For SassyRaptor
The captain of the Trez Ship and the best writing cheerleader a girl could ask for
Dez glances up from the kitchen sink where he's washing dishes when he sees Trish appear from around the corner. She looks...gorgeous. Her hair is half tied up with the other half cascading down in those ringlets he finds so pretty, and she's wearing the black maxi dress he wishes she always wore. He rushes over to her pulling her into a tight hug before stepping back just a little so he can reach her lips. He'll never not consider himself lucky to be married to her especially when it felt like so long of despairing that she'd ever be willing to leave the single mom lifestyle behind and agree to be his wife.
Esmeralda's crying interrupts the goodbye which if he's honest was getting too long. Trish needs to go. He doesn't want to be the one to make her late for the girl's night she's been planning forever. Well, maybe he wants her to make her late, but that wouldn't be fair to her. He goes over and picks Esmeralda from the blanket where she's been playing on the floor, and Trish says her final goodbye.
The minute he picks up Esmeralda, she stops crying and smiles. And he smiles back at her. She's too precious with her chubby cheeks, black silky curls, and snapping brown eyes. He plants a kiss on each cheek before setting her down on the blanket again. He's got to finish the dishes.
She starts crying the moment he sets her down, and he wonders why he thought agreeing to take the kids for the evening was a good idea. It wouldn't be half so bad if Maggie were here to help. She's good with Essie, and Essie loves her. But no, she's at her best friend's birthday party. He doesn't begrudge her a fun time, but he can't help wondering why it had to be the same evening Trish's friends were available.
Trish had offered to stay, but he couldn't let her—not when it had been so long. She's been at home full-time for the last year and a half, and now that she's booked a new role she's just not going to have time to go out with friends. He felt so bad about her having to take a break when she loves her work. But she reassured him there was no way around it if she was going to have a baby. She couldn't work while she was pregnant and would need a little time after to get her body back to where she wanted it. He had seen Carrie through a similar ordeal back in the day, so he knows she's right. Still, he can't help feeling bad—Trish definitely deserves a girls' night.
Dez wanders off to their room in search of the baby sling; Essie's insisting on being held, and he can't wash the dishes with just one hand. He finds it and readjusts the straps and sets her in it. She calms down immediately. Before he knows it, she's asleep. On nights like this, he's really thankful she's a daddy's girl.
After the dishes are done and the counters are clean, he sits down on the couch—careful not to wake Esmeralda—and pulls out his phone to check his favorite film review site. Everything is going so well he's not sure why he thought this would be hard. The kitchen is clean; the baby is sleeping; the boys...he doesn't know what they are doing. With that thought, warning bells go off in his head. He gets up off the couch so quickly Esmeralda immediately wakes up.
The boys aren't bad; neither of them is, but they are known to get into trouble particularly when they're together. It almost always starts with Darrie although Juan will do anything that doesn't strike him as going too far. Darrie is as kindhearted as his late mother, but his endless ideas and creativity make him do things he might not do given a second thought. He's still young and doesn't always thinks things through. Dez and Trish try their best to keep him busy doing good productive things, but it's hard when being part of multiple school clubs, taking dancing classes, and being in the gifted and talented program at school isn't enough.
As difficult as it can be, Dez can't let himself lose patience not when he's the person he is today because his mother didn't lose patience with him. If anything, time has only served to make what he has always known abundantly clear—he was a wild child. No, he didn't throw temper tantrums or sneak around on a regular basis, but he wouldn't have wanted to be his parents dealing with his frequent escapades. One time, he caught harmless snakes in the backyard and put them in his mother's dresser drawers. He's still not sure why he never heard her scream and how she was calm as she told him to never do it again. Another time, he broke the garbage can trying to pretend he was sledding in the backyard. And then of course there was the time he destroyed a number of Didi's Barbies because he wondered how they would look if their heads were switched. He's not sure how his parents put up with the conflicts it caused between him and Didi like the weeks of not talking to each other after he made a video of her sleeping and showed it to her then boyfriend. He's always thought it was sufficient penance to shower his mom with gifts and hugs and kisses every time he sees her, but apparently it's not, or maybe everyone is just destined to have a child just like themselves. Dez isn't sure, but he knows he needs to check in on Darrie.
He makes his way to Juan's room and is almost in when he feels boxes flying at his feet. Suddenly, he's falling, and all he can think about is how he going to crush his baby girl. For all his awkwardness, he has always been steady on his feet, and this time is no exception. He pushes off the wall behind the door and gets to his feet. The boys are nowhere in sight, but he's surrounded by empty tissue boxes that he's assuming were intentional stacked in the doorway. Why they did it, he's not sure. Maybe it was a trap or a decorative doorway. Either way, he knows that the boys meant no harm, but he still needs to find them.
His next stop is the nursery. He's not sure what they'd find interesting in there, but you never know. It's empty, and when he gets to his and Trish's room, it's empty too. He breaths a sigh of relief.
By now, he's quite sure that the boys are in Darrie's room, but he thinks he should check Maggie's room just to be sure. Maggie has always born the brunt of Darrie's pranks, and he doesn't want her to be upset when she gets home. Boys bug their sisters; it's a fact he knows from experience, but it's more than that in this case. Darrie always wanted a little brother, and that made him take to Juan right away. It's harder with Maggie. She's a girl and older than him, the right hand woman to his new mother. Dez knows he idolizes the heck out of her, but it's mixed in with a little resentment and jealousy. It's getting better all the time, but things are still precarious at times. Dez will still stop at doing nothing that would help his oldest daughter and his son have a good relationship, so he opens her door to take a look around the room.
He glances around. When he sees the desk, his heart stops. There on the desk is Maggie's writing journal—the one that she always keeps hidden. The lock isn't broken, but he knows that that doesn't mean Darrie didn't take a look inside. If Maggie saw this, she would be devastated. Just like he's a storyteller, Maggie is writer. Her struggles and triumphs line the once empty pages of her journals. When she's ready, she shares them with the world, but much of it is still deeply personal. He feels his anger flare at Darrie who he's sure acted innocently but did something so sure to cause damage. He marches to Darrie's room trying his best to stay calm. He knows his son just isn't busy enough and has too much time on his hands, but he still needs to learn what boundaries are.
When he walks into Darrie's room, the boys are playing video games their eyes glued to the screen. They're so cute-these adorable brothers, and he feels his heart soften with the fact that they're his boys. He asks for an explanation of what happened, and Juan tells him about the blocked doorway. It was to stop invaders from entering his room. Dez smiles; he would have done just that as a kid.
He asks about the journal, and Darrie just shrugs and keeps on playing. Dez groans internally. He really doesn't want to have this conversation with Darrie, but he knows things will be an explosive mess if he doesn't. He turns off the tv, and Juan and Darrie both complain. He asks Darrie about the journal, and the boy reminds him it's still locked but evades his eyes. Dez takes a seat on the bed and calmly asks Darrie to tell him everything reminding him that he just wants to help, he's on his side. Darrie finally launches into the story. By the end, Dez has gathered that Darrie broke and repaired the lock and took pictures of a few pages but didn't care to actually read anything.
Dez could almost laugh because it's funny that Darrie goes to such lengths just for a trick and maybe a little blackmail material. But maybe it's just because it just seems like fun to him. Either way, he stifles the laugh because there's no way it's going to help Darrie understand the importance of respecting other people's privacy. He tells Darrie that Maggie wants to trust them, to believe that world's safe enough she can keep her darkest secrets hidden in plain sight. His actions stepped a line because they hurt her and broke the trust she has in him. Darrie doesn't grasp everything he's saying, Dez is sure of that, but his expression softens-he didn't want to hurt Maggie.
Dez starts into a plan of how to repair the situation, but Darrie interrupts with his own ideas. He wants to hide the journal where he found it, so Maggie doesn't freak out when she gets home. Dez suggests deleting the pictures that he took, and Darrie agrees. Darrie gets up and is halfway across the room when Dez tells him to wait. His plan is great, but it's not enough. If Dez has learned anything over his twenty year relationship with Trish, it's that trust makes or breaks relationships, and trust is based on honesty-complete honesty. He knows they wouldn't have weathered the twists and turns life has brought them had they not learned through trial and error the importance of just being honest with each other. Darrie and Maggie need that same honesty if their relationship is going to become what he envisions it to be. They'll never become supportive siblings who can call each other at any time of the day or night if they don't build the trust that starts right now with being honest. He explains that in so many words to Darrie who immediately wonders if there's any way around it to which Dez says no. Darrie is solemn for a moment and agrees to talk to her. Darrie walks away, and Dez's heart fills with pride. He's got such a fine son.
After the journal is safely put back in its hiding place and Esmeralda is in bed, Dez makes some microwave popcorn, and he and the boys settle down on the couch to watch their favorite Zaliens movie. They're just getting to the good part when Trish opens the door big smile on her face. He rises to greet her with a kiss, and she asks him how it went. Good is what comes out of his mouth because it was despite the adventures and the stumble and the uncomfortable moments. It will always be good to spend time with the people he loves best and help them become even better versions of themselves.
Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed this peek into the Finding Courage universe. I have really enjoyed writing it especially getting to know Darrie and Maggie. I'd love to know what you think, and if you want me to write more for this universe, what you would like to see.