I was driving home from work on a Friday evening. The traffic was busy as usual; however, that day was very different from all others. It was the last day of an old life - one where there were only three people in my family: myself, Laura and Luke. It was also the beginning of a new life - one that I would never forget in my entire existence. For the moment, I was blissfully unaware of this invisible crossing.
Perhaps my work colleagues had sensed it. The way each and every person (including the headteacher, a woman with a temper as prominent as the wart on her nose) had presented me with presents and cards alike had seemed a little of an over-reaction considering that I was only taking a year off work. Obviously I accepted them all with tremendous gratitude, considering half the people had barely even spoken to me in the five years I had worked at the school.
"The children will miss you, Simon. As will I." Hazel (a woman who had assisted me in class 4 for the past term) had said, clasping my hands between hers. Taken aback by the sudden attention, I muttered a quiet "thank you" before withdrawing (or rather prising) my hands from her firm grip.
After a day like that, there was nothing better than driving home in a car. Alone.
Suddenly, I thought of Luke. A stab of guilt allowed my eyes to drift away from the road before I quickly realized I had narrowly missed hitting a parked car on the pavement. My heart pumped at a doubly-quick speed for a short moment, before I took a deep breath and partially regained my composure.
Laura and I had decided that it would be best to gradually introduce Emma into our family, starting with just the two of us - her new parents. Therefore, Luke was having a sleepover at Grandma Anna's house, which was handily just down the road from ours. We were planning on introducing him to Emma after she was settled in. Luke was perfectly happy with the idea - he loved his Granny and the concept of a sleepover greatly excited him - but I couldn't stop feeling a bit guilty for leaving him out of the first time we would properly meet our new daughter.
My journey seemed strangely quicker than most, or perhaps the fact that I was filled with a new kind of excitement allowed me to lose track of the rate at which seconds formed minutes. Anyhow, I arrived home before I even had time to compose myself and to have perfected the "welcome speech" I had rehearsed for so long in my head. Now was the time for the real performance and I had a mild case of stage fright.
* * *
Dinner was on the table minutes after I walked into the kitchen. A slab of Laura's homemade chicken and leak pie sat on each plate along with a serving of steamed carrots and broccoli on the side. Emma was seated on the chair that was usually empty.
She was smaller than I had expected. Despite being a year older than him, Emma was quite obviously shorter than Luke. Her hair was a shade of the lightest blonde and was pulled back into a plait that almost reached the chair seat. She had a pleasant face - light freckles were spattered across her nose and cheeks and her bright blue eyes peered out from behind long eyelashes. With her feet dangling in the air, inches away from the floor, and her little hands, so small and dainty, clutching at the table edge, she was the picture of innocence. How anybody hadn't wanted her in their lives was a complete mystery to me.
"Hello, Emma," I said quietly. She set her blue eyes on me.
"Hello Simon." Her voice was soft and fragile. She didn't smile.
Laura pulled up a chair next to Emma, so I sat opposite. Both of us watched as she stared at the plate of food in front of her.
"If you can't manage it all, you can leave some," Laura smiled reassuringly. I nodded in agreement.
"Have you had pie before?" I asked her.
"Pie?" She looked confused.
Laura pointed to Emma's slice of pastry with juicy filling oozing out. "This is a pie," she said. "This part is called the pastry and this is chicken and leek."
"I like chicken," Emma replied, a thin smile spreading across her lips. "May I eat it?"
We nodded in unison and then dug in, constantly watching out of the corner of our eyes as Emma dissected the pie, spinning pieces of chicken, leek and pastry around on her fork to study them before popping them into her mouth and chewing.
"I like pie," she said.
ns 15.158.61.48da2
