Page 7

Bash

“That one, Daddy!” Allyson screeched in excitement. She sat up on my lap and grabbed the iPad from my hands. “Is sooo pretty!”

Delighting in her excitement, I pulled her closer and kissed the top of her head. “Okay, a mermaid nursery it is,” I said, adding the comforter set to the cart. I was glad she’d started to feel better. Two days had passed since I’d shared my secret and she got a bit better each day. She’d been fever-free for almost twenty hours and I was ecstatic.

“We can print this and we will take it to the hardware store for a paint match. Do you think you want your walls purple like this part, or turquoise like this part?” I pointed to different parts of the bedding as I asked.

“We can paint the walls?” she asked, her eyes wide in surprise.

“Of course we can paint your walls, silly goose. We can do anything you want.”

“I’m Allybaby.” Frowning, she patted herself.

Chuckling, I corrected myself. “I’m sorry. Of course we can paint your nursery, Allybaby.”

“That’s so ‘citing!”

Unable to take her cuteness one more second, I flipped her around in my lap and patted her butt. Her training panties gave her a bit of extra padding. “You are the best Little girl in the whole wide world.”

“Da whole wide world?” she whispered in awe.

“The. Whole. Wild. World.”

“So manies,” she said, reaching up and playing with my beard. Over the past week, I’d learned that was something she did when she was sleepy. Glancing at the clock on the mantle, I realized I’d let more time pass than I intended. It was past her bedtime.

I stood with her and she wrapped her legs around me like a koala.

“Where going?” she asked.

“It’s time for you to go to bed, sweet girl.”

“Nuuuuu,” she protested, throwing her head back dramatically.

“Yassss,” I teased, carrying her up the stairs.

“I’m thirsty.”

“I have a bottle of milk ready for you in the mini fridge upstairs.”

“ I needa potty.”

“We’ll go potty before we get you snuggled in bed.”

“I needa baf.”

“You had a bath after dinner because you were a spaghetti-face.”

“I needa feed our doggie.”

“We don’t have a doggie.”

“We should go ‘dopt a doggie and then I needa feed it.” She cupped my face in her hands and pressed her forehead to mine. “Doggie, Daddy.”

I tossed my head back in a laugh. She was so damn fun.

Carrying her into the bathroom, I set her down. “Hold your shirt up, Allybaby.” Once she did, I lowered her panties and helped her sit on the toilet.

She slapped her hands over her eyes which had become the norm when I was going anything she considered embarrassing. I’d admit the image she made while sitting on the potty, wearing my shirt, and ducky training panties would be stored in my heart forever due to the entire thing being so precious.

“Good girl,” I praised when she tinkled.

Once she finished, I stood her up, wiped her bottom, and then we washed our hands before brushing her teeth. “Which baby do you want for bednight?” I asked, referring to the rapidly growing pile of baby dolls she was collecting.

“Hmmm, Noelle.”

“Good choice!” I praised as she grabbed the dark-haired baby and ran to my bed with her. I loved the sight of her wearing my shirt, laying in my bed. Raw possession overwhelmed me as I took it all in. She wanted to take things slow and I wouldn’t rush her. The day I’d disclosed my darker habits to her, she agreed to move in with me. I’d given her the guest room because I knew she wanted to take things slow. We’d gotten her some furniture and had started picking out things for the room that would become her nursery, but until it all arrived, she was sleeping in my bed. I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to let her go when her furniture did arrive, but I understood her wishes and no matter how hard, I would respect them.

I grabbed the bottle of juice from the fridge and tucked Allyson in before walking around and climbing in beside her. She lifted her head and I slid my arm under it, supporting her. The position had become very familiar over the last few days. Holding the adult bottle with my free hand, I brought it to her mouth. She opened and sucked sweetly.

She made a soft hum in her chest as she traced my tattoos with her fingers. After a few minutes she wrapped her hands around my arm and pulled it down to rest on her belly. I rubbed her tummy in lazy circles, listening as her sucking noises became slower and softer until eventually they stopped all together. Removing the bottle, I grabbed her purple pacifier from the nightstand and slipped it into her mouth. I laid there for a long while just watching her sleep and reflecting on how thankful I was for the changes that had happened in my life recently.

***

Allyson

“Where are we going, Daddy?” I asked for the second time. Maybe if I kept asking, he’d give in.

“It’s still a secret, Allybaby.”

Sighing, I sat back in the seat and crossed my arms. “This is not my favorite game.” Daddy had told me that morning the Daddies had a big surprise for us.

“I know, Daddy’s so mean, huh?”

“Yas-huh. The meanest.”

He laughed and reached over to take my hand. “I promise it will be worth it.”

Frowning, I reached forward and turned the air in the truck on higher. Daddy’s hand was hot, he must be burning up. I stayed cold and I knew he tried to keep me warm, but that was ridiculous. He was gonna heat to death.

“Are you warm, baby?”

“No, but you are. Your skin is so hot!”

“No? I’m actually feeling a bit cold,” he said, his forehead drawing up in concentration.

“Do you think you’re sick?” I reached over and felt his head. “You’re very warm.”

“I’m a Daddy and Daddies don’t get sick,” he argued.

I sighed. “I’m getting sick of hearing you talk about how you don’t get sick.”

“You must have on your very sassy pants today,” he said, raising an eyebrow.

Silly Daddy, he’d dressed me. I didn’t even have on pants. Instead I wore a pretty pink floral dress and the cutest pair of jelly shoes. They were pink with glitter sparkles. I’d vowed to never take them off as soon as Daddy showed them to me.

“Let’s go over some rules for today’s surprise, okay, Allybaby?”

“Yas,Sir.”

“I love your sweet manners, but how about yes, Daddy ?”

She grinned, wide and proud and I knew exactly how she felt. I had that same smile whenever I got to call her mine.

“When we get to the surprise, there are going to be lots of people there, so I want you to stay close to Daddy or with one of your uncles or Auntie Kay, okay?”

“Yas, Daddy.”

“Good girl, if you need to go potty or need a juice break, tell Daddy, understand? I won’t be upset or feel inconvenienced at all.”

“Yas, Daddy.” Gratitude filled my heart for him and his patience for me.

“Thank you, baby.”

When we turned into the parking lot for the park, I squealed. There were balloons and food trucks and even a band!

Daddy chuckled. He parked his big truck, hopped out, and walked around to open my door. I knew better than to take off my seatbelt so I waited patiently for him to unbuckle me. He turned me toward him in the seat, but blocked me from getting out of the truck.

“When the other Daddies and I realized that the shelter closed during the day, it concerned us, but then when you were sick and staying at that deplorable hotel, we realized the severity of it. We know Ms. Ramsey is doing the best she can, but we think she needs some help. We worked together and brainstormed to see what we could do and started reaching out to see if we could get volunteers to stay during the day, so it could stay open,” Daddy explained gently.

Tears were already rolling down my face. I didn’t know what was happening, but I knew it was going to be life-changing for people.

“We had such a strong response from the community that we decided to do a volunteer registration party in the park. Ms. Ramsey is here and she’s going to speak about what kind of things she does at the shelter and what kind of volunteers she needs. All of the food trucks you see here today, are donating most, if not all, of their sales today to the shelter. Auntie Kay is running a clothing drive. Uncle Smoke is working a placement table where people in the community share jobs they need filled and we see what women from the shelter would fit those jobs best. There’s someone here from the community college who is helping the women fill out adult education or enrollment paperwork, and I’ve made sure they have time to help you and Eloise fill out applications for the nursing program. I remember Uncle Blade telling me that was something you both wanted to do. The rest of us are doing flash tattoos for people that donate a basket of nonperishable foods or hygiene items to the shelter.”

Sobbing, I launched myself into his arms. I was so damn thankful for the group.

My group.

My family .