by Jen Luerssen
Of course, my dads are there for me, giving me space and time to spend with Bea or be by myself. Over the past few weeks, I’ve had more than two spa visits, eaten my weight in chocolate gelato, and have taken Bea to every fun kid-friendly outing in the area.
About a week after we got the lawyer letters, Sebastian started coming over to spend time with Bea. It really hasn’t been fair to keep them apart, and she asked about him every day. I spy on them from my window like some weirdo. It hurts to watch them together. They are so smitten with each other.
Today, when he pulls into the drive, Bea runs to him and he picks her up and kisses her neck making her giggle. She gives him the sweetest hug, holding his cheek with one hand and the back of his head with the other. Bea is serious about her hugs. He straps her into his car and they take off.
“You let him take her out?” I ask Peyton as I reach the bottom of the stairs.
“Oh, settle down, Bunny, it’s not like he’s going to run away with her,” he says rolling his eyes. “He just took her to the square for some hot chocolate and to go on the swings.”
“Fine, if we never see her again, I will blame you 100%,” I say filling a glass with water.
“Kit, calm down. If he took her, then he’d never get you back and that is his end goal.” I fiddle with my water glass, rotating it on the counter.
“How do you know that?” I ask.
“Because he tells me almost every day,” he says getting some cheese from the fridge.
“You talk to him every day?” I ask feeling slightly betrayed.
He shrugs. “We don’t talk on the phone everyday but we do text several times a day.” He scrolls on his phone, stops, then shows me a text thread between him and Sebastian.
Peyton: Bea asked where you were today. Told her you were in the jungle.
Monkey dad: The mighty jungle, waiting for my little Bea-nut. Tell her I’m only thinking about the next time I get to see her.
Peyton: I told her and she said ‘hurry, A-bat-in!’
Monkey dad: How’s her mom holding up?
Peyton: Same.
Monkey dad: Make her smile today for me?
Peyton: Always.
“Did you Snape my baby daddy?” I ask, handing the phone back.
“That’s what you got out of that exchange?” he asks looking disappointed in me.
I shrug. “Did you make me smile?” I ask.
He stands up straight, crosses his eyes and does an excellent pratfall. When I bend down to help him up, I’m laughing. I can’t help it.
“Looks like I did,” he says dusting himself off dramatically. “Bunny, he loves you, he loves Bea, he even told Sig and I that he loved us. That is a good man and you should not throw that away.”
“Are you telling me what to do, Daddy?” I ask.
“My stars, of course not,” he says in full southern drawl, hand at his chest. “Like you’d listen to little ole me?”
“I do listen to you, and I agree, Sebastian is a good man and a great father. I just am having issues getting past a few things. I’m not convinced that he is in love with me or if he is, he doesn’t trust me. That’s worse.”
He sighs. “Bunny, you have to make a decision and I want you to take time and really think about it. Are you willing to give up on someone who loves you deeply and made a simple mistake?”
“You’re right, Daddy, I will take my time and consider all of it,” I say and we drop it.
***
The next day Sig wakes me up before Bea to tell me we are going on another spa adventure. This time he’s taking me to the Fairmont spa off the square and I’m getting the works.
“Ugh, Papa, enough with the spa already,” I say, throwing the covers over my head.
“Hasenfürzchen, you and I will go together, Daddy has a surprise for you after. You can wear your pajamas because I have something for you to wear after.”
I narrow my eyes at him. “It’s not another ‘get Kit laid’ dress, is it?”
“I’m shocked you would think that of me,” he says in mock indignation. “But, yes, it’s pretty sexy and I think it could work in your favor.”
“Papa!” I shout at him getting out of bed to shove him. “Stop being inappropriate.”
“Impossible,” he dismisses me with a wave as he heads outside my door. “Be down in five minutes or I’ll carry you out.”
I stamp my foot in my best Veruca Salt impression. “Brute!”
The spa is wonderful and they buff, wax, shine, and make-up me from head to toe. When it’s time to go, Sig hands me the garment bag he brought and my black lace Louboutins I got in Paris. I unzip the bag and am blown away. The dress is a long-sleeved shift with thin vertical stripes in peacock colors, black, teal, pink, and chartreuse. The lines between the stripes are blurry and it looks like the material was painted with watercolors. It may very well have been. The hem hits me about mid-thigh, so it’s too short as usual. Sig has never, not once, made me a long dress. He says that someone of my stature needs a shorter hemline so my legs can lengthen me.
When I’m dressed with my shoes on, I inspect myself in a full-length mirror. My legs do look impossibly long, and the high, long ponytail the hairdresser made looks so sleek and sexy. My make-up is a little heavier than I’d normally do it but who cares? Wherever we are going today I’ll be fine, the only person who I’d care to see me like this, won’t.
Sig claps when I come out of the locker room. “Oh, Hasenfürzchen, you look like an angel.”
“Thanks, Papa, I love the dress. Seems a little fancy for daytime,” I say and he shrugs. He is wearing a gray suit with a blue shirt and tie with bunnies, bees, and monkeys on it. I smile. “Nice tie,” I say winking.
“All my favorites are on it,” he says placing his hand on my back leading me out to the waiting car. He opens the door but stops me from getting in. Instead, he hands me a silk scarf. “Put this over your eyes. Where we are going is a surprise.”
I roll my eyes but I take the scarf and tie it under my ponytail, careful to not tie it too tight and ruin my make-up. We drive for about 15 minutes and when we get to our destination, I understand why he blindfolded me. I wouldn’t have agreed to come here if I could see where we were going.
My car door opens and there is Sebastian. He is in a suit too and looks too good, I may be drooling.
“Hi, Kit,” he says softly. “Welcome home.” I do a double take at him. His hair is neatly combed, his face is shaved clean and he looks like a five-course meal. He is holding his hand out.
“Home?” I ask. “This isn’t the wine cellar.”
His smile is relieved and the warmth in his eyes sets me at ease. “Chaton, consider that our summer home,” he teases back. I take his offered hand and follow him to the porch of his beautiful house. “This is our everyday house, if you wish. Although, I’d live in a cellar if that’s what it’d take to have you.”
That’s some swoon-y shit right there but I’m bookmarking that for later. “We’ll see.”
He leads me past Sig and Peyton, who is also in a suit and holding Bea who is in a Sig original herself. Looks like he used the same material for her dress but hers is longer and poofier. I wave at them and she laughs.
“Mameow and Ma-a-bat-in,” she says with a giggle and we all join her because she’s just too cute for words.
“That’s right, little Buzz,” I hear Sig say.
When I make it inside I stop in my tracks.
“What is this?” I ask Sebastian who is standing in his living room lined with twinkly lights and beautiful little paintings.
“This is for you,” he says and this time I legit swoon.
Salty Precious Moments
Sebastian
I’m nervous. Kit walks to the first painting spotlighted. Her mouth drops open and I think I see a bit of a tear. The painting is a replica of an adorable photo of her and her dads when she was pregnant. She is in the middle of a full hearty laugh and they both have a hand on her belly.
In the painting, I added a few things to the picture, including a tiny bee, a peacock and a salt shaker.
She sighs and walks to the next painting. This is one of her and Bea the day she was born. The salt shaker is a little bit bigger than the bee and peacock I painted as a pattern on the baby blanket. The next painting is one of her laughing again, with Bea on her hip. This time the peacock is far in the background and the bee buzzes around the baby. On the baby’s white onesie, I painted a salt shaker.
Kit looks at me with a watery smile. “These are beautiful, Sebastian.”
I take her hand. “There are a few more,” I say and lead her up the stairs. In the hallway, there are two more paintings, one of Bea’s first Christmas and the other her first birthday. The three items in the other paintings are even more prevalent in these.
We walk to the end of the hall where my room is and in there are three more paintings. All three are of me and Bea at different events over the past few months. This time the peacock is the biggest of the three objects.
Kit’s eyes are still sparkling with what I hope are joyful tears. “This is almost too much, Salty.” I gasp because I haven’t heard that nickname in a while.
“There’s one more thing,” I say and lead her back out into the hallway and to the door to what used to be my office. “Open it.”
She opens the door and now it’s her turn to gasp. The room is painted a pale blue with a few fat bees floating around and some flowers for them to land on. There’s a tiny toddler bed in the middle covered by a giant petal. There are also two more paintings. One, a picture of the three of us at the Christmas fair and the other just Kit and I staring at each other like we are in love. My mom took it on New Year’s Eve right before we kissed. In this one, the little fat bumble bee is floating around our heads.
“This is amazing, Salty, how did you do all this?” she asks.
“It wasn’t hard, just took some time to do the paintings, everything else I had help with,” I say while taking my coat off. I drape it over the huge armchair Sig convinced me to buy. He said he could see all three of us in it reading with Bea.
When I start to unbutton my shirt, Kit starts to look at me strangely. “Whatcha doing there, Salty? My parents and our kid are right downstairs.”
I laugh and get my shirt off. “I wanted to show you something.”
“I’m sure you do,” she says.
I shake my head. “I like the way you think, but I want to show you this,” I say pointing to the bandage over my heart.
“Oh, my bad,” she says and I just smile at her.
“Kit, I love you and Bea so much. I hope the paintings helped you see that even before I was here to be a parent, I was there with you in spirit. Now that I’m here I’m not going anywhere. I just need you to meet me halfway.”
She walks to me and places her hand over the bandage. “Did I break it too bad?” she asks with a wink.
“Just cracked a little but it’s all healed now,” I say and peel the bandage off.
“Mother fucking swoony bastard,” she mumbles as she gets a closer look at the tattoo I got a few days ago. It’s a peacock wrapped around a salt shaker with a bee like hers buzzing over them.
“I’m just a little hurt you didn’t get Vikings on there too,” Peyton jokes from the door. “Is it okay to come in? Bea wants hugs.”
“Hugs are always available for my Bea,” I say and she runs to me and I pick her up for the embrace.
“Ma A-bat-in nakeys,” she says, slapping my bare shoulder.
I chuckle and hold her a little closer. “Hey, sweetheart, do you like this room?” I ask.
She wiggles so I let her down and she explores the bed, the big chair and then asks to be picked up to look at the paintings. “Das, Bea and Mameow and Ma A-bat-in. Ooh, das nice. I yike it.” She squeals and claps her hand.
I give her a squeeze and let her down. I figured she’d be an easy sell. It’s her mother I’m worried about. Kit is admiring the painting of us almost kissing. I shrug my shirt back on before I approach her.
“Hi,” I say and rest my arm across her lower back, resting my hand on her hip.
She leans her head on my shoulder. “Hi, aww you put your shirt back on, sad face.”
I turn and whisper into her ear, “I’ll take it off again for you later.”
“I’d be open to that,” she says and turns to me. “What is all this, Sebastian? Is it just to say you’re sorry?”
“No, it’s an invitation, one that is open. I want you and Bea in my home, forever. I’m willing to wait as long as you need to get used to that idea. In the meantime, I’ll have a place for Bea when you stay with me. Your dads and I came up with a custody agreement we think will be fair, with your approval, of course.”
“Give me the TL;DR version, Salty,” she says and I kiss her nose.
“If you decide to move in with me, we will have full custody of Bea and they will get her two weekends a month as grandpas, also two weeks in the summer. Obviously, she’ll see them all the time since they will take care of her while we are working until she goes to school. That’s the too long; didn’t read, version.”
She taps her lips. “So, it’s the same except Bea will live here with you and me?” she asks.
“When you’re ready, until that time I will see her nights and weekends at your dads’ house. I’m hoping I’ll still be able to take you on dates, if you’ll let me,” I say.
“Hmm, that’s it?” she asks.
“Well, there’s one more thing,” I say and she looks skeptical. “I would like you to come to the Monkey as a full partner. Mikey and I will sell you part of our shares so it will be split three ways, with Joe keeping his 1% ownership, long story, you definitely don’t want to know.”
“Wrong, I do want to know, but holy shit, are you sure? I’m happy to work with you guys and then go off on my own after I’ve used you for all the work experience.” She bats her eyelashes at me.
“Gee, thanks. Again, it’s up to you, Chaton, I just want you to be happy. These are my attempts at bringing you joy.”
She curls her arms around my neck. “I love you, Sebastian and there’s nothing I want more than to live here with you and our Bea, and I accept the partner offer. I’m saying yes to all of it.” I lean down and kiss her and it feels like the beginning of something amazing.
“Dis a big goil bed, A-bat-in?” Bea asks in a super high voice, interrupting our kiss.
“It sure is, for daddy’s big girl,” Kit says and I turn to her eyes wide. She kneels in front of Bea. “Bea, Sebastian is your daddy, so you can call him that instead of his name if you want.”
The smile on Bea’s face when she processes this information hits me all the way to my toes. “My daddy? I yike dat,” she says and hugs Kit.
“I like it too,” I say kneeling to join them. “I love you my little Bea.”
I yove you too, daddy,” she says and I scoop her up.
“Do you have my secret present?” I ask her and she puts her finger in front of her lips and gives an exaggerated “shhh.”
“I gots it but I no tell mameow,” she says proudly.
“I know, you did a great job, can I have the present?” I ask her and hold my hand out. She takes the small box out of her pocket and I take it.
“Kit Becker,” I say as I turn to her. We are both still kneeling which is appropriate. “There’s one more thing,” I say and pop open the box with the peacock blue sapphire ring nestled inside.
The end...
Just a Salty F*cking Epilogue
Sebastian
A few years later...
We are very late for Jack’s wedding and it’s on our property. This is what happens when you have a nine-year-old and two-year-old twins. The twins are going with their grandpas but Bea will be with us at the ceremony. She said she just had to see the wedding kiss or she’d die. My daughter, the romantic drama queen. Her brothers are the exact opposite. They are both quiet, sensitive and are only interested in
playing with a ball or the set of drums Uncle Joe bought them. Yep, Joe is officially off the friend’s list for that one.
Our golf cart pulls up along the big building and then we turn to see the tavern yard decorated to the hilt with flowers, lanterns, and greens. Joe and Betsy went all out for Jack, Joe’s brother, and his bride to be, Kel. Bea hops off the minute we stop and runs ahead to where the other kids are all playing by the gazebo where the ceremony will be held.
I laugh as I get out myself and hold a hand out to my beautiful wife. “Chaton, have I told you how hot you look today?” I ask and she does look amazing in her original Sig creation. It matches Bea’s dress but tighter and shorter. It’s also open in the back to highlight her tattoo. “Looks like Papa is trying to get you laid again,” I say and kiss her on the side of her mouth so I don’t ruin her lipstick.
“Like you need a dress for that?” she jokes. “If he only knew how you can’t keep your hands off me, he’d start designing me jumpsuits with a hundred buttons.”
“Like that’d stop me,” I say. “I love you.”
She smiles and pats my cheek. “I love you too, Salty. Now let’s party!”
***
Jack and Kel’s wedding ceremony is my favorite kind, short. Maybe that sounds grouchy, but it’s not. All you need to do is pledge your love to your future spouse, exchange rings, and kiss. Everything else is just filler. We all just want to get to the free booze anyway.
Lia sings an original Lia and the Licks’ song about everlasting love as they kiss and there’s not a dry eye in the joint. Jack is like a brother to all of us, even though he’s Joe’s actual sibling. Frank and I helped Joe raise that kid, and thank goodness we were there to show him how to be cool.