Notes: Thank you to Mari and Sammy for the squeal-inducing responses to this one!
Readers and REAL McRollers - Thank you for your amazing support!
Hope you enjoy!
Mama Day (A McRoll in the REAL World Story)
"Okay, now, shhhh, we have to be quiet, all right?" Steve said as he carried Angie into the kitchen, Cammie trotting along beside them. "We're gonna let Mommy sleep in a little because it's Mother's Day."
Angie blinked at him, rubbing one sleepy eye with a small fist. "Mama?" she asked, looking back toward the doorway and the stairs beyond.
"Yeah, Mama's Day. And she said no gifts, so we're going to make her favorite breakfast and if we're quick enough, we can serve it to her in bed before she gets up." He winked. "That's a little trick I've learned to get around the 'no gifts' rule."
"Mama Day," Angie repeated.
"That's right." He kissed her head, beaming proudly. "You got it." He went to the fridge and opened the door. Pulling out the carton of eggs, he brought them over to the table, then grabbed a bowl and did the same. He nodded toward Angie's highchair. "Is it a yes highchair day, or a no highchair day?" he asked her.
"No!" she said emphatically, shaking her head.
"Okay," he said, settling her on one of the regular chairs. "Then remember we stay sitting on the big chairs, right? No standing up." He gave her a firm look and when she stayed in place, he nodded and sat beside her. Opening the egg carton, he asked, "All right, what do you think? Three eggs? Four? Five?"
Angie nodded eagerly. "Ah ehh! Mama ehhs!"
He chuckled. "Five, it is." He leaned closer as if speaking conspiratorially. "You can help her eat 'em."
"Nummm."
"Says you and Mommy," he quipped. "Okay, ready?" He held up the first egg and grinned as Angie's eyes widened in anticipation. He paused, drawing out the moment.
"Dada!" she cried impatiently, pointing to the egg.
Chuckling, he relented. "Okay, okay." He cracked the egg on the side of the bowl and she squealed, clapping excitedly.
"Yay!" She pointed to the carton. "Mo', Dada!"
"We're going to add some more," he assured her. "But I should've grabbed the trash can first." He stood, moving toward the bin with a hand under the drippy egg shell. "Or a garbage bowl like your grandma uses." As he put his foot on the pedal to open the garbage lid, Angie scrambled up to stand on the chair and reached over to plunge her hand into the bowl, covering her fingers in yolk and egg white.
"Eww Dada," she said, pulling her hand out quickly and tipping the bowl over in the process.
Steve whipped his head around and sighed as he took in the sight. He couldn't help but smile, shaking his head as he grabbed a clean dishcloth, running it under the faucet.
"Okay, that was on me," he said, returning to the table to wipe her clean. "Should've had everything ready to go before starting. But you were supposed to stay sitting in the big chair, remember?" He coaxed her back onto her bottom. "Or it's into the highchair."
"No!" she said immediately, her brow creasing as she frowned her displeasure at the suggestion.
"Okay, then stay there." He finished cleaning off the table and straightened, surveying the scene. "Could've been worse, I suppose," he said. "At least the egg carton was out of reach." He looked back at Angie. "All right, ready to try again?"
She beamed up at him, hitting the table with both hands and pointing to the egg carton. "Mama ehhs!"
"Yep. Mother's Day Eggs, take two."
"And we'll put your card right here," Steve said as he placed the folded piece of construction paper Angie had colored for Catherine on the breakfast tray. "That doesn't count as a gift either."
At a sound on the stairs, Cammie jumped up and moved into the living room.
"Uh oh," Steve said, looking at Angie. "Sounds like Mommy's up."
"Mama?" Angie repeated, turning toward the doorway.
A moment later, Catherine appeared with Cammie at her side. "Good morning," she said.
"Mama!" Angie exclaimed excitedly, maneuvering onto her tummy to slide backwards out of the chair.
"Hi, baby girl," Catherine said, scooping her up and peppering her face with kisses, much to the toddler's delight. Settling Angie on her hip, she took in the scene. "What's all this?"
"It was supposed to be breakfast in bed," Steve said, stepping over to her and leaning in for a kiss. "Happy Mother's Day."
She smiled up at him.
"Mama Day!" Angie squealed, bringing their attention back to her. She pointed to the heap of scrambled eggs on the tray. "Mama ehhs!"
"I see that," Catherine said. Angie squirmed to get down and Catherine set her on the floor. "That's a lot of eggs. Are those all for me?"
"We figured you'd probably share," Steve said.
She chuckled. "I know we didn't have a full dozen in the fridge, but how many did you use?"
He looked slightly guilty, scratching the back of his head. "Uhh … eight or nine, maybe?" he said with a shrug. "I'm not sure."
She quirked a skeptical eyebrow at him and he sighed.
"Nine," he admitted. He held up his hands in surrender. "We were having too much fun. Angie loves watching eggs being cracked."
"I know she does, but nine?"
He shrugged. "I'll eat half," he said. Grinning, he added, "So long as I can get to 'em before you cover 'em all in ketchup."
She grinned back. "Well, let's dig in before they get cold." When she moved toward the table, Angie shook her head and pointed back toward the stairs.
"Mama bed!"
"What?"
"Bed!" Angie repeated. She looked at Steve.
"We did talk a lot about having breakfast in bed," he told Catherine. He looked back at Angie. "But Mommy's here now, so we can just eat at the table, Angie, it's okay."
"No!" she insisted. She pushed on Catherine's leg. "Mama Day! Mama Day! Mama bed! Go!"
Catherine chuckled. "I guess we're having Mother's Day breakfast in bed."
"Sure?" he asked.
"Well, you went to all this trouble," she teased. "Nine eggs and a tray and everything."
He grinned. "Then let me just grab the most important ingredient." He opened the fridge and took out the bottle of the ketchup, holding it up with a knowing smile.
"Can't forget that," Catherine said.
"Dada!" Angie said excitedly, reaching up both hands for the bottle.
"I'm gonna put it on the tray so we can take it all upstairs," he told her.
"No!" she cried, making grabbing motions.
"I think your little helper wants to help by carrying the ketchup," Catherine said, chuckling.
He sighed in amusement, handing Angie the bottle. "All right, you carry that."
Beaming, Angie clutched the ketchup and ran toward the stairs. She waited impatiently at the baby gate, Cammie beside her.
"Mama! Dada! Go!"
"Go on, I got this," Steve said, nodding for Catherine to follow their daughter as he picked up the breakfast tray.
Catherine unlatched the gate and peered down at Angie. "How you think you're getting up there with that bottle, honey?"
Angie stared at the bottle, then the stairs. She looked back and forth between the two several times, working through the problem in her head. She raised a foot as if to step up, but put it back down. Making a decision, she set the bottle on the stair, put her hands down and climbed the first as usual, then stood and picked up the bottle, moving it to the next stair.
Catherine let her do one more step that way, then picked her up and kissed her. "Great problem-solving, honey, but those eggs really will be cold by the time we make it up the stairs."
Angie seemed to have no problem with this solution so Catherine continued up the stairs, glancing back at Steve behind them.
"Very curious how you were going to pull this off solo, Commander," she said.
"I had a plan," he replied.
"Yeah? I bet Angie wasn't clutching the ketchup bottle for dear life in this plan," she quipped.
He grinned, acknowledging the point with a nod.
Catherine let him pass on the landing and latched the top gate behind them. Angie wriggled to get down and took off at a run as soon as Catherine put her down, ketchup bottle still in her hands.
Steve and Catherine entered their bedroom to see that she'd pushed the bottle onto the bed and was grabbing the sheets to pull herself up. They let her do it and chuckled when she grabbed the bottle, clambered into the middle of the bed, and turned toward them, beaming proudly.
"Mama bed!" she said, hitting the spot beside her with the ketchup bottle.
"I'm coming," Catherine said, climbing onto the bed herself and making Angie giggle with delight when she tickled her. She turned to sit back against the headboard, tossing the pillows to the floor as Steve came forward with the tray.
"Sorry they're not 'dippy eggs,' " he said, his lip quirking in a half smile. "But I figured in bed with Angie … scrambled was the way to go."
"Definitely a good call," she said, pulling Angie back beside her and giving him some room to set the tray. She reached forward to pluck the card off. "Ohh, is this from you, baby girl?" she asked, looking at Angie. "Did you draw this for Mommy?"
Angie nodded happily, tapping the paper where she'd scribbled beneath the words Happy Mother's Day, written in Esther's familiar handwriting. Inside, Esther had traced Angie's hands positioned in the shape of a heart, and Angie had added more scribbles around the Love, Angie at the bottom.
"See, Mama," she said. "Ah Ehsa! Ah mah sah do."
Catherine kissed the top of her head and cuddled her close. "I love it, honey. You and Esther made a wonderful card. Thank you."
Steve smiled as he watched them, sliding into his spot on Angie's other side.
"Well, are you ready to eat?" Catherine asked Angie who nodded enthusiastically, holding up the ketchup bottle.
"Nummmm."
Catherine chuckled. "Let's let Daddy get his before we open that up." She set her card on the nightstand out of the way. As Steve scooped a healthy portion of the eggs onto another plate, Catherine looked at Angie and said. "You know, you weren't always so fond of ketchupy eggs, Angie."
"That's right," Steve said, remembering the time he'd tried to surprise Catherine with breakfast in bed when she was pregnant. "The Pop Tart Christmas."
Catherine smiled, leaning down to kiss Angie. "A tough six months," she teased.
"Mama ehhs," Angie said, pointing to the plate.
"In other words, 'Enough reminiscing, let's eat,'?" Catherine said with an amused smile. She opened up the ketchup bottle and grinned at Angie. "Ready?"
Angie nodded, eyes widening in excitement.
Catherine doused the scrambled eggs in ketchup as Angie eagerly reached for the fork.
"Let me do it, baby girl. We can at least try to make it out of this without ketchup on the sheets." She speared a small bite and fed it to Angie who immediately smiled, opening her mouth for more.
Steve made a face, shuddering. "Of all the things to inherit from your mother …"
Angie looked over at him. "Dada nummm!"
"Angie yuck," he returned, but with a grin.
"Daddy doesn't know what he's missing," Catherine said, eating a forkful and smiling at him.
"Oh, Daddy knows exactly what he's missing. And I'll eat anything, so that should tell you something."
Catherine smiled at Angie, feeding her another bite. "Mmhmm. More for us."
He grinned, eating his own forkful of plain eggs. Neither was quick enough to stop Angie who wiped her mouth with her hand and put it back on the bed as she leaned forward for more.
Catherine chuckled, wiping at the spot with a napkin. "Bound to happen." She smiled over at Steve. "Won't be the first time we've had to wash a condiment stain out of these sheets."
He smiled back with a quick eyebrow waggle.
"You know, Angie," Catherine said, her smile growing. "Daddy might talk a big game about how gross he thinks ketchupy eggs are, but that won't stop him from doing this." She leaned over to kiss him and he didn't hesitate to press his lips to hers. She beamed. "Ketchupy egg breath and all."
When Catherine sat back, Angie grabbed Steve's shirt and used him to pull herself up, planting a ketchupy egg kiss of her own on him that was more ketchup than egg.
Catherine laughed as Angie smiled proudly and Steve sighed resignedly, wiping the ketchup from his face.
Shifting the tray back, Catherine grabbed Angie and pulled her into a hug, bending over to kiss her. "That was perfect, baby girl. Just like this Mother's Day morning."
"Mama Day!"
"That's right. And I can't think of a better way to celebrate than with ketchupy egg kisses." She looked at Cammie who was resting her chin on the bed and leaned down to kiss her as well. "Right, pretty girl?" Cammie gave a happy chuff in response.
Sitting back up, Catherine smiled at her family, cuddling Angie closer. "In fact, this might be how I want to start every Mother's Day from now on."
Steve grinned, leaning over for another ketchupy egg kiss. "I think that can be arranged. Happy Mother's Day, Cath."
"Mama Day!"
Hope you enjoyed!
Happy early Mother's Day, REAL McRoller moms!
Especially to my mom, who may not eat ketchupy eggs, but who is the strongest, most incredible woman I know, and who has inspired me my whole life. Love you, Mom!
For the first appearance Catherine's ketchupy eggs, check out Sammy's fabulous After The Incident from almost exactly five years ago today!
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