Chapter 5

When the trio arrived at the Abbot residence Carter spotted his sister-in-law's car, he smiled a little - he hoped he could get some advice on raising Andrea from her so he felt a little extra thankful to his mom for inviting them to dinner.

Once they parked Carter ran to the back of the car to get out the stroller he had bought for Andrea the day before whilst Daniel took her out of her car seat which he got her the day before as well.

Carter took Andrea and placed her in the stroller and Daniel closed the door but not before grabbing the diaper bag he had packed for her, the two then started making their way inside.

They went a little before dinner time so a lot of the staff who work for the Abbot family were still around, thus the two received a few suspicious looks, but the two didn't mind all that much.

Once they got inside they were greeted by the Butler and led to the living room. Daniel felt himself chuckling a little, he had visited the Abbot's home a few times before but he still couldn't help but feel a bit speechless each time.

The family basically lived in a mansion and there were only a total of four people living in the house, the live-in staff lived in a smaller building that had a few smaller studio apartments - while he grew up being the oldest of six along with his mother and stepfather in a four-bedroom house, he couldn't help but feel the gap between them from time to time.

"Carter~ Daniel~ Welcome my dears," Ms.Abbot said as she got up from her seat the moment she spotted the two men. She immediately went to greet the two and Carter's sister-in-law followed close behind, her two sons trailing behind her curiously - they had met Carter quite often and they were quite fond of their uncle but they had never had the opportunity to meet Daniel so they felt a little shy at the sights of a new guest.

"Hello mother" Carter greeted, giving his mother a big hug, "Hello to you too Lisa, haven't seen you in a while' Carter said as he moved to greet his sister-in-law. Daniel stood back a little with the stroller, a bit nervous and awkward at the situation.

"Uncle Carter!!" The two boys yelled once their uncle was done talking to their mother, Carter smiled excitedly and ran over to the boys, picking them both up off the floor and spinning around with them. While the three of them were in their own little world both Ms. Abbot and Lisa surrounded Daniel and Andrea.

"Good evening Ms. Abbot, and Mrs. Lisa" Daniel greeted, he had only ever met them in formal situations, and it felt quite odd to meet them in this setting, something rather informal and casual.

"Oh dear no need to be so formal, just call me Aunty and call Lisa, well Lisa," Ms.Abbot told Daniel with a big smile, she then peaked over to the stroller where she found Andrea looking at her with her big curious green eyes.

"My oh my!" Ms. Abbot exclaimed, "She is beautiful Daniel," She said turning to Daniel - he felt his chest bubble a little, he felt quite proud in that moment to hear such a comment.

"Thank you Mis- I mean Auntie, Her name is Andrea" Daniel introduced his niece proudly to her, and her smile widened.

"Would it be fine if I took this little angel off your hands for a bit, I bet neither you nor Carter had gotten any rest since yesterday, how about you and Carter have a little chat with Lisa about baby things and I will look after all the kids" She suggested and although Daniel wanted to refuse Lisa didn't give him a chance to, once the words had left Ms. Abbot's mouth she immediately liked her arm with Daniels and nodded in agreement.

"Why not, Mother has a lot of experience with children, and I would like to give both you and Carter some advice that would help the two of you with raising her" Lisa explained to Daniel, she managed to convince him without struggle, he didn't feel like he could really say no, both women had quite the overwhelming presence and it made him slightly nervous.

Carter gave his nephews one last hug before running over to their grandmother and taking a peek at Andrea who looked at the two. 

"Jake, look at her, she's so cute" The oldest of the two cooed as he turned to his brother.

"She really is Hunter" The younger cooed, the two then proceeded to look at their mother with pleading eyes.

"Mom we want a sister," The two said in unison, although they asked politely it came out more like a demand which caused the adults to laugh, the two seemed pretty serious about having a baby sister.

"We will see, for now, go with Granny and remember to behave yourselves" Lisa ordered and the two nodded obediently, they followed their grandmother who happily pushed the stroller back to the living room, Lisa smiled a little and then linked her free arm with Carter's.

"Now then boys, let this lady give you some parenting classes," She said happily and dragged the two off to the patio.

The three sat outside in silence for a bit, Lisa smiled and turned to Daniel.

"Although it might not mean much, I just wanted to tell you that taking in your sister's daughter is really commendable, it isn't easy to raise children - especially with your work field that requires a lot of time at the office," Lisa said with a big smile, she couldn't but feel proud of Daniel for taking on the challenge.

"And Carter, both your brother and I are really proud of you for helping Daniel, although you have no responsibility in the matter - Andrea is not related to you yet you still stepped up to help out your friend," She said to Carter, she knew well what Angela was like, she knew it wouldn't be easy once she found out.

"Now onto some advice!" She continued looking from Daniel to Carter and then back to Daniel. She started giving them advice, from feeding and when to switch Andrea to baby food, what to do when she ended up getting sick - if they decided to place her in daycare when they work, what to look for in said daycare.

She gave them a lot of advice - everything she learned while being a mother of two, and her husband not being around much due to travelling a lot for work.

The two listened attentively, making sure to take in everything she mentioned, trying to memorize all the important details.

"But you know even with all those things, the most important part of everything is that you should love her regardless of everything, love her so much that she wouldn't question why her mom didn't keep her, and protect her from all the bad things in the world and when you can't hug her tightly and tell her that you will be on her side no matter what" she told the two with a small smile.

"Thank you, Lisa," Daniel said with a thankful smile.

"Let's head in~ Dinner will be served soon, and I bet my boys are giving their grandmother a hard time," Lisa said as she stood up, the two followed suit, got up from their seats, and followed her in.