Chapter 1: Home at Last
"Mommy can I have pancakes today?" Anya asked me when we got into the kitchen. She sat down at the small table that I bought her when she was old enough to walk.
"You can if you tell me what two plus two is."
She thought about it for a minute and then replied, "Four!"
"Very good," I told her. "Now what kind of pancakes do you want?"
"Chocolate chip please,"
"You got it," I said as I pulled out the ingredients I needed for her pancakes. While I fixed her pancakes she colored a few pictures in her sketch pad while humming a song to herself. I noticed that she had a thing for drawing her own pictures and most of them were pretty damn good. Her best pictures were of flowers. Who knew a five year old would be so good at detailing her work?
The phone started ringing about a few minutes before I started mixing the pancake dough.
"Hello?" I said when I picked it up.
"Hey baby," Mark said.
I gasped, "Hey honey how are you doing?"
"I'm alright just missing you and Anya." He said.
I smiled, "Awe we miss you too. When do you think you'll be home?"
He chuckled, "That's a surprise pup,"
"Are you serious?"
"Yes I'm serious why?"
I sighed, "Well I have a surprise of my own when you come home."
"You do? That sounds interesting."
"Oh stop, it's not what you think," I said as I placed the first pancake on the skillet.
"What are you doing?"
"Making chocolate chip pancakes for your daughter." I said as I looked back at her.
He laughed, "You never make those for me…"
"You never asked," I giggled.
"Well can I get some when I come home?"
"Sure,"
"Well where is the little one anyway?" he asked.
"Sitting at her table drawing pictures, "
"Let me talk to her."
I smiled and then turned to look at Anya. "Hey sweetie someone's on the phone for you."
She hopped up and quickly ran to get the phone from me. I put the phone on speakerphone and then told her to say hello.
"Hello?" she said sweetly.
"Hey sweetheart," Mark said.
She gasped, "Daddy!"
He chuckled, "What are you up to?"
"Drawing pictures," she said.
"Oh well are you being good for mommy?"
"Uh-huh, she is making me pancakes because I answered a math question right."
"Is that so? Well why don't I get any pancakes?"
She laughed, "Daddy you're not here,"
"I know but I want some too,"
She giggled, "Well if you come home now you can have some."
As soon as she said that, the doorbell rang. "I'll get it." I said as I hurried to the door.
"I wonder who that could be," Mark said.
When I opened the door I was shocked to see Mark standing there with the cell phone to his ear. I gasped and then turned to see if Anya was paying attention.
"Daddy, are you still there?" she said into the phone.
I cleared my throat so she would look in my direction. When she did, a big smile stretched across her face and she ran to jump into Mark's arms. "Daddy! Daddy!"
"Hey princess," he said as he scooped her up and hugged her tightly.
"I missed you a lot daddy," she cried.
"Well I missed you more," he said.
She giggled and then he put her down so she could go back to her table. He smiled at her and then turned his attention to me. "Come here miss thang,"
I smiled and then wrapped my arms around his neck. He brought his lips to mine and we shared a long overdue kiss. "I missed you." He said.
"I missed you too." I told him. "Do you need help with your bags?"
"No, you just go finish making those pancakes and I'll take care of this."
He kissed me again and then went out to the porch to get his things. Once he was done, he joined me and Anya in the dining room for some breakfast.
"Daddy guess what?" Anya said.
"What?"
"I learned how to add while you were away." She told him.
He smiled at me and then looked at her. "Really?"
"Uh-huh,"
"Well what's five plus five?"
She counted on her fingers and replied, "Ten!"
"Good girl, I guess my little princess is smart then." She nodded her head and then got up and handed him a picture.
"This is for you daddy, I made mommy one yesterday."
He looked at the picture of the daisy and then leaned down and kissed her cheek. "Thanks sweetie I love it."
"You're welcome,"
I looked down at my watch, "Um Anya honey you better go get ready for school."
"Awe do I have to?"
"Yes you do, honey. Do you need help picking out something?" I asked.
She shook her head and then turned to go upstairs. When she was completely up the stairs Mark leaned over and kissed me passionately. "You are doing a great job with her."
"Thank you baby." I told him. "She's missed you a lot more than you think."
"Hm, I can tell. She's very talkative," he said.
I smiled, "Well she can't help herself."
"I know, now about this surprise you had…?"
I bit my bottom lip and then took his hand and placed it on my belly. He looked up at me with a big smile, "Are you serious?"
I nodded my head, "Thanks to that lovely night the week before you left…"
"So you're about a month ahead then?"
"yep,"
"Well I'm happy; we'll have to celebrate when Anya goes to school."
I laughed and then kissed him.
The school bus pulled up in front of our house at 8:30am. Anya hugged and kissed us both and then skipped happily to the bus. As soon as the bus pulled off, Mark scooped me up and carried me into the house and then upstairs to our bedroom. He stripped me down and then himself before proceeding to make love to every inch of my body. I guess you can say that this was the best way to show someone you missed them. I sure wasn't complaining. When we were done, we just laid in the bed for awhile and he told me about his wild adventure out with the other wrestlers and divas.
"Some of the girls want to meet you. They are huge fans of your brother."
I laughed,"That's probably why they want to meet me."
"True, but I think it would be good for you."
I laid my head on his chest, "I'll think about it."
"Good," he said before kissing me on my forehead. "What time does Anya get out of school?"
"In two hours why?"
"I want to pick her up and take her to chucky cheese today."
"Ok sounds good."
He smiled, "Do you think Kayleigh would let me take her son?"
I looked up at him like he had lost his mind. The last time he had taken Kayleigh's son Criss out…he taught him how to wrestle and now that's all he does at home.
Mark laughed, "Come on she can't still be upset about that."
"She's not but you will have to take that up with her and Sam." I said.
"I will. Oh yea and Dwayne told me that Rachel is pregnant."
I smiled, "That's right. Me and her are exactly one month pregnant and due on the same day."
"Are you kidding me?" he asked.
"Nope. Apparently you and Dwayne think alike."
He laughed and kissed my forehead again, "We didn't plan this I swear."
"Sure you didn't."
We shared a laugh and then started talking about other things. I was so happy to have my man back in my arms where he belongs.
