The next morning...
Eddie turned over and smiled at her boyfriend's sleeping form. Their first night together went better than she could've ever imagined. The nerves she had leading up to it completely went away with the way he had cherished her. The night was suppose to be all about him but instead, he took care of her.
"You like the view?" he rasped jokingly, slowly opening his eyes and smiling over at her.
"Definitely," she laughed, scooting close and placing a kiss on his cheek. "Happy real birthday."
"Thanks," he answered, wrapping his arms around her and closing his eyes again. "I don't think I've ever been this happy."
She smiled, running her thumb over the faint stubble on his cheek, "Me too."
They laid in comfortably together for a few minutes before Eddie spoke up again, "You want to sleep in a little more or have some breakfast?" she whispered.
"Neither," he answered, rolling over and landing on top of her with a smirk. "How much time do we have until we have to get ready to go to set up for Scarlett's party?"
She looked over at the clock on the nightstand, "We need to be there by two."
"Perfect," he whispered, leaning down and taking her lips into his.
A few hours and a quick shower later, Jamie and Eddie sat on the couch together as they shared a bowl of fruit for breakfast.
"I was thinking," Jamie began, running his hand over her legs that were on his lap.
"Uh oh," she responded with a teasing smile.
He shook his head with a laugh and continued, "What do you think about going away for a few days? I have a few vacation days coming up around Thanksgiving and I would love to take you and Scarlett somewhere. Hattie too if she's up for it."
Eddie smiled, "Really?"
He nodded, "Yeah. We'd be here in the city for Thanksgiving day of course because I have to go to dinner with my family but after that, we'd leave."
"I'd love that. And I know Scarlett would too."
"Great." He leaned over and gave her a kiss. "Do you have any requests of where you'd want to go?"
"Mmm," she drawled out, tapping on her chin. "I think I'll just leave it up to you."
"Alright." He looked at the time, "We better get ready to go. We don't want to be late in setting up the munchkin's birthday party."
They cleaned up their mess then ran to the bedroom to get dressed.
"Ohhh, don't you look adorable!" Hattie exclaimed after helping Scarlett get dressed and fixing her hair.
"I love it!" Scarlett squealed, twirling around in the mirror. Hattie had made her a sparkly rainbow tutu with a shirt that says "Young, Wild, and Three!" in gold lettering.
"Let me take a quick picture so I can send it to your mama." Scarlett happily posed then made Hattie take a few more pictures for good measure.
"We go to my party yet, Nanny?" Scarlett asked impatiently.
"Not yet, baby," she said. "I actually have a surprise for you!"
"Ooo!" Scarlett squealed, eyes alight. "What is it, Nanny?"
"I haven't gotten you a gift yet so I figured we can go to the toy store right now so you can pick it out! After that, we'll go to your party."
"Yay!" Scarlett hugged Hattie's leg, "Tank you, Nanny!"
Hattie smiled and kissed the top of her head, "You're welcome, baby. Let's go!"
"Thanks for helping me, today," Eddie said to Jamie as they and a few others set up the party room at Bounce N Play. "It's your birthday and you're over here decorating for a three year old's birthday party."
"I don't mind at all, Eddie. Honestly. This birthday has had more action than any other one, literally," he said, smirking over at her.
She blushed and looked away from him. "How much more time do we have?" she asked, changing the subject.
He looked at his watch, "About one more hour until people start getting here."
Eddie nodded, "We're making good progress then."
A few minutes later, Eddie's phone buzzed in her back pocket.
"Ohhh, look at this," she said, showing Jamie the picture of Scarlett that Hattie sent.
Jamie smiled, "She looks cute."
Eddie looked back to the picture with a sad smile, "I can't believe my baby is three. It feels like I just had her yesterday. Before you know it, she's gonna be eighteen, graduating and leaving me."
"Whoa, slow down Eddie." He placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "She's only three."
"I know," she replied. "But these three years feels like they've gone by so fast."
He kissed the side of her head, "Don't worry, babe. You still have many more years to enjoy her until you need to think about all of that."
She turned and hugged him, "I love you."
"I love you too. Let's finish this for the munchkin."
A little while later, Jamie and Eddie smiled as Scarlett and Hattie walked into now finished party room.
"Oh wow!" Scarlett exclaimed, looking left and right at colorful room. "I love it!"
Eddie crouched down and took the little girl into her arms, "I'm so glad you love it, baby. Is it everything you wanted?"
She nodded her head, "Yep! Tank you!"
Then, Scarlett's guests started to pile into the room so Jamie, Eddie, and Hattie began to mingle with the parents.
"Your little Scarlett is my George's best friend," Anne said to Eddie, as they watched the two youngsters jump around. "I was thinking about getting them together for a play date. George always talks about inviting her over but I didn't have any way of contacting you to discuss it."
"Scarlett would love that," Eddie replied with a smile. "He's the only one of her friends that she talks about so I think it would be great to get them together."
"Great! I'll give you my number before we leave so we can set it up. George will be so thrilled."
A few minutes later, a sweaty Scarlett ran up to Jamie and Eddie and started pulling on their hands. "Come jump with me! Pwease!"
They happily obliged and followed the little girl out onto the floor. The other partygoers smiled as they watched the Jamie, Eddie, and Scarlett bounce around. Hattie even took out her phone to take a few photos of the three. After awhile, ten sweaty kids plus Jamie and Eddie walked back into the room to eat.
"All that bouncing made me realize how out of shape I really am," Jamie panted as he helped Eddie and Hattie pass out pizza to the kids.
"Me too," Eddie replied. "I'll definitely be sore tomorrow."
Hattie laughed at the exchange, "You two are still young. Embrace that you're still able to jump around like that."
Jamie nodded, "Besides our aches and pains, the munchkin seems to be having a great time."
"She really does," Eddie replied, looking over at Scarlett with a soft smile. "I'm so happy that she loves it."
"Mama!" Scarlett called out when she saw Eddie looking over at her. "Come here, pwease!"
"Sweetheart," Hattie said to Jamie as Eddie walked off. "Weren't you going to go with your family?
Jamie checked the time, "Yes but not until later. I'll stay until the party's over to help clean up."
Hattie smiled and patted his shoulder, "Alright."
A little while later, once they saw that the kids were starting to get tired, they decided to do Scarlett's cake then call it a day.
"Happy Birthday to you," everyone began to sing as Eddie set down the cake in front of Scarlett. "Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday dear Scarlett. Happy Birthday to you."
"Make a wish, Scarlett," Jamie called out as he took a video.
She closed her eyes for a few seconds then blew out the candles. "Yay!" Everyone clapped.
"What did you wish for, baby?" Eddie asked as she leaned over and kissed Scarlett's cheek.
Scarlett put a finger up to her lips, "I not telling, mama."
"Okay," Eddie laughed.
As they served the cake, Scarlett ran up to Jamie and rugged on his pant leg, "Mr. 'aime?"
He crouched down to her level, "Yeah munchkin?"
She threw her tiny arms around Jamie's neck and squeezed, "Tank you for erything!"
Jamie sighed happily and kissed her cheek, "You're welcome sweet girl. Happy Birthday."
Two hours later, after the guests had left and they cleaned up, Jamie buckled a sleeping Scarlett into her car seat in Eddie's car.
"I'll come by later this week to drop off Scarlett's gift," he whispered to Eddie as he took one more look at the sleeping little girl. "We were so busy with everything that I forgot to go to my place and get it."
"Alright," she replied, closing the back door. "Thank you for everything today, Jamie. Seriously. I really appreciate it."
"It was my pleasure," he said, leaning in and giving her a soft kiss. "I had a good time."
She smiled, "I'm glad. So, call me later?"
"Definitely," he replied, giving her one more kiss. "And think about what I asked, alright?"
She nodded, "I will."
Jamie opened the car door for her then watched as her and Scarlett drove away.
"How did last night go, baby?" Hattie asked as they finally settled down in the living room after unloading the car and putting Scarlett to bed.
Eddie blushed, "It went great."
Hattie smirked, "By the look on your face, I don't need to know anymore."
"He's so amazing, Hattie. Honestly, before I met Jamie, I would've been perfectly fine not dating again. I had Scarlett and that's all I needed. But now that I have Jamie, I can't imagine being with anyone else."
"That's love, sweetheart," Hattie said with a smile. "I'm so happy for you."
"Also," Eddie added. "He asked me to move in with him."
"Oh really?" Hattie replied.
"Yeah," Eddie nodded as she nervously began playing with her hands.
"What's wrong, baby?" Hattie asked. "Do you not want too?"
"I... I don't know," Eddie answered, biting her lip. "A part of me wants to but the other part knows it's way too soon. Our relationship is still in kindergarten. I'll be honest, if it was just me then I would've immediately said yes but I have to think about Scarlett. I'm sure she'd be more than happy to live with Jamie but my thing is, what if we break up? How are we gonna deal with that? I'm just being able to afford the apartment I have now. If we break up then where would Scarlett and I go?"
"You know you always have a place to stay with me, baby. You know that," Hattie assured her. "I would never leave you without a roof over your heads. But if that happened, Jamie wouldn't kick you out like Aaron did. He would make sure you have a place to stay, especially since you have Scarlett. You need to talk to him, honey. Tell him how you're feeling about all this."
"I know but I just don't want to disappoint him."
"Jamie's going to respect whatever decision you make. He loves you and he loves Scarlett. He'll understand."
Eddie nodded and closed her eyes.
"So, how've you been, kid?" Danny asked his little brother, sitting down beside him in the sun room after his birthday dinner with the family. "I feel like I haven't talked to you in forever."
"I've been good," Jamie answered. "Just busy with work and stuff."
"Could you elaborate on "and stuff?" I heard from a little birdie that you've been spending quite a bit of time with a certain blonde."
Jamie smiled, "Erin told you, didn't she?"
Danny nodded, "Yeah, she did. I'm happy for you. I really am. When are you bringing her by?"
"Not anytime soon," Jamie answered. "I don't want to scare her off. Especially getting to know you," he joked.
Danny rolled his eyes with a laugh, "Whatever."
After a minute, Jamie spoke up again, "I love her, Dan. I really do. She's the best thing that's ever happened to me. She's the one."
"That's exactly the way I felt when I knew Linda was the one. I remember that I went out and bought a ring that day then proposed a few weeks later."
"I'm not that far yet but it's definitely in the plans. We still need some time before that happens."
"Alright. If you need any help with it just let me know. I did a pretty good job with Linda's ring."
"I'll let you know. Thanks Danny."
"You're welcome. Happy Birthday, Jamie."
Next, Eddie gives Jamie an answer about his move-in proposal then unexpectedly, Scarlett ends up attending her first Reagan family dinner.