A little scene that is a one-shot piece based on a challenge on the HBX to create a short story or scene about a past. present or future birthday for Harm.
I leave the identity his wife up to you and your preference on whom you'd liked to have had Harm marry.
Best Present Ever
OCTOBER 25, 2014
HARM'S POV
It isn't the sound of my wife coming into the room that causes me to wake, but the apple of my eye, who probably thinks that she's whispering while excitedly telling her mother about needing to be quiet so that she can wake me.
The smell of warm apples and cinnamon make their way through the air, and I know that my breakfast in bed has arrived, though my little girl doesn't know that I've been getting the same birthday morning meal in bed for the last five years.
Not wanting to disappoint my four-year-old daughter by her finding out that I'm already awake, I keep my eyes closed.
"Daddy," she says with a giggle.
I pretend not to hear her.
"Daddy, wake up!" She sounds irritated that I didn't wake when she said my name the first time.
"You don't want to sleep your birthday away," she adds, now pleading for me to respond.
"Me and Momma have surprises for you." Now she's resorting to bribery.
I open one eye, and she sees me do it.
"Ready, Mommy?" our daughter questions.
"I am," she responds.
"Hap-py birth-day to you. Hap-py birth-day to you..." The two most important people in the world to me begin to sing.
Even though I don't think that my little girl will ever be a pop star, the out-of-tune song brings a smile to my face.
When they reach the end of the song, my wife moves forward with a tray. "We brought you in breakfast, too."
Having placed the tray down in front of me, she says with a big smile, "Happy birthday, Harm," before administering a short, sweet and loving kiss on my lips.
"I told Mommy to make you protein because we're going to have a busy day, but she said that it was your birthday and this is what you'd want," our little girl says as I reach for my fork.
"Your mommy's right. This has been my special birthday breakfast for a few years now. Do you want to know why?" I ask, and I immediately get an enthusiastic nod in response.
I pat a spot on the bed next to me, and she climbs up and cuddles close.
"Because French toast with warm cinnamon apples and whipped cream was the breakfast that Mommy made for my birthday five years ago, the year I got the best present ever."
"Ev-v-v-v-er?" she questions with wide-eyed curiosity.
"Yes, ever!" I reply.
"Do you still have it? Will you show it to me?" she asks excitedly.
"I do, and you've seen it before."
"I have?" she exclaims in disbelief.
"Yes." I pause to take a sip of my coffee while it's still warm. "Five years ago when your mommy served me this breakfast, there was a picture on the tray."
She scrunches up her nose. "A picture isn't a best present."
"It is when it's a special kind of picture of something or someone who you really, really love a whole lot."
"It was a picture of Mommy?"
"No, it was a picture of you...when you were still in mommy's tummy, and that's the way that I found out that I was going to be your daddy. You're the best present that I will ever, ever get, and that's why this is now my favorite birthday breakfast. I love you, Pumpkin."
"A whole lot?" she questions.
"Bunches and bunches," I answer.
"I love you that much, too, Daddy, but you have to hurry up if we're going to have time to pick out pumpkins today so that we can get ready for Halloween."
"I guess she's too young to appreciate that this particular breakfast is a reminder of that day for you," my wife comments, biting her lip to keep from laughing.
"I want a big pumpkin!" our daughter says, making a huge circle with her arms, not the least bit interested in my story.
"We'll have to look for a big one then, but it also has to be a good one," I warn while loading my fork with another bite of my breakfast.
"It sounds like pumpkin shopping isn't going to be as easy as I'd thought, so let's go get you dressed while Daddy finishes his breakfast, Sweetheart," my wife says.
"Okay, but hurry up, Daddy. I don't want anyone else to get our pumpkin."
"I'll hurry," I say with joy.
Having breakfast in bed and then going to search for the perfect pumpkin may not seem like the perfect birthday to anyone else, but to me, any day that I have to enjoy time with my wife and daughter is a perfect day.