Future shot 4: Square Dance
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"Baid it Daddy, baid it!"
Sitting cross-legged on the floor I am eye to eye with my daughter. In her hands are her hairbrush and a basket full of hair frippery. My male mind finally translates.
"You want Daddy to brrr-aid your hair?" The speech therapist wants us to draw out the r's when we speak.
"Dat's what I said!"
She looks at me as if I had as much of a brain as her stuffed swan; not very complimentary.
"Baby, I don't know how to braid hair." Pony tails, pig tails, a headband pretty much covers my little girl hair menu.
"I not a baby!"
I said the 'B' word. I don't know exactly when that became a vile curse, the worst kind of insult. I suspect it was her preschool friends, now that she's in the three- year olds class. Looking down on the two- year olds seems to be their favorite hobby.
Wait, I can do barrettes! "Let's put these pretty bows in your hair Mackayla."
She looks at me, with the same tilted look I've seen on her mother when she's up to something.
"I do it you, Daddy. Lay down." She points to the floor and I assume the position front down on the carpet, arms crossed, chin on my hands. Mackayla works earnestly, debating which clip goes where. My mother says she has excellent fine motor skills, which is why she's able to fasten the tiny hair things all over my head. She's also quite strong, making me wince as she manhandles a lock of hair.
"I done. Take a picture Daddy!"
Mackayla bounces and twirls as I sit up, fishing my phone out of the pocket. I'm a little afraid to see the results. Holding out my phone at arm's length, I grimace at the sight, tufts of hair sticking out all over my head decorated with sparkly purple bows, pink and yellow butterflies, curls of ribbons and pompoms with glitter. I hesitate to take the snap, but when Mackayla grabs me around the neck and smooshes her face against mine, commanding, "Say Cheese," I breakdown and take the incriminating photo. I look at the results, trying to focus on my grinning little girl, not the madness on my head.
"Now baid my ha-eh."
"Sweetie, I told you I can't brrraid your hairrr."
"I show you." She takes my phone out of my hands and scrolls through the images. The way she's standing, phone in her palm, her tongue at the corner of her mouth, eyebrows scrunched, concentrating on the screen—my mind flashes forward a dozen years when she'll be doing this with her own phone, probably trying to look up something to prove me wrong. Stay a little girl, Mackayla, please?
"He-ah. Do it like this!" She shows me some elaborate interconnecting braid thing Bella did last week.
I could probably direct the next space mission easier than to get my fingers to duplicate this hairstyle. "I don't know how to do that."
"Mommy do it." Mackayla stands, hands on her hips, staring me down, not saying but implying that Daddies are simply inferior to Mommies, something I already know too well.
"Mommy will do it tomorrow when she comes home from the shower."
"Mommy in the showwa?" Mackayla starts pulling her dress over her head. "I take a showwa."
Calling the party before someone gets married a shower is just stupid. I know it is, but I let myself slip by force of habit. Not that the three of them doing a casino crawl in Atlantic City is really a shower, but it's what Angela wanted. Now I try to backpedal. "No Mack, I meant to say Mommy went with Aunt Alice to see Aunt Angela. She getting married soon and wanted a play date with her friends. They're not taking showers and you just took a bath."
"Oh." My daughter stares again, with that look perfected by women over the millennia, the one that says 'you're so dumb, but I'll keep you around for your muscles.'
She puts her finger on her lips, and then points it up in the air. "Abby do it. Abby baid my he-ah."
"Abby is at a soccer tournament." Emmett's oldest daughter babysits once a week. It gives her some pocket money, but it's really a mutual admiration society. The truth is all of Emmett's children love and spoil Mackayla, and Mack has threatened to move to Uncle Emmett's when she doesn't get her way. They'd take her in a minute, too.
Sighing the same sigh I've heard a thousand times, mostly from Bella, Mack sits in front of me. "Okay, ponytail. Pleeeeze." She grins up at me, twisting her neck so she's almost upside down. Yes, she's perfecting the look, some variation of which will get her a car over her mother's objections when she turns sixteen. I know this, but resistance is futile. What I'd do for that little grin and the running Daddy hugs…
Carefully, starting from the ends to get out the knots, I brush her damp hair, and then I gather the soft, dark strands in one hand, the elastic in the other and form the ponytail, which runs halfway down her back. "All done Ba-, Sweetie."
"Yeah, Yeah, Yeah!" She gets up, twirling and twirling. Maybe the pancakes with chocolate sauce for lunch wasn't a good idea. Bella usually gives her a silver dollar size puddle of sauce and a smiley face worth of whip cream. I let her drown the pancakes in sauce and make a mountain over them with the can of whipped cream, which she proceeded to get all over her overalls, necessitating an early afternoon bath. Her bath is done early, nothing wrong with that. I know the chances of her staying clean all the way until bedtime is small, but two baths in one day isn't too terrible.
Esme had offered to come over to help. Didn't Bella and Yvonne do this by themselves? Was his own mother implying I wasn't as capable a parent as Bella? I agreed with that sentiment, but it would be nice if his own mother had a little confidence in him.
Mackayla twirled herself dizzy, and collapsed on the carpet; her eyes are going in circles. I should record this for a future date to show her when she's sixteen and starts acting like a thirty year old.
Looking at the bookshelves crammed with picture books, I come up with an original idea. "Mack, do you want Daddy to read you a story?"
"Yes, yes, YES! I pick! I pick!"
Mack walked the length of the bookcase while talking to herself. Holding her fists under her chin, she inspects the spine of each book as if this decision might be the most important one of her life.
I hope she doesn't pick one of those books, of the 'our family is special' variety. They were the source of a nasty argument. One that was entirely my fault, as usual.
~~~~~Eighteen months earlier~~~~~
A box from Amazon was on the front steps when I came home from work that day. I'd brought it in and put it on the counter in the kitchen.
"Bell, what did you order?"
Bella was feeding Mackayla pasta wheels on the tray of her high chair. I kissed my wife on the cheek and Mackayla on top of her head, which seemed to be the only part of her not smeared with sauce.
"Some new B-O-O-K-S."
"Why are we spelling that word? I thought you liked B-O-O-K-S."
"I do and so does your daughter. If she hears me say that word she'll want to see them. They're for her but I want to read them before I show them to her."
"What, are you ordering her Stephen King or something? What could be wrong with a kid's B-O-O-K?"
Mackayla was fisting a few pasta wheels covered in tomato sauce, offering them to me. I pretended to eat her knuckles, making loud num, num, num sounds. She giggled then ate the handful herself.
Bella seemed to hesitate, like she was running viable explanations through her head. She bit her lower lip while she thought, alerting me that this was a bigger something than I thought.
"Alice and I were talking about introducing the concept of an alternate family to Mack."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Speaking slowly, Bella said, "As opposed to traditional families, the way they've been portrayed in children's literature."
"But we are a traditional family."
"Not exactly."
Grabbing the box I went into the laundry room off the kitchen. Poking my keys through the packing tape, I ripped the box open. The books were typical, colorfully illustrated hard backed children's books, but the titles were not typical; "The Pea that was Me", "Hope and Will have a Baby", "How We Became a Family", "A Tale of Two Daddies", "One Dad, Two Dads, Brown Dads, Blue Dads", and a dozen more.
Confused, I returned to the kitchen where Bella was wiping the worst of the sauce from Mackayla's hands and face. The baby reached for me.
"Bella, why did you buy all those B-O-O-K-s?"
"Someone's ready for her bath." Bella lifted Mackayla out of her seat. "Why don't we talk when she's done?"
I stripped off my dress shirt and took Mack. I loved bath-time with my little girl and putting her in her pajamas. The snuggling in the rocking chair, the scent of the baby shampoo and lavender bath soap, reading "The Foot Book" or "Goodnight Moon" was my favorite time with Mackayla, something I missed when I had to travel. She was yawning, turning her face into my chest. Her warm weight in my arms was so precious.
Bella came in to kiss the baby goodnight. We both tucked her into her crib.
Back in the kitchen, Bella took the dish of baked ziti out of the oven, putting it on the table. She spooned some out onto our plates.
I sat, looking at the food, but I couldn't bring myself to eat it. "I don't understand, why did you get those books?"
"Alice thought it was a good idea—"
"Alice? What does she know?"
Bella looked at me with her head tilted, "Gosh, I guess that Master's in Early Childhood Education might indicate that she knows something."
I pushed back from the table. "It's too soon for that stuff."
"I disagree—"
"Are you going to tell her she has two Daddies? That jerk gets the same billing I do? The guy who did nothing for you, and tried—"
"Edward!" Bells interrupted, grabbing one of the arms that I hadn't realized I'd been swinging in the air. "Calm down! It's better to introduce the concept early—"
"So I don't even get two years to be her Daddy? I'll always be the second guy, not her 'real' Dad. Do we have to do this now? So soon?" I got up from the table and walked quickly to the office. For the first time I missed the old house, where I could have gotten lost without leaving. I didn't want to leave the house, but I couldn't bear to speak with Bella right now. I felt like she was taking something from me. Rationally, I knew that eventually we would have to tell Mack how she came to be, but like Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy, I thought I'd have a few years before it was revealed that I wasn't her 'biological' father. It hurt, I was afraid to see the doubt in my daughter's eyes, afraid to hear those words, 'You're not my Real Dad.' Bella would never have that worry; she couldn't understand how it felt.
I stewed for a while, wishing I'd taken a bottle from the bar before I retreated. After answering my email and looking at some YouTube videos that Emmett had sent me, I determined that Bella was not coming in to apologize. My stomach growled; I'd skipped lunch trying to get home early.
Walking back towards the kitchen, I saw Bella on the couch in the great room, the books in two unequal piles on the table. She pulled another from the box and looked over at me.
Bella pointed at the chair across from her. "You; Sit."
I sat, staring at the piles of books.
My wife began, in that tone, the tone that indicated that I was out of line but she was being the bigger person. "I ordered these books because you can only see so much of them online. We never talked about when to discuss Mackayla's heritage." She paused. I could see her searching for the right words. "You are Mackayla's only Daddy. I talked to Alice after a lecture on the subject; the professor said that when children learn from an early age about how they came to be, it's almost a non-issue. I don't want Mack to ever look at us and say we lied to her after some idiot on the playground says you're not her 'real' father. Then she'll question everything we tell her after that. Even if some mean kid or dumb parent doesn't say it, we have to tell her sometime."
I sank forward until my elbows reached my knees, and grabbed my hair with both hands. Of course what Bella said made sense, but I wished it didn't have to be this way. My logic wasn't functioning properly; I never wanted that feeling of holding my daughter in my arms, that feeling of connection, to change.
"I'm keeping these." Bella put her hand on the smaller pile. "When she starts preschool chances are there'll be other families that aren't the 'standard' formula. Alice and I had another idea, to make a photo book…"
I had to admit Alice really had a gift with photo books. She'd done one for our wedding just for Mackayla, with everyone's names under their pictures and had several copies made so it wouldn't be an issue if a few pages got drooled on or ripped.
"…so she'll have her own storybook with all of her relatives, not just her bio-dad. He'll just be part of the family, it won't be a book about him, it will be a book about Mackayla and her family tree."
I looked at Bella out of the corner of my eye, not able to face her when I told her my worst nightmare. "I had some creepy vision of Mackayla at eighteen, hitchhiking across the country to be with her 'real' father."
Bella was quiet until I looked up. "Honey, you are her real father."
I nodded, "I know, I just…I just panicked."
Bella put the reject pile back into the box, sighing. "I planned on discussing this with you before I showed her the books, but you can't ever leave a box unopened."
This was true. If I knew there was a gift hidden for me in the house, I had to find it. It was just my nature. My stomach growled again.
"I put your dish in the microwave." Bella stood lifting the box.
I looked at my sad wife and it finally sunk in. She was doing the right thing, the grown-up parent thing. She surely would have wished Jacob away if it was possible. "I'm sorry I was a jerk." I got up and put his arms around her. "What you said makes sense."
"Hmm." She lifted her cheek for a kiss. "He can be taught."
~~~~~TS~~~~~~
After selecting her eponymous book, 'Mackayla's Family Tree', revised edition which added Emmett and Rose's brood, Mack plotted down into my lap. She opened to the first page, which had a picture of Bella from her junior year in college, lying on a blanket in the grass. Little bubbles led from Bella's head to the text, which read, "One day Mommy decided it was time to have a baby, but she was still looking for Daddy." On the next page there was a picture of Bella and Jacob, taken when they were around twelve. The text here read, "Mommy's good friend Jake said he would help Mommy start a baby while she was looking for Daddy."
Jake had been more than happy to, I editorialized silently.
The next page was a picture of me. I'd been playing soccer in the original shot, but Alice had cropped it so it just looked like I was staring across a field. I read, "Daddy was looking for Mommy and her baby too."
Mackayla looked up from his lap, and asked the same question she always did at this point in the story. "Daddy, why you take so long?"
"I was looking in the wrong places Mack. But I found you and mommy, see?" I turned to the next page, which was the first picture taken of the three of us together, on Bella's old sofa back in the little apartment. "See?"
Mackayla closed the book, jumping up from his lap. "Time for the Pincess books."
She brought back the book Alice had made of our wedding, as well as the one of Alice and Jasper's big day, a.k.a. the Princess books. Mackayla flipped through the pages, naming each person, and kissing their picture, including her own. Not very gently, Mackayla tossed the book to the floor, and opened the one of Alice and Jasper's wedding. The first picture was of Mackayla riding in a wheelbarrow filled with hay wearing denim overalls, a red gingham shirt with a blue bandana tied in her hair. Her chubby finger poked at the image. "Dat so silly!"
Nodding, I remembered the day we had gotten the invitation.
~~~~~~~Thirteen Months Earlier~~~~~~~
A fat brown craft paper envelope arrived with the day's mail. Curious, I noted Alice and Jasper's return address. Jasper had a new position at NJMC and they'd moved back to New Jersey a few months earlier.
Bella is nearly as bad as I am about opening things, she just won't admit it; she opened the envelope immediately, even though she was about to put a tray of pork chops in the oven.
"What the heck?" Bella unfolded three bandanas and a flyer, printed on gingham patterned paper. She read aloud.
Gather Your Partners
Bring your Kin
Don't Be Late
Let the Square Dance Begin!
Grey Barn
Bayonet Farms
Holmdel, New Jersey
Games start at 2:00
Square Dance at 3:00
Fried Chicken and Biscuits all day
Wear your Bandana
Alice & Jasper
Shaking her head, Bella looked up from the invitation. "Leave it to Alice to have a square dance in New Jersey."
I looked over her shoulder. "I bet they're getting hitched."
"What?" Bella looked at me, her eyebrows practically in her hair. "Alice worships Vera Wang. She made a fan site for the woman. There is no way that she would get married in a barn and have a square dance at her reception."
"Okay. It's just kind of fishy." I knew that Bella had asked Alice to finally pick a date as a wedding present. Alice had informed her that she had selected a date, but that actually telling Bella the date was not part of the deal. They had a strange relationship, in my opinion, but I wasn't getting in the middle of it. I'd put on my monkey suit, or in this case, overalls, and show up when asked.
"Well it's the weekend after I take the NCLEX, so that's good."
Everyone in the family was anxious for Bella to take her nursing boards and be done with the flash cards, lectures on tape, and quizzes. His mother and Rose both wanted her to work in their offices, so she had no pressure on getting a job, only her self-imposed torment. She needed to pass, of course, but I was missing my wife. She was up late and early every day, cramming. I didn't dare suggest she take a break. Of course, I had a second reason for wanting her to pass her test. We'd decided to try for another baby when she was done. It was weird; when I was younger the thought of getting a girl pregnant scared me, and kept my pants on more than once. But now I really wanted to add to our family; the thought of knocking Bella up got me ready for action in record time. But this was not the time to remind her. Her nerves were stretched tight for this last month of studying; I wanted to have my balls intact when it was finally time to use them for their intended purpose.
~~~~~Twelve Months Earlier~~~~~
I'd flown in on the red eye from Chicago the morning of the square dance. I had to deal with a last minute issue but I knew if I didn't make it back for this square dance, I was toast. Bella was still denying that this was a wedding; I was still protecting my manhood, but not insisting that it was. She let me sleep in until twelve, when I was brought a baby in bed, much better at waking me up than breakfast in bed.
"Daddy Daddy Daddy Daddy!" Mackayla alternated hugging and pounding my chest.
Bella gave me a kiss on the cheek then slapped my rump. "It's noon partner. Time for us to 'do-si-do'."
I may have made the mistake of telling Bella that my elementary school taught square dancing. She insisted that 'honor your partner' had a hidden meaning. I'm pretty sure she's right, but I'm not going to admit it.
"Just ten more minutes." I hated flying, and I could never sleep on the plane. I was still exhausted.
"Fine, I'll leave Mack with you—"
"Okay, I'm getting up." Leaving Mack with me meant no sleep, just another ten minutes of pummeling.
An hour later, we were on the road. It wasn't crazy hot for July in New Jersey and the sky was bright blue, not a cloud in sight. Even the traffic on the parkway had cooperated, and we were in Holmdel in plenty of time. I turned onto the narrow gravel road. A few hundred yards past a field and some small trees stood a red barn and past it, a larger grey barn. It was like stepping back two hundred years, if you ignored the catering truck and the people setting up speakers.
More than twenty cars were already parked in the gravel lot or on the grass. Emmett stormed the car as we parked.
"I need to borrow your baby, for Rose."
Mackayla already had her hands over her head, greeting Uncle Emmett in their usual manner. I had no issue with my crazy brother taking off with Mack. I looked at Bella, who shrugged her shoulders.
"Go ahead."
Emmett had her unbuckled in a moment, then jogged over to Rose, who sat on a bench looking unusually still. When she saw Mackayla she took her in her arms. Emmett came back immediately to explain.
"The kids have a distant cousin, who for the last few years has done nothing for them, but when she heard about the custody hearing, she told our lawyer that 'she'll take two' of them. This is the same woman who hasn't seen them in years. Rose was ready to find her and take her out, treating those kids like they were puppies, only interested when someone else is interested. Riley had said not to worry, the judge likes to keep siblings together, but I hope it doesn't delay anything." Their final hearing was the next week; if all went well the kids would come to live with them permanently.
Bella nodded quietly. I shook my head at the random craziness in the world. Anyone with a brain could see that those kids would have a great life with Emmett and Rose. I didn't say that, but I slapped him on the back. He understood.
Emmett returned to Rose. I turned to my wife. "Want to take a walk?"
People were stringing lines in the field preparing for the games portion. Six wheelbarrows stood in a row, along with burlap sacks and a limbo set up. A keg had already been tapped, and a woman as wide as she was tall was busy frying chicken by the food table.
Checking the groups of people hanging around, Bella said, "I don't see Jasper or Alice."
"I'm not looking for Jasper and Alice." I had my eye on that red barn. It looked nice and empty. "Ever had a roll in the hay?"
Bella smiled, raising one eyebrow, "Can't say that I have."
Late Thursday night Bella had called me. She'd found some backdoor method that let her know unofficially that she'd passed her boards. I was annoyed that I was away when she got her good news, but I sent her a gift basket on Friday, with champagne, chocolates and a note promising that I would be 'honoring' her repeatedly over the weekend. I planned to start as soon as I found a way into the barn.
Standing on the crest of the hill in her white eyelet blouse and short, faded denim skirt, the requisite bandana tied around her neck, the breeze lifting her hair from her shoulders, I felt a wave of love for my wife. What would my life been like without her? Would I have been bitter and lonely, or sucked in by another status seeking gold digger? My life with Bella was amazing. I didn't say anything to her, but I worked faster, trying all the doors on the barn and stalls.
The top of one stall door was unlocked, the former occupants decades gone. I tried to open the bottom door but it was padlocked so I scrambled in, calling to Bella. When her head appeared above the stall door I stood, startling her. I kissed her, leaning into the old wood while new wood was forming. I lifted her by the waist, helping her through and then closed the upper door. There was enough light through the gaps around the doors and some high, tiny windows to let us see. The place was empty save for a few signs for an Earth Day Festival. Not a hay bale in sight. There was another level, so we climbed the narrow stairs giggling. There were windows on this level, but no hay. A few folding chairs and tables were stacked against the walls. There was a small sign pointing towards a rest room, but other than that the space was wide open, the interlocking beams forming triangles within triangles. It was beautiful, a reminder of the long gone craftsmen who'd erected such a sturdy building, but that was not helping my erecting problem.
Bella pulled me towards a window, pointing out across to the area in front of the gray barn. "Look!"
Emmett was running across the field with a green wheelbarrow, Mackayla holding on and bouncing in the hay as they crossed the finish line first.
I put my arms on either side of Bella's, and whispered in her ear "looks like they got all the hay out there."
Bella arched her back, wiggling her butt against my front. "We don't need no stinkin' hay."
"I love how you think." I reached under her skirt and pulled down her panties, leaving them around one leg as she stepped out of the other side. I unbuckled and unbuttoned, pulling my pants down until my cock was free, homing in on the space between Bella's legs. She put one hand back to stop me.
"Before you start, I wanted to tell you. I had my IUD removed on Tuesday."
I felt like someone had shot a piece of steel rebar through my loins. If my dick was acting like a homing pigeon before, now it was like a heat seeking missile: mission, make-a-baby. Bella knew what this would do to me. She smiled over her shoulder, licked her lips and braced her arms against the window frame.
"What are you waiting for Big Daddy?"
A starting pistol went off for another round of the games. I imagined millions of tiny fish swimming for the little egg. Go, Go, Go, I chanted, urging them on. I thrust, thrust, thrust as her hips answered for her, meeting me again and again, skin slapping against skin, the noise echoing in the old building. I reached in front of her; I'd read somewhere that the chance of conceiving was higher when a woman had an orgasm during sex. I rubbed her sweet spot until I heard her panting, then I felt Bella clench around me and I let the boys free. I held my position flush against Bella's rump as our breathing returned to normal. My left hand rested on her smooth bare hip, the other slid up to her firm tummy, rubbing circles.
"What are you doing?"
I shimmed my hips a little, making sure I was still well seated. "I want to make sure it takes."
Bella looked back at me somewhat impatiently. "The chance of it happening the first month, no less the first time, is incredibly small."
"I've been coaching them. They're ready."
"You're ridiculous. Come on, we can't stay here the whole party."
"You know nowadays people name their children after where they were conceived." I was stalling, but Bella went along with it.
"Really?" She drew out the R. "So since we're in Holmdel, we'll call the baby 'Holmie'?"
"No, silly woman. If it's a boy, Barn-ie, and if it's a girl, Hay-leigh."
We both started laughing, and despite my intentions, things were softening up down below. I thoughtfully took my bandana out of the pocket of my denim shirt. I was about to use it to clean up Bella when she shrieked.
"NO! You can't use that. If you show up without your bandana Alice will flip. There's a rest room over there somewhere, get me some toilet paper."
My bandana stayed clean, Bella and I washed up in the restroom, and returned to the party just as the Caller was starting the dance. There was still no sign of Alice or Jasper, but Bella saw her old friends Liz and Kat, with their boyfriends Alex and Garrett across the barn floor. Everyone on the dance floor was well lubricated as the Caller started giving the lessons, 'allemande left', 'allemande right', 'do-si-do'. When he got to 'honor your partner' Bella and I cracked up, the rest of the dancers turning to look at what was so funny. I was amazed when he called 'swing your partner'. For a big dude, Liz's' boyfriend Alex moved really well. He was swinging Liz off the floor and picked up the moves faster than most of the women.
Esme was sitting on the sidelines with Mackayla in her lap, clapping to the fiddle, when the band gave a flourish and the Caller told the dancers to stand on either side of the hall. A wagon had pulled up outside the barn, and Jasper jumped out, bringing Alice down from the seat. She was wearing a white lace dress, a red belt and red cowboy boots and carried a bouquet of daisies. Jasper wore jeans, a red western shirt with white piping, worn-in black boots and a white hat.
Bella elbowed me in the gut. "You were right!"
The Caller, dressed in his dark suit and bolero tie, raised his hand for quiet. "As I am an ordained minister recognized by the State of New Jersey, I will be performing the marriage ceremony between Mary Alice Brandon and Jasper Beauregard Whitlock."
The gasp that went through the crowd was priceless.
Alice was beaming as she walked to Bella. "Will you stand up with me?"
Jasper had found Ben at the same time and in a barn, dressed in denim and lace, Alice and Jasper were married.
Later, over a plate of fried chicken, Alice explained. "I was visiting Jasper's mother, and she was showing me her guest list, and showing me the table cloth samples, and how we needed to book two years in advance to get the right ballroom at their country club, and even though Jasper had suggested one of his favorite cousins as a bridesmaid, his mother crossed her off the list, saying that she wore at least a size eighteen and she would ruin all the pictures. I started thinking, was this me in twenty years? More worried about how things look over how people feel? I asked Jasper about the best party he ever went to, before he met me of course, and he said it was a square dance with lots of beer, friends, and fried chicken." She looked around at all the guests, including all of Jaspers cousins, but not his parents. "I think we did good. And I let Mrs. Whitlock plan a reception at her house. And I told her to do whatever she wanted, because the only important thing was her son, everything else was just window dressing."
Bella hugged her friend. "Good for you Alice."
~~~~~~TS~~~~~~
"Daddy weed the book." Mackayla was rocking in my lap impatiently.
I shook my head, clearing the memories. I read the story and turned the pages. Mackayla kissed the pictures, but at the end she had a question. "Daddy, why Kenzie not there?"
"Kenzie wasn't born yet."
"Why?"
"She was still in mommy's tummy." Very newly in mommy's tummy.
The little cat like sound of a young baby crying came over his phone.
Mackayla jumped, trying to pull me up with her. "Up Daddy, Kenzie awake!"
Mackayla climbed up and hung off the crib railing, watching my every move as I lifted her sister out of the crib, changed her diaper, washed my hands and poured her formula into her bottle.
"I feed Kenzie!" Mackayla insisted.
"Let me get you set up, and then you can feed her." We all walked down to the great room on the first floor, Mack walking behind me holding onto the handrail at my insistence. Mackayla ran to the sofa and sat proud as a queen while I tucked pillows around her and placed the baby in her arms. I sat down next to them, my arm wrapped in front of my two daughters. I was happy when Kenzie came out with a full head of dark hair. She and Mackayla looked like sisters; they both resembled their mother. I never wanted my oldest child to feel the sting of thinking she didn't belong. Whatever happened in the future, she'd always have one sibling that resembled her.
There was a quiet knock at the front door before it opened slowly. I didn't think it was possible, but knowing there was a three month old baby in the house had subdued my brother. I waved him in with my free hand. "Kenzie's awake, come in."
Emmett, Abby, Evan and Everest gathered around the couch.
Mackayla beamed. "I feed hur."
"Great job, Mack," Emmett knelt in front of her. "When Kenzie's done, do you want to get some special big girl ice cream?"
Mackayla nodded, her toes wiggling in anticipation.
I glanced back towards the door, expecting the other half of the family. "Where are Rose and crew?"
Evan started, "Uncle Edward, it was so cool! Someone on the other team went for a header and came down wrong and broke their leg!"
Edward glanced at Emmett for confirmation. He nodded.
"Yeah," Abby added, "Mom was awesome. She took someone's fold-up chair and made it into a splint to stabilize the girl's leg before the ambulance even got there!"
Emmett was grinning, no doubt proud of his wife, but Edward knew Abby had never called Rose 'Mom' before. At first it was Dr. Cullen, then Miss Rosalie, now finally, Mom. I mouthed the word to him, and he nodded, still smiling as the kids fussed over their little cousins.
"Wow! that is awesome. No wonder you need ice cream." I looked at Mackayla, wiggling in her seat. "Bab—I mean, Mack, why don't you let me finish feeding Kenzie and you find your shoes. And go potty before you leave." Luckily, I was prepared for her instant ejection mode and grabbed Kenzie before Mack could drop her. Abby volunteered to help Mackayla put on matching shoes.
Emmett disappeared, probably calling his wife to check on the patient.
Evan and Everest stood together, staring at me as I fed the baby. They conferred in their soundless twin way, and a decision was made.
"Uncle Edward," Evan asked, "Why do you call Mackayla Mack and Mackenzie, Kenzie?"
The long answer to that was that my older daughter had such a highly developed sense of self esteem that she thought the best name in the world was Mackayla, so of course her sister should also be named Mackayla. Mackenzie had been on our short list of girl's names, so with a lot of ice cream and an attempt to explain that we wouldn't know whose toys were whose if both girls were named the same, Mackayla came to agree that Mackenzie was an acceptable substitute.
"Mack likes the name Mack, and Kenzie likes the name Kenzie."
The boys continued to stare at me and the baby. Everest, since his cochlear implant, could understood more and more spoken language, and his speech was improving, but if there were any questions he had his personal coach nearby. He nodded, and said one word. "Cool."
Evan pointed at my head. "Uncle Edward, why's your hair so weird?"
I'd forgotten Mackayla's handiwork. It was hard to remove those tiny clips with one hand. I was working on one when my brother returned.
"Hey, that's a good look for you Ed." Emmett could barely keep a straight face. "Did you do your hair all by yourself?"
Abby and Mackayla were coming down the stairs, matching sneakers on my daughter's feet and her hair done in a fancy double braid with red ribbons.
"I do Daddy's he-ah." Mackayla ran to me, taking the little clip and firmly putting it back. She kissed my cheek and then Kenzie's head, face and arm. "Leave it nice 'til I come home, Daddy!"
Smirking while holding in his laughter, Emmett collected the gang and took off, leaving me with my little bundle on the sofa. After a good burp, Kenzie drifted off, but I stayed put. I watched as she slept, her lips pursing every once in a while, her eyelids fluttering. What a miracle she was, every tiny part of her. I put my finger against her hand and she held on, her fist barely covering the first joint of my finger. Watching her come to be, from the first sonogram to the tiny bump in my wife's belly, to her howling, full term entrance into the world; I wouldn't trade a minute of it. There were things that I should be doing, but I sat, enjoying the moment. Bella rolled in, half an hour later, and that's where she found me.
I heard the door, assuming it was Emmett, but when I heard heels click across the floor I turned to see my wife, wearing a short sapphire blue dress, returning half a day early. "How come you're home? Shouldn't you be boozing it up at Revel's or Caesar's or somewhere glitzy joint on the boardwalk?"
Bella sat down across from me, biting her lip."It's not much fun drinking with pregnant women."
"You knew Alice was pregnant going in, that's why she's the designated driver right?"
When she didn't answer, just sat staring at me, I reevaluated her statement, and something clicked. "Did you say pregnant women, as in plural?"
Bella shook her head, taking deep breaths, and then spoke quietly. "Alice wanted to go to the spa for a special pre-natal Reiki massage. When the Reiki master met us, she was overjoyed at our collective energies. She said it was a special gift for the three of us to be pregnant together."
I realized I was to blame here. I remembered justifying my behavior to Bella, with my daft explanation: We won't try, we just won't try to not try, which apparently translates into knocking your wife up while you have a three month old. I was simultaneously elated and frightened. Frightened of the look she was giving me. I wasn't sure what to say, so I went for an apology. "I'm sorry?"
"You're not sorry." She looked right through me.
I wasn't sorry, I wanted to light off fireworks and polka. I loved my kids and the more the merrier. I decided on honesty. "You're right. I'm sorry if it's too soon, but I'm not sorry we're having another one."
"Nothing like huddling in the casino bathroom with your girlfriends while two of you take pregnancy tests. And they're both positive."
"Angela, too?"
Bella nodded. "She's really happy. She couldn't wait to tell Ben. That's why we left early, she wanted to tell him in person."
I got up carefully so I wouldn't wake our soon to be second youngest, and crossed over to Bella, giving her a one armed hug. "I'm sorry I'm so happy. Are you at least a little happy?"
"I am happy, but I just managed to fit into this dress, and I don't look forward to telling your mother that I need another maternity leave."
"You're kidding, right? Esme Cullen would rather work alone if it keeps her in grandbabies."
"That's good." Bella leaned her head on my shoulder "because you're fired from your family planning job for gross negligence."
"That's unfair. I think surpassing goals would be more like it, exceeding expectations."
"You are dealing with a pregnant woman here."
"You're right dear, gross negligence."
Bella patted my cheek and smiled. "You can be taught. Good thing that I love you."
I kissed Bella on the lips. "And I love you." I kissed Kenzie on the head. "And I love you." I couldn't bend over with the baby in my arms, so I kissed my fingers and pressed them against Bella's tummy. "And whoever you are, I love you, too. And just wait til your other big sister finds out about you."
"We're not telling Mack for as long as possible. I don't need to hear 'when my baby coming out' a hundred times a day just yet."
"Agreed. And we're not telling Emmett til we have to either."
Bella tilted her head. "Why not tell your brother?"
"Cause the first thing he said after Kenzie was born was 'four to go bro.'"
Bella laughed into her hands. "You two, always so competitive. Newsflash, we're not having three more."
"That's fine." I turned Bella's chin so I could look into her beautiful brown eyes. "Bella, every day with you and our family is a miracle to me. I never knew life could be this full."
She looked away and giggled. She giggled? I'm sharing my feelings, which she always says I don't do enough, and she giggles?
"Sorry honey." She slid her hand up my face to my hair. "It's hard to take you seriously when you have purple butterflies in your hair." She tugged my head closer until our lips were a breath apart. "I love that you let Mackayla make you look like…like I don't know what. I love the way you love me and our girls and I love our new little person, whoever he or she turns out to be." She kissed me, one of those kisses that let me know I'm a lucky, lucky man, and if I played my cards right, I'd be getting lucky again tonight.
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GOOD NEWS: Tequila Sunrise has been nominated for top ten completed fics for August over on TwiFanFictionRecs dot com
BAD NEWS: As I'm posting this there's less than 20 hours left to vote! If you enjoyed TS, please vote.
A/N: These characters don't seem to know their story is done and they keep whispering in my ear! One more future shot, but that's it!
Thanks to my Cousin Beta for fixing my tense's etc, although I fiddled some more after she was done; all mistakes are mine.
TRUTH: All those books are real, available on Amazon
TRUTH: Coincidentally, Cousin Beta, my reading Sister-in-Law, another SIL and I were all pregnant the same year. A fun fact.
oxoxo2old
