Mirrors

Seven Years Later...August

Daisy giggled as she whispered into her sister Lola's ear, sending them both into beautiful laughter. I smiled at them as I stood in front of the sink doing the dishes. "Girls, you'd better not take forever to eat your breakfast, Nana and Papa will be here soon." Christian chuckled as he walked into the dining area, scruffing up Daisy and Lola's hair. "I am done daddy!" Daisy laughed, pushing her bowl forward. He just smiled and shook his head, approaching me and wrapping his arms around me from behind, "Oliver just bathed and he's dressed now. My parents said they'd be here in an hour. And Mrs. Reid, in less than eight hours we will be jetting off to Cannes."

"For our long delayed honeymoon." I smiled slowly, looking at him over my shoulder. He softly smiled and kissed my cheek, "Yes."

We finally tied the knot two years ago, but things have been so busy with the kids, work, and at times my health, we had to put off our "official" honeymoon till now. We were lucky enough to find time for our wedding at City Hall those few years back, on August 21st. Before getting married, Christian and I were completely content and happy with the way things were, though he would bring up the idea of us getting married every now and again. I made it clear after my divorce from Hudson that I didn't want to get married again for a long time. So finally after five years of being together raising our family, he popped the question in a romantic and elaborate proposal that included the kids. And I said yes.

The lovely memory faded away as my leg was grabbed by tiny arms, and I looked down at our three year old son. "Darling, you still need to have breakfast." I cooed.

"I think he's waiting for the bagels, just like his daddy." Christian laughed, kissing my cheek again and then disappearing into the other room probably to check our bags again, going over the same checklist details he's meticulously gone over since yesterday.

"Right, I forgot I said I was gonna get some. Olly, let's get you some cereal to start." I picked him up and kissed his cheek. "Okay." He smiled. I gazed at him and smiled, he looked like his father, but had my light hair. After sitting him down at the table and quickly fixing him a bowl of cereal, I looked to our seven year old, Daisy.

"Daisy darling, let's go pick up the bagels at the bakery."

"Okay!" She practically jumped out of her chair and ran to the door. Her sister who was younger by two years, Lola, made a face, "Mom, why can't I go?"

"Because you still haven't finished your cereal, and you haven't taken a bath yet either." I shrugged my shoulders. "We'll be back soon, sweetheart." I left the table and called out to my husband, "Christian, we're going out to the bakery down the street. We'll be back in a bit."

"Alright, love you!" He called back.

"Love you too, babe." I smiled, helping Daisy tie her sneaker as she attempted to lace up her other shoe. After I helped her put on her coat, I just pulled on a sweater and a scarf, tossing my hair into a messy bun.

We left our brownstone and went down the steps, embracing the breezy morning, the sun shining through the leaves of the trees lining the street. Holding hands we walked toward the local bakery, just a block and half away from our place. We stood in line, talked to the cashier who knows us by name for a bit, and Daisy convinced me to get her a cookie which resulted in four; for her siblings and her dad. After I paid for our order and we got what we needed, I let her hold the bag of cookies while I held the larger bag of bagels.

The door was opened for us and I thanked the old man for letting us out. "Hold on, Daise, mummy just has to put her wallet in her purse." I told my daughter, stopping to tuck my wallet away.

"That's a good name for you." A male voice spoke, and I froze without looking up, recognizing that voice. Hudson softly smiled as I looked up at him.

"Hudson...it's been so long...since I've seen you." I quietly spoke, returning the same smile.

"It has." He lightly laughed. "How are you?"

"I'm...I'm great." I stammered, somewhat speechless from seeing him again. "I'm married, to Christian. We have three kids together...What about you? What have you been up to?" I sheepishly smiled.

"Three kids, that's amazing. That's really great to hear. Uh, I'm married too." He chuckled, "My wife and I are in New York for the week, visiting La Maison among other places and people. We're actually expecting our first child, she's due in January. She's just back at our hotel, I wanted to pop into the bakery to get her something sweet. I've always favoured this bakery."

I couldn't help but grin, "That's so great, congratulations."

"Thank you. Are you still writing?" He curiously raised a brow, never breaking his gaze for a moment. I nodded in reply, "Yes, I write for Nylon Magazine now. I've been with them for about three years. And I continue to contribute to Interview Magazine. It's mostly freelance with them."

"That's great, I'm glad you're still writing." He replied with a boyish grin. His gaze dropped to Daisy who stared up at him. "Hello there, what's your name?" Hudson crouched down to my girl's level.

"Daisy." She smiled, bashfully.

"She's our oldest." I spoke. He glimpsed up at me and I knew what he was thinking. He was there when she was growing inside of me, not even a part of this world yet. His lips quirked into a small smile as he returned his attention to her.

"Hello Daisy, my name is Hudson." He politely spoke, holding out his hand to shake her small hand, which she took excitedly and shook a little too enthusiastically. Hudson laughed, "What do you have there?"

"Cookies." Daisy proudly held up the bag of cookies.

"I love cookies, sweets are my favourite." Hudson smiled.

"Why do you talk like that?" She asked. I began to laugh, "Daise, you don't ask those sort of questions."

Hudson smiled and laughed, "It's alright. I come from a place called England. I talk this way because where I'm from, the people are called British. We sound like this. Have you ever been there?"

She shrugged a shoulder.

"Yes she has, she was pretty young though. We visited there when we were living in France for a while." I chuckled.

He looked up at me before returning to his normal stance. "She's beautiful."

"Thank you." I replied and smiled. For a moment, we stood in comfortable silence and looked at each other. He hadn't changed all that much, his green eyes still held their youthful gaze, despite him looking a little older. He wore a tan coat and a scarf draped around the collar and lapel. It's been seven years since we've seen each other. We filed for a no-fault divorce then, and we've never said a word about the divorce or each other to the press. We exchanged smiles.

"You look different. Last I saw you, your hair was short and you had a pregnant belly." He lightly laughed, "You look good."

"Thanks." I laughed, "You look the same. But by January you're gonna look so tired."

"Yeah, that'll be interesting." He chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck. He brought his gaze back to me, and gave a sincere smile. "I'm happy for you. I'm glad you finally found your happiness." He softly spoke.

I smiled back, my throat feeling dry. "I'm happy for you too...I really am." Taking in a deep breath, I reminded myself that Christine and Ian would be at the brownstone soon to pick up the kids. I cleared my throat, "We should be getting back now."

He nodded, "Yeah, same here. It was great seeing you again."

"It's been really nice to see you too." I smiled. I looked down at Daisy, "Say goodbye to Hudson, Daisy."

"Bye." She waved at him. He waved at her and smiled, taking a long look at her and then looked up at me. "Take care, Avery."

"Same to you." I quietly spoke, offering one last smile and looking into those familiar eyes one last time.

He just smiled and took a step back as I turned and began walking away with Daisy. Halfway home, I stopped and hugged her, glancing over her shoulder back at the bakery, no longer seeing Hudson. I just smiled and held my sweet daughter close, "Oh Daisy."