“I like taking care of you too.” There was a cry from the other room. “I like taking care of you both,” I amended as I got up to get the baby.
And I did.
Fuck, more than I ever could have known I would.
I’d had a lot of time to get used to and comfortable with the role of caretaker for Gracie. In the years before we even hooked up, then more so after.
I’d been nervous about fatherhood, though. I knew from a physical and financial standpoint that I had what it took. I’d been worried about the emotional shit, though. The kind of thing I’d never known from my own parents.
I’d been surprised how easily it came.
Which only made me all the more pissed off at my own mother and father.
Because loving your kid?
That shit was the easiest thing in the world.
But they hadn’t even been capable of that.
The difference being, I was. Capable of love, of support, of seeing that my kid’s and wife’s needs were met.
If anything, I was a little worried about being overprotective as they got bigger. But after talking with the club, I found that was a normal part of the process and that they’d all struggled to figure out the right balance for that.
I’d cross the bridge when I got to it.
“I know,” I said as I lifted our baby up into my arms. “I don’t ever want to be away from your mother either.”
But when we made our way back out to the living room, Gracie was out cold on the couch.
“Just you and me, kid,” I said, making our way outside instead.
We sat and watched the birds and squirrels for over an hour before Gracie made her way out, scooting in at my side and resting her face against my shoulder.
“Thanks for letting me sleep.”
“Anytime,” I said.
“Look,” she said, nodding toward the picnic table full of whole peanuts. “Itold youSteve was a girl. Look at that pregnant belly.”
“Gotta put out some extra fluff for her to build her nest,” I said.
“God, I love you,” she said, smiling up at me.
And, fuck, I loved her too.
Gracie - 11 years
“I’m gonna say what everyone else isn’t,” Layna said, moving in at my side. “This is batshit crazy.”
“Probably,” I agreed.
I glanced out at a sea of bounce houses, trampolines, water features, and games.
It started out as an idea when I’d been pregnant with our third baby as the first finished up their first year of school.
By the next year, I had it all planned, ordered, and executed.
And just like that, the Summer Kickoff party tradition was born.
