Papi
Listen to your Daddy, colibrí.
Sweetness
Gotta go.
My phone dinged with a message from Hayden.
Papi
She likes you better.
I burst out laughing.
Declan
No. You’re just bigger than life and a bit intense. Breakfast is ready by the way.
The kitchen door that led out to the outdoor dining area opened, and Walker and Hayden came.
“Got enough to feed another Marine?”
“If I didn’t, I’d make more. I was raised right, same as you, old man.”
“Fuck off with the old shit.”
Hayden came to me, pulling me into his embrace, and I sighed. His arms were my home and I was so fucking happy to have it back.
“Did Priest check the box?”
“I’ll check…”
Our phones rang before he finished the sentence. I was still holding mine, and I smiled when I saw her name on the screen. I walked outside to give us some privacy, Hayden hot on my heels. When I answered the video call, she didn’t give me the chance to say anything.
“OMG, OMG, OMG, OMG, OMG! Thank you, thank you, thank you!”
Marcie’s bright, shiny, smiling, teary face filled the screen, the stuffed turtle clutched in her hand and pressed against her cheek.
“It’s not the OG model, but we didn’t want to risk the one your dad gave you getting lost in the mail.”
“I appreciate that so much, and this even more. You don’t understand…”
Her face crumpled, and I wanted to hold her, but I resigned myself to the fact that Hayden and I had a job to do. We couldn’t abandon Jackson and Katie to be with her. If things took a turn for the worse, we’d make arrangements, but this was the life we led, and there would be times when things got tough that we couldn’t be with her or each other.
“Colibrí, we understand. And while I’ve never been a Daddy to someone who regresses…”
I’d only ever played with a little at a club or two. I’d never taken on a full-time partner who regressed. Hell, until Hayden, I hadn’t had anyone in my life as more than a casual hook-up. But I wanted this with her.With them, I amended my thought when I looked at Hayden.
“I don’t regress. I don’t like diapers or bottles or… or anything else like that.”
“But you like cuddles on the couch with ice cream, Nemo, and Squirt?”
“Yeah…”
The hesitant questioning tone broke my heart because between it and the look on her face, I worried she thought she wouldn’t be accepted if she liked those things.
“Baby girl, you can like whatever you want, and if sometimes, you want to hand over the adulting to someone else…”
