kindred

Chapter 24 : Fireworks

Two days after they had arrived Addie was curled up on the sofa, Emmett was nearby. Like Addie, he had a love of reading and they had spent fours hours the day before sitting in silence reading. 

"Addie darling, can you be ready in fifteen minutes?" Her grandma asked, Addie nodded, closing her book and bounding up the stairs. 

She debated on what to wear, eventually pulling on a skirt and nice top. Her grandparents were taking her out for the day and she couldn't wait. She knew her grandma couldn't either, wanting to catch up on the missed years with her granddaughter. 

They left twenty minutes later in the car. As always her grandpa was in a similar outfit of cords and tweeds, something Addie thought was cute although she wouldn't ever tell him. 

They were the most stereotypical grandparents and Addie couldn't have asked for anything better. She loved the way her grandpa had his favourite slippers and his armchair and her grandma always smelled lovely and was forever handing out sweets to all her grandchildren, spoiling them all. 

Their first stop was the shops, they lived in a lovely small town with a little high street of adorable boutique shops and restaurants. A bit further out was a cinema and some larger department stores. 

Addie had lots of fun picking out things with her grandma as her grandpa sat on a bench near the door looking rather bored. 

"We're finished grandpa" She said brightly, bounding up to him. He smiled fondly at her in return. 

"Really, the way Grace likes shopping I would think you'd be here for hours" He said, sending a cheeky smile at his wife who pointed a joking finger at him. 

Addie was grateful when her grandma decided it was enough shopping for one day, she was beginning to get very tired, she secretly knew her grandparents picked up on it when they drove past all the rest of the shops. 

The cinema was a lot more restful for Addie. They watched a new Christmas comedy film. Addie sat in between the couple, loving how her grandpa would whisper things to her each second before her grandma shushed him. 

The three of them laughed appropriately and frowned at the right time. Before long the three of them walked out into the cold winter air. 

They headed to a small little restaurant nearby. It was cute with white tablecloths, little candles on each table and a selection of breads were offered before you even sat down.

Addie looked through the menu before settling on a solid choice of spaghetti Bolognese. You could never go wrong with spaghetti. 

"So Addie, how's school going?" Her grandpa asked her the meal. 

"Good, my favourite subjects are English and Maths" She replied. 

"Those were your mum's favourites as well." He told her "I never did particularly well in maths myself.

Addie enjoyed school, she managed to keep good grades with little effort, which she was extremely grateful. Her time in foster care encouraged her love for learning, it was often the only constant thing in her life. 

For desert Addie picked out a giant chocolate ice cream sundae, her grandpa had apple pie and her grandma just had a cup of coffee. 

She listened in earnest as they recounted tales of her mothers childhood, Addie delighted when they compared her to her mother. Hearing about all the silly little things she did and how she met her father left Addie longing to have known her mother for even longer. 

Addie felt lucky when the next day she got to spend more time with her grandpa. 

All the men and boys, except James, had gone hunting and fishing in the nearby woods. None of her brothers looked particularly enthralled with the though, particularly Elijah and Riley. Addie found the latter even begging Harlan to let him stay behind.