by Alyse Zaftig
I had a sneaking suspicion that she’d do very well basically doing my job. She had already done it for a week.
I’ll come. What day and time?
Logan sent me an e-vite to Chuck E. Cheese. I looked forward to being surrounded by a ton of small kids on sugar highs.
Chapter 19
I was overdressed for Chuck E. Cheese. My dress was a little black dress, and I was wearing a chunky gold necklace with it. Little black dresses did not fit in at Chuck E. Cheese. I was also earlier than Logan, so I went and bought some tokens so that I could play some of the games. I wandered around the sticky arcade, trying not to think about what exactly made everything quite this sticky.
Annabelle showed up before Logan did. She was running at full speed. “Candace!” she screamed when she saw me. She barreled right towards me, her tantrum utterly forgotten as she flung herself against me with the confidence of a kid who had always been loved by every adult around her.
“Hey there, sweet pea.” Crouching, I held her close and kissed her hair. She smelled like a nice floral shampoo. “Happy birthday!”
“Did you get me a present?” she demanded.
“Of course.” I gave her a glittery stuffed unicorn in a bag.
“Thank you!” she said before taking the unicorn to show to her dad. He was coming in behind her with a bunch of birthday balloons.
“We have our first guest, then, birthday princess?”
“I’m not a princess, Daddy. I’m a queen.” She touched her tiara. “Queens can wear tiaras, too.”
“I can’t argue with that,” agreed Logan. He looked up and saw me. He went still. “And Candace gave it to you. Did you say thank you?”
“Yes, Daddy.” She rolled her eyes. “I want tokens, please.”
“Let me put the balloons in the party room, and then I’ll get the tokens for you.” He walked over to me. “Sorry I can’t shake your hand right now, my hands are kinda full.”
“No problem.” I gave him a stiff one-armed hug. It felt weird to be formal with him when the last time I’d seen him, we’d spent the night together. “Let me know if I can help.”
“Chuck E. Cheese is used to kids’ birthday parties. They’ve taken care of the cake and the pizza. I went deluxe and also got pitchers of juice, so there’s not much for me to do.”
“Okay.” All I had to do was relax and have a good time. “Why did Annabelle insist on me coming to her birthday party?”
“No idea.” Logan cleared his throat as he put down the balloons in the party room. I was trailing him. “But I’m glad you took some more time off and came.”
“I’m training my assistant to take over most of the day-to-day minutiae so that I can spend more time off.” My hand almost touched my stomach. “She’s doing really well so far.”
“Oh really?”
“Yeah, I’m trying to slow down a little bit.” I kept thinking about my stomach, which wasn’t showing anything yet. “I’m trying to figure out some of my priorities. Your happy family life made me want one of my own.”
“You thinking about having kids?” Logan went straight for the jugular.
“Maybe,” I said weakly. He seemed to know that anybody who met Annabelle would want children of their own.
“Are you dating anyone?” He was so blunt. Logan had always cut to the heart of the matter.
“No.” I wouldn’t call one night together or two nights in his house dating.
“Neither am I.” Logan was quiet. “Would you like to be long-distance with me?”
He caught me on the back foot. I needed to tell him. “Yes, I’d like to be long-distance with you.”
A smile burst across his face like a sunrise. “I’ll like that.” He leaned in and gave me a peck on the mouth.
“There are kids around, or I’d do more.”
I smiled back at him, wondering when I’d tell him that he would be a father again. “Have you ever thought about having another kid?”
“Is this hypothetical?”
“Maybe, maybe not.”
“I’d love another kid or two,” admitted Logan. “Are you telling me you want to have kids?”
I put a hand on my stomach. “I might be telling you you’re going to have another kid.”
His jaw dropped. “Are you serious?”
I hadn’t thrown away my positive test. Bianca had demanded a picture of it, so I showed him the picture in my text conversation with Bianca. “Yup.”
He threw his arms around me and gave me a movie-star style kiss right there. “I have to stay here for Annabelle’s party,” he apologized to me. “Or else you’d get a whole hell of a lot more.”
I smiled at him. He was over the moon with excitement. “There are adult chaperones here.”
“True.” He looked around. “Now if only there were a handy coat closet…”
I laughed, even though he seemed serious. “It can wait for after the party.”
Annabelle loved her Minnie Mouse cake. There was a horde of small children who seemed intent on getting as grubby as possible before smearing all the machines with their sticky hands. By the time two hours had passed, I was exhausted. I’d been told before that being pregnant was like having the flu, and I was starting to feel low on energy. Logan had a cart to take away all of Annabelle’s presents, and we left while there were still kids running around. I followed Logan in my rental car home, full of excitement about tonight. Annabelle fell asleep in the car, so Logan whisked her out of the car and put her in her room. Her toys were unloaded quickly by the two of us. Then Logan took me to a room.
“I bought this after our night together.” Logan rummaged in his sock drawer. “I had to keep it hidden from Annabelle, or there would’ve been a lot of questions.” He pulled out a ring box. “Open it.”
I reached for it, heart in my throat. “What?” I opened it to see a giant sparkly ring inside. “Are you serious?”
“I should’ve married you when we were kids,” Logan said. “I wasn’t going to let you slip away twice. You’re the one that got away, and I swore that if I had another shot with you, I wouldn’t let it go to waste.” He got down on one knee. “Candace, will you marry me?”
“Yes!” I sank down on my knees to kiss him. His hands were all over me in a moment, peeling off my little black dress and undoing my necklace. I smelled like pizza; Logan didn’t care at all. He made quick work of his own clothes. Suddenly, my thighs were spread as he started to lick me gently. He knew exactly how to touch me. My legs were shaking as I made my way through an orgasm. As I peaked, he gently entered me and stayed still as I contracted around him. When I was done fluttering, he started a slow and steady pace until I found my peak again. He released inside of me with a sigh. “I can’t wait to be married to you,” he whispered as he eased out of me. He cleaned me up, then we cuddled until we fell asleep.
Epilogue I
“I can’t find my tiara, Mommy!” screamed Annabelle. She was the flower girl for our wedding, and you would’ve thought it was her day to shine. Logan had bought her a rhinestone tiara for the wedding. I had a crown of flowers, bright colors that contrasted with my dark hair.
“Check in your backpack, sweetheart.” I had put the tiara in there only last night. She peeked into her red backpack and pulled it out.
“Okay, we’re ready now.”
I smiled at her antics. My wedding day was a big deal, of course, but Annabelle had been there every step of the way. Annabelle had particularly liked taste-testing different kinds of wedding cake. She was over the moon about having a younger sibling and was amazed by the way my stomach had grown. My wedding dress was custom-made with Valenciennes lace and had been shipped from Spain. Annabelle had a smaller version of my dress that was pink while my own dress was cream.
The ceremony itself was a blur. We’d gone through rehearsal the day before, and Logan had been making faces at me while the celebrant tried to do the most serious part. But finally I got to the point where I said, “I do.” Logan w
aited patiently and said, “I do.”
We were married. I could hardly believe that my childhood sweetheart had been single when I came back around. We lived in Indiana now; I could run my business from anywhere with an Internet connection. I had a lot of web conferences nowadays, which my mentors preferred because it was less hassle to find a place and time to meet. My business was booming with a few bestsellers knocking it out of the park. Annabelle had already expressed interest in writing her own children’s book, which I would put out in an ebook version and a print-on-demand version. I focused primarily on genre fiction, but Annabelle’s talents deserved to be seen by the rest of the world. Romi had been blessedly absent from everything. She barely saw Annabelle as it was. Logan called her to tell her that he was getting married again; she couldn’t have cared less. I found out that Logan paid Romi palimony to keep her happy. Annabelle called me Mommy now, too. I couldn’t be more content.
Epilogue II
“And push!” said the nurse.
“Please stop telling me to push,” I moaned. My body was contracting hard, trying to get the baby out. I was sweating hard. Logan’s face was white. I might have something to do with that because I was squeezing his hand so tightly. Annabelle was with one of her friends tonight, safely sleeping. It was about 10:30 PM; I’d been here since noon when my water broke. I had waddled around the floor and felt my body getting ready to drop the baby until I couldn’t walk anymore.
“I can see the crown of the baby’s head! One big push.”
I pushed again. The nurse reached between my legs and pulled on the baby’s shoulders. The baby came out of me with a rush of multi-colored fluids.
“There you go.” The nurse gave the baby an expert whack on the butt; the baby started crying immediately. She curled onto my chest.
“Hello, sweetheart,” said Logan. “We’re so glad to meet you.”
She continued to scream. “We’ll take her whenever you’re ready.”
“I’m ready. You can clean her up.” The nurses took the baby away to give her a little cleanup and weigh her, as well as all of the other activities that happened when a baby was born.
“She’s perfect,” Logan said. “You couldn’t have given me a better gift.”
“I love you,” I said to Logan. “But I need ice cream.” I had gestational diabetes at the end, so we’d found diabetic-friendly candy. I wanted the real stuff in the worst way.
“I’ll go to the cafeteria and get some ice cream for you, my love.” He kissed my nose. I could hear screaming coming from the hallway. “It looks like she has highly developed lungs.”
I rested there, alone for the first time. I remembered what it had felt like to see the positive result and have no idea where things would go with Logan. He had been extremely supportive throughout my entire pregnancy. Our marriage was rock solid; he knew he had a good thing, he told me, and he had no intention of jeopardizing it. Annabelle had been practicing feeding her baby dolls in preparation for a younger sister. Logan was back soon with the good stuff. I stuffed my face with real sugar for the first time in a while. I had been eating Atkins Endulge candy for so long that real chocolate made me moan. I was wearing mesh underwear but Logan still kissed me and stole some of the chocolate off of my tongue.
“My ice cream,” I growled at him. He just laughed and kissed me again.
“I should know better than to get between you and your chocolate ice cream.”
“You bet your ass, buster.” I winked at him. “You can steal my ice cream when we’re at home, but I haven’t had chocolate for what feels like a century.”
“It’s been a few months.”
“A century,” I said in a definitive tone.
Soon, the nurses were handing the baby back to me wearing a little hat with a bow on it. She had the squished newborn’s face almost every baby had, but I had never seen a sight more beautiful in my life. I cradled her on my chest with Logan’s hand gently resting on the baby’s shoulder. He kissed her cheek and kissed mine. The baby’s nose wrinkled; she started to cry.
“Oh no!”
“She’s hungry,” said the nurse. “Do you need help?”
“No, I went to lactation classes.” Logan had signed us up for every parenting class he could find. He’d been through it on his own and learned on the fly.
“What’s her name?” the nurse asked as I adjusted my gown so the baby could latch properly.
“Emily Marie Simpson,” Logan told the nurse. I was tired. The baby was doing a good job. I could feel Logan’s hand gently adjusting the baby so she was fully supported. I couldn’t wait for Annabelle to meet her little sister. I fell asleep, warm and full of love for my little family.
Epilogue III
“Ew! Mommy and Daddy are kissing again.” Annabelle thumbed her nose at us. “Gross!”
It happened frequently enough in front of our kids that they should be used to it.
“Gross!” echoed Emily.
“We can either distract them with cookies and ice cream or time out all around,” murmured Logan against my lips.
“As much as I love the screaming that goes on with trying to put Emily into time out, let’s go for ice cream.”
“All aboard!” Logan called. The kids knew that it was a call to put on their shoes and get into the car. They scrambled into their shoes. Emily still couldn’t tie her shoes, so she waited patiently for someone to help her with her Velcro shoes. Annabelle had mastered how to use bunny ears, so she had normal sneakers. I put Emily’s little foot on my thigh before switching to the other side. She still didn’t understand that you had to undo the sneakers before you put your foot in them and was always trying to shove her entire foot into the closed shoe.
“I want gelato!” screamed Annabelle as she buckled herself into her seat. Emily needed more help with her car seat. Annabelle only had a booster seat now.
“Say please,” admonished Logan.
“Please!”
The gelateria that was Annabelle’s favorite place was a solid five miles away.
“How about custard?” I offered. It was easier to get to.
“Gelato!” screamed Annabelle. She nudged her sister. “Ask for gelato.”
“Gelato,” mimicked Emily softly. She had my curly hair and was tugging on it. Annabelle knew how to join forces with her little sister. Emily was still at the age where her “l” sounded like a “y.”
“Fine, we’ll get gelato.”
“You are a sucker,” I told my husband.
“They both want gelato.”
I just shook my head at him. “I should’ve chosen time out.” I touched my stomach. “At least we’re ruining our dinner now.”
“I can just eat candy for dinner,” announced Annabelle.
“We’re eating real food for dinner. Who eats candy for dinner?” I ask
“My best friend gets to eat candy for dinner.”
I highly doubted it, since Annabelle’s best friend was a darling girl named Mary Beth whose mother was into counting macro stuff which made my head whirl. “Mhm.”
Logan put on Radio Disney so that the kids could sing along. They played a comfortable mix that the girls were fond of. We didn’t have Sirius XM in the car because Annabelle didn’t like any of the stations that had come for free for the first six months we had the car. We also had a DVD player in the minivan to make sure that the kids stayed occupied, which was probably why Annabelle was sanguine about going so far for ice cream. We drove for a while before Logan spoke.
“We can spoil their dinner once in a while,” Logan said.
“They’re going to get sugar highs. You’re in charge of giving them dinner and their baths.”
“You know when it’s my turn for dinner, I just make eggs, bacon, and pancakes.”
“I want pancakes!” screamed Annabelle.
“Inside voice,” I said.
“I want waffles,” said Emily.
“We can have both,” added Logan. “Don’t worry, Candace. I
’ll take care of dinner tonight.”
“Breakfast for dinner.” The pancake and waffles would be mixed with sugary syrup that would make it impossible to put the girls to sleep after gelato. “It’s all on you.”
“I can handle them.” Logan parked at the gelato place. We got out and stood there, looking at the board of options.
“I want a double chocolate chunk scoop,” Annabelle said. She was our resident chocoholic.
“I want ‘nilla,” said Emily in a soft voice. She clung to my leg and looked up at me. I picked her up and balanced her on my hip.
“I’ll share some vanilla gelato with you, nugget,” I said before I booped her nose. She grinned at me. Every single day with Emily and Annabelle was a joy, even when Annabelle exercised her executive leadership skills.
“I’ll get mint chocolate chip gelato,” Logan decided. “Why don’t you girls stake out a table while I put in our order?”
There was almost nobody there, because we had come before dinner. Annabelle grabbed a wad of napkins before spreading them all over a table. She was as focused as when she played tea party with Emily, who was coordinated enough to drink pretend tea. Logan came back with a small tray with all of our gelato on it. He quickly gave Annabelle her double chocolate chunk gelato and gave Emily and me our vanilla gelato. He handed everyone a sturdy recyclable spoon and dug in. There was near silence at our table beyond Annabelle’s enthusiastic lip-smacking as she ate her double chocolate chunk gelato at the highest speed she could manage. There was gelato all over her face by the time that she had finished her scoop. Emily and I were sharing a double scoop of vanilla. She was eating at a sedate pace, secure in the knowledge that I wouldn’t touch her scoop. Logan was done with his gelato almost as soon as Annabelle; he loved ice cream just as much as she did. Emily and I were still eating when Logan took Annabelle to the playground that was nearby. Emily put her spoon down and said, “I’m done.” I scooped the last of my scoop into my mouth before taking Emily out. She was more placid than her sister, but she was fully capable of throwing a full tantrum if Annabelle got to do things that she didn’t get to do. I helped her use the slide while Annabelle swung with Logan.