Allie's POV
I hug Maura close to me as she shakes, her nerves so high. My little baby has been diagnosed with autism and I had never thought about this happening, but I would never love her less. Maura is a cuddler; so gentle. But she stutters, gets seizures, and gets very nervous. The thunder has her so scared that I refuse to let her go.
"Mommy," Sophia calls, coming to lay in bed with me.
"What's up?" I ask, her hand brushing over Maura's curls. She stays secure on me, but she holds Sophia's hand.
"Do you know if daddy will be home?" she asks, my lips pressing to Maura's head.
"He said he's coming home in a few days. You know he has to go away for a while," I remind my nine year old, her blue eyes closing as she sighs.
"I just miss him," she says, my head nodding. Collette comes in and we all stay in my room, the four of us watching TV to distract us from the storm. Maura's shaking goes down and I watch her close, her eyes closed and lips parted. She sleeps and I keep her with me, always so protective over my girls. When Harry isn't home, we all usually fit in Harry and I's bed. It's that sense of being together, plus the girls call it a big slumber party. As long as it's still cool with them, I'm cool with it.
I just hope they don't get so moody when they're older, my hopes most likely won't be met. But I love them and I will make sure to do the best I can to keep them nice and respectful.
When we get up, Maura is the first to start to talk and I take her downstairs for breakfast. She starts going on and on about how she loves her cereal, her blonde curls everywhere this morning. I laugh and kiss her forehead, her green eyes looking up at me.
Sophia and Collette come down and I make pancakes for them, the two of them sitting together and talking.
"I-I have to to g-get more...more cereal," Maura says, my hands wiping her mouth.
"You ate a lot already. You're all done," I tell her, her head shaking. I nod and start to tickle her, her laugh beautiful. I love healing my girls laugh, almost as much as hearing Harry's.
"I-I w-want to watch...watch so-some more TV," she then tells me, my head nodding. She walks with me into the living room and the girls pile onto the couch, my hand grabbing my phone.
Harry: Just landed. Be home in a few.
I smile and check on the girls one last time before walking into the garage. My feet stand and wait, then the taxi rolls up. Harry walks out and I smile, my feet running to him. He hugs me close and I smile, his arms huge and so tight around me.
"How are you?" he asks, my lips breathing out a sigh.
"I'm good. Just missed you," I say, his lips pressing to my hair. I lift my head and he kisses me, my hands grabbing his cheeks.
"God I love you," I tell him, his smile taking my worries away.
"I love you too. Now I need to get my babies," he smiles, squeezing my bottom before he moves into the house. As he walks in, I smile when the little girls squeal. They rush to hug Harry who manages to kneel down on his good knee. He hug them close and kisses them all, my heart melting. Sophia and Collette rush to get their new clothes to show to Harry and Maura grabs his cheeks.
"Y-You you're home, d-daddy. W-We we can play g-games no-now," she says, his lips curving. She then kisses the tip of his nose and he lifts her into his arms, kissing her face.
"I'll do anything we can baby," he tells her, my arms leaning on the counter. The girls come barreling into the kitchen, showing Harry what he's missed. But I watch Maura start to get pale and I lift her up, sitting her on my lap when I sit on the couch. I wrap my arm around her chest and put my hand to her forehead. She stops shaking and I kiss her hair.
"M-Mommy," she whispers, my eyes looking into hers.
"It's okay, honey, what happened?" I ask, her hands grabbing my wrists as I hold her cheeks.
"M-Mommy, I-I got exc-exc-excited," she says, my head nodding. Over excitement is another trigger of hers that gets her to seize. We have to be very careful.
Harry walks in and crouches beside us, Maura grabbing his hand. He kisses her fingers and she smiles, nuzzling her head back into my neck.
"You alright baby?" he asks her, her head nodding.
"Mom h-helped me," she says, my lips pressing to her hair.
"Sophia are you ready for dance?" I call out, her feet walking to me.
"I'll go get ready," she says, my head nodding. Harry lifts Maura off me and hugs her close, my hand grabbing Collette's.
"What should we do while Soph is at dance?" I ask, her shoulders shrugging.
"Let's go to the park," she says, my head nodding.
"Sounds good. And maybe, if we're all good, we can get ice cream tonight," I say, her head nodding with a big smile on her face. I glance over at Harry and he has Maura wrapped in his arms as they lay on the floor, her hands touching his face as she tells him a story. It makes me smile and I tell him I'm taking Collette and Sophia. He waves goodbye and I drive the two girls to where Sophia takes her dance class.
Collette and I walk around the strip mall for a while and go pick Sophia up, driving home to be with Harry and Maura again.
I start to make dinner and Harry is playing with the girls in the living room while I do so, my lips in a permanent smile from hearing the three girls laugh along with Harry. As I start plating dinner, I glance over and see Collette sitting by herself. I walk over to her and she looks up, my body crouching in front of her.
"What's wrong?" I ask, her lips pouting.
"I just want to hug daddy," she says, Harry looking over.
"Well come here, baby," he grins, Collette sheepishly grinning. She jogs to him and he lifts her up, hugging her close. I know Sophia and Collette took a lot of learning when we found out about Maura's autism. They felt, for a while, that they weren't important to us but we assured them that we just need to make sure nothing hurts Maura because she's at a higher risk then them.
After a while they understood and now take their time when around Maura. I'm so thankful. They truly are the greatest girls I've ever met and I'm so happy our family is there for each other, no matter what.
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