All familiar characters belong to Janet. The mistakes are mine alone.
"Good job, Boys," I told our dogs, with an ear-scratch first for Gunny and then Mo. "Are you going somewhere, Olivia?"
My baby froze and then quickly swung her pajama-clad leg back onto the proper side of the crib, and she sat down hard on her mattress like she hadn't just been attempting a prison break. Always aware of their surroundings and are on the lookout for trouble, her dogs were on top of the situation. Gunny came into our bedroom to alert me if I hadn't already been on my way here. Mo stayed behind to plant his body right below Olivia's so he could either deter her escape or provide her with a furry buffer between the crib rail she was almost perched on and the unforgiving carpet.
Like her mother had done many times in the past, my daughter plastered an 'I'm not up to anything' smile on her face.
"I'm not buying it, Baby," I told her.
She tried out a different tactic. She raised both arms out to me. "Dadee!"
I sighed in defeat. "I thought I was a goner after meeting your Mama, but I'm in even more trouble with you, aren't I?" I said, sliding my hands under her arms to lift her to freedom. "Mama is still asleep. We should probably amuse ourselves for awhile so she can get a little more rest."
That wasn't the decision Olivia had in mind. She let me out of a pretty strong hug-lock and squirmed to get down. The lack of attached feet on her 'Little Sister' pjs made her barely detectable as she bolted for the nursery's door and towards our bedroom's.
Looks like Stephanie's dreams are about to have company. I got both doors for my tiny lady and she made a beeline for the still-occupied side of the bed. She squealed and started bouncing in time with the smacks her hands were doing on the edge of the mattress inches away from where her Mama's head is lying on her pillow.
"Easy," I whispered, catching the small hands in mine to calm down this morning's wake-up call.
"I'm up ... I'm up," my wife said, trying to locate the corner of the bedspread so she can push it off her body in order to stand. "Mama's coming, Olive."
This time I soothed Stephanie not our daughter. "Relax, Babe. I already have Olive," I said, lifting our baby onto the bed.
She cuddled into her Mama as our dogs took over my side. Feels like they just passed the baby-baton to us and are now taking five.
"I didn't hear her," Steph said, not only not getting up, she only moved to pull the blanket up over Olivia too.
I wasn't left out. My wife scooted herself and our daughter closer to the mutts so I could sit down beside them. I already know that if I tease her about her choosing to lounge around, her comeback will involve something like she only stayed in bed so she can ogle my bare chest a little longer. Being an intelligent woman, she's learned comments like that automatically change the conversation to a flirty one in her favor.
"You were sleeping soundly for once," I explained, "I didn't want to disturb you. I have more than enough experience with apprehending people attempting to flee. And I can honestly say this capture was a sweet one."
It took a second for her to process my words, but when she did ... a resigned sigh was released before she spoke. "I was dreading this day. Olive, you figured out how to get out of your crib, didn't you?"
"Not entirely. I caught her one-legged. She hasn't made it to a two-leg escape just yet."
"Even so, I now know what we'll be doing this afternoon ... converting her crib into more of a bed. She's not having a moment like my garage-roof fall. I still remember how much it hurt when I landed on my arm. That's not happening to Olive. Sorry, baby ... I will never clip your wings, but I am going to try real hard to break whatever fall I can for you."
"You'd think your parents would have known you'd managed to climb up there, and stopped you before you had a chance to get hurt."
"You'd think," she replied, "but not the Plums. As long as Val, I, and Mary Lou, stayed out of the kitchen and didn't touch anything in the garage, they didn't care what we did until dinner was ready and our homework had to be done. They didn't know what happened to me until our neighbor called my mother and said she saw me standing on the roof, but lost sight of me when she was dialing my parents' phone number. Obviously she didn't see me because that's when I jumped. I was grounded before we even made it out of the driveway to head to the hospital."
"Frank is damn lucky you're willing to give him another chance. I'm back to believing he doesn't deserve one."
"That was a long time again. Hopefully he and are both different people now. I'm willing to say he deserves a second chance ... up to a point," she admitted.
"I know. I can tell that by the way you don't let him around Olivia unless we're part of a crowd."
Her body went still. She still believes I don't know everything about her. My wife took a few beats to try to untangle the ends of Olivia's crib-styled hair before responding.
"You noticed that huh?" She asked me.
"There isn't a thing you do that I don't notice, Babe, like that wince you just did under the blanket after hearing that."
"It is disconcerting to go from decades of getting ignored to being the subject of a Stephanie-case study."
I leaned forward and kissed both of my ladies on their curly brown heads. "And you know I'm very thorough when it comes to my work." She blushed and hid her face behind Olivia's back. "Mama's playing turtle again, Olive. Where did her face go?"
I should feel guilty for getting my daughter to do my dirty work, but I can't regret watching Olivia stare at me for a moment, trying to decipher my words before recognizing 'Mama' in what I said to her. She turned and I was the one staring, as their beautiful faces emerged from the depths of the blanket wearing matching grins.
"Cheater," my wife accused.
"Neither I nor our daughter want you hiding from us."
"I wasn't hiding from you, more myself. I forget that I'm so easy to read."
"You aren't, I just understand and love you, Steph. What you do, feel, and say, are important for me to know, not only for our relationship, but also the ones we have with our kids ..." Mo caused Steph to jump with a single bark, as if to remind me that he and Gunny need to be included here. "And of course our dogs," I added.
"I thought I was being subtle when it comes to my Dad," she said.
"You are. I guarantee that no one aside from me, and maybe the men here because they are trained to always be alert, realize that you've invited Frank to Thanksgiving and now Christmas dinner here or in Newark, but he has yet to be invited up here."
She sat up against the headboard and laughed when Gunny tried to beat Olive to a hug from her. "Guess I have two arms for a reason," my wife said, completely at ease again as she let Olivia recline against her while our daughter played another round of 'Grab Your Toes'. My wife gave Mo a kiss right between the brown eyes looking at her with adoration before she continued her comment. "I get to hold a baby and a doggy body close. How lucky am I?"
"Does that mean a double-leg-embrace is all mine?" I teased.
"Yup. Meet me back here at naptime and I'll work on perfecting my leg-hold."
"It's a date. But seriously, Steph, you don't have to feel bad or explain why you feel you need to protect our daughter. I approve of - and completely trust - your instincts."
"I want Olive to get used to seeing her grandfather," she said, pausing to count Olivia's toes for her so she can start recognizing numbers, "but I'm not going to let her get attached to him and then have him decide to bail on us because making Mom happy is easier than admitting he needs our help. I want to be there for him if he's where I was before you, but I'm not putting Olive in the position of being used as a pawn in their marriage or have her be casually discarded in disappointment for not fitting into their box ... because you are the smartest, funniest, and most adored little girl, Olive, and everyone we call family needs to see that."
She slid an arm around and under our baby's body and sandwiched her between ours so I received equal cuddle-time with her.
"Our family already agrees with you there," I told my wife, as I stood Olivia up on my lap. "And Frank knows he's been given a chance to have not just one incredible woman in his life, but her daughter as well. You've handled your parents as well as you can, Babe. I'm proud of you for knowing that you deserve to have a father who loves you, and finally acts like he does, but I'm in awe of you for continuing to put our daughter's well-being above getting that for yourself."
"I'm Olive's Mama, Ranger, that is not a title I take lightly. On that note, what do you think about declaring this Saturday 'Family Day'?"
"Which would entail ...?" I asked, grinning as Olivia took hold of my fingers and choreographed her own unique bouncing-dance number while still standing on me.
"Hanging out here, playing with our daughter and our dogs, and making her bed a safer one for her. Maybe even calling Shorty up this afternoon and asking if he'll personally deliver some of his pizza to us?"
"Consider it done, though if the men see Shorty, they're going to automatically expect pizza."
"That's why I was thinking of ordering a half-dozen of them so we can invite all the Uncles to join us. They likely need a break from reality too."
"If Olivia aims a smile Shorty's way as we ask him to stick around, he'll say the pizzas we need to feed our crew are on the house."
"I'm pretty sneaky, I bet I can find a way to pay him back. It sounds like our day is all planned now," Steph said to us. "What do you say we get started on it?"