A few weeks had passed since the incident at the restaurant. Landon and Lily realized that things were different. It seemed they attributed the changes to my presence in their lives. I realized discipline was the only way to get them to listen, but felt like the bad guy, nonetheless.

I gestured to the living area of the loft. “You can play here.” I then waved toward my desk. “But you cannot play over there.”

“Why?” Landon asked.

“Because I said so,” I responded.

He glared at me. Moments later, he was climbing on my desk. I promptly picked him up, carried him to the corner, and sat him down.

“Sit there for ten minutes,” I said, using my voice of authority. “If you get on the desk again, you won’t get a cookie when we visit my parents later.”

It was the day that Jess and the kids were going to meet my parents for the first time. They had no real reason to be, but both he and Lily were excited.

He thrust his face into his hands and pouted. In ten minutes, I lifted him to his feet. I then lowered myself to his level and placed my hands on his shoulders. “Go play. Remember, not on my desk, okay?”

“Okay.”

“That seemed to work well,” Jess said.

I grinned. “It’s proven to be pretty effective.”

“With who?” she asked.

“My first three children.”

“I keep forgetting.”

We drove the thirty miles to my parent’s home without incident. When we walked through the door, the smell of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies hit me like a brick. It was Sunday, and my mother always made cookies on Sundays. She loved to bake and did so daily, preparing breads, pastries, and other snacks for my father.

My father’s health had deteriorated significantly over the years. Suffering from congestive heart failure, he spent the majority of his time in his recliner reading. Oxygen tubes ran along the floor from a machine to his nose. The administration of it allowed him to get up and walk throughout the small house without much trouble.

Doing much more was no longer possible.

He pushed himself from his chair. Looking down at the children, he smiled. “You must be Landon and Lily,” he said.

“How do you know my name?” Landon asked.

“I know a lot of things,” my father said. “I’m pretty tricky.”

“Do you know magic tricks?” Landon asked.

“A few,” my father responded.

My father produced a quarter and then made it disappear. It was a slight of hand trick he’d performed a million times with me when I was a child. He then reached toward Landon’s face, acting as if he’d plucked the quarter from behind his ear.

Upon seeing it, Landon’s eyes shot wide. “Wow.”

My father handed him the quarter, and then did the trick on Lily. As the children admired their quarters, my mother invited them into the kitchen to get a cookie.

My father looked at Jess. “It’s nice to finally meet you.”

“It’s nice to meet you, too,” Jess said.

We sat and talked until my mother returned.

“Where are the kids?” Jess asked nervously.

“Watching television and eating cookies in the dining room,” my mother responded.

“Thanks for asking if it was okay for them to have a cookie,” I said in a sarcastic tone.

She looked at Jess. “It’s okay, isn’t it?’

Jess smiled. “Sure.”

My mother looked at me and stuck out her tongue.

After introducing Jess to my mother, I stood. “I’m getting a cookie.”

Jess stood. “Me, too.”

My father looked at Jess, and then at me. After alternating glances between us a few times, he fixed his gaze on Jess.

“You either make him look tall, or he makes you look short. I can’t decide which.”

“He’s really tall,” Jess said.

“He’s not that tall,” he responded.

“He is,” she said.

“His brother’s wife is four-ten.”

“I’m a lot taller than that,” Jess said.

“What,” my father said. “Five-two?”

“Three. I’m five three.”

“Bullshit,” my father barked.

“No, really. I am.”

“In a one-inch heel, maybe.”

“No, really.”

“Anita!” he bellowed. “Grab the tape measure.”

“What?” she asked. “Did you say something?”

My mother’s hearing was terrible at best, but she refused to wear her hearing aid.

“The. Tape. Measure.” He gestured toward the kitchen. “Go. Get. It.”

“The tape measure?”

He raised his brows in an exaggerated fashion. “Before I die of heart failure if you don’t mind.”

She gave him the same look she always gave on her way to the kitchen. She returned in a moment with the rule. “Here it is.”

“Measure Jess. See. How. Tall. She. Is!” he bellowed.

“Okay!” she shouted.

“Take off your shoes,” My father demanded, pointing toward Jess’ feet. “And get your five-foot-two ass into the kitchen.”

I’d warned Jess of my father and his quirky manner of being. He wasn’t putting on a show for her, it was simply how he acted.

Jess played right along. She kicked off her shoes and took a few strides across the floor. “Five-three.”

“I’ll kiss your little tan ass if you are,” he said.

“David!” my mother hollered.

My father looked at me and winked. “She always hears what I don’t want her to.”

I followed them into the kitchen. With Jessica’s back against the very same doorframe that I measured my children as they grew up, Jess arched her back. My mother donned her glasses, stretched out the tape measure, and stared at the numbers.

“I’m feeling faint,” my father shouted from the other room. “You better hurry.”

“What did he say?” my mother asked.

“He’s dying. He needs you to hurry.”

“Tell him to be quiet.”

“Mom says to--”

“I heard her,” he shouted.

“Sixty-two,” my mother said.

I peered around the doorframe and into the living room. “Five-two.”

He snapped his fingers. “I knew it!”

Jess looked at the tape measure as my mother reeled it back into the receiver as if something might be wrong with it.

“Jess!” my father shouted.

She peeked around the corner. “Yes?”

“Bring me some cookies, will ya?”

“Sure,” she said with a smile.

“You sure you can reach them?” he asked playfully. “If not, there’s a stool the kids use. It’s beside the desk.”

While he chuckled at his own joke, Jess got him a handful of cookies. It was rewarding seeing the progress Jessica had made since the day we’d met. Her playful banter with my father wasn’t something I would have witnessed eighteen months prior.

Further proof that she was right where she belonged.

As my father ate his cookies, he and Jess chatted about everything, and about nothing. My mother sat in her usual spot at the end of the loveseat with her dog at her side, watching the Kansas Jayhawks play basketball.

When we got up to leave four hours later, my father stood and opened his arms. Jess wasn’t thrilled about having people touch her. It caused her anxiety. It was a ritual in our home to hug, and something Jess would just have to get used to.

With slight reluctance, she hugged my father. I did the same. Then, we both hugged my mother. After gathering the children, we turned toward the door.

“See you next Sunday, sweetheart,” my father said.

Jess looked at me.

“You don’t need that idiot’s approval,” my father said. “You can come without him.”

I gave a nod.

Jess looked at my father and grinned. “We’ll see you next week.”

“I’ll just sit my fat ass right here and wait for you,” he said. “How’s that?”

She smiled. “Okay.”

We opened the front door for Landon and Lily, and then gestured toward the car. As they walked through the door, my father cleared his throat.

“Hey Jess,” he said.

She turned around. “Yes?”

“You should probably call the city manager. Maybe see about filing a lawsuit against the city of Wichita.”

Her eyes went thin. “For what?”

“Building the sidewalks too close to your ass,” he said with a laugh.

She looked at me. “I don’t get it,” she whispered.

“You will,” I said. “Here in a minute or two.”

On the way home, she did.

“I like your dad,” she said. “Your mom, too.”

“I think it’s safe to say they like you, too,” I said.

There were three more people in my life that I needed to accept Jess.

My children.

That acceptance, however, wasn’t going to come easily.