Rainbow connection

Car Journeys

"Into the unknoooooown..."

Hallie Sugg sung her heart out as the family of five crossed the hills of Cornwall in chippy. They'd been driving for about 4 hours, with another hour and a half or so left.

Being the youngest at just five, Hallie couldn't remember the last trip in Chippy the whole family had been on. Her car seat was surrounded by Oscar, 7, and Lilah, 10, who were not appreciating the frozen concert Hallie had subjected them to.

Oscar had something else on his mind. Going to Cornwall meant he'd have to swim with Lilah, otherwise his parents would say they wasted money on the bodyboard. But Oscar hated swimming, especially in the ocean.

Noticing that Lilah and his mum were asleep, and Hallie was in her own world, Oscar brought up the courage to ask his father.

"Daddy"

"Yes Buddy"

Joe brought his eyes up from the road to make eye contact with his only son in the mirror.

"When will we go to the beach?"

"As soon as you'd like, we could go straight away if you'd like?"

Oscar immediately shook his head, his eyes widening in fear.

"Don't you want to go?" Joe was shocked by Oscars response, thinking he'd be more excited to get there.

"Will I have to swim? In the sea?" Oscar was verging on tears now, and Joes heart melted.

"Does the sea scare you Oz?"

"No?" Oscar was hesitant and his dad knew not to push it.

"Did you know Oz, that my biggest fear is swimming in the sea?"

"Really?" Oscars head lifted in surprise.

"Yep, I never swim in the sea and if you don't want to, it doesn't matter. We can build sand castles and maybe paddle abut instead?"

"I want to build sand castles but I don't want to paddle." Oscar was adamant about not going in the sea. "Plus there's fish and sharks and other stuff in the sea!"

"I don't think there's anything dangerous in the Cornish sea Oscar but it doesn't matter if you don't know why it scares you, sometimes things are just scary and you don't have to if you don't want to. Does that make you feel better buddy?" Joe could tell this had been bothering his son for a while.

The seven year old nodded and his ginger floppy hair fell on his face making both boys chuckle.

"What you two laughing at?" Dianne's voice was muffled by her coat she was leaning on.

"Nothing, just boy stuff" Joe mimicked his Clive accent.

"Yeah mummy just boy stuff," Oscar joined in before giggling again to himself even louder.

Despite the death stare Dianne gave her husband upon hearing their son's sassy behaviour, Joe reached down and gave Dianne's knee a quick squeeze.

"Mummy I need a wee wee!" Exclaimed Hallie who had lost interest in the frozen track.

"Yeah dad can we stop for a bit?" Lilah had also woken up, despite their conversation being relatively quiet.

"There's a service station in 10 minutes, can you both wait?" Joe said, not impressed as he'd wanted to get there with only one stop.

"Yepppy" Hallie laughed before returning to her songs.

Lilah was a bit more subdued, she politely nodded and put her head against the window.

As they pulled into the service station, Lilah was very keen to get out, taking off her seatbelt and opening the door before her dad had parked.

"Lilah Sugg, what are you doing? You know that's not safe!" Dianne shouted from the front seat. But all anger was lost when she saw her eldest bent over next to a tree, losing her lunch.

Joe was quickest to react.

"You take these two, I'll stay with her?" He asked but left without giving Dianne time to answer. Within seconds he was holding Lilah's hair back and rubbing her back as she threw up again.

"Bless you Lilah, why didn't you say anything?" Joe asked as he pulled her into a cuddle.

"Didn't think it was that bad" she replied bluntly, embarrassed that she'd just puked in public and hadn't made the bathroom.

"You feeling better now?"

Lilah shrugged, "can I go to the toilets for a bit?"

"Course you can, I'll find the others and mum can go and sit with you. Ok?"

She nodded, too tired to argue.

Joe found his wife with the youngest two in a café, his wife very stressed.

"Hey darling, Li's gone to the toilet, maybe you should sit with her for a bit?"

"Yeah, she gonna be alright do you think?"

"Probably, she's always got travel sick and she seemed fine this morning, don't look so stressed it's okay."

Joe reached up to massage the lines out of his wife's forehead and planted a quick kiss.

Half an hour later, the family were ready to set off again.

"Last hour team, let's go." Joe joked, relieved when he saw smiles on all three kids faces.

Oscar had bought a new bucket and spade from the services and was busy imagining the sand castles he could make. Hallie had changed the music to the greatest showman and attempted to replicate the acrobatics from her car seat. Even Lilah didn't have the heart to stop her, despite the fact the two sisters often argued.

And Dianne was happy. She had her three babies in one place and they weren't trying to kill each other. Her handsome husband had arranged for them all to stay in a cottage by the beach and they were nearly there.

It was perfect.