“Notyou, Daddy.Spence.”
My eyebrows lift even higher than the last time. “I’d love to.”
She takes my hand and drags me over to the swings. She jumps onto the black rubber seat and clings on to the dark chain. I push her from behind, careful not to let her go too high. She waggles her legs and squeals on each upwards swing.
“Higher!” she demands.
I look to Corey, who’s standing a little way away, watching us and taking the occasional photo on his phone. He shrugs, which I take as permission to push her a little higher.
After about five minutes, I bring her to a stop. She jumps off the swing and turns around, staring at me.
“I know you looked after Daddy last night when he was upset,” she whispers. “Thank you.” Then she runs off to the roundabout. “Push me, Daddy, push me!”
Now I know why her attitude towards me has changed. I hadn’t been aware that she was awake when I arrived last night. Corey hadn’t said anything, so I suppose he hadn’t known either. Unless he told her this morning over breakfast… I decide to let it remain a mystery. All that matters is that she seems to understand how much I care about Corey.
“Is it time for our fairy princess tea party now?” Lexi asks after she’s played for another half an hour.
“I think so,” Corey says.
Lexi grabs his hand and then takes hold of mine, skipping between us. Contentment and happiness settle within me, along with the realisation that it’s not just Corey I’m falling in love with. I hadn’t realised I wanted a family, let alone an instant one, but with that possibility in sight, the last thing I want to do is run away.
“You don’t really have to dress up,” Corey says when we get back to their house.
“Yes, he does,” Lexi says, folding her arms. “So do you.”
Corey blushes and looks at the floor.
“My costume is in my bag,” I tell her.
Along with a spare change of clothes, my toothbrush, and a few things for Corey and me to play with much later when Lexi is sound asleep in bed. They’re hidden right at the bottom just in case.
“I’m going to get ready!” Lexi says, rushing up the stairs.
“I guess we should too,” Corey says.
“You’ll make a beautiful fairy princess,” I tell him.
“I never was much of a fan of dress-up as a kid.”
“Really?”
Corey nods. “Does that make me boring?”
I thread my fingers through his and tug him close enough to kiss. “There’s nothing boring about you, sweet boy,” I whisper before caressing his jaw with my lips. “Let’s go and turn ourselves into fairy princesses.”
A few minutes later, we’re all back downstairs. Corey and I pulled our outfits on over the top of our clothes, but Lexi got changed completely into a very sparkly pink dress with lots of tulle. She’s wearing wings, a silver crown, and has a wand in her hand. The dress Corey has on is just as pink and even more sparkly, if that’s possible. He has a tiara balanced on his head. His cheeks are bright red. I picked up my outfit from a couple of charity shops during the day. I have a purple dress with a ruched top and lots of sequins sewn on. I managed to find some lilac wings to match, a wand with a purple plastic gem in the middle, and a tiara with purple sparkly bits on.
“You look amazing!” Lexi tells us both.
We make cucumber sandwiches—with the crusts cut off—and put them, fancy cakes, chocolate finger biscuits, and strawberries onto plastic plates. We take a blanket into the garden, along with several of Lexi’s dolls and teddy bears, and sit and have our tea party in the sunshine. Lexi is the happiest and most animated I’ve seen her around me. She takes charge, serving us and the toys with food and juice from a plastic jug. I stick my pinkie finger out when I pick up my tiny plastic cup and sip daintily from it, making Lexi giggle. We eat and laugh and then tidy everything away so we can play a game of tag in the garden, still dressed as fairy princesses.
“It’s time to do your reading, pudding,” Corey says when the game has ended, and we’re all exhausted and huffing and puffing from the exertion of running around like mad things. “And then it’s bath and bedtime.”
“Aww,” Lexi complains.
“Go and get your bookbag.”
We follow her inside, sitting on the sofa together. She joins us a minute later and wriggles in beside us.
