Sam
8 months later
“You sure I can’t persuade you?” I asked Maisie as we walked along hand in hand.
“No way,” she said with a shudder.
I bent to kiss her and earned a groan from my son who was holding her other hand. Maisie giggled and batted me away, probably because she knew if I brought my best moves out she’d agree to anything, even the tattoo I’d been teasing her about.
“Can I have one, Dad?” Frankie asked.
“A tattoo? No way, not until you’re eighteen at least.”
I didn’t look to guidance from Maisie when answering him, I hadn’t for a while, not since we’d all moved in together five months earlier. Maisie was worried it was all a little quick, but I’d been pissed I’d had to wait three months to get us all under one roof. Even when I was telling her on her sofa that day that it was too soon I was fucking ready then, but I knew she wasn’t, so I bided my time and wore her down with my best moves until she was practically begging for me to find us a house.
There’d been a few teething problems, mainly me trying too hard with Frankie, but I was getting there with Maisie’s help. The main thing was we had a house fucking chock full of damn love and there wasn’t a day that went by that I didn’t show or tell them both. Elijah had even asked me if I’d become part of the unsullied, whatever the fuck that meant. Needless to say, I flipped him off and then told my girlfriend I fucking loved her – okay we were all drunk at the time, but the sentiment was there. The point was, no one was as surprised as I was at how I’d changed from a workaholic, selfish prick who had no desire to be a father, to a home loving, family man who adored his kid, couldn’t wait to have another and was desperate to make his girlfriend his wife – a proposal being something that I was in the process of planning. It involved me and Frankie, a big fuck off diamond and a picnic at our lake, oh and Maisie of course, seeing as it’d be pretty pointless without her. Before that though I had an appointment with Isaac Grainger and his tattoo gun.
When I pushed open the studio door, we were immediately greeted with a crying toddler and a slightly frazzled looking Scarlett.
“Sorry, Sam,” she said as we walked to the desk. “She’s ready for her afternoon nap, but won’t go until she’s seen her daddy and he’s running over on his last appointment.”
She cradled the pale blonde head against her chest and gently rocked her up and down.
“She’s not normally this bad,” Scarlett said apologetically to Maisie. “Sam will tell you, she’s normally laughing.”
“Aww it’s fine,” Maisie cooed rubbing a hand down little Ava’s back. “Frankie was just the same when he was tired.”
“I was not,” Frankie objected.
Maisie raised her eyebrows at him. “Yes well I beg to differ.”
For a second my chest hurt as I realised I couldn’t confirm or deny the memory, but it soon soothed when Frankie started chattering to Scarlett, not caring about the noise coming from Ava.
“My dad is having a surprise tattoo today,” he said proudly.
“I know, Ava’s daddy Isaac is doing it.”
“Is Isaac your boyfriend or your husband?”
Scarlett looked a little perplexed but answered anyway. “My husband, although only for a couple of months, why?”
She looked at Maisie who shrugged. I grinned knowing exactly what my little horror was up to. He was priming his mum for the big proposal, although I was hoping she didn’t say yes purely because of our son’s emotional blackmail.
“I was just wondering if you all had the same name, that’s all.” Frankie grinned at me and then ran off to look at some of the art on the walls.
“Do you think he’s worried that he doesn’t have your surname?” Maisie hissed, worry etched on her face.
I feigned confusion and shrugged. We’d talked about changing his name, now that I was on his birth certificate, but talking was all we’d done. I was just glad that I was now ‘legally’ his dad, although I only had myself to blame for that one, not being there when his birth was registered. Plus, changing Frankie’s name was all part of the proposal plans.
Before Maisie could talk about it anymore, the door to the studios swung open and in sauntered Isaac, looking every inch the cool, handsome tattooist that the women seemed to love.
He looked over and smiled, offering me a wave as he said something to the client he was showing out. As the guy approached the desk, Maisie and I fell back a couple of steps as we watched Scarlett hand Ava over to Isaac while the guy paid her. As soon as she landed in Isaac’s arms, Ava’s crying stopped.
“Hey Sam, how are you doing?” Isaac asked, coming toward us and wiping at Ava’s face. “It’s been a while and no Elijah today.”
I grinned because Elijah and I had always made a pact to get inked together, apart from one time and now it was my turn to do the same.
“Nope, not today. So, she’s grown.” I ran a hand over Ava’s head that now lolled against her daddy’s shoulder.
