CHAPTER 52- ~~~HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY to ANDIE~~~


Charlotte reserves the same park in the Pacific Palisades for Andie's second birthday party as she did for her wedding with Cooper and for Andie's christening. It's a beautiful Saturday afternoon. Both Mary Freedman and Momma stayed in town so they could be around for the party. Charlotte's wearing a red dress. Cooper's casual in a button down shirt and jeans. Andie's wearing her blue Cinderella costume with crown and wand instead of the lacy pink dress Charlotte bought for her to wear to the party. Cooper convinced her it's Andie's birthday and if she likes the costume she should let her wear it. They pull up to the party and see a pony in the middle of the park. Augusta King is standing nearby talking to a man.

Before they get out of the car Cooper says, "Don't tell me your mother went out and bought Andie a pony for her birthday."

"Po-ny! Po-ny!" Andie points with her wand. "Daddy! Look po-ny!"

Cooper picks Andie up and carries her over to Augusta and the pony. Charlotte follows carrying Chase.

"Don't tell me you did this without asking us Augusta?" Cooper's harps.

Augusta smiles. "It's a surprise for Alexandria. She loves ponies."

"No. Charlotte loves ponies." Cooper corrects.

Charlotte says firmly. "Coop, knock it off. Your daughter inherited my taste in pets." Andie tries to reach the pony and pet it. "Let her pet the pony, Coop. It's her birthday." Cooper takes a step closer to the pony so Andie can pet it.

Augusta smiles. "See, she loves it."

Cooper tells Augusta sternly. "You had no right to buy her a pony without discussing it with us."

Augusta chuckles, "I didn't buy it for her, darlin'. I rented the pony for the party, so the kids can ride it. I paid for two hours of pony time."

"Thank you, momma." Charlotte hands Chase to her momma and takes Andie from Cooper's arms and places her in the pony's saddle. "Here, Sweet Pea. Momma will show you how to ride." She places the reigns in Andie's hands and starts to walk her around in a circle.

"Happy Birthday, baby girl!" Momma yells out and blows a kiss to Andie.

Cooper feels foolish. He tells Augusta he's going to the car to get his camera.

As the other party guests arrive, the kids all stand in line for the pony ride.

Cooper comes back with his camera. Violet tells him, "what a great idea to rent a pony. The kids love it"

Cooper bows his head and gestures to Augusta. "It was Augusta's idea. She rented the pony." Cooper quietly snaps photos of Charlotte standing next to Andie as she rides the pony.

Addison walks over holding hands with Danielle. "I wanna ride the pony, mommy." Danielle tugs on Addison's skirt.

"You have to get in line then, Danielle. Stand behind Lucas." Addison tells her.

Charlotte notices the line forming. She takes Andie off the pony to let the others kids have a turn. Andie starts to cry. "More pony... I want more pony!"

Cooper comes over and takes her from Charlotte. "You have to let your friends have a turn." He tells his daughter.

"My birfday pony." Andie cries.

Cooper talks softly. "Yes, but we invited your friends to the party and you have to share the pony with them. It's always more fun when we share, okay?"

"NO! I want more pony!" Andie yells.

Charlotte rolls her eyes and points. "Look Andie! Your friend Sammie from daycare just got here and she has on the same princess outfit as you." Charlotte puts Andie down and the two year old runs over to compare princess outfits with her friend.

"Good going, Chief." Cooper compliments Charlotte.

"Tip of the day; when all else fails try distraction, it works everytime." Charlotte tells him.

"Thanks for the tip." Cooper kisses Charlotte's neck.

"Not here, Cooper, little eyes are all about." Charlotte gently pushes Cooper away.

"How bout we sneak away later." Cooper whispers.

"It's our kid's birthday, Cooper." Charlotte shoots and then thinks. "Ask me again, later."

Cooper smirks. "Every prince gets the girl in the end."

"And Andie hates that part." Charlotte smirks.

"Why?" Cooper wonders.

"She hates to watch them kissing in the video."

"I don't know where she gets her kiss phobia from." Cooper laughs, "Certainly not from either of us."

"She's only two, Cooper. You'll wish she was still kiss phobic when we throw her a sweet sixteen birthday party." Charlotte tells him.

"I don't want to think about that." Cooper rolls his eyes, watching Andie run around with her friend in their Cinderella outfits.

"When do you want to tell everyone the news?" Charlotte asks Cooper,

"I think we should save it until after cake."

"Did you tell Violet, yet?" Charlotte asks, watching Violet lift Lucas onto the pony.

"Nope."

Charlotte's surprised. "You managed to keep a secret from Violet?"

"You said you didn't want me to tell anyone until you were twelve weeks pregnant. You're twelve weeks this week so no I did not tell Violet you're pregnant, yet."

Charlotte grabs Cooper's hand and smiles. "You've grown up."

Cooper laughs. "I have."

Jolie stalks towards them. "I need to borrow your husband a minute, Charlotte." She grabs Coopers other hand and gently pulls him away.

"I'll be right back, Chief." Cooper tells Charlotte as Jolie pulls him away.

"This better be good." Cooper tells at Jolie.

"I operated on Tyler Mason." She tells Cooper.

"I know. I saw him on rounds this morning. He was doing great. I filled out his discharge paperwork already." Cooper tells her.

"I held off his discharge until tomorrow." Jolie tells Cooper.

"Why? It was outpatient surgery and he did well." Cooper asks.

"Because the social worker cleared his father. She said Tyler can go home with him. Someone is abusing that child, Coop. You saw he has cigarette burns on his back."

Cooper scrunches his face. "If social services cleared him you can't hold him in the hospital."

"Can't you hold him in the hospital longer as his pediatrician?" Jolie asks.

"On what basis?"

"I don't know but I can't let him go home to be abused." Jolie throws her arms up in the air. "Can you ask Charlotte to hold him? She's the chief of staff."

Cooper answers, "Charlotte doesn't believe Cole's abusing Tyler. She's not going to hold him in the hospital unless she has a good reason and even if she did agree, we can't keep him in the hospital forever."

"So, we send him home to be with his abuser." Jolie's clearly frustrated.

"Cooper puts his arm around her back. "Look, we'll keep an extra close eye on them. Tyler goes to the same daycare as my kids I'll make sure to look for any new brusies or scars when I pick up the kids."

"What about the scars you can't see like on his back?" Jolie stresses. That's not good enough, Cooper."

"There's not much else we can do if social services cleared his father." Cooper tells her. He understands her frustration. She reminds him of himself but he's not feeling like Tyler's in danger or he would be just as frustrated as Jolie is.

Mary Freedman come over to Cooper. "Cooper, I have a big surprise for Andie. When are we doing the presents?"

"After cake, mom." Cooper introduce Jolie to his mom. "Mom, this is Jolie. She's a plastic surgeon at the office. Jolie this is my mother, Mary Freedman."

Jolie offers her hand to shake with Mary. "You have such beautiful grandchildren."

"Thank you." Mary shakes her hand. "They're the perfect family. A little girl and a little boy."

"I wonder what the third one will be. Did you find out yet, Cooper?" Jolie asks.

"What third one?" Mary has a confused expression on her face. "Is Charlotte expecting again?"

" Didn't you know?" Jolie asks Mary. "You didn't tell your mother?" Jolie asks Cooper.

Cooper sighs and rolls his eyes. "Obviously not." Cooper forgot that he already told Jolie the news when he was trying to blame Charlotte's rude comment on pregnancy hormones.

Mary Freedman shakes her head and walks away. She marches over to where Augusta is standing, watching the kids ride the pony. "Did you know Charlotte was pregnant?" Mary deadpans.

Augusta's eyes pop. "Charlotte's pregnant, again?"

Mary points at Jolie. "That girl just told me."

Violet hearing the exchange, rushes over to hug Cooper. "Why didn't you tell me Charlotte was pregnant again?"

"We didn't tell anyone." Cooper sighs and answers.

"Jolie knew." Violet crosses her arms realizing her best friend told Jolie before her.

Augusta calls Charlotte over. Charlotte sees her momma waving for her and joins the group. "When were you gonna tell your momma you were pregnant, baby girl?"

Charlotte glares at Cooper. "I thought we we're going to wait until after cake to announce it?"

Cooper shrugs and shakes his head. "Sorry, it slipped out."

Mary rubs her palms together. "I can't wait until cake. I have another surprise." She calls over a young man holding a golden retriever puppy. "Happy birthday, Andie!" Mary takes the fluffy puppy from the young man and shows it to Andie.

"Puppy mine gwan...ma"? Andie looks at Mary.

"Yes, sweetie. The puppy's yours." Mary confirms. "His name is Freggly. Mary turns to Violet and tells her. "At least I get to name the dog." She laughs

Charlotte shoots daggers at Cooper.

The children all gather around Freggly to pet him. "Be gentle with him." Mary tells the children, who are all grabbing at the puppy.

"Thanks mom. He's beautiful." Cooper picks up the puppy and holds him on his lap while the children take turns petting him.

Charlotte continues to glare at Cooper.

Pete watches Lucas pet the puppy. He turns to Violet. "We need to get a dog for Lucas, Violet."

Violet taps Coopers shoulder. "Thanks a lot Coop. Now Pete's going to be out searching for a dog."

Cooper looks up. "Dogs are great Violet. They lower blood pressure. Why haven't you and Pete ever got a dog."

"Because someone has to take care of it." Violet deapans. "Dogs are a lot of work, Cooper."

Mary comes over. "If you want his brother, Violet, he's for sale."

"Tell Pete." Violet says and Cooper smirks. "I knew it wouldn't take you long to cave."

Mary smiles. "It looks like my present is the hit of the party." Mary looks at Andie and all the kids gathered around to pet the puppy.

"I love my pup-py daddy." Andie squeezes Freggly tight.

"Be careful with Freggly, Andie." Mary scolds.

Charlotte suggests. "Maybe that means she's too young for a puppy-"

Jolie interrupts. "It's best to get a puppy when the children are young so the puppy grows up with the children. Then, the children won't be afraid of him."

"What makes you such an expert?" Charlotte asks sarcastically.

"I was raised with dogs." Jolie answers.

Charlotte opens her mouth to make a rude comment but Cooper heads her off. "I think it's about time we sang Happy Birthday to Andie. Do you want dog duty or cake duty?"

"I'll take cake duty." Charlotte huffs.

After the party's over and everyone has gone home, Cooper reads a sleepy Andie her favorite bedtime book,*Good Night Moon* before he kisses her goodnight.

Charlotte rocks Chase to sleep, in his nursery. She sings him a quiet lullaby. The only time she gets up the nerve to to sing in front of anyone is with her babies. After Chase is sleeping soundly she lays him in his crib. Then, she joins Cooper in bed.

"Thank you." Cooper kisses her nose.

Charlotte furrows her brow. "For what?"

"For not yelling at me at Andie's party. I know there were a few things and-"

Charlotte interrupts, "I'm not Cruella. I'm not going to spoil my baby girl's birthday."

Cooper rolls onto his side facing her. He leans on his elbow with his head resting on his hand. He rests his other hand on her new and barely noticeable baby bump. "Should we talk about it now?"

"We're not keepin' him, Cooper," She shoots.

"Aw, why not, Chief? Andie loves him." Cooper looks at her with sad puppy dog eyes.

"How'm I going to take care of three young kids and keep after a puppy?"

"You won't. I'll feed him, walk him, train him." Cooper insists. "You won't even know he's here."

She turns on her side to face him, resting her head on her hand and asks firmly. "How come it's okay when your mother buys Andie a pet for her birthday but you got all bent out of shape when you thought my momma bought her one."

"A puppy's different than a pony, Charlotte." Cooper raises his brows.

"How?"

"A pony's bigger and a lot more work." He tries to kiss her. "I'm not saying she can never get a pony, but she's two, Chief. She's too young."

Charlotte nods. "Big daddy bought me my first horse when I was five."

Cooper agrees. "Five it is. When Andie's five we'll get her a horse, just like her momma."

Charlotte smiles now. She wants to share her love of horses with her daughter.

Cooper drapes his arm around her and moves in to kiss her.

She gently pushes him back with her hand. "Not yet."

He sighs. "Now what?" He plops onto his back with his hands under his head on the pillow.

She folds her arms against her chest. "Not until you tell me why you told Jolie, of all people, I was pregnant. I could understand if you told Violet, but why'd you feel compelled to tell Jolie?"

Cooper defends. "I didn't feel compelled. It just slipped out."

The phone rings. Charlotte answers it while Cooper leans up and kisses her neck.

Charlotte doesn't talk much. She just listens to the person on the other end of the phone. After three minutes, she hangs up, hops out of bed and tells Cooper. "I have to go. That was St. Ambrose. Tyler Mason is missing from his hospital bed. No one knows where he is."

Cooper gets out of bed with her. "I'll go with you. My mom can watch the kids." They both hurry to get dressed and drive off to St. Ambrose.


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