by Lena Little
“You’re not going to ask me to marry you?”
“Daddy’s making the decision this time, no if’s, and’s, or but’s. You're my little girl forever now, whether you like it or not,” he adds, the last part a joke.
“Of course I like it, I love it,” I hold back though, and he reads me like an open book.
“I’m already the happiest man on earth because I have you, but what I always need to remember is that I have to have your permission for the big decisions.” He pauses. “Will you marry me?”
“Of course,” I say, a bit too late considering the ring is already on my finger and I’ve accepted, but still I just wanted to hear him ask, and wanted him to know we need to be equals in all ways.
Despite his age, experience, and the fact that I trust him to make ninety-nine point nine percent of the decisions, I still want to at least feel like I have a choice…even though fate brought us together and my choice of partner in life was sealed instantly. Lucky for me I got the only man I ever wanted, and he got the only woman for him. Perfect…that’s exactly what we are together.
“I love you,” he says, spinning me around the room like I’m living the childhood I pretty much missed, hanging from the merry-go-round while it whirls at high speed.
“I love you,” I parrot, and our two lips meet.
“Let me outta here!” my mom cries, and we both laugh. Not at her, but because we both know that together, we’re going to work to get her back to a functioning adult, a proper part of society…and a respectable grandmother to our children, because Jake’s already decided that I’m pregnant.
And what Daddy says, goes. I’m a good girl after all.
Daddy’s girl.
Epilogue
Jewel
One year later
“Wow, that was one heck of an incline on that hill,” mom says, bending over at the waist with her hands on her knees as she stands in front of our home. “Mind if I grab a shower at yours?”
“You’re always welcome, mom. You know that.”
“I know, but living just down the street I don’t want to be a burden, all up in your business. You’re a recently married couple and you need your time together.”
“Which is exactly another reason why we love having you. And you know Jasmine loves you too,” I say, bouncing our little baby girl in my arms.
“And Jasper,” Jake says, coming out of the house.
“Ruff!” Ramsay barks, as if to say don’t forget about me.
“That dog is sure as heck hard to keep up with.”
“He’s been a blessing in so many ways,” I add, looking at the guy we took with us from our old home to our new location in Colorado. After mom finished rehab we wanted to make sure she had a completely fresh start, including all new people surrounding her.
Jake sold the house and we bought a new place in the foothills of the mountains, and he bought mom a place just a few streets over so we can make sure she stays on course. We’ve worked hard to break her of all her addictions and luckily Jake was there with enough experience to guide me through the process. He was quick to admit he’s not a professional of any sort but suggested we get mom ‘addicted’ to something healthy. And it worked!
She runs five kilometers each and every morning, with Ramsay accompanying her almost every morning along the way. They’re like the perfect couple although Ramsay might have some competition soon.
Apparently mom’s been crossing paths with some hot mountain climbing guy, as she describes him, most mornings, despite choosing different paths just out of curiosity.
I’m pretty sure these random crossing of paths isn’t very arbitrary and I’m expecting something to happen soon. As a matter of fact, I’m going to push the issue and see what I can find out right now.
“Did you see the rock climbing guy today?”
“You mean Mason?” As soon as she says the words she realizes she’s slipped.
“Oh, you know his name now?” I tease, now that I have more information about her mystery hunk.
“Just got it this morning, and he got my number and hopefully already called and left a message for later tonight. At least that’s what he said he’d do. Mentioned something about mountain biking at sunset with our dogs. Not sure how that works with the dogs in tow, but he said he knows how to make it happen so I trust him.”
Just like I trust my Jake.
“Okay. Just let me grab a shower real quick,” my mom says, stepping past me. Her body is rock hard now and it’s crazy to think she’s actually a pretty darn good runner. She barely left the house just over a year ago and now here she is entering races around town and placing respectably.
“Want to take the kids out back for breakfast?” Jake asks.
“I’d love to.”
Moving through the house and out the back, Jake carefully sits Jasper next to Jasmine and then runs inside and whips up some scrambled eggs for the adults and grabs some baby food for the twins. Their birth came exactly, to the day, on what would have corresponded with me getting pregnant that night I lost my innocence, and gained these two adorable bundles of joy in return…and so much more.
I swear the man’s addicted to cast iron skillets right now and being that he’s a jeweler and into hard stone and things of that nature, I know it’s not a fad. I’m not complaining one bit though. Just when I thought the man couldn’t have any more skills than he already does, now he’s attempting to master the kitchen.
But all that really matters is that he’s already mastered my heart.
I reach down and give Ramsay a good rub under his neck, smiling at his collar which Jake made as soon as we got here to Colorado. Of course, it says, “Jake and Jewel’s Best Bud, Aside from Each other,” underneath the stone he embedded in the collar.
What can I say, the man is possessive about everything in his life…especially us.
He’s been talking about homeschooling the kids since before they were born and Jasmine not dating until she’s forty-one. Jake says if it worked for him why can’t it work for her. Of course, when I remind him that he married me at eighteen he stutters and expresses his displeasure.
I don’t mind though, because it gives me a chance to get bratty and I always know what’s going to happen after that.
Despite having twins, and a dog, and a mom we need to keep an eye on, just in case, Jake seems to have an endless supply of energy, and shall we say…enthusiasm…for me still.
He worships the ground I walk on and my body equally as much.
“I added some avocado and cooked them in butter. It’s healthier,” he says as I dig in.
“Um, these are so darn good,” I say, wishing my fork was a snow shovel so I could pile the eggs in at an even faster rate. “But isn’t butter and avocado filled with fat?”
“The healthy kind. Eat up,” he says, not missing a beat.
“Jake, I’ve gained ten pounds since we got here.”
“Good. That’s ten less to go. Now eat, little girl, before Daddy comes over there and feeds you…or spanks you first.”
“I like the sound of both of those ideas,” I say, before pausing. “But honestly. You don’t think I’m getting too big?”
“Too big?” he stops, his normally good manners suddenly lacking as his mouth falls open with food in it. If he’s responding this way I absolutely know he thinks I’m crazy.
“Woman, you need more weight…lots more. I’ve got things I want to do to you you couldn’t even dream of. I’m just waiting until your body is ready to take the punishment.”
“Birthstone. Birthstone. Birthstone,” I tease, yelling out the safe word I still haven’t had to use yet. Jake is so attentive and really understands me. He knows when to push, both in the way we play sexually, and in life, but he also knows he can bend me, but he never pushes so hard it breaks me.
And do I ever appreciate the pushes. Without him I never would have branched off and started my own Etsy store, designing and making handmade chokers for women with a
, shall we say, a similar lifestyle that we have.
Everything is personalized and I spend a lot of time with clients before, during, and after the purchase. I know what it’s like being with a possessive man from my own firsthand experience. And I want to make sure we get the collars and chokers right, so when those possessive men from around the world buy from us, they have the kind of good experience putting their hands on their claimed women the first time they’re wearing our products, as Jake and I do with the things we design for that part of our own intimate lives.
Not that there’s any separation from intimacy and everyday life.
That’s what I’ve come to really understand. Being Jake’s little isn’t something I can turn off and on anymore, nor would I ever want to. Sure, there are times we play and times we’re adults, but we live this life of trust, respect, and revel in the various types of fulfillment we give each other twenty-four hours a day seven days a week.
It’s who we are. It’s what makes us tick. And it makes our lives just as magical as my favorite Disney movies, which I know I’ll be watching this afternoon. Most likely One Hundred and One Dalmatians.
“Daddy, can we get a new puppy for the twins? For Ramsay to have a friend?” I beg, turning my bottom lip up.
“Are you sure it’s not because mommy wants one, little girl?”
“Maybe!” I say, my face turning into a big smile.
“Just be honest with Daddy then. Try again.”
“Daddy?”
“Yes, honey.”
“Can I have a puppy?”
“What kind of puppy?”
“A Dalmatian.”
“Hmmm. Dalmatians are known to be high maintenance and a bit whiny. That means you might have to spank him if he’s true to the breed, although then again we don’t spank dogs, you’ll have to teach him to behave.”
“I know how to behave because you taught me,” I giggle.
“That’s true.” He pauses. “Is the bedroom clean?”
“Bed’s made. The shower and toilet have been cleaned and mommy sent out all her Etsy orders this morning already. Mailman picked them up.”
“The mailman saw mommy in her pajamas?” he snarls.
“No, Daddy! I leave them in the box and never let other men see me like that.”
“Good girl. Sounds like this afternoon we’re going puppy shopping.”
“Yay!” I cheer and both our little babies giggle in delight. “Is it just me or is that the sweetest sound in the world?”
“It’s tied for sweetest sound.”
I furrow my brows. “What could be better?”
“Watch. Daddy will show you.”
“Ready Daddy,” I say with great anticipation.
He opens his mouth and I practically jump out of my seat, but he only pretends to speak saying nothing.
“Daddy!” I say at the way he’s teasing me.
“I love you,” he says.
“I love you,” I reply and he snares my mouth in a kiss.
A few seconds I pull back and look at him quizzically. “When are you going to show me the sweetest sound that’s tied with the laughter of our babies?”
“I’m not going to show you anything. You just showed me.”
“You mean…?”
“Yep. When you say those three words to Daddy it hits him everywhere.”
“Even in his private parts?”
“There too, but most importantly here,” he says, taking my free hand and putting it over his heart, which to my surprise is beating rapidly.
“Those words do that to you.”
“Every. Single. Time. Because every time I look at you I somehow fall even a little bit more in love and believe me…I’m already all in. For life.”
“For life.”
“For life my love, my wife, the mother of my children. My everything. I love you.”
“I love you,” I say, and I giggle while Daddy laughs, knowing I just said his favorite three words. Come to think of it, they’re mine too.
Because I get to hear them from him, the only man I’ve ever loved, dozens of times a day. Just like the dozens of roses he often gives me, reminding me that I’m the most precious jewel of them all. At least in his eye.
“I love you, Daddy,” I say once more.
“I love you, my little Jewel.”
Extended Epilogue
Jake
Twelve years later
“All strapped in?” I ask, looking at our second set of twins Julian and Julia, as Jewel shoots me a look.
I cough, trying to hide my smile at the double entendre of the question. These days Jewel loves nothing more than to be strapped to the bed, strapped to our St. Andrew’s Cross, or just about anywhere else I can restrain her. Hell, I even strapped her to a rock last year when we went climbing for my birthday and pleased her all night in the fresh air under the full moonlight, howling like the feral wolf she’s turned me into.
“Ready, dad,” they say, and I double-check to make sure they’re securely seated on their respective ponies before checking out the same for our older twins Jasmine and Jasper and Josephine and Josiah, who although not twins, were born just a year apart and look more alike than they don’t.
Fortunately, the kids take after their mother, which is a good thing because I’ve got a face for radio. I’m more of the muscle side of the equation, looking more like a tough guy from a Guy Ritchie movie than Henry Cavill. That’s fine by me though. People know not to mess with my family or else they have to deal with the tough guy that runs it with an iron fist.
But truth be told, I’ve become more of a big Teddy Bear as I age. I still demand discipline from our kids, instilling a strong work ethic in each of them and the confidence and belief that they can do anything they put their minds to, but I leave plenty of wiggle room for them to be in control of their own lives.
Sure, I make the decisions for the family, but I make sure they’re in line with what we all want. It’s a technique that I refined over the years thanks to my little Jewel, my wife.
It’s one thing to be a Daddy dom, but it’s another altogether to be a bull in a China shop. That’s not what I’m after.
And what we’re after today is a nice day of horseback riding in the Rockies, a dream day for most families, including ours. But then again every day is a dream day when I have my wife, my kids, and even our two dogs by our side.
Ramsay’s getting up there in years too, dog years that is, but lucky he also found love with an Afghan Hound, who looks just like Ruby from Lady and the Tramp II. And that’s just what we named her, after rescuing her from a junkyard that had been abandoned, just like she had been.
I can hardly believe I’ve watched most Disney movies at least twenty times. Ten times with the kids and ten with Jewel, who’s still a kid at heart. And I’ll be darned if it doesn’t wear off on me.
My passport says I’m fifty-three now, but my doctor says I have the health and body of a thirty-three year old athlete, which probably explains why I still have an insatiable appetite for my wife, who I satisfy multiple times each day, despite having six children and the two of us running separate, yet interlinked, businesses.
Let’s just say thank God for Jewel’s mom, and her husband Mason. Seems he was watching her do those runs a dozen years ago. And as soon as he caught up to her he grabbed her tight and never let go. Which was exactly my plan with Jewel.
And still is and always will be.
“Ready, honey?”
“Ready,” she says, helmet on like a good girl, just like all the kids and even me. I wouldn’t have been caught dead in a helmet years ago, but now I realize life is so much more than just me. I never had a death wish or anything like that, but as a single guy, you just go for it without thinking of the consequences. Now, I couldn’t imagine waking up without my health, being able to toss my kids in the air and catch them, play catch in the back yard, or go hiking…or horseback riding on days like today, our Julia and Julian’s birthday.
>
Our little caravan takes off, just as the sun rises and a smile creeps across my face. What a day, and I get to share it all with the ones that matter most.
I have a reputation for working with rare, hard to find, and priceless jewels. I just laugh at that, because I know the real truth.
There’s only one real priceless jewel in the whole wide world, and I’ve seen them all. Lucky for me that jewel is my Jewel, forever and always.
Will I always be possessive and protective of what’s mine? Damn right.
“How’s your horse, Daddy?” Jewel winks, knowing the term won’t raise an eyebrow with the kids, even though it has a double meaning just like the one I threw out there earlier.
“She’s obeying perfectly,” I shoot back. “She’s a good girl.”
“Oh really?” Jewel plays along.
“Yeah, or at least she’s okay. There’s really another good girl that does it for me,” I continue, pushing the line of our wordplay a bit.
“Me, daddy!” Julia shouts.
“Me, me, me,” Jasmine tries.
“Don’t forget me, daddy!” little Josephine adds.
“Trick answer. It’s all of you!”
And all my girls cheer together, riding closer to their mom, my true little girl, and giving her a high five.
“I love you guys,” I say to our entire family, with my mother-in-law and Mason already riding up ahead a bit.
“We love you, Daddy,” they all reply.
“Daddy,” I say quietly. It means so much from the ones I love, and can be interpreted in many different ways. But to me, it means the same to all of them.
Love. Because that’s what family is. Love. Commitment. Togetherness. Always.
Family first, second, third, and every position thereafter because at the end of it all that’s all that matters. I learned that a dozen years ago, taught to me by my little girl.
The wisdom of children, right? They’re the ones who really know the meaning of life, and that’s exactly what they mean to me. Everything.