Family

Lily and Grace

^The photo is of Oakley and Taytum Fisher, the adorable twins who played Lily and Grace😍

Ali's pov

"Emily you need to have a word with that daughter of ours"

"Why what'd she do?" She laughs

"For the fifteenth thousandth time this week she's lost something"

"What did Grace lose this time?"

"She fell out with Lily, so hid Mr. Teddy and of course Grace being Grace forgot where she put him. You know I honestly think she has short term memory loss"

"Maybe she does, maybe her brain got damaged when you..." Lily pauses, rudely listening in on our conversation "dropped her on her head as a baby" she shouts

"Shut up Lily, they didn't drop me" Grace screams, throwing herself onto Lily

They both fall to the floor as they repeatedly hit each other

"Stop" Emily shouts, running towards them

Lily grabs Grace by the hair as Emily attempts to separate them

"I hate you" they scream in unison

I tightly wrap my arms around Lily as Emily holds Grace back

"You two need to cut it out. Now apologise to each other" Emily says

They both nod and we slowly release our grip of them. Lily and Grace shuffle towards each other and stare into each other's eyes

"You weren't firm enough. Bet you it'll start again" I whisper out the corner of my mouth

"It won't Alison, because I'm good at discipline" Emily smugly grins

"I'm sorry" Grace mumbles

"Well I'm not. You lost Mr. Teddy" Lily complains, pushing Grace

They begin to fight again but quickly stop as I raise my voice

"Lily go straight to your room and Grace you go to our room. Now" I scream until a vein in my neck almost pops

"You can come out once you are ready to sincerely apologise to us and your sister. If one of you is unapologetic then you will both stay in the rooms. If I was you I would hope to god that I and my sister are both ready to be friends again"

"Told you" I scoff at Emily once our daughters have done as I asked

Emily's pov

Alison and I are sat on the sofa; her head rests against my chests as we watch trashy tv, when I hear the faint sound of giggles. Ali tilts her head back and looks up to me, her eyes squint making the gap between her perfectly plucked eyebrows crinkle. She quickly sits up and we both storm towards the rooms Lily and Grace are supposed to be in

"She isn't in here" I shout, staring into my empty bedroom

"Excuse me girls. I though I told you to stay in different rooms?" I hear Alison quietly shout

I run into their bedroom and find both Lily and Grace sitting with their legs crossed on the floor. They have toys in their hands and a crumbled Lego castle; scattered around them.

"What's happening here?" I ask, crossing my arms

"Lotso the evil bear broke our castle"

"I'm not asking about the Lego. Why are you both in here?"

"Because she's my twin. I can't fall out with her" Lily explains

"We are sorry Moms" Grace smiles, hugging Lily

Alison nods before taking hold of my hand and leading me out of their bedroom. We return to our trashy show and Alison falls into a deep slumber against me. I trace my thumb back and forth against her thigh, taking in short but meaningful breaths of her perfume. I feel my body dissolving into a dream when suddenly I am filtered back into reality by Lily and Grace.

"We have made up a dance for you" they giggle

Lily presses play and a song that sounds like a death march sings from the phone, and Grace slowly sways in front of us. They join arms and delicately float around the living room

"Can you teach us?" Alison giggles, dragging me off the sofa

"Of course Mom" Grace smiles, teaching us their dance step by step

Ali's pov

I pull Emily close to me and interlock our hands while my other grabs onto her boney hip. '1...2...3' I count in my head as Emily and I dance a slow inaccurate waltz

I slide my foot forward and at the same time Emily lifts her's forward, throwing her foot down onto my toe

"Fu...dge" I whimper in pain

"Sorry" Emily says concerned

"I'm okay, it was my fault" I smile, shaking my leg

I look around to watch my daughters dance and I can feel the love between them. When I was younger I was always scared to love other girls, I used to feel weak whenever I admitted to loving Emily, my friends or even my mom, but Lily and Grace are different. Ever since they were born they have admitted to loving another female. When they were only hours old the midwives put them into separate cribs and they cried until they were together again. I'll always remember the agonising cries that escaped from my babies' lungs until they got what they wanted; each other.

Lily and Grace float around the room as Emily throws my uncoordinated body, trying to help me dance

"Why are you so bad at dancing Mom?" Grace giggles

"I can sing...but dancing is a different thing all together"

"Exactly, girls your mom has the voice of an angel but she has two left feet" Emily tells them

"And your other mom is an amazing dancer but she can't sing" I giggle

"We must've got the best from both of you" Lily smiles

"You must've" Emily says with a hint of sadness shaking her voice

Emily's pov

"Did someone smash my phone?"

"What?" I ask in dismay

"My screen is smashed" Alison says, tipping her phone towards me, causing tiny fragments of glass to smash onto the floor 

"It wasn't me it was Grace" Lily points to her sister, her hand shaking

I look into her eyes and recognise the glaze darkening her piercing blue eyes; guilt

The first time I recognised this look Lily and Grace were only 2 years old. Alison had gone to our bedroom to get her phone charger and at the top of the stairs, was the name 'Lily' scribbled onto the left-hand wall in bright red permanent marker. When we had asked Lily why she wrote her name on the wall she replied saying "it was Grace" and the now instantly recognisable look engulfed her eyes.

"Lily, was it Grace?" I enquire

"No. I'm sorry Mom. I accidentally knocked it off the table. I'm so sorry" she apologises through crocodile tears

"It's okay Lil. It can be fixed. Thank you for being truthful but next time you do something you need to tell us the truth straight away. Okay?"

"Okay" Lily cries as she hugs Alison

Alison tightens her grip of her left arm around Lily and pulls Grace towards her with her right arm. After a short hug from both Lily and Grace, Alison extends her arm and pulls me into a hug. I feel a increasingly ticklish damp spot grow on my foot.

I tilt my head down and see Snow standing at my feet. Next to Snow lies a slightly chewed Mr. Teddy

"Snow found Mr. Teddy" I laugh

"Come on Snow and Mr. Teddy. Let's have a proper family hug" I chuckle as I pick them up and place them in the matrix of our hug