by Jillian Neal
“We’re you talking to Daddy, or did I dream that?”
“He brought the papers by, and I can’t even figure out how to put that coffee maker you picked out together or I’d make you coffee.”
She sat up and rubbed her eyes before giving him his favorite smile.
“We have a whole week and no one knows we’re here, so we can hang out, and unpack, and have lots of sex, and you can give me baths, and then we can have more sex, and we can get everything in the house arranged, and then have more sex.” She giggled hysterically.
“That sounds perfect to me, baby. The only problem is we have enough dishes and cookware to feed an army, but we have no food other than leftover pizza.”
Gazing down at his wife, Rainer was captivated by her replete smile. It was a new day and she was in his arms. That was all that mattered.
“Well, then, we’ll go out and get food I guess. We can’t hide out forever.”
“Or we could have leftover pizza for breakfast, and then I do think we have several friends that would be happy to bring us some groceries. Maybe, in a day or two, we’ll venture out see how many flashbulbs go off in our faces.”
“Perfect,” Emily declared as she leaned up to kiss his jaw.
Life is For the Living
~Dan Vindico~
Dan sauntered into the living room yawning deeply and rubbing his eyes. He found his beautiful wife curled up on the sofa with their precious little girl.
Fionna was sipping coffee, and Aida was drinking what Dan assumed was probably grape juice out of a matching mug. He chuckled as he took in his girls watching TV with clear, throw-away, shower caps over their dark brown hair which was slathered in a green eggy mixture.
“I like it.” He teased as Fionna laughed.
“We’re going to have a beauty morning, and then we’re going to get Fionna new clothes and maybe me some too, but I don’t think I need any more. I have more now than I’ve ever had, and they don’t pinch.” Aida announced.
The child had very few outfits. It still made her uncomfortable when they bought new things for her to wear, so they’d eased up. Assuming that Fionna’s buying new clothing was probably a strategy to get Aida shopping, Dan nodded his understanding of the day’s plans.
“How you feeling, baby doll?” He kissed Fionna’s cheek as the top of her head was covered in avocado, egg, and coconut oil. He brushed a kiss along Aida’s cheek as well.
“Better.” She’d been up at five vomiting, but Dan had gotten her back to sleep after that. “That tea really helps, and Aida made me a bowl of cereal.”
“I would have made more, but I’m not allowed to touch the oven.” Aida lamented.
“You took excellent care of me.”
“I’m sorry your tummy hurts.”
“Oh, it’s okay. It only hurts when I first wake up.”
“Maybe Medio Hendricks could make you some medicine and then you won’t be sick anymore.” Medio Hendricks was the pediatrician Adeline had recommended for Aida and all of the upcoming Vindico children.
Dan and Fionna shared a glance. He was anxious to tell Aida about the baby. Fionna was hesitant, but she smiled and turned off the television.
Dan seated himself on the sofa with his girls.
“Aida, we have something that we’ve been wanting to tell you.” Fionna began. Aida nodded, but she looked worried.
Dan stepped in immediately. “The most important thing for you to know is how much Fionna and I love you, and how special you are to us, and that we always, always want you to be our little girl.”
“That’s good because I always, always want to be your little girl.” She declared. Dan’s heart swelled rapidly. “I would be very sad if I wasn’t anymore.”
“Aida, sweetheart, you will always be my girl.” He assured her vehemently.
Grinning, Aida crawled into his lap. She wanted to feel his shield.
“What did you want to tell me?”
“Well.” Fionna drew a steadying breath. “What would you think about being a big sister?”
Aida’s eyes goggled. “Are you going to adopt another little girl?”
“No.” Fionna chuckled. “Well, not right now, but I’m going to have a baby, and that means you get to be the very special big sister.”
Fear shadowed Aida’s entire face. She clung tightly to Dan’s chest. “Do you want me to go back to the orphanage?” She asked in a heartbroken whisper.
“Aida, no, never!” Fionna pled.
“No, baby, not ever! You are our baby girl just like the new baby will be.” Dan immediately vowed.
“Are you’re sure want me and the baby?”
“Yes, sweetheart, we want you and the baby very much, and just because you have a little sister doesn’t mean that Fionna and I love you any less, okay?”
Aida studied Fionna closely. “I had lots of big brothers, but I was always the baby. I never got to help.”
Grinning at her, Fionna cradled her chin in her hand. “And now you get to help, and you can show the baby how to do all kinds of things.”
“Can I hold her when she gets here?”
“Of course.”
She tucked her head in Dan’s neck as he wrapped her tiny frame up in his arms. “We love you so much, Aida.” He prayed that she would believe what they were telling her.
“And I still get to be your girl?”
“Aida, you will always be my girl, no matter what.”
Slowly, she curled up in her ball in Dan’s arms as tears leaked down Fionna’s cheeks. “I was kind of hoping you’d be excited.”
“Oh.” Aida sat back up quickly. “I am excited. I love babies, and I get to be the big sister. I promise I’ll be a good big sister and help the baby, but sometimes I like to get all snuggly like that when Dan holds me cause it makes the sunshine come back to my tummy if it gets nervous.”
“I don’t want you to be nervous, sweetie.” Fionna whispered as Aida reformed her ball and Dan felt his heart fissure.
“Will we still have beauty mornings?”
“Yes.”
“And I can still have my tea, and you’ll still read to me?” She turned her pleas on Dan.
“Every night, baby.”
A sweet smile spread across her face as she nodded. “Okay, then let’s have a baby.”
“She won’t be here for a little while. She still has to grow.” Fionna explained.
“Is she inside your tummy?” Aida moved her face inches from Fionna’s stomach to study it. Dan and Fionna tried not to laugh.
“Yep, she’s in there.”
“How did she get in there?”
Their laughter halted abruptly. “Uh,” Dan stammered as Fionna’s eyes widened. Thinking back, he recalled the last time he’d been asked that by three-year-old Keaton Haydenshire.
“God!” He announced much louder than he’d intended. “God put the baby in Fionna’s tummy.”
Aida turned to stare at him in shock. “Wow! Is He going to take her out when she’s all done growing?”
“Uh, no.” Fionna offered with a slight whimper. “Adeline will help Dan and I get her out.”
“Is that going to hurt?”
Fionna grimaced, and Dan felt his stomach churn. He’d been trying not to think about Fionna going through the pains of childbirth to get his baby girl here.
“It might hurt a little, but Dan will be with me, and after she gets here, you can come give me hugs and make me feel all better.”
“I will give you lots of hugs!” Aida assured her.
“Can I have one now?”
Grinning broadly, Aida wiggled quickly from Dan’s lap and squeezed Fionna tightly.
“I love you so much!” Renewed tears tracked down Fionna’s cheeks. Her tears still crushed him. He rubbed her shoulder, and tried to tell himself that Receivers were often emotional. The pregnancy certainly wouldn’t help.
“Does that make you sad?” Aida panicked.
“Oh no, sweetheart. It makes me so happ
y that you’re part of our family.”
“Can I ask a question?”
“Sure, baby.”
“Can I take this off of my hair? It’s kind of itchy.”
“Oh, I forgot we had this on.” Fionna giggled.
She washed Aida’s hair and instructed Dan on how to dry it while she showered.
He assumed he hadn’t quite achieved the goal when Fionna decided to French braid her hair after he’d attempted to dry it.
“Sorry,” he lamented.
“You’re gonna have a house full of girls, so there’s gonna be a lot of hair.”
“I’ll learn.”
While Fionna rectified the hair situation, Dan phoned Chancellor Wilshire to accept the position as the head of Ioses order at Venton Academy. The knot that twisted in his stomach whenever he considered becoming a mentor constricted with every word he spoke. This is for my girls. They’re all that matter. He repeated the mantra in his head.
The pay and benefits were very lucrative, but all he cared about were the vacation days and paternity leave. He agreed to look over the classes and the schedules that were listed online. He would assign all other mentors in the Ioses department their requested number of classes and hours, but he would be in charge of all senior level courses. The planning and curriculum development would fall to him. Despite his encouragement, Wilshire was less than enthused with Dan’s acceptance of the position.
When his Visium predilection shifted his shield out of the way, he knew something was indeed going on at Venton Academy. Maybe there was something he could do that wouldn’t involve college seniors.
After ending that call, Dan phoned his father to get out of the dinner Fionna had unwittingly agreed to the evening before. He tried to rid his voice of the smug arrogance that came from thinking about why Fionna was so distracted.
“Hey, Dad, listen we’ve got a lot to do today. I don’t think we can make dinner tonight.”
“Daniel,” the Governor sighed. “I already rescinded the invitation your mother gave Cad Larrington. He’s the guy your mother wanted you to meet and work for. His company is barely holding on, and he was hoping your name would save them. I also don’t think you’d be too impressed with his loose interpretation of fidelity. She didn’t know any of that. She’s worried about you, son. I don’t ask for much, but please come tonight. Let’s try to mend a few fences.”
Dan sighed. He couldn’t argue his father’s point that he didn’t ask for much. A sudden thought occurred to him. “Hey, Dad, do you know if there’s anything weird going on at Venton?” Governor Vindico was the Governor over all Gifted Academies. Perhaps, he knew what had Wilshire acting oddly.
“I know that the rumor mills are at full-capacity, but I have no proof of anything, but what does that have to do with you coming for dinner?”
“Nothing, and we’ll be there tonight, but we can’t stay too late. We’re leaving for Paris, Friday. I’m taking Fi there for her birthday, and I want Fitz and Maddie to meet Aida.”
“Good. I’m glad you’re going. I’m glad you’re finally living, son.”
“Yeah, me too, Dad.”
On the way to the mall, Dan and Fionna discussed things they would need to get for the new baby.
“She can share my room. I’m used to having lots of girls in my room.” Aida offered from the back.
Dan shook his head. “You keep your fairy princess room, and we’ll give the baby her own room.”
“But if she gets scared or has a nightmare, she can sleep with me.”
“Absolutely,” Fionna agreed.
“Can I ask another question but not about my hair this time?”
Dan chuckled. “Sure, sweetheart.”
“When the new baby comes out of Fionna’s tummy what will she call you?”
Sharing a quick glance with his wife, Dan drew a deep breath.
“She won’t be able to talk for awhile.” Fionna placated. “That’s one of the things you can help teach her.”
“But when she can talk, what will she call you?”
“Well, she’ll probably call me mommy and Dan daddy.”
Dan was certain his heart couldn’t contain all of the love he felt for his precious little girl in her pink flower seat right behind him when she asked, “If I wanted to call you that, would that be all right?”
“Oh, Aida, of course!” Fionna’s elated energy was so powerful in that moment Dan felt it flood through him without being in contact with her at all.
“I used to call my other mommy and daddy, before they went away, that wasn’t you and Dan, Mamae and Pai, so I think my heart wants me to call you and Dan mommy and daddy just like the baby because when I think about calling you that it makes it happy like the sunshine in my tummy.”
Certain that he was going to have to pull the SUV over on the interstate, Dan tried desperately blink back his tears.
“It makes our hearts so happy too, Aida.” Fionna tried to choke back a deluge of her own.
“I might forget at first.”
“It’s all right, baby. You just do it whenever you want to.” Dan assured her.
“What are we going to call the baby?”
While trying to wipe away her tears and restore her eye makeup Fionna hemmed. “Dan and I will have to think about that.”
“I can help!”
“Okay, what does my girl think we should name her baby sister?” Dan took his eyes off the road just long enough to wink at Aida.
“Maybe we could name her Wavelength like Supernova’s assistant. She’s pink!”
Dan choked back laughter as Fionna cringed.
“We will definitely think about Wavelength.” He finally managed.
Several hours, a few new summer outfits for Aida, numerous bras that would contain Fionna’s new cup size, and sandals for both of his girls later, Dan begrudgingly drove his family to his parent’s home.
Nervous energy rolled off of Aida as she buckled in and clung tightly to Sophie. Feeling deep remorse yet again over the way he’d stormed out when his parents had come over the last time, Dan blamed himself entirely.
“Aida, baby, I promise you I’ll be right there the whole time.” He vowed for the third time.
“We’re just going to have dinner, and you get to play with Olivia. It will be nice, and then we’ll come home, okay?” Fionna assured her.
“But sometimes I don’t know that I’m doing something wrong and it is wrong. What if I do that, and Grandma gets mad at me, and then Dan, I mean Daddy, gets mad at her because she gets mad at me? It will all be my fault. I don’t like it when everyone yells. It scares me.”
Feeling like he was being stabbed brutally, Dan swallowed down another knot of raw emotion. “I’m not going to get mad at Grandma, and I won’t yell. And you’re not going to do anything wrong, baby, because you’re such a sweet girl.”
“I will try very hard not to. I promise.”
Dan pulled in his parents’ driveway to find his father grinning ear to ear and awaiting them. Tim and Meredith were in the driveway with Oliver and Olivia. Kara and Zach seemed anxious for them to arrive as well.
“Oh no! Maybe we’re late. I thought she said six but I was… distracted.” Fionna panicked.
Unable to contain his chuckle, Dan shook his head at her as he opened both she and Aida’s door.
“Aida!” Olivia buzzed excitedly. “Gramps has a surprise for us!”
“You do?” Aida took Dan’s hand. She was still uncomfortable receiving gifts.
“I do, sweet girl.” Governor Vindico winked at Aida.
“What are you up to, Dad?” Dan had a feeling that this was his father’s olive branch for what had happened the last time they’d all been together and whatever might be coming tonight.
“I saw these, and it reminded me of the girls. It’s spring, so I thought they could use them now.” With that, the Governor summoned and raised the garage door. There, where the Land Rover was normally parked, sat two brand new pink and purple littl
e girl’s bicycles complete with tassels on the handlebars. Instead of a basket on the front, there was a baby doll seat in the back, which would hold the girls most prized possessions. Both bikes had hot pink training wheels.
“Oh wow!” Aida gasped.
Very nearby was a tiny Harley Davidson tricycle for Oliver. He clapped excitedly as he toddled over and needed no instruction before he climbed on.
“Thank you, but you didn’t have to get me a bike.” Aida assured the Governor.
Beaming at her, he knelt down. “I know, sweetheart, but sometimes Gramps likes to spoil his grandkids.” He popped a kiss on top of her head.
“Today has been so many surprises.” Aida announced as she let Olivia pull her towards the bikes.
They strapped their dolls in the back as Dan and the Governor strapped helmets on both of them.
“And when I first woke up I didn’t even know that it was going to be a surprise day. I thought it was just going to be a regular day. But everyday here is so great because you get to have breakfast always. And you get to get hugs whenever you want them, and you can have snacks, and play with Sophie, and read all the books you want. And if you’re cold at night, there are more quilts and Dan will lay down with me if I have a nightmare and hold me like this.” She gave herself a tight hug as Kara and Meredith swooned.
“But today was extra special because I found out that I can call Fionna and Dan Mommy and Daddy, and Dan held me so my tummy had sunshine, and I got a headband with a purple flower that I can wear tomorrow when my hair isn’t braided, and I got new sandals, and I found out that I’m gonna be a big sister, and now I get a bike!”
Fionna covered her mouth trying to hide her broad grin. She and Dan had decided that telling Aida to keep the baby a secret would be more than a seven year old could handle, so they hadn’t given her any instructions on the topic. They’d decided to wait and see if she would say anything.
Meredith and Kara were on top of Fionna in a half-second.
“Oh my gosh! I’m so excited! How are you feeling? Do you know what you’re having yet? Are you going to find out? We should go through Dan’s baby book! I just bought the cutest maternity dress at this new store downtown!”
Shaking his head, Dan took Fionna’s hand and eased her back so he could wrap his arms around her. “Let’s let my wife breathe, please.”
