Everyone and anything familiar belongs to Janet. The mistakes are mine alone.
"Hurry up, Jules," I heard my wife say, "while Olive's distracting your Dad, you can hide in my suitcase so you can come home with us."
It's a familiar and repeated joke, but one that never fails to make Julie smile. "Dad will know when he picks it up to carry it downstairs. And Mom and Dad may notice my absence."
Steph sighed in defeat. "Of course they will. They'd miss you too."
I kissed Olivia's fingers where I've been trying to locate skin under all the carrot she turned into edible finger paint to decorate her high chair with rather than eating.
"It is a curse ... being so lovable," my daughter responded.
Although only Olivia can see me at the moment, I nodded in agreement. "It's a curse you're already experiencing," I told my baby on our way back to our family.
Olive grinned before head-butting my jaw. Unless I need a beard for a job, I've made sure to keep my face clean-shaven so Steph's body won't be abraded. But now I shave morning and night just to ensure Olive's skin remains unblemished because she can't resist touching everything face-first. Head and cheek-butts are common greetings, with Olivia and our dogs, in the Manoso household these days.
Being my daughter, Julie was thinking along the same lines. "Get ready, Olive," she shared with her now-clean baby sister she can freely hold and hug without fear of turning orange, "our Uncles here are going to try with you what your Mom wanted to do with me, when you're ready to leave for the airport."
"The guys know I'm not afraid to stun a guy," Steph responded, "so they stick with just saying they wish you and Olive lived here in the building full-time. I've been stunned, tranquilized, burned, shot, and almost exploded, I'm not afraid of the risks I'd face by trying to whisk you away to the paradise Trenton is."
Julie laughed. "I've heard Jersey described a lot of different ways, but this has gotta be the first time it's been called paradise."
"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, Jules."
"Well, I'm holding Olive ... and I think she's a beauty."
"She is, as are you," I told them both, dropping a kiss on the matching brunette heads.
"Thanks, Dad, but you kinda have to say that."
Steph shook her head in the negative. "You know your Dad doesn't do anything unless he feels it's right. And he definitely is in this case. Crap, you only have time to give me a hug and Olive back before you're due home. If you didn't have school tomorrow, I bet we could've eked out another day here."
"You're forgetting, Steph, that since Olive's 1st birthday is only days before Dad's b-day, you guys get me for two whole weeks in August."
"I didn't forget. I've been crossing the days off in anticipation. We're gonna have fun ... two birthdays, two daughters, and crapton of people helping the four of us celebrate. Maybe if we invite Harper and Kane over at the same time, seeing you and Olive playing together will induce her labor just because their Angel will want to play with you guys too."
"I'm not sure labor works that way, Steph, but I can't wait for summer vacation either."
"We will see you before then, either here or in Jersey," I assured Julie.
"I know, but I like picturing the mayhem we're going to cause on your actual birth day."
I picked up Olive, kissed her cheek before handing her to Steph, and dropped my arm across Julie's shoulders to steer her towards the front door.
"Hey!" Steph called after us.
"Sorry, Babe. I'm hearing a little too much of your influence," I said with a grin down at Julie.
"My work here is done then," my wife stated. "Right, Olive? One person's bad influence is another person's role model."
"Run," I deadpanned to my daughter.
"We love you both!" Steph yelled over Olivia's commentary and Gunny and Mo's yips that turned into excited barks as Olive got more animated and vocal.
"Back at you!" Julie shouted back, before the door closed behind us.
"I love being with you guys," my daughter shared in the elevator, "but each time it gets harder to say goodbye."
"Don't think of these as 'goodbyes'," I advised. "Take a page from Steph's book and see these as 'just wait until next time' visits ... always a continuation never a goodbye."
"That's like a warning and a promise ... I like it. Tell that one to Steph when you get back from dropping me off. That way she can get started on our 'next time'. It's hard to top monkey-time during one visit and helping Olive use the guys as monkey bars during this one."
"Steph will consider that a challenge."
My daughter grinned. "Good. Give them both another hug and kiss from me."
"I will."
I got both of those myself when I walked her to her front door and had to relinquish my parental rights all over again until ... like I told her, next time we visit. My mood remained conflicted, happy to be back with my wife and baby, but still feeling like a part of our family is missing. Tank contacting me during our flight home did distract me, but not in a way that improved my current frame of mind.
Steph tossed two toys, one right after the other, down the aisle between the sections of seats to keep Mo and Gunny amused while Olivia was busy with a book that contains more sound effects than our dogs combined.
"What now?" My wife asked me, knowing I was missing Julie but could sense the shift from that into something more troubling.
"According to the control room, Mooch has been on a bender and riding a rage, doing a little stalking of his own ... wanting a word with me. Tank warned him if he shows up at Rangeman again, he's going to be arrested at the least and shot at the worst. Tank wanted to give me a head's up that he could be an issue. We're going to be met at the private airstrip."
Steph momentarily shut down, but quickly came back to me. "When the hell are we going to be free from them? Why aren't we free of them? I had nothing to do with Joe for months before you and I got our crap together and got together. And I've been steadily distancing myself from all things Burg and everyone there except Mary Lou, Grandma, and Val. I don't understand why they can't just let me go and let our family live in peace."
"To each and every one of them, you're the one that got away, Babe. They're never going to forgive you for it."
"Well that's too damn bad for them. I'm done with all of this. And Mooch is going to find that out firsthand if he dares show his stupid face again."
"I'll handle it."
"Sorry, Batman. Our vows said that we face this kind of crap together."
"I was there with you in my parents' living room ... and our vows said nothing of the kind."
"Yeah ... well ... everyone knows wedding vows are open to interpretation. In the past, back when I was stupid, I put you between Joe and I. Today, happy to be your wife, I'm going to make up for that by putting myself between you and the whole freakin' Burg if I have to. You may see this as your fight, but it's really my mess to clean up. And I'm not afraid to do it."
She's dead wrong about this not being my fight, but she managed to alter my mood and put a genuine smile on my face with her vehement defense and protection of me, our family, and our marriage.
