sembell:

A series of drabbles based on the request:
Can you write something for Gillian’s and David’s birthday with Eaden and her siblings, please? Maybe in the Vancouver house.

This is the last part of the installment. Thank you all so much for your nice words, and I really hope you enjoyed these little drabbles as much as I loved writing them. I’m so happy we can enjoy this madness together 🙂

Part I – Part II – Part III

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Gillian’s 49th birthday was the best day in a very long time, and the first birthday Eaden would remember for the rest of her life.

Despite having done their best to hide their struggles from their little daughter, the last couple of months had been difficult in many ways, and had not failed to leave their marks on all of them, but especially on Eaden.

There had been days and nights Eaden had found her mother crying in bed or locked in the bathroom for no apparent reason other than being… incredibly sad. Weeks in which she’d slept alone in bed with her father, because Mommy was miles and miles away in London. It was safe to say that Eaden had spent the majority of the year with just one of them than with both together, and in the end, it had affected her more than David and Gillian had ever wanted.

It was only by the end of July that there finally, finally seemed to be a light at the end of the horizon again. Being only three years old, she couldn’t put it into big words, but after her parents had left her at her grandmothers house for a week before travelling to Vancouver, she was able to feel it again – the joy and happiness between them, the lightness… and a lot a lot a lot of love. Maybe it was exactly just that, and no big words were needed after all.

Gillian’s birthday was a day that started early in the morning, with Eaden sneaking into her parents’ bedroom on tiptoes way before dawn, only to find them already awake, giggling and kissing underneath the covers. Surprised by their unexpected little visitor, it took them a visit to the bathroom, a change into pyjamas, and for David a quick look at his phone to finally come back to bed and spend the next two hours cuddling and snoozing together.

Well equipped with her green little backpack, Eaden arrived on set with her nanny by noon to a red-haired Gillian and a birthday party with dozens of people celebrating both David and Gillian. A dark chocolate and a butternut cake in the shape of a guitar and lots and lots of frosting, so delicious you just needed to try both, had to be kept save from a very greedy Brick lingering around.

Dinner took place later that evening at a nice, cozy little restaurant. Eaden, always the eager little waitress, not only served Gillian’s gifts on a tray, but, with the help of Piper, also the sweetest, most intense birthday speech a three year old could possibly deliver. But nothing could’ve prepared Gillian for the words that hit her so deeply she wasn’t able to breathe for a couple of moments. Words that she would carry with her for the rest of her life.

“Mommy, you are the very most kind person I know, and you are so bwave. Piper and Daddy and me hope your pwesents make you really, really happy!”

And boy did they make her happy, because they reminded her that she was the luckiest woman on earth for having these wonderful, thoughtful human beings in her life who were loving her way farther than to the moon and back.  

Later that night, David and Gillian sat at Eaden’s bedside, caressing her face, holding her hands, and listening to her sleepy voice telling them about her exciting, wonderful day, and watching her little lips curl up into a content smile as they told her how loved she was.

They were still sitting with her when she’d already fallen asleep, both of them unable to take their eyes off their sweet little girl, whose happiness meant the world to them.

There had been times in the last couple of months when it had felt like she was the only reason they could think of that was worth fighting for. But now, as they were sitting there in silence with their fingers entwined, they knew in their hearts that there were so many more.