Grace's POV
In the middle of the night, long after Chester and I had gone to sleep, I awoke to light knocking on my door, followed by soft sniffles.
"Sophie is that you?" I whispered, trying not to wake Chester. She opened the door and her bare feet pattered on the cold floor as she walked in. "What's wrong, honey?" I could barely see her in the dark, but looked at her with a concerned frown on my face.
She moved up close to the bed and looked into my eyes. "I had a bad dream." She whispered, with tears wetting her lashes and dribbling down her cheeks.
"Oh, no," I spoke softly as I wiped the tears from her face. "Do you wanna sleep here for now?"
She nodded slowly. I lifted her into the bed and helped her get comfortable. "Is that better?" I held her close.
"Yeah," She mumbled, half asleep. She rested her head on my chest and I gently stroked her hair until she had calmed down.
When I thought she had fallen asleep, she spoke in barely a whisper. "I love you. You and Chester."
I paused for a moment, my heart exploding with joy and overwhelming maternal instinct. "We love you too."
I kissed the top of her head and she sighed deeply with content. Before I knew it, we were both asleep with Sophie curled into me.
I woke up that morning to Sophie, still in my arms, tapping my shoulder. I was still tired from my broken night's sleep and my arm had sharp pins and needles, a result of comforting her.
"What's up?" I spoke groggily, rubbing at my eyes and looking at Sophie.
"I was lonely." She spoke in a hushed tone, acknowledging that Chester was still asleep. I giggled at Sophie's response, but was immediately shushed by her, because she didn't want to wake Chester.
"So you can wake me and not Chester?" I smiled and tickled her neck, which caused her to erupt in a fit of giggles. Chester turned over and groaned, which made both of us giggle even more.
"Morning." His voice was still raspy with sleep and he hadn't properly looked at us yet.
"Morning, lazy bones." I gave him a light kiss on the cheek.
"Morning!" Sophie called out joyfully, making Chester jump.
"Woah, hey Soph. When did you get here?" He reached out and pretended to pull her hair.
"I had a bad dream." She answered, in a distant and wise voice.
Chester frowned as if he was affected by the dream himself. "That's not good. I say we go and get some breakfast at a restaurant to forget about it. What do you say?"
"Yes please!" A naughty, but sweet smile lit up her face, which spread a smile on my own face.
"Okay, we've gotta get ready then. Do you think you can get dressed by yourself, like a big girl?" I held her little hand in mine and she nodded quickly. "Great! So you can go and get dressed and so will we, and then we'll go."
Sophie hopped out of the bed and ran to the guest room as fast as her little legs would carry her. I hurried to the bathroom and managed to shower get ready before Chester, which was very rare.
Chester's POV
Fresh out of the shower, I got dressed and walked out into the living room, but Grace and Sophie were nowhere to be found. I looked around the house, before I went into the guest room and found Sophie, sitting on a little stool, with Grace, carefully brushing her hair. I couldn't stop the grin from creeping onto my lips.
"Are we ready, beauty queens?" I joked as I leaned on the door.
"Almost," Grace's tongue poked out of her mouth as she concentrated, whilst sliding two clips into Sophie's hair. "There." She smiled with satisfaction.
"Off we go," I signalled to the front door and we were on our way.
We drove to a small breakfast cafe in the middle of L.A. Grace and I ordered a coffee each and two omelettes, whilst Sophie ordered waffles with syrup and orange juice. The three of us happily enjoyed our breakfast, with a very pleasant waitress who fawned over Sophie and spoiled her with special attention. We made sure to generously tip her on our way out.
When we had paid the bills and were on our way out, the waitress stopped me. "Thank you for the tip. You have a beautiful family, sir." She smiled and I looked over at Sophie, who clutched Grace's fingers in her tiny hand and looked up at her, as the two were engaged in conversation.
"I really do." I smiled and waved goodbye, joining the two girls and holding Sophie's other hand.
