Down The Aisle

Chapter 4

Sofia's P.O.V

HME support group today

I was nervous, and slightly scared

I just didn't want to be judged

I was slightly excited though, I just wanted to meet another mum who knew what was happening, who could understand what we were going through as a family.

we were going to see my dad first, then we would go to the support group after, Nikki said there would be about 9 families there maybe less.

"What’s the matter?" I asked Caleb smiling over the breakfast table.

He shook his head "Nothing"

"shut up, what's the matter? “I said

"That sentence contradicts itself." he grinned

"Shut up, What’s the matter?" I said again

He chuckled, but I could still see the fear in his eyes

"Babe, do you think people will think that were not right" he said

"what?" I questioned

"that we are too young to have children and that we should be married or something" he said

"no, no I don't think so" I said

"but Sofia, what if people treat us differently, because we are younger?" he said

"Caleb, I’m more worried about people treating you Differently, you won silver in the Olympics not that long ago, you are a well know face now, a teenage girl’s poster boy" I smiled

he grinned back and me and picked up the breakfast things, taking them over to the sink to wash up

..................................

"Hey daddy" I whispered "long time no see"

I sat on the end of his bed and whispered in his ear.

Caleb sat on the floor, Bailey was crawling around his lap.

We had dropped Paige of at Nikki's on the way.

Nikki was at work but josh was looking after her as Jakob was out with his girlfriend.

They seemed to be quite serious, Jakob and Summer, but I wasn't sure how it was going to end up.

Josh wanted to go to university, were as Jakob wanted to travel the world and I didn't know if that was what summer had in mind.

"Nikki is doing great at work, got some promotion thing, Josh and Jakob are so close to graduating it's unreal and Kirsty is tottering around causing mischief as usual, it will be her 3rd birthday soon" I whispered to him

"Caleb and I are doing great, I told you last time about Baileys HME but I think we’re getting to grips with everything, oh and we adopted the cutest little kittens, one is black and called Oreo and the other is white, she has three legs, and her name is Isis"

"Sofia, we need to go Darlin" said Caleb standing up with Bailey in his arms.

"Bye bye daddy" I said leaning down and kissing him on the cheek

He let out a gentle sigh, the doctors told me it meant nothing, but I knew it was his way of saying he loved me and goodbye

"Love you" I said walking out the door, drying my eyes on the corner of my jumper.

We walked through the hospital up to the 4th floor.

We had been told earlier that we were in room 426

"423" I said walking along the corridor

"424,425" I said

"426"

bracing myself I took in a deep breath and opened the door, Caleb, carrying Bailey, following suit

It was full of therapy equipment and big cushions and a little climbing frame.

It had little children running around ranging in ages 2-12

The younger ones were sat on the laps of the parents sitting in a circle in the middle if the room.

I smiled at the lady who was obviously leading the group.

"Ah, here they are, I'd like everyone to welcome the Finn family, Mrs Finn" she inclined her head towards me

"Actually, it's miss Parker" I said "but were engaged to be married next year" I said briskly, not wanting to be judged

I was pleasantly surprised when a chorus of chapping began filled in with remarks of "how lovely" and "so sweet"

I relaxed and joined the circle, Caleb sat down beside me.

"Now, we are all here today to talk about HME, and how it will affect our children in their future." said the lady

"We are also here to share problems and worries, so please feel free to ask any questions." she smiled

"Today, I just want us to get to know each other so, go play with the children, have a chat, get to know each other" she said

I turned to my left to were a Brown-haired woman sat, she looked just as young as me, even younger

"Hi, I'm Lottie and this is Clayton" she smiled warmly at me, pointing to the tall guy sitting beside her "And that" she pointed to a little girl with tight blond ringlets "that’s Ava, she's two"

"I'm Sofia Parker" I smiled back "and this is my fiancée Caleb, with our Daughter Bailey" I smiled as Caleb walked over with Bailey in his arms

"Caleb, this is Clayton and Lottie, they have a daughter like us"

We made small talk for a few minutes but then Clayton and Caleb went of and played with the girls whilst Lottie and I chatted a lot

I found out so much about Lottie, she and Clayton had run of to las Vegas to get married at 18, they had their daughter 5months after, but they didn't know she was there, it was a bit of a surprise for them, as it was for me.

They had run of because their families had hated each other, something to do with a failed marriage and a funeral fight or something like that, Lottie didn’t go into full detail.

the whole running away to get married thing lead us onto Molly, I told her all about how my friend had to choose between her tennis career and her guy.

"So, you are training to teach at a kindergarten, right?" she said after I had explained about my collage classes

"Yeah, mayflower, do you know it?" I said

"Nooooo way, that's were Ava does her Crèche" she said

"That's odd, Paige and Bailey go there as well." I smiled

"Oh my gosh, that's such a coincidence" she said

"When is Ava starting kindergarten?" I asked

I told her all about the Olympics and the coaching, I didn't mention my dad though.

I also told her about my surprise delivery.

"Wait, so you went into labour at the medal ceremony!" She said

"Yeah, came that evening, I think they'd had enough."

"They, you had two!" She said

"Haha, yeah, Bailey and Paige"

"Ahhhh that's so cute" she said

"So, was it like twice the pain during labour?" she said

"Naaaa, it was alright I guess, but I'm not looking forward to it if it happens again" I smiled

She told me all about Ava, about how she had odd lumps forming on her knees, they went to have x-rays and got told it was HME.

"Ava was diagnosed 3months ago" said Lottie "what about Bailey?" she asked

"About 2 weeks or so ago" I said

"Oh, so how have you found all the doctors and stuff" she said

We talked about doctors for the rest of the hour session.

"There was this one that kept farting, I don't even know" Lottie laughed

"Oh my gosh, my midwife was the same, she farted half way through the first birth and it smelt so bad, Caleb kept pulling faces at me" I smiled fondly at Caleb how was playing with Bailey, whilst chatting to Clayton.

"We should get coffee sometime?" said Lottie

"Yeah, how's Thursday?" I asked

"Sure, Thursday, 9.15 Starbucks" she said.