"Ferch pert,” Grace chirped back at him, giggling to herself. "Yes. Hot chocolate please mummy?"

Of course he would turn her daughter against her. Charlie had no opinion on the matter, not really understanding what the man was talking about, but instead twisted her tiny hand in her mother's long brown hair. It seemed to comfort her a bit. Strangers were not something Charlie was used to. She had been a recluse with her mother due to her paternity. Charlie’s whole world consisted of her family and the nanny. It was rare she met anyone else. Grace’s social circle was equally limited, but the angel child was a social butterfly while her dark haired sister was not yet. She worried sometimes that Grace was taking up so much space that there was none left for Charlie.

“I don’t think so, we should get hom-”

“Plllllleeeeeeeeaaaaaseeeeeeee?” She whined. It was not so much about the company but the suggestion of a hot beverage made of mostly sugar. There was no way that Grace knew the history of her mother and Sioni. She did not understand the other things going on between the adults. She did understand delicious chocolate drinks.

Espa reached for her daughter’s hand. “Grace...” She sighed, knowing she would give in. When it came to Sioni she always gave in. In truth, she had only been doing so well at avoiding him because he let her. She pretended that it was all her own doing, but if Sioni had pushed at all, she would have given in. She would have left with him that moment if he really asked her. He was not a long lost Uncle. He was Charlie’s Father. And therein lay the trouble.

“You know what the harm is, Sioni.” It had been stupid for her to think she could avoid him forever. It did not matter what she seemed to do, they always ended up back together. “I can’t....” She could not say the things she wanted to say to him in front of Grace. There was a chance Grace would repeat anything she said. Her studies in Welsh had gotten a bit slack after deciding to remove him from her life and she doubted he’d done any extensive study in the Spanish language.

So she could not tell him it was killing her to be away from him, that she missed him almost every day. She could not tell him how Charlie got this adorable stubborn look when she wanted a toy Grace would not let her have. It was exactly the same stubborn look he was wearing now. She could not tell him she loved him, she hated him, or describe any of the highly mixed feelings that she was having towards him. And, he wouldn't know how hard it was for her to sit this close to him and not be able to touch him.

Instead she sighed and said “Fine. One hot chocolate for Grace, then we do have to get Charlie home.”