Page 53 of Two Daddies for Little Jenna

"Wow, that's such a negative way to see things," Nick said. "What do you think, Clark? Did our girl get it right?"

Ever since Jenna began calling him Daddy, he found ways to sneak the term 'our girl' in every conversation. It was sweet how he was proud of being her Daddy.

I scoffed. "Not even close, Little one. What did your Daddies say about having a negative outlook on things?"

She cleared her throat and talked in a monotonic voice, knowing it by heart by now. "Life is too short to be pessimistic. Being positive is a choice. Positive thoughts lead to positive actions and happiness."

"That's right," I said. "The lesson here is that your Daddies know best. Aren't you glad you trusted us to make the right decision? We make decisions which are good for you, not necessarily the ones you want."

"Because we care about you," Nick added. "You may want something, but it's up to us to decide if it's good for you. Do you understand, darling?"

She bobbed her head up and down. "I think I do. It's like that time I badly wanted some ice cream, but you said no because it's bad for me. And now, I wanted you to help me so I wouldn't drown, but you knew I wouldn't learn if you stepped in too soon."

"Such a clever girl." I gave her a quick peck on the lips. "Now you can swim and you won't be scared of drowning on that boat trip we've been planning."

"If the boat goes down, you'll get all wet like this," Nick said and then splashed water at her.

Jenna squealed and then giggled, splashing back at him. "Stop it, Daddy Nick! I can't swim well enough and you're ruining my focus."

"Keep me out of it," I said as they got in a heated battle.

They both looked at me with an evil smile and readied their hands in my direction. I shouldn't have said anything.

I was just glad the biggest worry of the day was staying safe from their water attacks. There were times when I was worried sick about losing my babygirl to Otis, but it had been slowly dawning upon me that those worries were far behind us. We had nothing but days filled with joy and carefree laughter to look forward to.

Chapter 24: Jenna

"How are you holding up, hon'?" I asked Michael as we sat on the porch of his home. He had baby blue overalls with a binky clipped to one of the straps.

Michael's puppy, Princess, offered me her head to pet. I gave her a couple of scratches but she looked up at me with those big beautiful eyes and pushed her head into my hand. If she wanted head scratches, it was exactly what she was going to get. My puppy Nico ran up to me and spun around in little circles. He wanted Princess to play but she was too tired.

"It's cancer," Michael said sadly, but then tried to put on a brave face and smiled. "She'll get better. She has to. I'm fine, really."

"Michael." I gave him the look that my Daddies sometimes gave me. "It's me. You can tell me how you feel. You won't be burdening me with your worries, you know. You've been such a good friend to me. Let me return the favor."

He sighed and shook his head. "I cried my eyes out when the test results came back. Daddy consoled me for hours. He took me in his arms and told me I was allowed to cry, that he wouldn't think any less of me. And then he told me everything was going to be alright. He's my Daddy and I trust him. When he says she's going to get through this, she will. Daddy would never lie to me."

Deep down, we both knew Daddies promise things they have no control over, but we choose to believe them nevertheless. Because as Daddy Clark liked to say, Daddies knew best.

"Anyway," he continued. "I'm choosing to stay positive because Daddy wants me to be. Uncle Clark says it's the only way to live a happy life. Medicine has become so advanced these days, and Princess is a fighter. The surgery to remove the lump is this Thursday and I know it's going to go great. It has to."

"Do you want me and Elijah to come with? I've got work but Daddy Nick can give me a day off."

He shook his head and sighed again. "That's nice of you, but I'll have my Daddy to comfort me. Sometimes I wonder how much of a mess I'd be without him. Life has a way of throwing the worst at us, and I'm glad we have our Daddies to shield us from it. Sometimes they take hits so we won't have to, sacrificing their well-being just to keep us safe like uncle Clark did when he saved your life. We take our Daddies for granted and act naughty when all they do is give. You know what, I'll be extra nice to Daddy hereon to show my appreciation. Yes, and be a good boy while I'm at it. No more naughty Michael. He's a boy of the past."

"Really?" My eyes widened.

Michael was so naughty, I could hardly imagine him without his naughty side.

"Ugh, my head hurts just thinking about behaving. Well, spoke too soon. I take back everything I said. Not being naughty is too much work. I'll just stick to being extra nice to Daddy, though. Besides, I'm a naughty boy and my Daddy likes me that way."

Michael burst into a fit of giggles. Everyone knew giggles were contagious, which was why I was now giggling. Princess yipped excitedly and wagged her tail. It must've been her way of joining in.

"What's so funny?" Daddy Nick walked up to us with warm milk in sippy cups.

"Just Michael trying to be someone he's not and instantly giving up," I said, sticking my hands out to take the sippy cup.

"No, darling. This is for when you've tired yourself out from playing too much. It's piping hot right now."