Chapter Seven
A knee to the belly woke Tenor up with a start.
“Ooof!” He blinked as he moved, getting out of the way of an errant elbow too. It took him a moment to figure out what was going on. He was in Daniel’s bed and that had to be Britt climbing in with them.
“Uncle Danny, the man is here.”
“Uh-uh. I was cold last night. C’mere.” Daniel grabbed her and hugged her, snuggling in. “Love you. Good morning.”
Tenor blinked a few more times, then offered Daniel and Britt a smile. “Morning.”
“Morning.” Britt offered him a tentative smile, then cuddled into her godfather. Oh, Daniel was going to be a great daddy. This was a man who wanted to share his home, his talent, his love.
“What would you like for breakfast?” He could give them some time together.
“Waffles? Can we have waffles?” Britt began to wiggle, laugh.
“I’m sure we can.” If they didn’t have a waffle maker in that magnificent kitchen, he’d be shocked. And he’d have to put it on his list of things to buy because waffles, while somewhat time-consuming, were pretty easy to make.
He climbed out of bed and pulled on his T-shirt. “I’ll call up when breakfast is ready.”
“Can we help, Uncle Danny?”
“If Mr. Tenor says so.”
He wasn’t sure if he liked the Mr. in front of his name, but he didn’t say anything about it. “Sure, it’s always nice having help.”
“I like to help. I like to help a lot.”
“Do you? That’s great. I like helpers. They make everything go easier, don’t they? I’ll meet you down in the kitchen in a few minutes.” He pondered changing out of his pajamas but figured he didn’t need to stand on any sort of ceremony, so he just went downstairs.
Matt was down in the kitchen, whistling and happy. “Good morning, Tenor.”
“Good morning, Matt. How are you this morning?” He mentally flipped through his recipes, going for the easiest waffle one he had in his repertoire.
“Fine. I bought frozen waffles at the store yesterday. Britt loves waffles.”
“Oh. Okay.” He supposed those would do.
“You okay?”
“We’re making waffles! Uncle Matty! The man is going to make real waffles!”
He beamed. “My name is Tenor, honey. And yes, I’m going to make waffles from scratch and you’re going to help me.” He shrugged at Matt. “I like homemade ones better than frozen.”
“Me too. Can I have some?”
“Of course! We’ll make a whole bunch. You want to bring a chair over to the counter, Britt?” He started pulling ingredients out of the pantry.
“Uh-huh. Uncle Danny! I’m helping!”
Daniel came into the kitchen. “Me too. I’m making coffee.”
“Coffee is icky,” Britt pronounced.
“We could make some hot chocolate,” Tenor suggested. He liked some hot chocolate in the morning—if he had time to linger.
“Hot chocolate for me and Mr. Tenor, please Uncle Danny.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Tenor got her set up with a bowl and measuring cups, and he recited the recipe, helping her get the ingredients together and letting her do the majority of the mixing as well. She was eager but careful.
What a lovely little girl. He had to admit, he was charmed. Between them they got coffee, hot chocolate, and waffles made, and the table set. They sat and Britt poured way too much syrup on her waffles, while he used probably too much butter, but he loved the way it melted in the divots.
“I like him, Uncle Danny,” Britt pronounced.
“Me too.”
“Thank you both.” He gave Britt a grin, then looked at Daniel. He thought maybe his smile got a little goofy, and he definitely felt warm from Daniel’s words.
“You’re welcome. I like your waffles too.”
Was there a little bit of a flirt there? “Yeah, and your hot chocolate is delicious.”
Daniel bowed dramatically, making Britt giggle.
Daniel really was a charmer when he came out of his shell a little. Ten laughed when Daniel got up and rushed Britt, grabbed her up and twirled her around in a dance, sweet voice ringing out in a gorgeous melody.
“He’s going to be an amazing dad,” Tenor said to Matt.
“He is. I have no doubts.”
Ten finished his waffles, then sat back with his hot chocolate, watching Daniel and Britt play.
Britt acted like Daniel was the center of the world, and Daniel obviously the same.
“I’m gonna do the dishes. Is there anything you need, Matt?” Ten liked Matt a lot. He figured this might be him during his retirement.
“Just to keep everyone company.”
“Cool. You know you’re always welcome in my rooms, eh?”
“Thank you. I just love having smiles in the house.”
“We’re about to have a lot of smiles, aren’t we?” The anticipation was always there, underneath everything. Of course, he was sure the first few weeks with the kidlets were going to be insane, so they all needed to remember this feeling of anticipation.
“Eventually, yes. It’ll take a few weeks, I bet.”
He chuckled. “I was just thinking the same thing!”
“You and I know what’s coming up.” Matt waited a beat. “Times three.”
He laughed softly. “Yeah, we really do. It’ll be fine once we’ve found the right rhythm.”
“They’ll all be fine.” Matt smiled as piano music filled the air, Daniel and Britt singing.
“It’s nice, living in a house with so much music. Did you know it was his destiny when he was growing up?”
“By the time he was in high school, yes. He never met an instrument he couldn’t master.”
“That’s cool. Was it scary—having a gifted child like that?”
“Sometimes. His focus can be scary, you know? He gets lost in his own world.”
“I’ll have to remember that.” And not take it personally when it happened.
“Yeah, it’s a part of his process. I’ve been known to lock the studio so he’ll eat.”
If he’d been drinking, he’d have done a spit-take.
Matt shrugged. “I worry.”
“Yeah, I get it. You just surprised me.” He chuckled, then shook himself and got to washing the dishes.
“He’s always been a bit of a challenge, my boy.”
“Yeah…” He stared off out the window, remembering last night. That hadn’t been challenging at all, it had been amazing. Acting like everything was normal this morning was definitely more of a challenge.
He wasn’t sure how he was supposed to respond today. At all.
He finished washing the dishes and putting away the bits and pieces from their breakfast. Once he was done, he figured he should probably head upstairs, find something to do with himself.
As he walked toward the stairs, Daniel joined him with Britt. “Time to get dressed, hmm?”
“Yeah. Not that there’s anything wrong with pajama chic on the weekend.”
“My mommas are going to take me shopping for school.”
“Oh, I guess you should be dressed for that. What kind of stuff are you getting?”
“A Wonder Woman backpack and a leggings with flowers. Also, pencils.”
“What about paper? And colors?” he asked, thinking back to when his last family of kids were her age.
“Do I need that, Uncle Danny?”
“Sure. Scissors. Pencils. Erasers. A lunch box.”
“I bet the school gave your moms a whole list of things you need. Are you looking forward to your first day of school?”
“I am now. It should be exciting. Music class!”
“And gym class and English and art.” It was interesting, seeing how focused everyone here was on music.
“Will I like gym class?”
“I did. I loved playing baseball and doing gymnastics.”
Britt’s little nose wrinkled. “I don’t like doing the ball sports.”
“No? Your mom was great at basketball. Amazing.”
“What about you, Daniel? What sports were you good at?” Ten asked, curious.
“I enjoyed baseball, but I wasn’t good at it. Gymnastics, though? That I did for a while. What about you?”
“I loved all the sports except for dodgeball—that was evil. I wasn’t great at any of them, but I always enjoyed them.”
“Right? It’s actually all about the fun.”
“It should be. I don’t think it always is, but it definitely should be.”
“I agree. It should be.”
They got to the top of the stairs and he gave the pair a little wave. He would have liked to have talked to Daniel about last night. Was this going to be a regular thing? Was it just nanny-with-benefits? Or was it more? Could it be more? Was it smart to be doing it at all?
He had a lot of questions. They were just going to have to wait, though because none of them were kid-appropriate.