Love Always Wins

44

Thursday April 16th.

It was eight AM when Seb gently nudged the bedroom door open with his behind while carrying a tray containing his wife's breakfast, consisting of a glass of orange juice, a bowl of whipped cream, strawberries and chocolate pancakes made by himself with the 'help' of his two daughters.
"Sei sanfte Mädchen." (Be gentle girls.) He whispered as he entered the room with Mia and Leonie darting past to get in front of him. He approached the bed, not wanting them to wake Chloe suddenly and make her jump. Thankfully they both did as they were told and Mia climbed quietly onto the bed followed by her younger sister, both of them making Chloe stir with the movement of the mattress beneath her.

At first she refused to move or even open her eyes, she'd been in the middle of quite a saucy dream involving Seb, a can of squirty cream and Lina, last year's race car, and was quite keen to go back to it.

"Liebe, time to wake up." Was his voice in her dream or in the now?

Then she heard a child's giggle - Mia. Knowing she'd have to leave her dream behind, she took in a deep breath. Was that chocolate she could smell? Warm chocolate? She sniffed the air, she could definitely smell chocolate, maybe there'd be squirty cream too! Opening her eyes, she rolled from her side, onto her back and immediately was met with three pairs of twinkling blue eyes looking down at her.
"I've never had a welcoming committee when I've woken up before." She mumbled and then yawned, trying to resist the comfy pillows and cosy duvet from luring her back to sleep. "Hey girls." She gave them a tired smile, the smell of chocolate was starting to make her feel a little hungry. "Morning handsome." She added, catching sight of Seb's beautiful face. He smiled, making her internally fan girl over him like he was her latest crush and feeling those familiar butterflies erupting inside her.

"We made you breakfast." Mia chirped proudly, sitting cross legged beside her. "Because we know you've been poorly and it made you feel sad."

Chloe lifted her head from the pillows as Seb sat on the edge of the bed. The first thing she noticed was the red Ferrari team shirt he was wearing, why had he got that on? Was he missing racing so much that he felt the need to wear it? She eased herself up until she was sitting up, glad that she'd slept in one of his T-shirt's last night and was covered in front of his daughters. Then she noticed the tray on his lap and broke out into a smile, a lump forming in her throat as she felt touched by their thoughtful gesture. "Aw thanks girls, come here." She pulled Mia in for a hug and after a second Leonie joined in. Because she hadn't been her usual self all week, feeling low and often in a quiet contemplative mood and the girls had noticed, Seb had told them that she'd been feeling a bit poorly and it was making her feel sad. She hadn't wanted to burden them with the news of her nan's passing, feeling that they were too young to fully understand. "Breakfast in bed huh? I could get used to this." With an arm around each of them, she squeezed them, making giggle and squirm. Then she lovingly kissed the top of their heads in turn before they moved to make way for Seb to place the tray on her lap.

"Hope you don't mind chocolate this early in the day." He smiled. "Only a certain someone wanted to make you chocolate pancakes for breakfast, which is funny because she ate the first two we made."

"Chocolate makes me happy so it will make you happy too." Mia added, wriggling her legs under the duvet to make herself comfy next to Chloe.

"I'm sure it will, they look yummy." She eyed the bowl of whipped cream and couldn't stop herself from smiling slightly as she was reminded of her dream, she'd have to make sure to tell Seb about it later tonight. She spooned a generous helping of the cream on to the top of the pancakes and then picked up her knife and fork, thankful that the two pancakes were only small. Seb had remembered that she still wasn't up to eating much and she was grateful for that. She was also grateful for the time she'd spent with his two little girls who had kept her occupied and given her many reasons to smile. Who knew home schooling kindergarten kids could be so entertaining? These two had been a welcome and happy distraction for her while Seb had been training every morning and she really wasn't looking forward to them going back to their mother on Saturday morning. These two had saved her from sinking.