Consequences - Grester

Chapter 21

{A/N: I'm sorry for the lack of chapters. I promise I'll be uploading at least once a week from now onwards. Thank you for your patience and for reading, voting and commenting! I decided to give your feels a bit of a break, so I've written one or two more lighthearted chapters. Enjoy!}

Grace's POV

After a long period of silence in the living room, once my mom has gone off to take a shower, I decide to go and check on Sophie and Chester, seeing as it's getting quite late.

I walk to Sophie's room and peek in at the door. Chester is slowly slipping off the edge of the bed, attempting not to wake up Sophie, who lies on top of him. I can't fight the smile tugging at my lips as he manages to get off the bed without disturbing her. He plants a kiss on her forehead and then walks away, spotting me at the door.

"Sorry I took so long." He whispers once we're both out of the room. "Every time I tried to leave, she just moved closer to me."

"That's alright." I chuckle softly. "Thanks for coming. I think this is a good visiting system for the now."

"So I can keep coming to tuck them in at night?" He looks at me hopefully.

"Every few nights, I guess." I nod, chewing the inside of my cheek anxiously. "I'll call you to tell you when you should come."

"Thanks for this, Grace." I feel almost uplifted when he says my name. "I should get going. It's late."

"Uh, yeah." I fiddle with my hair as we approach the front door.

For a moment, the two of us stand close enough for me to feel the familiar heat radiating from Chester's body. If things were normal again, he would pull me closer and kiss me, his arms wrapped around my body, allowing me to feel protected, but our lives are different know.

As much as I wish we could go back to the way things are, I'm afraid I won't be the mother my daughters deserve, and the wounds of my heart that Chester has caused are still open and sore.

"Grace," Chester inches a tiny bit closer, until we're almost touching. "I-"

"You should go." I look away from him, realising that I've been staring into his eyes for the past few seconds.

"Right. I'm sorry." He says, stepping back for me to open the door, which he then walks through.

I shut the door and I feel defeated. Ever since things started going wrong, all I've been trying to do is feel complete without Chester. I've been trying to do double the work as a parent, in attempt to prove to myself that I am better alone, but the truth is that I miss him.

This moment has proven how much I miss him and how inadequate I am. All I can think about is how I want him to lie in bed with me and run his hands through my hair, or spin the girls around in the air, or sing mad up songs while he makes breakfast and call us all 'his girls'.

Despite how much I want Chester to be with me, I have to strengthen my defence against him, because I can't succumb to him. It's not right that I drag my daughters through our turbulent relationship. It's time that I stop thinking about my needs and wants.

I have to prove to myself and everyone around me that I can overcome this bump in the road, no matter how big it is.

Chester's POV

When I arrive at the house I'm staying in, I finally check my phone to see the voicemail I've received. Of course, it's from Taryn, but I can't be bothered to answer, or even listen to what she's said, because I don't want my sweet evening with my daughters to end with any sort of memory of Taryn.

Instead, I sit down on the couch and exit out of the call log on my phone, and look at the photos on my phone. Almost all of them are of Charlotte and Sophie. I scroll through, looking at pictures of the two of them sleeping and playing or at school, until I find one of Grace.

Although she's in her pyjamas and half asleep, with Goose on her lap, it's the most stunning picture of her I've ever seen. There's nobody on the planet whom I love more than her, but I've ruined my chances and I don't think I can ever undo the damage I've done to our lives.

Tears form in my eyes, as I continue to stare at the screen of my phone, fully intrigued by the beauty of Grace, until I eventually fall asleep on the couch with an empty, aching heart.

Grace's POV

The next morning, I wake up to my mom yelling from another room in the house. I immediately jump out of bed and run to where the noise is coming from. Charlotte's room door is open and I see my mom standing there with her hands raised to her face.

"What? What is it?" I panic as I enter the room.

"Her hair." My mom stops yelling and almost looks amused.

I frown and look down at Charlotte, who is sitting cross legged on her bed with a pair of safety scissors in her hand and locks of her light, ash brown hair surrounding her on the clean bedding. I look closer at her face and notice the missing bits of hair in front of her face.

"What have you done?" I gasp, holding back laughter as I bend down and touch her hair.

"I wanted bangs like you had before." Charlotte beams enthusiastically and points to the poorly cut curtain of hair hanging in front of her face.

"Oh my god." I chuckle. "What am I gonna do with you, princess monster?"

I look back up at my mom, who grins at the two of us. Charlotte is still smiling innocently, unaware of how ridiculous she looks with her new haircut.

"Do you know what your hair looks like?" My mom folds her arms and giggles.

"No. Is it pretty?" The little girl touches the hair on top of her head.

"Here. I'll show you." I grab my phone and take a picture of her, before turning the screen to show my daughter.

Charlotte immediately bursts into tears when she sees herself and pulls on her hair dramatically. My mom and I exchange surprised glances.

"It looks terrible!" She sobs. "Fix it."

"Alright, alright. Calm down. We'll sort it out." I lift her into my arms.