“Yes.” He leaned over and kissed me. “Yes, our house.”
“That’s settled. Everyone grab a box or some bags, and let’s get home.”
Once Edwin was settled, my soul felt at peace. His clothes were in the closets and drawers. My toys were our toys. My playroom was ours.
My daddy was ours as well. And that made me the happiest.
“How about pizza for the boys who worked so hard today?” Cliff said, clapping his hands. He had a big grin on his face all day. I knew he felt more settled now that Edwin was here for good. No more missing him at night. No more waking up without our third in the bed.
“Cheese sticks, please!” I shouted.
“And chocolate lava cakes. The small ones.” Edwin, we had learned, was a chocolate fiend. He loved the stuff. Chocolate-chip tiny pancakes had become a thing in our life we didn’t know we needed. Chocolate-coffee ice cream too. He added so many things to our lives, and chocolate was the least of them.
Cliff ordered our dinner, and Edwin and I changed into our jammies after a quick shower. I would’ve preferred a long, luxurious bath, but it was my night to choose the movie and Edwin’s to choose the game we played together. He had the cutest ideas.
Once we were back in the living room, Edwin took the remote and tumbled onto the couch beside me. Cliff had the juice boxes out, and we would eat right here at the coffee table. Our new Friday night tradition.
We hoped it was the start of many more. And now that Edwin was here with us, living with us, we could have as many traditions as we wanted.
“How about this?” Edwin stuck out his tongue while he pressed letter by letter, writing out the title of a movie I didn’t recognize. Turned out to be an old dinosaur movie. Cartoon. With sequels. Edwin wasn’t a one-hit wonder when it came to his movies and books. He read series. Long ones. Spin-offs. Everything he could get his hands on. And after watching the series of dinosaur movies Daddy bought, we’d found this one.
“Dinosaurs? That’s interesting because today I ordered some very special dinosaur cookies for my two best boys.” Cliff seemed proud of himself. He was practically glowing.
“Best boys?” I said. “Only boys, you mean, Daddy.”
Cliff reached down and ruffled my hair. “You’re right. My only boys. Forever and ever.”
After the movie, we went through our bedtime routine then slept together in our big bed. Sometimes when I needed time alone or Edwin did, we would sleep in our smaller beds buttonight, Edwin’s first official night living here, I wanted to be next to him. Wake up with him. See how he and Cliff grew in their relationship.
“Good night, Edwin and Daddy,” I said as Cliff shut off the light.
Edwin shot up. “Wait, that’s it? No first-night hanky-panky?”
Cliff moved in between us, chuckling. “That’s the best idea you’ve had yet, Edwin.”
Epilogue
Cliff
I had considered renting the little room at Chained for the big day, but Brax insisted that Edwin would rather have his first birthday party as part of our family at our very own home. And I had a feeling he was right. But it was a whole lot more work, starting with cleaning from top to bottom then decorating, cooking, and setting up games. And a bounce house. Sounded a bit daunting until my two very best boys insisted that they were big enough to help with it all before they were little enough to enjoy it.
Edwin, as it turned out, had not had a celebration of any kind for his birthday since he was very young, and when Brax told him about our plans, it brought a tear to his eye. He buried his face in my chest and arms around my waist. “You don’t have to have a party just for me, Daddy,” he sniffled.
As if that would stop us. “Yes, we do. Just like we’ll have one for Brax when his birthday comes.”
“And Daddy likes to go out for dinner for his,” Brax put in helpfully. “Besides, your party will be fun for all our friends. You wouldn’t want them to miss out on such a good time, would you?”
And, of course, he didn’t.
We planned the event together, hoping to make it half as good as something Ms. Lily at Chained would do. She was a professional planner, handling not only the little room but many charity functions at the club, raising tons of money for the less fortunate, both people and animals.
We were working on the invitations, hand drawn and colored by my two artists, when Edwin said, “Daddy, I wasthinking about the party we had at Chained last week for the animal rescue.”
“That really was fun, wasn’t it?” I folded the cardstock for them to work on. “What about it?”
“We helped the rescue to take care of all those different animals. They have donkeys and sheep and a miniature cow.”
“I know. Would you like to pay a visit there sometime? They welcome guests, and you can help them if you like to feed or clean out their stalls. All sorts of jobs that need doing.”
