then continued.

"Oh," I guess she was aware of that as well...

"But he was so intent on making things easier and having you happy. I've never heard of anyone willing to give up their own happiness for someone else's like he planned for you. It's a lot, considering he's as stubborn as he is..."

"I'm happy with him," I told her, "I didn't know he was telling you all this?"

"Oh, honey, I'm sorry," Anne quickly shook her head, "I'm not trying to make you feel uncomfortable, I just feel like you're already family, and I care for anyone who makes my son as happy as you do."

I just gave her a small smile, loving the idea of being a part of this family.