The Beauty in Eternity

Chapter 69.

"I'll grab the girls, you can wait here." I tell him as he parks outside.

I make my way to the doors and knock, the sound of tiny feet pattering towards it making my heart warm as it always does. The door swings open to reveal Steve looking rather exhausted.

"Mara!" Dahlia screams as she reaches up for me.

I scoop her up and plant a kiss on her cheek as she nuzzles her head into my neck. "I missed you." I tell her softly as she brings her tiny hand to my cheek.

"Where's Izzy?"

"She's just coming, she insisted on brushing her hair once more before she left," he tells me with a sigh.

"It'll only get worse as she gets older." I tease.

"She's six, it's already going too fast." he groans, running his hand through his hair.

"Amara!" the excitable voice chirps as she skips towards me.

"Hey, Iz. Ready to go?" I ask, taking her hand in mine.

"Yep. I'm so hungry, dad wouldn't let us have any ice cream before we had dinner." she complains like the little madam she is.

"How horrible," I sigh, trying to contain my laughter.

"See you guys later." Steve smiles, giving me a kiss on the cheek.

"Bye, dad." she waves, dragging me away from the house.

"Bye, daddy!" Dahlia chirps in her little voice.

I strap Dahlia into her car seat as Isabella climbs in, strapping herself in with ease. I miss the days where she used to want me to carry her to the car—she's growing up so fast.

I click my seatbelt into place as Elijah starts the drive. "How are you today, Isabella?" he asks, peeking into the back seat.

"I'm good." she smiles.

"How about you, Dahlia, how are you?" he asks with a childlike tone.

"Good!" she chirps, repeating her sister.

"Guess what, Eli?" Izzy says with excitement.

"What?" he replies.

"I can read more now, I read a whole book to my dad last night. He said I was really good." she tells him with pride.

"Wow, you're such a little brain-box, Iz." he grins as he continues the drive. I smile at the conversation and how much Isabella has grown to like Elijah, she even calls him 'Eli' now. Really, it originated from Dahlia who can't actually pronounce his full name. And now, it just sticks.

"You're going to grow up loving books like me," I tell her happily.

"Just like you." she nods with a smile.

Around five minutes into the drive I turn to the noise of Dahlia screaming at the top of her lungs. "What on earth, Dahlia?" I say with a furrowed brow. My eyes flicker between the two as they fight over a stuffed rabbit.

"Hey, hey—stop." I tell them firmly, watching as Izzy looks at me with guilty features. Meanwhile, Dahlia's relentless screaming echoes through the car.

"Who's toy is that?"

"Dahlia's... but I had it first! I just want to play with it," Izzy tells me with those big blue puppy dog eyes of hers.

"Why didn't you both bring a toy?" I question.

"I forgot..." she frowns.

I sigh, "Give it back to your sister please, Iz. It's her toy and she's too little to understand why you're taking it."