Charlie's First Birthday
Claire was the first one to wake up. She slowly slipped out from under Owen's arm, stifling a laugh at the way it slumped down on the mattress, not even making him stir in his sleep. She walked quietly into Charlie's room and smiled when his green eyes peered up at her.
He smiled back and scrambled to his feet to reach for his mother to take him out of his crib. "Good morning, Charlie." She said as she took him into her arms and kissed both his cheeks. "Happy Birthday."
Charlie bounced in her arms and Claire couldn't help but laugh. "So how do you like your life so far?" She asked as she carried him into the kitchen. She tickled his belly, making him laugh. "That's what I thought." She chuckled.
Claire flipped on the radio and spun Charlie around on her way to the coffee maker to start the coffee for her and Owen. Charlie laughed and clapped his hands. He bobbed his head and bounced in her arms to the music as she continued to dance around the kitchen. With one final shake of her hips and spin towards the entryway she gasped, seeing Owen leaning against the wall with his arms crossed against his chest. "Keep going," he swayed off beat to the music as he crossed the room towards his wife and son. He wrapped his arms around both of them, "I like catching you in these moments."
Claire's red cheeks gave away her embarrassment. "We were just having a little pre party."
"What time is everyone coming over today?" Owen asked and took Charlie into his arms. "Happy Birthday, Big Guy!"
"I told them three. Charlie should be up from his nap by then." She poured Charlie some cereal as Owen placed him in his highchair. "Hopefully the weather holds out." She added and reached for her phone to check the weather.
"Still say rain?" Owen wondered. He finished cutting up a banana and placed it on Charlie's tray.
Claire nibbled on her lip, "Forty percent."
Owen shrugged it off. "That isn't bad. It'll be fine."
"I think we should set up in here just to be safe."
Owen rolled his eyes. "Come on, Claire, live on the dark side."
She narrowed her eyes at him and shook her head. "I like to be prepared. It's his first birthday. I want it to be perfect."
"Cuz he'll remember it." Owen snorted. He ducked out of the way when Claire chucked Charlie's plastic spoon at him.
"I'll remember it!"
"Remember what?" Maisie yawned and dragged her feet towards the table.
"Mom thinks we should just have the party inside even though it's not going to rain."
"Forty percent!" Claire yelled.
"That means sixty perfect no rain." Maisie rubbed her eyes and sat down beside Owen at the table.
"That's what I'm saying! Two against one. We win!" Owen held his hand up and Maisie slapped hers against it.
Claire shook her head and motioned towards Charlie. "There's four of us now. Why don't we ask the birthday boy?"
"Fine." Owen smiled and leaned down so he was eye level with Charlie. "Ok, Bud, if you want to party outside give me a high five!" Charlie immediately slapped his palm against Owen's. "There it is, Babe. Three against one."
"No, no, no! You cheated. You didn't even give him the other option."
Owen shrugged. "I didn't have too. He made his decision."
"Ok, fine, but if we get rained on it's your fault." Claire said as she walked out of the kitchen to shower and get ready for the day.
"It won't!" He called after her.
She rolled her eyes and continued towards their bedroom.
It was forty-five minutes before their friends and family were due to arrive. Claire checked the time on her watch for the third time in five minutes. "Come on, Owen." She mumbled as she wondered the back yard and rechecked the snack table to make sure everything was exactly where it was supposed to be. Owen and Maisie were due back any minute with the cake and balloons.
She unclipped the monitor from her jeans and listened for any sound letting her know if Charlie was up from his nap. With it silent on his end, she sighed and clipped the monitor back on her belt loop and looked up at the darkening sky. The car pulling into the driveway automatically had her walking around to the front of the house. "Oh, it's just you." Claire groaned.
Zia raised an eyebrow and walked slowly towards her. "Nice to see you, too…"
Claire was quick to hug her. "No, I'm sorry. I thought you were Owen. He should have been back by now."
"I saw his truck parked in front of the bakery on my way through town."
"What?" Claire shrieked and reached for her phone in her back pocket at the same time Charlie started babbling through the monitor on her hip. "Perfect timing, Son." She huffed.
Zia grabbed the monitor from Claire's belt loop and turned towards the front steps. "I'll get him!" She offered.
"Thanks, Zia!" She called after her just as she hit the call button under Owen's name. "Nothing's wrong." Owen said quickly into the phone.
"Why are you still at the bakery?"
Owen wiped his mouth clean and reached for the water bottle on the table between himself and Maisie.
Claire picked up on the background noise and narrowed her eyes. "I knew I shouldn't have send you two there! You're eating!"
Knowing he is caught he sighed and took another bite of his strawberry filled pastry before he answered his wife. "Well that was your mistake. Want us to bring you back anything?"
"Yeah, the damn cake!" Claire yelled into the phone.
"Ok, ok, don't have a cow. It's just a snack. Maisie got hungry."
Claire rolled her eyes and reached up to pinch the bridge of her nose. "Did you get the balloons at least?"
"The what?"
Claire's eyes widened at the panic in his voice. "You haven't even picked them up yet?" her voice was so high that it burned her throat.
"Will you relax, I'm kidding. There's floating around in the truck as we speak."
Her shoulder's relaxed and she shook her head, unable to hold back her smile. "You're lucky, Mr. Grady. Now please bring me your son's birthday cake."
"Be home in a few minutes." He said quickly and hung up the phone. With a heavy sigh his eyes met Maisie's as she took the last bite of her cupcake. "You got me in trouble, kid."
Maisie raised and eyebrow and smirked as she reached for the water bottle. "You could have said no."
Owen stood up and cleaned up their mess. "They looked good. I couldn't tell you no." He winked at her and continued back to the counter to collect the cake. He opened the top and found exactly what Claire wanted. It was the perfect dinosaur cake to go with the theme of the party. Owen closed the top and looked down at Maisie. "Let's go."
By the time they made it back, Claire was standing by the snack table with Charlie on her hip, happily eating a cheese doodle. Karen stood with her as they laughed at the boy's orange cheeks.
Owen hurried into the house to put the cake away and snuck out the back door to find Gray and Zach talking to Franklin. He scanned the yard and spotted Zia and Ronni talking. He spun around and since Claire's back was towards them he gripped Maisie's shoulders. "Blend in. She'll never realize we just made it back."
"Dadada!" Charlie shrieked and pointed over his mother's shoulder.
"Busted." Maisie laughed and hurried towards Claire and Karen.
Claire smiled down at Maisie and shook her head. "Bout time you guys made it back."
"Hey, Maisie!" Annie waved as she hurried across the back yard.
With a quick wave, Maisie turned back towards her mom and reached for Charlie. "Can I take him to go play?"
Claire cleaned off his face and hands and handed him to Maisie. "Let me know when he starts getting fussy." Wish a final wave from Charlie, Karen and Claire were alone.
"She's good with him." Karen smiled as she watched Maisie and her friend settle in the grass to play.
"I don't know what I'd do without her." Claire sighed and reached up to scratch the back of her head.
Karen smiled and patted her sister's shoulder. "You're doing great, with both of them."
"Hey!" Owen casually walked up to them, a beer already in his hands.
"Nice of you to show up." Claire rolled her eyes. She looked around and met his eyes again "Balloons?"
He nodded towards the front of the house. "In the truck. Where do you want them."
"Keep an eye on the kids. We'll get them." Claire said and reached for her sister's hand.
By the time the balloons were tied around the party area and Maisie had taken one to play with Charlie, the sky was even darker than before. Claire looked up and stared at the clouds above their heads.
Owen's arms slipped around her waist, hugging her so her back was against his chest. "It's not going to rain." He pointed to the one small spot where the sun was trying to shine through.
She turned in his arms so he could see her eyes narrow. "Better be right." She kissed him quickly and turned to find Maisie and Charlie.
The party moved along smoothly. With Charlie sitting on Maisie's lap at one of the outside tables, Claire and Owen slowly walked out of the house with the cake and lit candle. Owen's hands on Claire's hips guided her forward so she could concentrate on the lit candle.
Once the cake was in front of Charlie, Claire reached for the camcorder and Owen started singing, the group of friends and family quickly joining him.
"Blow out the candle, Charlie!" Maisie instructed, but he was more interested in reaching to the blue and green icing.
"Go ahead, Mais." Claire nodded and Maisie blew the candle out for him.
She handed Owen the camcorder and cut Charlie a slice of his very first cake. With his green eyes wide, he leaned towards the plate and his hands immediately dig unto the colored icing. "You eat it! Don't play in it." Maisie giggled.
"Here," Claire said softly and swiped her finger in the icing and brought it to Charlie's lips. He sucked the icing off her finger and hummed at the sugary taste. His eyes dropped to his own hands and shoved them in his mouth.
While Charlie made a mess of his cake and Owen was busy documenting the entire moment, Claire cut the rest of the cake and handed everyone a piece. It wasn't until everyone was almost finished with their cake and Claire cleaned up Charlie, did she feel the first raindrop on her arm. She looked up at the ominous sky and groaned. "Oh, great."
Maisie's eyes went wide. With Charlie still on her lap, she followed Claire's gaze to the sky. "I felt it, too."
"It's starting to rain!" Franklin called out.
"No it's not!" Owen said quickly.
Karen, Zia, Amanda and Ronni had immediately started bringing Charlie's presents inside.
By the time Claire's eyes met Owen's the sky opened up and it began to downpour on their heads. While guests rushed to help each other bring stuff inside, Claire walked slowly towards Owen. His eyes locked on hers as she approached him. "What's it doing right now, Owen?"
He shrugged and folded his arms against his chest as he looked around. "What? Where?" She raised her palms to the sky and shook her head hard enough so her rain soaked hair sprayed him. He reached for her white blouse that was now soaked to her body. "This is worth remembering."
"I hate being stuck in the rain!" Maisie complained as her and Annie ran across the yard. Charlie tucked in Maisie's arms as she tried to shield her brother from the rain.
Owen smiled at her and reached for his son who seemed to be enjoying the rain. "Well, the last time wasn't so fun, but…" he trailed off as he leaned in to kiss his wife. Leaning away from her she smiled when she caught the playful gleam in his eyes. "Girls, there's only one predator left in the area and I just tagged her as being it." He backed slowly away from Claire and she narrowed her eyes at him.
"Run!" Annie yelled and grabbed Maisie's hand. They both giggled as they ran through the rain.
Claire looked down at her feet and shook her head. "No way, Owen! I'm in heels!"
Still backing away from her, he glanced down at his son quickly and shrugged. "That didn't stop you before!" He called back.
Glancing quickly at her feet again, she nibbled on her bottom lip. "Oh, fine," She grumbled and kicked her shoes off before taking a step towards Owen. He picked up his pace and shifted Charlie to his hip before slowly jogging away from her. Charlie shrieked and laughed from the pit of his belly as he gripped Owen's shirt.
Party guests slowly emerged back out when they realized the family of four decided not to let the rain ruin the party. Karen turned the camcorder back on and laughed as she watched her sister chase after Maisie.
Zach and Gray quickly rushed by their mother to join in. Soon everyone running around had copied Claire and lost their soaked shoes. Bare feet slopped through the wet grass as Claire continued to change her path, trying to reach for the closest person.
Maisie shrieked when Claire's hand just brushed her back. She turned quickly to try and get away, but her feet slipped out from under her and she landed on her side. "Maisie!" Claire screamed, not able to stop and slipped as she tried to slow down. She landed on her back beside her daughter. Both of them in a fit of laughter as Owen hurried over to them.
"You guys ok?" He chuckled, unable to hide the amusement in his voice.
"Fine," Claire panted and reached her hand up so he could help her to her feet. He grabbed her hand and helped her up. She was quick to peck his lips and touch Charlie's back. "You guys are it!"
She spun and hooked her arms under Maisie's and helped her to her feet. They started running before Owen could register what just happened. He looked down at Charlie and shook his head. "She's a tricky one, that mother of yours."
Claire and Owen continued running around with the kids until Gray stumbled upon a football and Claire took Charlie as tag turned into a game of football.
Karen reached for Charlie as Claire made it to the back door. "I'll get him changed and dried off. I'm sure you want to get out of those cloths."
Claire nodded. "Thanks." She tiptoed into the kitchen and grabbed a kitchen towel to dry her feet before walking through the house. Once she was changed, she grabbed a bunch of towels from the bathroom and put them by the back door so the others could dry off before they came inside.
It was another half hour before the football game was cut short by the rumbles of thunder. Claire stood at the back door and one by one she handed each of them a towel. Once everyone was dry, they spread out in the living room so Charlie could open his presents.
Claire sat cross-legged on the floor with Charlie on her lap. He ripped at the paper, and quickly became more interested in the wrapping paper than what was actually inside the gift.
Guests slowly left and soon the family of four was settled in the living room for the remainder of the evening. Charlie had fallen asleep in Claire's arms and she sat, smiling down at her son, not quite ready to let him go to bed. "What a year, huh?" Owen asked. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and she cuddled into his side with their sleeping son.
"I think it's been the best one yet." She sighed, her eyes still locked on the sleeping face.
Owen nodded and reached out to trace his finger across Charlie's forehead. "I agree." He sighed and kissed Claire's temple.
Claire looked to her other side where Maisie was curled up on the other side of the couch. "How about you?" She reached for Maisie and she yawned as she curled into Claire's side.
"I agree, too." She whispered and let her eyes shut as Claire rubbed her arm.
Maisie's breathing soon evened out and Claire knew she had fallen asleep. "Want to get them to bed?" Owen wondered.
Claire shook her head. "This is the last time they'll be like this. Before we know it another year will pass and I won't be able to hold them like this for much longer." She looked down at Charlie cradled in her left arm and glanced over to her right side where Maisie was curled up, her head on Claire's chest.
"Then we stay here a little longer." Owen settled back and let Claire lean her left side against him, his arm went back to her shoulder and she rested her head on his chest, slowly letting her own eyes droop shut. It was Owen's turn to not be ready to let the moment end.