A Different Shade of Violet? (37 page)

“Violet!”
she castigates loudly and I jump. So I spit the cupcake into her hand like an admonished child. She places the chewed up cake onto the tray and then she looks at me placing her hands on her hips.

“Umm,” I say, not knowing what to say.

“Violet, you’re pregnant. You have to watch everything you eat. I insist you only have healthy food. This is my first grandchild, so none of this sugar and processed crap is allowed to enter your body. Do you understand?” Fran states and I actually want to laugh. Like a laugh out loud, fall on the floor belly laugh.

“Mum, settle down,” Hudson says and she glares at him.

“No grandchild of mine will be born with diabetes! Now get up and give me a hug!” Fran says and I can’t hold back my laugh this time as I stand up and she wraps her arms around me, rocking me from side to side. I hug her back while she laughs along with the rest of the family.

“Jesus Christ! A baby Stone. My first grandbaby. I can’t wait!” Fran says and I shake my head in disbelief. This all went the complete opposite of how I was expecting it to go.

“Mum, stop swearing,” Brige says and runs over to Hudson and jumps in his lap while their mum continues to hug me tightly.

“So, what does all this mean exactly?” Brige asks and Fran looks at Hudson sternly making him laugh.

“It means you’re going to be an auntie,” Hudson tells Brige and she turns up her nose.

“What do I have to do? I don’t have to change, like nappies and stuff, do I? ‘Cause if I do, I don’t want to be an auntie—”

“Brige, you can’t say that,” Fran berates letting me go and looking at her daughter with that look Fran gets… that one that makes you feel like a little girl again.

“It’s okay, Brige. You don’t have to change nappies. That’s Vee’s job,” Hudson jokes and I fake disgust and shake my head at him.

“Congrats big bro, seems like it’s all happening for you,” Flynn says walking over then hugging his brother and then they do that back slapping thing that men do so well.

“Congrats Violet,” Bill says leaning in and hugging me.

“Thanks everyone and thanks for accepting me into your amazing family,” I say.

“Wait!”
Brige yells out and we all look at her. “Does this mean you’ll be my sister, Violet?”

I smile and nod. “Is that okay with you?” I ask and her bottom lip trembles and she starts to cry. I frown and look at Hudson, it’s breaking my heart to see her so desperately upset. She walks over to me and I pull her hair from her face and look at her while she holds her hands to her face and cries into them. I look back at Hudson and he looks distraught that his sister isn’t happy for us.

“Brige?” I say and she slowly takes her hands from her face and wraps her arms around my waist.

She sniffs and cuddles into me tightly. “I’ve always wanted a sister,” she says through sobs.

My heart thuds and then flutters as I breathe a sigh of relief. My eyes well with tears as I hug her back tightly.

“So have I, Brige… so have I.”

She cuddles into me further as I look at Hudson, who’s smiling so brightly, his gorgeous eyes are sparkling. I mouth ‘I love you’ to him and he blows me a kiss as we get ready to spend the rest of the day with my brand new family.

After spending the afternoon with Fran fussing over me in my ‘state’ as she kept saying, I’m about ready to go home when Hudson walks into the kitchen with Brige and smiles at me like he’s up to something.

“Okay Brige, go and tell her,” Hudson says.

Brige runs up to me and smiles so brightly her cheeks must be hurting.

“You’ll never guess where Huddy is taking us?” she says excitedly as she bounces up and down on the spot.

I look at him and raise an eyebrow. “Where are we going?”

She claps her hands together. “To the Animal Welfare League. We’re going to rescue another dog and you and me, we get to pick! Isn’t that the bestest?” she asks getting very excited.

I look at Hudson and he smiles. “Really? We’re getting another dog?” I ask and he walks over, taking my hands in his.

“If you want to?” he asks hesitantly. “I just want our pets to be half you, half me. I loved picking Spider the fish with you and so I want us to have another dog that we can love as ours. I know you don’t think of Midas as yours, so I want to get one that we can love together. It’ll give us a trial run at being parents. What do you think?” he asks and I notice Brige moving up and down on her toes like she’s dying for me to say yes.

I smile and nod my head. “Okay, let’s get us another dog. Can we get one a bit smaller though… like a lap dog?” I ask.

“Oh yeah, can we, Huds? Can we?” Brige asks sounding desperate, even though the dog won’t be hers she’s still massively excited.

We both laugh while she pulls on his arm. “Sure, you and Vee can choose whatever dog you want,” he says and we both smile.

“Can we go now?” Brige asks and I chuckle as Hudson rolls his eyes.

“Okay, but Flynn or Holds will have to take us,” Hudson says and Brige lets go of him and runs out of the room as quickly as the Road Runner.

I laugh and Hudson steps in front of me and wraps his arms around my waist. “So the dog idea? You like it? Really?” he asks leaning his whole body against mine.

I nod and lean in pressing my forehead to his. “I love it. I can’t wait to be doggy parents with you,” I reply and he laughs.

“Well, hopefully, the right dog will be there.”

I gently press my lips to his and then lean back looking into his eyes.

“Have I ever told you how sexy it is that you love animals? And that it’s even sexier that you get rescue dogs?”

“Umm, no, I don’t believe you have ever told me that,” he says as I wrap my arms around his neck and lean in kissing him gently.

“Eww gross, c’mon let’s go!” Brige says making me take a step back from Hudson as Holden smirks at us.

“Righto Brige, hold you’re bloody horses,” Holden says as she drags him along toward the front door.

“Right, let’s go get us a pup,” Hudson says and I smile taking his hand as we walk toward the front door. “Bye Mum,” Hudson calls out, but we don’t hear a reply. She must still be outside with Bill and Flynn.

We walk out the front and all pile into Holden’s 4WD, ironically it’s a Ford Territory. I giggle to myself but decide not to tease Holden about his car brand name. I sit in the back with Brige while Hudson sits in the front passenger and Holden drives.

“So is Midas going to be okay with another dog?” Holden asks and I look toward the front at Hudson.

“Yeah mate. He used to hang out with Macca’s dog all the time. Plus, he’s so placid he’ll probably let the dog jump all over him and he’ll sleep through it,” Hudson says and I smile because I know that’s probably true.

I buckle up Brige’s seatbelt and then my own and Holden and Hudson talk loudly about some bullcrap scandal happening in the AFL. I turn to look at Brige as she sits in the car right next to me.

“So do you know what type of dog you want to get?” I ask making her giggle.

“Something cute and a girl so Midas can have a girlfriend,” Brige replies.

“Okay, cute girl, got it. Speaking of girlfriends and boyfriends, how’s James going?” I ask and she widens her eyes and looks at me with creased brows.

“Shh, I don’t want them to know,” she whispers nodding her head toward her two older brothers.

“Sorry,” I say with a wince and she shakes her head.

“It’s okay, you’ve never had a brother, so you don’t know what to expect. But when you and Huddy get married, Holds and Flynn will be your brothers so you’ll get it then. They can be so over protective, silly idiots,” she says rolling her eyes. “And now you have a sister too who will always look out for you.”

“And I will always look out for my sister too. You know you can always come to me for anything right?”

“Yep. Oh my God, we should totally have a sleepover!”

I laugh and nod. “Definitely!” I say as Holden drives us toward the Animal Welfare League.

Hudson and Holden start laughing at something they’ve just said and Brige looks at me and smirks. “Idiots,” she says shaking her head.

I love this kid!

She leans in close to me and whispers in my ear, “James said he wants me to be his girlfriend.”

I look down at her and smile. “And what does being his girlfriend mean?”

She smiles so brightly. “Well, holding hands and sharing lunch and stuff. He said he wanted to kiss me, but I said it was gross and that he could only hug me. He was fine with that and he hugs me at school when no one is watching,” she says and opens her eyes wide and bites her bottom lip like she’s excited.

I inwardly breathe a sigh of relief and chuckle to myself. I’m so glad she isn’t kissing James and that the thought scares her. She’s too young to really have a boyfriend, but to have a boy-friend who’s there for her is sweet, and as long as James treats her right, I’m all for her thinking she has a ‘real’ relationship.
Who am I to tell her she can’t date a boy?

“Well, it sounds like he’s the perfect gentleman. How old is James?”

“He’s ten, like me, but his birthday is before mine so he’s older I guess,” she says and I nod. At least he’s not an older boy, like thirteen or something. Then I’d be concerned, but for now it’s just a schoolyard crush and that seems harmless enough to me.

“Well, I’m happy for you, Brige,” I say and she smiles and cuddles into my side.

“Just don’t go and tell Huddy, he’ll get all stupid about it,” she says and I smile knowing he would indeed get all ‘stupid’ about it.

“It’s just between us sisters.” I wrap my arm around her shoulders and we talk the rest of the way about her favourite new song, something about stealing my girl. I don’t know, I have no clue about music these days.

We arrive at the Animal Welfare League and we all get out of the car and watch as Brige almost bounces her way out. For someone who isn’t actually going to be living with the dog, she sure is excited. I walk across to Hudson and take his hand as he finishes talking to his brother.

“Hey baby, how’d you go with little miss in the back seat with you?”

“Oh, pretty good, until she started talking about some boy band, then it kinda lost my attention,” I whisper and he laughs as Holden walks across to Brige and wraps his arm around her shoulders.

We walk inside the building and are then ushered out the back to the kennels to see the dogs. Brige is so excited, you can see it emanating from her. I remember when I was a kid being excited over things. I think you feel emotions greater when you’re young, but I have to admit, I’m pretty excited too.

“You ready, baby?’ Hudson asks and I nod as we walk down the aisles looking at the dogs. There’s some of every breed you can imagine, and I honestly feel terrible that I can’t take them all with us. Some are happy and barking, others curled up and sleeping as Brige rushes ahead of us with Holden looking inside all of the cages.

“See any you like?” Hudson asks as we slowly look at all the homeless animals. I feel so sad for them. I didn’t know coming to a place like this would affect me so much.

“I wish we could help them all,” I say and he holds me tightly.

“I know, but we can always get more in the future,” he replies leaning in and kissing my temple.

“Ahhhh,” Brige screams loudly gaining our attention. All the dogs start barking at her loud expression. We look up the aisle at her to see Holden rubbing his ears from her piercing sound.

“What the hell, kid?” Holden asks as she peers into a kennel.

“Hope the dog isn’t dead or something,” Hudson says as we rush toward her.

“You okay, Brige?” Hudson asks.

“Oh. My. God. Huddy, this is it… this is her!” she says excitedly.

“Okay, let’s have a look,” Hudson says as Holden continues to rub his ears.

We walk up to the kennel and look inside to see a small little apricot coloured dog. She’s the cutest thing I think I’ve ever seen. I look at her information and it says she’s six months old and a Maltese crossed Poodle. I think I fall in love instantly.

“Oh, she’s a little cutie,” Hudson says as he squats in front of her kennel putting his hand through the wire. She wags her tail manically and rushes to the front where Hudson can pat her.

I squat down beside Hudson and she rushes over to me and I put my hand through the wire and pat her soft, wavy, apricot fur. She jumps up on the wire and licks it like she’s trying to lick my face and I laugh at her as she bounces on the spot happily.

“So Huddy, what do you think?” Brige asks. I can see him looking at me in my peripheral vision as I continue to play with the little golden girl.

“I think she’s perfect. Vee?” he asks as I continue to pat her.

“I think she is perfect too,” I say and I know if it is possible to fall in love with a dog that I will fall hard for her. She is simply the most adorable thing I think I’ve ever seen.

“Okay, I’ll go get a worker so you can have a play with her,” Holden says and Brige jumps up and down on the spot.

“So, I thought we could let Brige name her, so she feels like she’s partly hers too. What do you think?” Hudson whispers to me and I smile and nod.

“Definitely,” I say and he smiles leaning in quickly pecking me on the lips and then looking to Brige who’s staring at the puppy with a gleam in her eyes.

Holden walks out with a worker and she helps take the puppy out of the kennel. We all walk over to a small enclosed area where we can meet her properly and have some cuddles.

The worker lets her off the lead and she runs around the yard at full speed making us all laugh. She’s full of spirit and definitely seems to have a wonderful temperament.

Brige leans down and calls out to her and she rushes over to Brige and jumps on her making Brige fall on her arse. She laughs hard as the dog jumps all over her licking her face. I walk over and bend down patting the dog and she jumps up at me so I pick her up and cuddle her. She nuzzles into me and I already feel like I love her. She’s definitely the right choice for us.

Hudson walks over to me and Brige and he leans in patting the puppy on the head.

“You seem to have developed a real thing for gold animals there, Rock,” I say to him and he smirks.

“Seems so, Golden Retriever, goldfish and now a golden Moodle. Must be because I’m first class, top of the ladder, the winner—”

“A loser you mean?” I interrupt with a giggle.

He laughs and looks at Brige. “So Brige, I have a favour to ask,” Hudson says.

“Oh yeah. Go on then. What do you need me to lie to Mum about this time?”

I look at Hudson and smirk with my eyes open wide in a little bit of shock.

He laughs and shakes his head. “No, nothing like that, and thanks for spilling that to Vee by the way you brat,” he says and she shrugs and giggles to herself.

“What do you need from me, Huddy bear?”

“Well, Vee and I can’t decide on a name, so we were wondering—”

“I’ll pick it!” she yells out before Hudson has a chance to finish his sentence.

I laugh and nod my head. “That’s a great idea, Brige. So what does she look like to you?” I ask and she pats the manic puppy and pokes her tongue out of her mouth slightly like she’s thinking hard.

I look at Hudson and he’s smiling and shaking his head.

“Oh, I got it!” she yells.

“Right, so what’s her name going to be, Brige?” Hudson asks.