“No wonder you love her. You’ve always been arrogant,” he says, winking at me and then sliding out of the cart. “Figures you’d want to marry yourself.”
After Balthazar realizes Candy isn’t gunning for Lizzy Anne, he’s on board with the marriage. No more talk of gold diggers or evil children. He’s a happy motherfucker even though I kick his ever loving ass the rest of the afternoon. The poor bastard finally gives up and watches me. I admit showing off a little for dear old dad. Clearly spending time with the twins has put me in a childlike mood.
THIRTY NINE - CANDY
The kids are exhausted by the time we finish shopping at Big Top Souvenirs in Fantasyland. I drag the bags to where we can catch a bus back to the resort. Hayes texts to say he’s an hour from finishing. I text back to say I need sleep and ask how he’s doing with his daddy/son time. He sends me the middle finger emoticon. My man is always eloquent.
Sitting on a bench, I hand Chipper the bottle of soda we bought in the store. He takes a gulp and hands it to Cricket. She drinks a little and leans against me.
“I love it here,” she mumbles.
“Me too,” an exhausted Chipper says.
“Me three,” I add and then decide the time has come to mention Hayes’s proposal. “Hayes wants to marry me and become a family.”
Cricket tightens her grip on my hand. “No.”
“Why no?” I gently ask, having assumed she wouldn’t be excited.
“I don’t want to move. I like our house. I want to stay where we are. So no.”
Chipper looks at me in the same way he did on the golf course. He’s torn between wanting what he has and craving what Hayes offers.
“I love him,” I explain as people pass us.
“He yelled at you.”
“He yells at everyone. He also apologized, and he never apologizes. He loves me, and I think he’s falling in love with you two too. That’s why he brought us here. To make you guys happy.”
“I don’t want to move,” Cricket whines, crying against me. “I like our house.”
Chipper can’t handle his sister crying and begins to sob too. I ignore all the people looking at us. Screw those idiots. Their kids were likely bawling earlier in the day. Now my kids get their turn.
“I was thinking about Dreamy,” I say, wrapping them against me. “She’s so scared of the new house, and it might take a long time before she gets used to Hayes’s house too. I think we should stay at our house some nights and his house other nights. That way, Dreamy will get used to the changes. Nightmare will probably need time to adjust too. He’s used to having the house to himself.”
Hearing about the animals calms their tears.
“If you marry Hayes, we’ll live in his house?” Chipper asks.
“Well, technically they’re both his houses. We’d eventually move to his bigger house. We don’t have to do it right away. I think Hayes needs time to get used to us living there. We all need to get used to new stuff so we won’t rush.”
Tears over, they rest against me and wait for the bus. Cricket takes a sip of the soda and then clears her throat.
“Hayes got us a nice room at the hotel,” she says. “That cost him a lot of money.”
“He wants us to be happy.”
“He scared that little kid yesterday when we were in line,” she says, grinning at me. “The kid kept staring at him, and he stared back, and the kid cried. That was funny.”
“He’s a scary guy, but he’s good inside.”
“Like Cricket,” Chipper says, and his sister sticks her tongue out at him.
“I like Hayes,” Chipper says as we stand for the approaching bus. “He’s nicer than Dad.”
“Yes, he is.”
Cricket helps me with the bags, and I see her already adjusting to this new reality.
“I wonder if Nightmare and Dreamy will fight,” Chipper asks once we’re on the ride back to the hotel.
“Probably. We’ll keep them apart if we have to. They’ll adjust with time, and we’re in no rush.”
The kids smile at me, and I feel a burden lift from me. Soon we shuffle into the hotel and take the elevator up to our room. The minute the air conditioning hits our sweaty bodies, we’re ready to crash. I drop the bags on the couch and walk into the kids’ room where two beds await. They crawl into one and then watch me full of hope I’ll take the other. I kick off my shoes and collapse on the second bed.
The kids laugh at my dramatic display before they get comfortable. A few minutes later, I hear them sleeping. I don’t take long to follow them into dreamland. Sometime later, Hayes returns to the hotel. I’m too tired to lift my head. I don’t want to call out to him and wake up the kids. I just wait for him to find us and hope he’ll curl up with me.
Hayes moves around the suite for what feels like forever before I feel the bed shift. His fingers slide up my spine and caress the hair from my neck. He kisses the exposed skin and then relaxes against me. I smile at how the four of us must look like a normal family after a long day on vacation. I doze off thinking this is probably the first time Hayes has been normal in his entire life.
FORTY - CANDY