Page 62 of That Baby (That Boy 3)
Chase--who at almost ten is very tall for his age--grabs Dani's hand, pulling her toward the play set and yelling, "Dad, can we climb on the rock wall now?"
Phillip reluctantly lets go of me. "Yeah, come over here and I'll show you how to do it."
"We already know how, Dad," our daughter, Haley James says, rolling her eyes. She's only eight, but has already mastered the teen eye roll. She's also a walking contradiction, tough as nails but always wearing something pink or glittery. Because she's our only girl--and I know my mom would have done it if she were here--I totally indulge and encourage her love of all things sparkly and girly. She's a beast on the soccer field, a good gymnast, and both she and Dani are on competitive cheer teams.
Danny, Lori, and their son, Damon--who will be a fourth grader this fall with Chase--let themselves in the backyard, carrying sacks of fireworks.
"We got a ton of sparklers!" Damon says. "And Dad says Chase, Dani, and me can light smoke bombs and snakes this year all by ourselves, if it's okay with you."
"I'm okay with that," I say. "As long as you're caref--"
"Damon," Lori chastises. "I told you that I don't know if I'm okay with it. I think you're all too young to be playing with fire."
Damon and Danny both roll their eyes, giving Lori the same look. It makes me laugh. Damon is going to give them hell as a teen. Lori will freak out and Danny will secretly be proud.
"He's not going to be playing with fire, Lori," Danny says. "Didn't you ever get to light smoke bombs?"
"I'm sure I wasn't allowed until I was in high school," she states.
"We did when we were young," I tell her. "And they won't have fire. They'll have a punk. And I'm sure the guys will give them a safety lesson first."
"Says the girl who used to have bottle rocket wars with us," Phillip says to me under his breath.
"Mommy, Mommy!" our middle son, Ryder says, "do I get to too?"
I bend down and push his sweaty bangs out of his big brown eyes, ready to explain to him that he can't until he's older, but Dani beats me to it.
"Ry, you can't yet because you're only a kindergartener. When you are big like us, then you can."
He points to his chest. "I'm not a kindergartener. I'll be in first grade!"
"How about we let you choose the colors?" Dani says sweetly, herding him toward the swing set. "Get on, I'll push you."
"Look at me, Dani!" Chase yells, showing off as he swings his way across the monkey bars without falling.
"I can do that too, I think," Damon says, running over to try it. Even though they are in the same grade, Damon is almost a year younger than Chase and is always trying to keep up.
Chase effortlessly leaps to the ground and says to Phillip, "Dad, can I do it now? Remember, that thing you promised?"
Phillip nods his head, pulls out his pocketknife, and hands it to Chase.
I watch as Chase starts carving something on the new swing set.
"What's he doing?" I ask Phillip.
"Just wait and see," he says.
Chase works slowly and intently, and I can tell whatever he's doing is important to him. When he's finished, he stands back and looks at his work, folds the knife up, and says, "Dani! Damon! Come look!"
Damon stops playing, looks at Chase's carving, and goes, "Cool," but Dani stares at it, a broad grin spreading across her face. It's the same grin I used to see on her dad when he wanted to do something that was going to get us in trouble.
She punches Chase in the shoulder and says, "Tag, you're it."
I close my eyes tightly, praying he didn't carve bad words into the swing set.
While the kids are running around, Phillip leads me over to the carving.
D.D.
+
C.M.
+
D.D.
=
BFFs 4Ever
Tears fill my eyes as I run my hand over the letters, instantly remembering the dream I had when I was in the hospital so many years ago. "How did he know about your carving?" I ask Phillip.
"I showed him the tree when we were up at my parents' last month. He asked me if he could do it on the new swing set. We'll never be able to tear it down now."
"We're really lucky, Phillip."
"Every morning when I wake up next to you, I remember the day I thought I lost you both. I'm grateful for every day we're together."
"Me too," I say as Madden pulls on my shorts.
"Wadder," he says.
"Does he want a drink?" Phillip asks.
"No," I laugh. "He wants to play with the water."
Phillip turns on the garden hose and hands it to him.
Madden puts his finger across the end of the hose and sprays Phillip as a thank you.
"Ah, shit, that's cold," he yells.
"Shit cold!" Madden repeats. "Shit cold!"
"I think we need a beer," Danny says, heading up to the deck where we'll be able to sit down and still keep an eye on the kids.
Lori, Phillip, and I follow him. By the time we're all sitting down, Danny has beers open and passed around.
"Here's to the good life," he says as we raise our bottles in a toast.
I giggle. "Remember the first time you said that?"
"I do," Phillip says. "Eighth grade. That was the night we got drunk in the tent."
"I didn't get drunk, Lori. I was a good girl," I say in my defense.
Lori takes a swig of beer then teases, "Was that the one time you were good?"
"Probably," Phillip teases back. "Just think, it won't be too much longer and our kids will be doing the same thing."
Danny shakes his head. "I still feel like a kid. It's hard to believe we have six kids running around down there."
"And just think, Dani will start middle school soon," Phillip says. "They say once that happens the next thing you know, they're off to college."
"That's sad," I say, looking down on our children. Life is wonderfully crazy hectic for all of us with sports and jobs and life, but we can't imagine it any other way.
"I was throwing the ball with Chase and Damon the other day," Danny says. "Chase has a strong arm and a naturally good throwing motion. He could be a great quarterback someday. He's going to be tall too, I think."
"The doctor thinks he'll end up about six-five," I say.
"Your son has magic hands," Phillip says. "He can catch better than anyone on their team."
Danny gets a proud father grin. "I think we should do another toast." We hold up our bottles again. "Here's to our children."
"Here's to our children," Phillip and I repeat, looking into each other's eyes. I feel so incredibly blessed to be married to him. He's so sweet and still treats me like a princess. My eyes wander down his shirtless body.
"And our beautiful wives," Danny adds.
"And to our husband's abs," I say, giving Phillip a wink then clinking Lori's bottle.
