Choosing Home

Chapter Thirty

Phillip crawled into bed and gently kissed the top of his wife's head. It'd been a trying time for them all but somehow they'd bounced back. In all honesty, Phillip had been worried about Aurora at first. She had almost clung to Arabella, as if trying to make up for the fact that she'd been unable to bond with Audrey when she was first born.

Thank Gods for Claudine. If it hadn't been for her, I don't think Aurora would have slept at all, he thought as he turned off the light that sat at his beside table. Claudine loves Arabella more than I think Aurora does, or Phil in all honesty. Or even me. It...I know we can never replace Audrey but having Claudine here is...is almost like having another daughter.

"It's hard to believe that it's been almost a year since Arabella was born, isn't it?" Aurora said softly.

"That's right," Phillip nodded, turning to look at her. "She's what? Eleven months?"

"Uh huh," Aurora said with a slightly sad smile. "We...we should think about setting up a party and a christening for her."

"Are you sure?" Phillip asked. "I know...I know that christenings usually aren't well received by your family."

Aurora sighed. "I know. But if she could get a gift that could help her later on in life, that would be worth it. Something better than Beauty and Song at the very least. And...I was thinking we should try to at least set up a video conference with Audrey."

"You were?"

"I know she made her choices and I know we're never going to get the chance to hold our daughter again," Aurora said, her voice soft. "But...she's still our daughter Phillip. She's still my little girl who used to beg to go to Fairy Cottage and feed the woodland creatures. Even if she called them all bunnies and birdies. Even if she couldn't hold Ari, she should at least get to see her."

Phillip nodded but a crash in the distance caused the two of them to pause and look toward the baby monitor.

"Was...was Claudine coming over?" Aurora asked as she sat up.

"She would have told us and she wouldn't have visited this late. She knows how I feel about her driving at night," Phillip said. That was one of the first rules he had instituted when he had started teaching Claudine how to drive: no more than one other person in the car when she was driving (not counting of course him, Aurora, Phil, and Arabella) and no driving in the dead of night.

At least, not when she was first starting out. That had also been a reason for his insistence on getting her a brand new car (used cars ran the risk of breaking down more easily plus there was no guarantee on maintenance). However, Claudine had insisted on a used car—she claimed it didn't make sense to get a new one when there were perfectly good preowned cars out there.

In the end, it'd been Aurora who came up with an acceptable compromise—they would get a preowned car but it could not be older than three years and had to be inspected frequently.

"If...if that's over the baby monitor, they could be in Arabella's room," Aurora whispered. "Phillip..."

"I know," Phillip nodded, getting up out of bed and grabbing his sword. He knew he probably wasn't a particularly imposing presence in his pajamas but he didn't care. There wasn't enough time for them to call the guards after all and they could divide and conquer. "You go check on Phil. Take one of the swords to protect yourself—and the frying pan."

Aurora rolled her eyes. "Just because Eugene taught me how to spar using a frying pan does not mean it's a practical weapon."

"Just take it," Phillip told her. "I'm going to go check on Arabella.