Grace's POV
Today was the day. It was our scheduled visit with Sophie. I was so ready to have her over. The day before, I had even bought a booster seat for her to sit in, with a little guidance from a phone call with my mom. We parked our car outside the orphanage, ready to pick her up.
"Are you pumped yet?" Chester grinned cheekily at me.
"So pumped, dude." I faked a laid back voice and showed him the peace sign as we walked into the building to the secretary's desk.
"Hi ma'am. We're here to pick up Sophie for our visit." Chester announced to the preoccupied woman behind the desk.
"Sure. Mr See and Miss Helbig, if I'm not mistaken?" She read off her computer.
"That's us." I was brimming with excitement.
"Great. I'll call for them to send Sophie in." The lady made a quick call to the orphanage section of the building and then put down again. "Just a little reminder that she needs to be home by 6pm at the latest."
Chester nodded to acknowledge the woman, but we all turned our heads to focus on the 4 year old girl who walked into the room, clutching that same Olaf toy that we had seen her with the first time we met her. She was dressed in a pair of long dungarees and a white top with little yellow polka dots, with her dark brown hair in two french braids.
"Hey, Sophie." I smiled as she walked and stood next to me.
"Hello." Sophie blushed and covered her smiling mouth with her toy.
As we began walking out, the secretary gave a small wave, which we were too occupied to reciprocate.
"Are you excited about today?" Chester asked as he unlocked the car and opened the passenger door and backdoor. Sophie nodded rapidly as I helped her up into the car and into the booster seat. She instinctively clipped the seatbelt herself.
"You're so grown up!" I praised as I closed her door and got into my own seat.
"I can read too." She announced rather proudly. She was coming out of her shell. "Where are we going?" Her sentence wavered.
"We thought it would be nice if we went and got ice cream. Do you like ice cream?" Chester drove a lot more cautiously, now that there was this little person in our car.
"I love ice cream. Olaf does too." She giggled.
"Ice cream it is." I smiled Chester looked at me and mouthed the words "Too cute".
Chester's POV
The shy Sophie that we were introduced to was gone. In her place, was a talkative,busy and intelligent little girl. All the way to the door of the ice cream shop, she spoke to us about what she had learnt in kindergarten that day, what her favourite games were and of course, about her Olaf toy.
As we walked into the shop, her eyes widened. Grace and I led her to the window, where all the flavours were displayed and she gave a little gasp. Her excitement gave Grace and I infectious smiles.
"I can't see all of them." Sophie gave a little sigh of disappointment.
"Aw no!" Grace's attitude around the little girl was amazing. It was so maternal. So different to the Grace I knew, but I liked this side of her. "Let me help you."
Grace lifted Sophie into her arms and and set her petite frame on her hip. Sophie had her tiny arms wrapped around Grace's neck.
"Much better!" Sophie cried as she marvelled at the ice cream from her new point of view. Grace looked fondly at her, and I watched the both of them, bonding as if they were already mother and daughter.
"What looks good?" I asked as I stroked Grace's shoulder.
"The chocolate one." Sophie informed us, emphasising each word.
"It does look good, Ches. Three chocolate ice creams maybe?" Grace suggested.
"Sounds perfect." I called for the attention of the server. "Three chocolate ice creams in cones, please." I slid the money over the counter and received the ice cream, one at a time, giving Sophie the first, Grace the second and taking the third for myself.
We sat on a bench outside the shop, happily eating our ice creams. Sophie sat between us, giddily kicking her legs as she enjoyed her ice cream, which ended up being more on her face than in her mouth. Passers-by looked at us with warm smiles.
We must've looked like a picture perfect family. I liked that word. It described us well. The word family.
