James stands, picks up a pillow, and runs after Alec, yelling, “Run, Sissy, run!”
I look around the room and pick up all the pillows I can. I also run after them. Raelynn, Alec, and James all run down the stairs. I am right behind them. When they get to the landing at the bottom of the stairs, I start throwing all the pillows I have at them.
They laugh and James falls on top of the stack of pillows. Rae also falls on top of the pillows beside him, laughing. I reluctantly walk down the stairs, not knowing whether they are going to come after me in retaliation or not.
I make the kids oatmeal and toast while everyone sits around the kitchen island talking about how old Alec is. He smiles and is carefree. After breakfast, we make the beds, shower, and get ready for a fun day at home for Alec’s birthday.
“This looks like a birthday party,” Alec says, while looking at all the balloons scattered around the house and on the table.
“Really?” I ask sarcastically. “Maybe because it is.”
The guests start coming and Alec tends to the grill. Molly and her new boyfriend show up, and she brings a basket of goodies for the kids. I invited Leah and Bobby and I am excited to see that they also come.
“What did you bring?” I ask Molly.
“Just a few things for the kids and us to do. You know, bubbles, sidewalk chalk, crayons, and coloring books, and I even got some glitter.”
“Oh, please, no. Please tell me you didn’t get glitter,” I beg.
“No, I didn’t get glitter.” She laughs and I laugh, too. “I couldn’t do that to you. Now, Alec, that’s a whole different story.”
“That’s nice, but you didn’t have to do that.”
“I know. I wanted to. Thank you for inviting us. I hope this isn’t weird for you.”
“It’s not weird for me. Raelynn wanted you here, and it’s like any other day.”
“But today happens to be Alec’s birthday,” Molly says.
“It’s fine, no one will give it a second thought. Just have fun and enjoy yourselves. Hot-looking date, by the way,” I say as I nod to Adam, who is talking to Alec.
“He is, isn’t he?”
The cookout birthday party is in full swing. Brooke, Brice, and the boys; Sara and Donovan; Brea, Vincent, and Arturo; and even Mason, Angel and the twins came. Alec’s sisters and brothers and nieces and nephews are all here, too. Mason, Alec, Donovan, and Vincent all take turns taking everyone out in the sailboat and the kids fish from the boat dock. It’s an easy and relaxed day, just as Alec wanted it to be. Molly snaps pictures and Alec tells me she was a great photographer at one time.
Brooke walks up to me in the kitchen and says, “I thought you said the birthday boy wanted a small get-together.”
“He did; he wanted something small with just family and friends.”
“Emma, I think he forgot how much family and how many friends he has,” Brooks says, laughing as she fills the cooler with more drinks.
Chapter Six: Family Ties
Alec
I’m cutting the watermelon when Emma walks out of the house with Brooke.
“Daddy, is the watermelon ready?” Raelynn asks excitedly.
“It sure is.” I pick up the platter and offer it to her so she can pick out her own slice.
“Thank you, Daddy.”
“You’re welcome, Rae.”
“Are you having a nice birthday, Daddy?” she asks.
“I am, thank you. I think this is the best birthday ever.”
“There’s a lot of people here.”
“Yes, Rae, there sure is.”
She hands me a handmade glittery card, and I kneel down so I am eye to eye with her.
“I made you this for your birthday.”
I reach out and take the card and watch the glitter sparkle and fall to the ground. I think that she is the sweetest daughter in the world. “You made this just for me? Thank you.”
“Sorry it doesn’t have very much glitter on it. I ran out when I was making it.”
The card is covered with glitter and I can’t imagine where she would have put any more glitter. “I think it’s perfect just the way it is,” I say honestly. On the outside of the card is a picture of a little girl and her dad. Happy Birthday, Daddy is handwritten in purple-colored pencil. I open up the card and see a picture of two moms, a dad, a little girl, and a smaller boy. A lake and a sailboat are in the background. I wonder if this is a picture of our family in the backyard. It reads, I hope you have the bestest birthday ever. I love you, Raelynn. Xoxo
“Thank you, Rae.” I hug her and say, “This is definitely the best birthday ever.”
I watch her as she skips off, eating her slice of watermelon.
The adults share stories of their childhood or stories of children they know, as the kids play with bubbles, color, and use the sidewalk chalk in the driveway.
Doris sees the glitter on the table from my birthday card from Raelynn and says, “When I was in school, some of us girls went to see the Disney movie Peter Pan and learned that if you want to fly you need pixie dust. Once you have pixie dust sprinkled on you and you think happy thoughts, you can fly. Sally asked her mother, ‘Do we have any pixie dust?’ Her mother did not know what she wanted it for, so she said, ‘Yes,’ and gave her some glitter. The girl went out to the porch steps, sprinkled glitter on herself, and thought happy thoughts, and then she launched herself into space. She stopped believing in pixies.”
We all laugh and I look around to make sure Raelynn isn’t listening. I don’t need her believing that pixie dust exists or that it’ll make you fly.
Lilly tells a story about when Mason and Madison were small. They were doing crafts with glitter for the holidays, and the next day when she went to change Madison’s diaper the contents were very sparkly. She said she about fainted but upon further inspection she could see silver glitter. She says she bagged up the dirty diaper and called the pediatrician immediately. To her pleasant surprise, she found out that eating small amounts of glitter is harmless. She added that from that day forward, she stored the glitter with the glue and scissors.
Danny shares a story about Max when Max was a small child. “Max was so talkative that I told him people get only 10,000 words per month. When you reach the limit, you can’t physically speak until a new month starts. Anytime he was especially talkative, like on car rides, I would say, ‘Careful, you’re over 9,000 words by now.’”
James listens, and I can see he is wondering if this is true about having limited words.
Everyone laughs at Danny’s story and Cheryl says, “On one long car trip, Danny and I decided that we would not say a word until Max stopped talking. He never did shut up.”
Emma and I walk around the yard with the platter of watermelon slices and offer them to everyone. We have cake and ice cream after everyone sings “Happy Birthday” to me. A table is covered with cards and gifts. I open the gifts and thank everyone. Mason and Angel got me a new nameplate for my desk at the office and dad and mom got me a gift card for Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse. We spend the rest of the day mingling with our family and friends. Angel and Mason don’t stay long and I didn’t expect them to. I’m glad to see them here as a family. From the looks of it, family life suits him. I never dreamed I would see him with a diaper bag slung over his shoulder, but today he was carrying two diaper bags and a baby carrier.
Everyone helps with the cleanup before they head home. Emma and I bathe the kids and do our night-time ritual. Since the school attack at the school, Raelynn has been sleeping in James’ room and he couldn’t be happier about that.
“Happy birthday, Alec,” James says.
“Thank you, James. Good night, Buddy.”
“Happy birthday, Daddy.”
I turn off the bedroom lights and say, “Thank you, Rae. Good night.” I leave their door slightly cracked. I turn off all the lights in the house and make sure the doors are secured before setting the security alarm in the house. Emma is already in the bathtub, taki
ng a bubble bath, when I return to the bedroom. The lights are off, and the candles scattered in the bathroom illuminate the area. I take a drink of my beer and ask, “Is there room in there for me?”
“You want to take a bubble bath with me?”
“I thought I would if we both can fit.”
She scoots up and the bubbles slosh over the edge of the tub. “I’m not sure, but I think four people can fit in here at the same time.” She giggles and I have to smile. Her long blond hair is pulled on top of her head in a messy bun and the bubbles cover her to her chin.
“I think four people are two people too many. I can’t remember the last time I took a bubble bath,” I say as I carefully lower myself into the hot water behind her. “On second thought, I don’t think I have ever taken a bubble bath before.”
“Well, Mr. Collins. You haven’t lived until you’ve soaked in a hot bubble bath.”
Emma slides back into me until her back is against my chest. She relaxes and I lower my head and kiss her hair. “This is nice; remind me I like bubble baths.”
“This is very nice.”
The water feels different and it smells relaxing. I close my eyes and ask, “What makes the water feel so soft?”
She moves her head slightly; I think she is watching me. My eyes are still closed, and I have no intentions of opening them. “It really is a science to make a perfect bubble bath. I add some lavender oil in the water to soften it, then I add lavender bath crystal to add fragrance, and I also add vanilla bubble bath to make the bubbles. The lavender and vanilla candles also add to the ambience.” She snuggles back into me and strokes my arm softly with her fingertips.
“Well, Mrs. Collins to be, I think you have mastered the science of a perfect bubble bath.” Emma turns around and kisses me passionately.
Before we go to bed, Emma brings in some of the candles from the bathroom into the bedroom. She sits on the bed with a beautifully wrapped gift in her hands and an even more beautiful smile on her lips. “I didn’t give you your birthday present yet.”
“I thought you just did in the bath,” I smirk.
She blushes and says, “That was special, but that wasn’t your birthday gift.”
I get in bed and say, “I have everything I have ever wanted right here.”
She leans in and kisses me and says, “You always know exactly what to say.”
“It’s because I speak the truth.”
“You are a very hard man to shop for, Mr. Collins. But I think I was able to get you something you’ll love.” She hands me the very large and very heavy gift.
I shake it and listen for it to rattle.
“Alec, just open it. It isn’t anything great, but I think you’ll like it.”
I carefully remove the bow and paper and I can only stare at the beautiful family portrait that Emma had made. “Emma, this is beautiful. How did you manage to do this? We never posed for this picture.” I stare at the picture never taking my eyes off of it.
“I had someone help me. Well, I provided the pictures of each of us and I had someone combine them into one photo. It doesn’t look Photoshopped, does it?”
After picking up the large double-matted, oak-framed photo, I carefully inspect it. “No, not at all. Whoever did this is truly talented.”
“When Molly offered to help me with this, I had no idea the extent of her talent.”
I look over at Emma, who is admiring the photo. “Molly did this?”
“Yes, she did it in a matter of a few days.” She looks at me and asks, “Does it make it weird that your ex helped me with your birthday gift?” She ponders what she just said for a moment and looks sad. “It’s weird, isn’t it? I’m sorry.”
“Emma, I love it. Molly is very talented and it’s not weird at all. She is obviously very good at what she does. I have the perfect place for this,” I say with a smile.
“You do, where?”
“In my office, right across from my desk. That wall is bare and this will look perfect there.”
The next night when the kids are asleep I turn the television on. The hit series House is on, and it has an episode I really want to watch. Emma comes out of the kitchen carrying a plate of grilled cheese sandwiches and two sweet teas on a wooden tray. “What are you watching?” she asks as she hands me my tea and a sandwich.
“An episode of House.”
She sits down and says, “I haven’t watched this in a long time. I used to love this show.”
“They were actually talking about this episode at work last night. It’s actually a topic that touches close to home.”
Emma sits down and joins in on the show and asks, “What are they doing with that tiny white cooler? Is this episode about organ transplants?”
“That isn’t a cooler, it’s a teeny-tiny baby coffin.” Emma doesn’t say anything but watches the show with me. She holds my hand and begins to cry. I know this is a topic that shouldn’t be a problem, but it is.
“Measles? Are you kidding me? The tiny baby lost his life from measles?”
“I’m afraid so. It was the main topic at work yesterday. This episode isn’t a true story, but it could be. Dr. Smith, the pediatrician from Pediatrics Associates, lost a patient last week from measles,” I say looking at her sadly. “The parents refused to vaccinate their infant. The baby went to preschool with another baby who also wasn’t vaccinated.”
“These parents who refuse to vaccinate their children. I will never understand them.”
“They obviously didn’t lose a grandparent or a great aunt or uncle to polio.” I add, “The worst tragedy that ever befell playwright and screenwriter Charles MacArthur and his wife, actress Helen Hayes, was the death of their daughter, Mary. She became seriously ill and was hospitalized when polio symptoms appeared. On the first day in the hospital, she was put in an iron lung so it could breathe for her. On the second day, she looked at her father and said, ‘Help me, Pops.’ On the third day, she died. One year after Mary’s funeral, Mr. MacArthur had inscribed on her tombstone, ‘Here beneath this stone doth lie / As much beauty as could die.’”
“That is so sad.”
“Sad, but true. Fortunately, vaccines wiped out polio in most of the developed world; vaccines completely eradicated smallpox. If people would vaccinate their children against measles, we could eradicate measles, too. People who are thinking about not vaccinating their children should search online for photographs of people with smallpox. They should also search online for photographs of children in iron lungs.”
The next few weeks Emma is busy with wedding plans and Raelynn shows small improvements every day. She is still skittish being in public places, so we spend a lot of time at home. We don’t force her to go anywhere; we let her decide when she is ready to go in public. Other than school, where her grandmothers teach her and James, she really doesn’t want to be anyplace else but home.
We shop online from home for wedding things so Raelynn will be included. Emma and the grandmas went out to shop for wedding dresses while Raelynn, James, and I stayed home.
Emma and the grandmas researched wedding dresses online but after seeing a number of side-by-side photos — one of the beautiful wedding dress advertised online and one of the actual wedding dress received in the mail — they decided that there was no way they would buy a wedding dress online.
“Raelynn, since you’re the flower girl, I guess you’ll drop lilacs at the wedding since it’s Emma’s favorite flower.”
“Daddy?” she asks, excitedly. “Do you know what will make it sparkly and pretty?”
“Glitter?” I ask.
“Yep, we can put glitter in the basket with the flowers so when I drop the flowers the glitter will make the flowers sparkly.”
“Rae, I think that is a great idea.”
“Sissy, that will be so pretty, but we don’t have no more glitter,” James says, sadly.
“They have some at Walmart,” she says. “Daddy, can we go and get some?”
I smile at he
r and wonder if my girl is ready to go right now. “We can; when do you want it?”
“If I had some now, I could practice with it.”
“Should we go and get some?” This is a huge step for Rae, and I am having a Proud Daddy moment.
“Let me get my shoes on and I’ll be ready,” she says over her shoulder as she walks up the stairs to her bedroom.
“Hang on, Sissy. I need my shoes, too,” James says as he runs up the stairs behind her.
I text Emma and tell her Raelynn wants to go to Walmart. I wait for a text back, but I get a phone call instead. Emma is crying with joy. The kids and I go to Walmart, and I let Raelynn get as much glitter that she thinks she needs. I had no idea that glitter came in so many different colors. James gets a new train and we also get groceries while we’re out. I stay away from the direction of the school, so we have to drive a little out of our way. When I drive past a park, Raelynn looks out the window and smiles.
I say, “We can get ice cream and then go to the park if you guys want. Or we can get ice cream and go home.”
“Sissy, you wanna go to the park?”
“Okay, Bubby.”
When we finally get home, Emma is there waiting on us. “Did you guys have fun?” Emma asks.
“Yep, we got glitter and ice cream, and Daddy took us to the park,” Raelynn says as she sits down with a bag full of glitter.
“The park?” Emma mouths.
I can only smile and nod. I don’t want Raelynn to think it is a big deal. “We got glitter for the wedding, didn’t we, Raelynn?”
“Daddy, it is supposed to be a secret.”
“Alec, Sissy doesn’t want momma to know that she is going to put it in with the flowers.”
“Bubby?”
James laughs when he realizes he just told Raelynn’s secret.
Emma wisely plays it off like she didn’t hear it.
She asks, “What did you say, James?”
James looks stunned and says, “Sissy likes flowers.”
I am amazed and shocked that James just did not tell the whole truth to Emma. I put away the groceries while the kids play with their new toys and glitter. Emma tells me that they found a beautiful wedding dress, and she also tells me that James and I have a fitting for our tuxes on Friday. The wedding is fast approaching, and I couldn’t be happier. After everything that Emma and I have been through, we deserve this. Emma wants the wedding to be held here at the house under the gazebo, and I could not agree more. The kids have been included in the wedding plans since day one. Emma wants to make sure they don’t feel left out. They were involved in the engagement and this wedding affects them as well.
Mending Hearts Page 14