Chapter one hundred nine: "Bubble Gun"

"N-nothing just something embarrassing" he stuttered while hugging me

I squinted my eyes and started patting his coat to try and find the thing he is trying to hide but he managed to grab my hand quickly before I could reach for his inner pocket

"Maybe we should get ready to leave for the beach tomorrow" he suggested trying to change the topic and shift my attention away from the thing he is hiding in his inner coat pocket
But then curiosity will kill me so I just agreed

We walked back to the manor hand in hand

"What happened to the two?"

"You mean the Diasmo's?"

"No maybe the two birds that just landed in the garden" I sarcastically answered him while rolling my eyes making him chuckle

"Dad kicked them out as soon he saw you faint, can't believe he is the same person who didn't like you before"

We both exchanged looks because that was how we were before. He pulled me close to him while we were walking and rested his head on my shoulder making an awkward lean sideways

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"And are you sure that's the dress you are gonna wear for your date tomorrow?" Mom asked me with a bewildered look on her face, Aunt Laborè looked at the dress I held up with two hands right in front of me

I furrowed my brows and looked at the dress "What? It's casual and relaxing for a nice date at the beach"

This made Aunt Laborè drop her ballpen by accident "Are you serious?"

The dress was just a casual pale yellow thigh-length shoulder dress with a cute now in the middle at the waist. Our attention was shifted immediately ay the little girl who barged into my bedroom door

"Tia honey what are you doing?" Natalie asked our little niece who slammed the door open with bubble guns in both hands

"Mommy got me this cool gun a week ago, look!" she pressed the button and bubbles started coming out
Tia Elena Marshall, Romeo and Juliet's 5-year-old daughter wanted to stay with us for the weekend while the two were on a busy road trip

She pointed the gun at Wendy and Cara

Adeline started popping bubbles since she sat near Cara "Cool gun, where did your Mom buy it?" she asked before checking out the bubble gun

Tia let Adeline touch one of her toys and handed the other to Cara who wasn't interested in the bubble gun but just kept pressing the button to let bubbles out

Her big eyes looked at the dress I held up, with small hands she pointed at it "Pretty! Very pretty"

I held my nose up high "See? Tia thinks it's pretty" I boasted and gave my little niece a high five

Aunt Laborè was about to interfere but Mom stopped her and just gave her the "Just let her" look

Tia was emotionally intelligent so she can read the situation based on just a few observations "Auntie Penelope would look pretty on whatever she wears because Uncle Cloud is simple for her" she shrugged and walked up to Adeline to sit on her lap to play with bubble guns

Ella, Natalie, Brie, and I blinked a few times while gazing at her tiny back

"Sometimes her emotional intelligence scares me" Dad honestly said when he stopped looking at an art magazine after he heard what Tia said

Brie lifted Tia making her giggle "She must've inherited it from her Dad" she gleamed in happiness while tickling Tia
She is right, Romeo became a nurse because he has an amazing emotional intelligence

She sets Tia down and grabbed a snack that Ella handed to her from a plate of cookies we made yesterday, while Cara checks out the bubble gun she said "By the way are you ready for Cloud's pr-" Tia suddenly shoves a cookie in Cara's mouth

With a nonchalant expression, she said "She looks hungry but I can tell she's asking if you are excited about the pretty beach date tomorrow" she gave me a toothy grin right after talking

I nodded "Of course, I believe you already know the obvious answer"

"Figures" she mumbled to herself
Am I even talking to a 5-year-old right now? She talks like an adult and it scares all of us sometimes

My phone rang on the table so Mom picked up the call for me since she was the nearest to the table, she puts the phone on speaker mode before giving it to me

"Thanks Mom" I mouthed to her before saying "Penelope here" to the phone

"GIRL I HEARD YOU JUST CAME BACK FROM ALBERTA!" Yara yelled out

Tia covered her ears "Geez, she is so loud" she mumbled before stomping her way to Dad and struggling to climb so she could sit on the couch beside him, her short legs struggled

"Is that Baby Tia I hear over there!? Hold on let me get my keys!" Alice's voice was heard over the phone "Don't let her move a muscle!" she added before ending the call abruptly

Tia's face showed doom, her short hair that was styled into a cute ponytail bounced when she hopped off the couch and then ran to hide in one of the bedrooms

I wonder what Yara wanted to tell me before Alice got excited about Tia in my house and ended the call

Alice by the way just gave birth last year, the pregnancy was unplanned and her parents soon found out about it. Will wasn't a coward when he stepped up to becoming a Dad

They got married quite early after Will found out she was pregnant which shocked all of us, the decision came out of the blue but he made it work

Will didn't want the baby to be born without a father so he married Alice for the sake of making a happy family for their baby to have, Alice was worried for their future because Will wasn't halfway done with his studies in medicine and the baby could interrupt or even make him stop studying to support them

It took all of us a long time to persuade Will to continue his studies because they would suffer more if he doesn't finish it

He asked us what would he do since he needed to find work to support Alice and their baby, thankfully their parents stepped in
It was a miracle that the families decided to help, usually, they would start ignoring them because of shame

Both of the families decided to work together to help Alice and Will finish their studies while raising the baby

We suggested that they both take different shifts of work, Alice would work at Day while Will work at night

The doorbell echoed throughout the house which means they were here

I set down the dress and ran downstairs to answer the door, I was greeted by Alice's tired face while her baby was in a baby carrier hung in front of her "Hey Penelope"

"Are you ok? You look like you're about to faint" I let her and Yara into my home

"I'm fine, just getting ready for graduation since I'm almost done in college" she sighed in relief then sets her baby down

Tia peeked at us at while hiding behind the corner, her eyes sparkled when she saw the baby giggling on the sofa. She ran out of her hiding spot to hold the baby's hand "Hi my name is Tia, I'm 5 years old! What about you?"

Alice gave her a motherly smile so she held her baby on her lap "Hi! My name is Mace" she made her voice sound like a baby so Tia can talk to the baby boy