[UNEDITED][JASON]

        Don’t get me wrong, I had enjoyed the past week and I even loved having the kids around, but I was glad that they were both going back to their parents today because I was too tired to be able to cope with them for any longer.

        Amanda had made me sit through an entire day of Disney movies which she explained each of them in serious depth to me, from who the main characters were to what the meaning of the entire story actually was; obviously Frozen was in there because it wouldn’t have been the same if it wasn’t.

        Six hours of Disney films was enough to drive a man insane but she is my niece so I will do anything to see her happy. It just so happy that fictions Princess are what make her happy, probably because she’s still too young to understand that life isn’t a movie and your love life will never be as simple as it is in the movies.

        I then agreed to spend an entire day with Damien to show him I wasn’t as awful as he had convinced himself I was. We spent most of the day playing with his Lego, some of the things we made we did for fun, but I did help him build an aeroplane and the tank which I had bought for him a couple of days ago – we even managed to go out for lunch without him screaming or shouting at me.

        I loved both those kids but I just wanted to spend some time with Erin. I was going to be sad to see them go, but not sad enough to beg their parents to allow them to stay just a little longer.

        “Jason. Chloe and Anita are here. Bring the kids down,” Erin called up to me.

        “When can we come again?” Damien asked as I helped him to put his shoe on, quickly making sure that both kids had everything they needed in their bags. If they forgot something, then their parents knew where we lived and they could easily come back for it another day.

        “How about Saturday?” I suggested.

        “I am a little busy that day,” Damien said seriously and I couldn’t help but laugh. He was going to be one hell of a something when he got older and the woman who landed themselves with him was going to have their hands full.

        “Busy?” I laughed.

        “Yeah. Mummy is taking me out,” Damien grinned. I put my hands under his arms and lifted him off the bed as he jumped, putting his arms out so that he could pretend that he was flying through the air.

        “Well, you leave mummy to me. I am sure we can come to some sort of agreement,” I chuckled as I put him on the floor and handed him his bag, watching him run out of the room shouting something to Anita.

        “Uncle Jason?” Amanda’s voice came from behind me while I was picking up her toys to shove them in her bag.

        “Amanda?” I replied.

        “When are you going to marry Erin?” she asked out of nowhere, throwing one of those things out there which made you forget she was a sweet and innocent five year old. I sometimes wondered where she got it from, the need to know everything and the ability to be able to say it how it was, but then I remembered who her mother was and I answered my own question.

        “Do you want me to marry her?” I asked, helping her put her coat on and zipping it up, picking her bag up from the floor while she picked her Elsa doll up from the bed and walked back over to me, sliding her small hand into my own.

        “Yes. I want her to be my Auntie,” Amanda shrugged. I couldn’t help but smile.

        Amanda had never liked Charlotte and when I asked her to marry me, Amanda spent the entire day in her room, crying and shouting about how much she hated me because I was marrying Charlotte. I was then ignored by my own niece for two and a half weeks, until she came to accept my choice.

        Though that was short-lived because not two months after that, the engagement was off and I had told Charlotte it was over because I thought she was cheating on with Matthew. But, if I hadn’t have caught her that day, I dread to think what I would be doing right now.

        I would probably be having my suit fitted for a wedding I didn’t want to happen while Charlotte got excited about the day which was ahead of her. Or tasting cake to decide how many layers we wanted and what flavours and what we wanted it to be made from and everything else which came from picking your perfect cake. Or I could have been an emotional mess as I realised what a mistake I was making by marrying Charlotte.

        “Do you want to know a secret?” I asked.

        “What?” Amanda whispered with a smile as I knelt down to her level.

        “I am going to ask Amanda to marry me on Saturday,” I said quietly in her ear and I don’t think I have ever seen her more excited than she was in that moment.

        I chuckled to myself as Amanda jumped up and down, clapping her hands together in excitement of what I had just told her. She was always going to be the first person I told because I knew how much she loved Erin because she loved seeing me happy, I in return loved seeing Amanda happy so this brought a smile to my face.

        “What’s with you?” Chloe asked when we reached the bottom of the stairs, Amanda still overflowing with excitement.

        “It’s a secret,” Amanda giggled innocently.

        “You can tell me though?” Chloe asked suspiciously.

        “No. I can’t tell you mummy. That’s why it’s a secret. Duh,” Amanda replied and it was impossible to hold back the laughter. You could tell that she had been spending time with Damien this week but, even if I hadn’t have known that, I would have known that was something Damien taught her because I overheard him giving her a ‘lesson’ on how to annoy mummy.

        “Why do they sound like the words of my son?” Anita asked, her eyes narrowing as she looked in my direction.

        “Because they are?” I shrugged.

        “Damien Thomas Brooke. Did I not warn you of your behaviour?” Anita scolded her son.

        “Don’t worry about it. I’ve never heard Amanda speak like that before and I know I should be mad, but I honestly find it more amusing than anything,” Chloe finally laughed after hold such a straight face while we had all been laughing at Amanda’s comment.

        “Anyway, I thought I was dropping Damien off to you tomorrow. What happened?” I asked, remembering that she had asked us to look after him until Sunday because she had something which she needed to do today.

        “Damien. Say bye and then go out to the car for me please,” Anita said to her son and he glared at her for a moment before he turned and hugged Erin’s legs, muttered a gentle ‘bye’ into the fabric of her jeans before he walked over to Amanda and pulled her in for a hug. I was surprised when she hugged him back but I was happy at the same time.

        It took two days for Amanda to get used to Damien being around the house but when she realised he wasn’t going anywhere, they started playing together and talking about whatever it was they spoke about at their age. They were in the midst of becoming friends, which is why I thought it would be a good idea for him to spend more time here while Amanda was around.

        That and the fact he was slowly growing on me. He had shown that he did actually know how to be a charming young child when he wanted to be and he didn’t have to act like the Devil’s son all of the time.

        “Bye Jason. I still don’t like your car,” Damien said, his arms wrapping around one of my legs as my hand ruffled his hair and I laughed silently to myself.

        “I don’t think you’re ever going to like my car. Are you?” I replied with a smile.

        “No. You need better taste,” he laughed, pulling away from me and then running out of the door towards where Anita’s car was parked.

        Anita quickly looked around the room, her eyes moving between Erin and myself before they wandered over to where Chloe was stood. She looked like she was about to burn a hole in my sister the way she glared at her but she turned away and released a sigh, her eyes moving back over to Erin and myself.

        “I was supposed to meet with Damien’s father tomorrow. He phoned me and told me he wanted to meet his son. Stupidly I actually thought he was being serious so I don’t even know why I was upset when I got the message this morning telling me he couldn’t make it,” Anita pretty much whispered the last part and I could tell she was about to break down in tears, and so could Erin because she walked over to Anita and pulled her in for a hug without any hesitation.

        “Damien doesn’t need a man like him. And neither do you,” Erin smiled weakly at Anita.

        “I know. But I just wanted to believe, just once, that he was actually interested in his son,” Anita muttered.

        She was really torn up about this and I didn’t know what to do. My father was a dick and I disowned him without being told that he wanted nothing to do with me, it was my decision to never want to see him again because of how he treated Chloe when she was pregnant with Amanda.

        Damien didn’t get that choice. His father decided that he wanted nothing to do with his son and he was the one who walked away. He was the one who didn’t want to get to know Damien and he was the one who threw his chance at being a father away, so he shouldn’t be given another chance; regardless of whether it’s for the sake of Damien or not.

        He had already let Damien down once and he was sure as hell going to do it again if Anita allowed him back into their lives. I wanted to tell her that but, instead, I kept my mouth shut and said nothing. After all, it was nothing to do with me and I didn’t have the right to comment.

        “How was your holiday Chloe?” Erin asked, quickly changing the topic to something more neutral.

        “Amazing. I have never felt more relaxed than I did while we were there,” Chloe smiled as she picked Amanda up.

        “And did you, you know, do it?” Erin smirked while I looked away and attempted to walk away, only I wasn’t quick enough and I still heard the answer she gave.

        “Every single night and every morning when we were both awake too. I have never felt more alive than I do now,” Chloe gushed and I was almost sick, right there and then, I could have been sick as I listened to what my sister and her husband had spent their week doing.

        “I haven’t had any for a week now. You know what that feels like?” I heard Erin reply and I guessed it was pointless running away now that I had heard what Chloe had to say so I turned and walked back to them with a look of disgust on my face.

        “Don’t worry, baby. We’re going all night,” I winked playfully.

        “What are you talking about mummy?” Amanda spoke up. I could see her eyes moving around the room between the three of us and the cogs in her brain turning as she tried to work out what we were talking about.

        “Games. They’re talking about the games they play. But they’re for adults and not for children so you have to promise not to repeat anything you just heard?” Anita saved our asses, something she wasn’t going to let us live down.

        “Promise,” Amanda smiled and I breathed a sigh of relief at hearing those words.

        “Anyway, we should be going. Matthew is dying to see his little girl,” Chloe smiled and I nodded at the both of them, allowing them to walk out of the house, waving at Amanda as they walked down the path with Anita following not too far behind them.

        The moment we closed the front door, the house sounded strangely quiet and I didn’t like it. I had spent a week with noise and now it was just full of the silence, something which didn’t sit too well with me.

        I walked over to where Erin was standing and wasted no time in wrapping my arms around her waist, pulling her smaller body into my own while her arms made their way around my waist. I put a lingering kiss on the top of her head and I used the moment to think about how much I loved this woman.

        She made me happy, happier than I had been than when I was with Charlotte. She knew me inside and out, but she never looked at me any differently than she before she knew all there was to know about me. She loved Amanda and would do anything to make her smile, which made me smile and my love for this woman grow. She was the only one I imagined myself growing old with and living happily ever after with.

        Erin Brooke was my fairytale and ending and I don’t think I could be happier if I tried.

        “Jason?” I heard her sweet voice and I looked down to see that she was looking up at me.

        “Erin?”

        “There’s something I have to tell you,” she replied nervously.

        “Then tell me,” I encouraged with a smile.

        “Jason, I’m p—p—pregnant.”