Chapter 4
5:34 am. Erin had looked at the clock next to the bed, she had been fairly calm about the appointment they were going to today, but she knew that Ella had been tossing most of the night, which had in turn woken Erin up.
Erin rolled over to face Ella, “Ella, I know you’re not asleep right now, what’s wrong?”
“Hmm, I am asleep, I promise” came the reply from Ella who still had her eyes closed.
“Really babe? Really? Talk to me, what’s up?”
“Nothing, well, I just. You know, it’s a big part of our life, are you sure? I mean I’m sure, but are you sure? Are you sure you’re sure? Because if you’re not sure then it’s fine. Honestly, I don’t mind if you’re not okay with this, I understand. I get it, it wasn’t the plan. You don’t want to go through with this do you? I under-“ Ella was cut off by Erin who had, at this point, decided that it was way too early for one of Ella’s rambles.
“Ella, what are you on about? This was my idea, of course I am sure about this. Nothing is even definite yet- we are just going to talk about our options, calm down” Erin’s voice calmed Ella down, it always had. Well admittedly, when they had first met, Erin’s voice had made Ella’s heart skip a beat, it still did occasionally. On the most part, Erin was a huge comfort to Ella. If anybody knew how to calm Ella down, it was Erin. “Come here, snuggle into me?” Erin asked gesturing to the space between the pair, she knew that being held was a sure way to calm Ella down. Ella moved to close the space between them.
“look, our appointment isn’t until 3pm, lets snuggle, go back to sleep, and have a nice quiet day. We can take Max for a walk, go shopping, have a bike ride, and grab some food, whatever you like. Just for now, go back to sleep” Erin suggested placing a kiss on Ella’s forehead.
“Okay” the younger girl smiled, closing her eyes.
Ella kept her eyes closed until she heard soft snores coming from her keeper. Thoughts had been running through her head, thoughts about the process, thoughts about life, thoughts about everything and thoughts about nothing. Her mind was racing.
~ELLA POV~
~internal thoughts~
I love Erin, I really do, with everything I have. At first I hated it, I hated loving Erin. I couldn’t understand how I could love a girl, it wasn’t how I had planned my life, but I fell for her. It took me a while, but I accepted it. I feel connected to Erin, in a way that I have never felt connected to anyone ever. And, I do want to start a family with Erin, I do. Being a mom is one of my biggest dreams in my life, and it has always been my plan for after soccer. I couldn’t imagine anybody better to be married to, or anybody better to start a family with.
It was 9:30 when Ella awoke from her slumber, surprised to see that Erin was still sleeping. Erin was usually an early riser, normally complaining that she had do to taxes or such like, something that Ella did not agree was a reasonable excuse for waking up early. Ella had only got back in bed around 7-30, she’d taken Max for an early morning walk to help clear her head when she couldn’t sleep. Being out in the fresh air, seeing the sun rise reminded her to stay grounded and just breathe. She had given Max his breakfast when they got back, and then got back into bed with Erin where she’d managed to finally fall asleep.
Ella got up, still wearing the sweats and jumper from when she had gone out with Max, grabbed her wallet and left a note for Erin.
“back in 10 if you wake up babe, just nipped out, Love you”
Around 2 minutes later, Erin woke up. She’d heard the door go, and it had woken her up. She turned over to see that Ella was missing, only to find the note from her wife. ‘she’s probably gone for a jog’ Erin thought, it wasn’t unusual for Ella to go out for a jog when the girls weren’t training. Ella prided herself on never having a day off. 9:45am and Ella returns, singing to herself, a little out of tune as per usual, but that’s just another thing Erin loved about her.
“Wow somebody is chirpy” shouted Erin from the bedroom. “Nice jog?”
“Yes I am chirpy, but no jog for me this morning” Ella replied, walking into the room with two coffee cups in her hand from the local store. Ella had decided to bring Erin her favourite coffee. “Americano with a pump of vanilla AND CREAM” Ella had never forgotten her wife’s favourite copy since THAT one time…
“The cream is important” replied Erin smirking, she was never, ever going to let Ella live that one down.
“Yeah, well you didn’t have to tell everyone that I pick ingrown hairs, but there’s that. And by the way, your worst habit is tutting, I can’t believe that got cut” Ella replied, the two often joked about what went on in their shows. Throughout the Ella and Erin shows, And the Ella and Carm shoes, taking the mick out of Ella, and making jokes at her expense had just become a trend of the show. From the very first show the two had hosted alone without Carm, Erin had made jokes about Ella. Firstly, about her suggesting that viewers vote on shirts, when she meant auctioning them off, followed by Erin adding an extra segment to the show to show everyone THAT picture of Ella.
The two sat in bed for a while, drinking their coffee, appreciating each other. It wasn’t often that they got to do this, normally one of them had to be up early do to do something, or to go to training.
“so, what do you want to do today then?” asked Erin looking at her watch, “we have approximately 5 hours and 53 minutes until our appointment, and we have to leave here 25 minutes before that giving us a total of erm 5 hours and 28 minutes of free time today…”
“Not that you’re counting down or anything?” asked Ella smiling at just how excited her wife was. “ I was thinking maybe I would play guitar or something for a little while this morning, how about you?”
“Learning anything new?” was the reply that came. “Maybe I could sing along for a little bit, or just do some drawing. I suppose I should take Max for a walk too…”
“Consider Max walked, I took him out this morning when I couldn’t sleep, before you woke up, sorry.” Ella confessed.
It was decided that Ella would practice playing her guitar whilst Erin did some painting, and then Erin would join Ella later on to sing along. Ella often learned songs by ear, she’d made a promise to herself back in 2010 that she would play piano for 30 minutes a day, so that exactly what she did. Of course, having Erin, an amazing singer, as her wife, allowed Ella to see an outcome of her practice. The two had been singing together since their Chicago days, and it had carried on as a pass time ever since. In fact, hours could go by whilst the pair played music together, or while Ella played and Erin did art.
After 90 minutes or so, the two decided on going on a bike ride around the city, and grab a bite to eat. Eventually the girls ended up being early for their appointment at the clinic. 45 minutes early at that. Excitement and anticipation had taken over, and the conclusion had be drawn that, time would pass by quicker if they were there. So, they’d called a taxi and headed to the clinic. The girls had checked In at reception, well, at least they thought they had. It’d gone along the lines of “Mcleod, klockan 3” They had had a few weird looks from the people behind the desk, possibly because of the short statement, possibly because of how early they were.
Eventually, after what seemed like an eternity, they were called in to the consultation room.
“Hiya I’m Dr Mckinley” came the introduction from the middle aged man, well at least that what they thought he said, what kind of accent even was that?
“Hi, I’m Erin, and this is my wife Ella, nice to meet you.”
“Take a seat, don’t look so nervous, I know the chairs are a bit antwacky but...”
“I’m sorry, they’re what?” interrupted Ella.
“Oh I’m sorry love. Old fashioned, I mean. I’m not from round ‘ere if you can’t tell. I’m from Liverpool, England.” This was going to be difficult, not only did the man speak in an indecipherable accent, he also seemingly made up words. He might as well be speaking Swedish. Erin had visited Liverpool during the Olympics, but had never known the accent that strong.
Their hour appointment passed by, relatively easily. The doctor had tried his best to ease his accent off, and speak a little slower, and the girls were more able to adapt as the appointment went on.
They had gained more information than they could have thought up, questions about how, what, why and when had been asked and answered. They had decided to go home and talk about the appointment, before booking a follow up. They wanted to be certain of every choice before they took the leap.
It was going to be a long evening, full of discussion. Erin knew that Ella was stubborn, endearing at times, but when she was so emotionally drained, it wasn’t great. She knew Ella wasn’t going to go home to rest, she was going to ask questions and want answers from Erin, she had never been able to sleep unless everything was straight in her head.