Childhood Sweethearts

Sterling and I walked through the halls of the orphanage. I had been so busy that I hadn't been here in awhile. Sterling had still been allowed to come with my mother. If not he probably would've died without seeing Isabelle.

We walked inside of the playroom and he let go of my hand. He was about to run over to her but he hesitated. He looked back at me and made sure he was going to be given the okay first.

I gave him a nod. "Go ahead."

He turned back around and ran right for Isabelle. I watched as her face lit up once she saw him coming. He gave her a hug and then they headed for the toys. They were absolutely adorable together.

"Kaydence, it's been a minute." Mrs. Strahm spoke as she approached me. "How are you?"

"Good." I smiled. "How are you doing Rebecca?"

Everything was going smoothly for us. The only concern after Meredith being locked up was when she tried to call me. Damon had found out her reasoning was for her to try to get on my good side. Apparently she wasn't enjoying prison life very much. That wasn't my problem though.

"Pretty good." She smiled in return. "Emily seems to have this under control, care to join me in the kitchen for a moment?"

"Sure." I agreed.

I followed Mrs. Strahm out of the playroom and down the hall. We entered the kitchen where she cut two slices of cake and sat them down on a table. We each took a seat and began to dig in.

"I figured it's been a minute, we could catch up." She spoke before taking another bite of her cake.

"Sure. Anything new with you?" I asked.

She swallowed before answering. "Nothing really, just doing the same thing I always do. Taking care of children. What about you?"

"Just getting ready to get the second store opened and working on wedding stuff." I responded. "We've also got a certain little boy's birthday coming up so I've been trying to plan that as well. We would like to have all the children come again."

"That would be wonderful." She had a pleased smile on her lips. "It's really nice that after all this time he still comes to visit and includes the children."

The orphanage definitely held a special place in Sterling's heart. These children had been his first friends and the staff had been there for him when no one else was. He was determined to make sure he was involved here. He wanted to keep his memories fresh and well, Isabelle was here. That definitely helped keep him coming back.

"What can I say? He loves this place to death." I took a bite of cake into my mouth.

"I don't think it's the place he loves." Mrs. Strahm raised a brow as she gave me that look as if I should know exactly what she was referring to.

"You think he loves Isabelle?" I questioned as I had picked up her hint.

"I think there's definitely something there." She let out a small chuckle. "They're so adorable. While he visited with your mother they began holding hands."

"Oh really?" This was definitely new information to me.

"Yes." She nodded. "Once we finish up just go sit and watch them for a moment."

We continued talking back and forth as we finished the remainder of the cake. I helped her clean up the dishes we used and we left the kitchen after. We went back down the hall and into the playroom. The room was filled with laughter as the children all played with each other.

My eyes scanned the room to see if I could spot Sterling and Isabelle. It was a little hard with some many kids running around. Mrs. Strahm nudged me and pointed in their direction. They had been by the little play kitchen.

"Right there." Mrs. Strahm spoke as she pointed them out.

I watched them for a moment. They were playing house together and Isabelle was in the middle of cooking him a meal. Sterling politely waited for her to finish up with the play food in the pot. She then put it on a plate and set it in front of him. She then dished some up from herself and they sat down together.

"Well isn't that cute." An amused smile made it's way onto my lips.

"Oh just wait. Keep watching." Mrs. Strahm responded.

I continued watching just like she had advised. They finished up their fake meal and Sterling cleared the dishes away for Isabelle. I noticed she grabbed a toy purse and acted as if she was getting ready to go somewhere. She waited patiently for Sterling to finish with the dishes so he could join her.

Sterling finished up and I watched as he took her hand in his. They continued holding hands until they reached their destination where they continued to play. The bond these two had so young was remarkable. If they kept it up they could eventually be childhood sweethearts.

"I'm just saying if those two don't end up together I will be very disappointed." Mrs. Strahm spoke as we finally broke our attention away from them.

"You never know." I responded. "You can tell they definitely care for one another. I wouldn't be surprised if they ended up together in the future."

Sterling and I spent a couple hours at the orphanage before it was time to get back home. He said goodbye to Isabelle, even giving her a kiss on the cheek. We then got into the car and headed back to the mansion. We couldn't stay as long as he liked as Martin had requested we join him for dinner.

"Mommy." Sterling spoke from the back seat to get my attention.

"Yes honey?" I glanced in the rearview mirror and then back to the road.

"How old are you?" He asked.

"I'm going to be twenty-four this year." I answered.

"How old is daddy?" Sterling questioned further.

"He's thirty-two now." I glanced back at him again. "Why do you ask?"

"I wanted to see how old you had to be to get married." He responded honestly.

A small chuckle escaped my lips. "Why do you want to know how old you have to be to get married?" I had a feeling where this was leading.

"I was thinking maybe of marrying Isabelle. Like Daddy's marrying you." He explained.

There it is. I knew it was coming. "Oh really?"

"Yeah." He spoke with confidence. "Not now, but one day I want to."