Chapter Thirty-Nine
James
I was asleep when suddenly the bed started moving. I woke up to find both Rachel and Nell bouncing up and down on the bed.
“Today is Space Needle day,” Nell said, excitedly.
“I think they open at ten,” I said.
“No Daddy, they open at eight,” Nell said.
“Nine actually,” Rachel corrected her.
The three of us laughed. I sat up in the bed and looked at Rachel. It had been one month since I told her I loved her, and it had ended up being the best damn month of my life. I loved having both my girls near me all the time. Rachel and Nell both lit up my life, and I couldn’t imagine living any other way.
“Get up, Daddy!” Nell yelled.
I laughed and sat up. “I need coffee.” There was no negotiating with that. If I didn’t get my coffee, we weren’t going to the Space Needle.
Rachel held out a cup of coffee to me. “Here you go; you’re probably gonna need it,” she said.
I loved how well she knew me. She anticipated when I needed things, sometimes knowing I needed something even before I did. She was absolutely amazing, and she made me so damn happy.
“Thank you,” I said, taking the cup from her.
Rachel walked over to the dresser and picked up the cup that I assumed was hers, then sat down next to me on the bed. The two of us sipped our morning cup of Joe together, while Nell ran around the house screaming about the Space Needle.
She had been so excited to go, and I’d been promising her for a couple of weeks that we would go there soon. I just needed to find a time when I wasn’t having an art show. Scheduling was a bit hard when it seemed like Derek was having back-to-back shows all the time now.
I was also very excited to be spending the day with both of my girls. We’re going to venture out as a family, and those were my favorite times—when the three of us were out and about doing things that families did. I finally felt normal.
“Are you ready for today?” I asked her with a look at Nell so that Rachel knew what I was indicating.
She laughed and smacked my arm, “Of course, I am,” she said, and then in a whisper, she added, “We’ll just make sure not to give her any sugar,” she said.
“No sugar? I have to have sugar,” Nell said.
We both laughed at her. She had just learned about the food pyramid at school. So, whenever she wanted something sweet, she tried to make the excuse that she was supposed to have sugar in her diet. We pointed out to her that sugar is actually optional and she doesn’t have to have any servings of sugar. But, she tried to convince us that the food nutrition lady at the school had told her otherwise. I found the highly doubtful.
There had been no more bullying incidents, and I was really thankful for that. It helped a lot when Rachel came to the parents’ dinner, and the kids were able to see that Nell had an amazing sort of mother in her life. At least, I liked to think it was because of that and not because she had hit someone. Part of me wondered if maybe she had gotten some sort of ‘tough kid’ label on her. I knew people would make fun of her eventually if that was the case, but I really hoped that she would always be known as a nice girl instead.
“Are you sure you want to go?” I asked Nell, just teasing her.
“Of course, I want to go! I’ve been waiting for this day forever,” she said, making sure to drag out the word. I laughed once again. She was such a funny child and was always keeping me on my toes and laughing.
I finished my cup of coffee, then the three of us made our way to the kitchen where we ate the donuts that Rachel had picked up on the way over last night to make sure we got something to eat in the morning before heading to the Space Needle. Then the three of us hurried off to get ready.
Once we were all ready, we made our way out of the house and toward the Space Needle. It had been a very long time since I’d been there and I didn’t even remember ever taking Nell. So, it was going to be her first time. This was a pretty important thing, considering how we lived in the city and Nell had been there for all five years of her life but had yet to visit the Space Needle.
We pulled up outside the Space Needle and the three of us got out. We made our way up the sidewalk and to the front of the building, then went inside and bought our tickets.
Through the entire tour, Nell’s eyes were lit up the entire time. She was having so much fun, and I really liked that she was taking an interest in history. Especially history that was part of the city she was growing up in.
Once we finished the tour, we decided to go to the deli by the art gallery. The three of us went inside and ordered at the counter, then found a table near the back. We all sat down and waited patiently for our number to be called. When it was called, I got up and grabbed our sandwich tray and brought it back over to the table.
“Did you have fun?” Rachel asked Nell.
“Yes, I had so much fun! This was the best idea ever. This is the best day ever, actually,” Nell said. She was still really excited and riled up from the Space Needle adventure. I figured we were going to have to take her to the park later so she could run off some of her energy.
“You have to eat your sandwich before your cookie,” I said to Nell.
“I know, Daddy.”
I watched as she unwrapped her sandwich, and pulled it out to take a bite of it. “How about now?” she asked.
I laughed at her, “Come on, Nell; you know the rules, I said to her.
“I know,” she said and began to eat her sandwich faster than I’ve ever seen her eat before in her life. This caused Rachel to laugh so hard she almost choked on her Pepsi.
“I love you both so much,” I said to them.
“I love you too, Daddy,” Nell said.
“I love you too,” Rachel said.
Spending time with the both of them like this was my favorite thing. I finally felt whole and complete, and I hadn’t felt this way in a long time. I was glad that things were going this way once again and knew that I owed it all the Rachel. She had quickly become everything to me, and I couldn’t picture my life without her. In fact, I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her. I could even picture myself having another child with her. That is, if that’s what she wanted.
“Can I have my cookie now?” Nell asked.
I looked at her sandwich. She had eaten over half of it and had eaten all of her applesauce as well. “Sure, I guess you can,” I said to her.
Rachel reached for the cookie and unwrapping it, handed it to Nell.
“Thank you,” Nell said.
“You’re welcome,” Rachel replied.
After we all finished eating, we decided to stop by the park down the street for a while. When we got there, Nell took off running towards the playground. Rachel and I sat on a park bench nearby so we could keep an eye on her.
“Thank you,” I said to Rachel.
“For what?” Rachel asked, a look of bewilderment on her face.
“For being here for both me and Nell. You mean so much to us, and I couldn’t picture my life without you now,” I said to her.
“You’re welcome, and thank you. Because I don’t know where I would be right now without you. I was in such a bad place when you first hired me,” she said.
I gave her a hug and a small kiss, making sure that Nell didn’t see because lately she’s been getting grossed out about that. I figure she picked it up from her friend Kassondra, whom she’d still been sleeping over with almost every Saturday night. For whatever reason, Kassondra’s parents loved having her over. It gave Rachel and I a night to ourselves, which we really appreciated, and used to our full advantage.
Nell had grown and changed so much over the last couple months. I knew I owed it all to Rachel. If it wouldn’t have been for her, Nell would’ve never known what it felt like to have a mother figure in her life. I thanked my lucky stars every single day for Rachel being in my life.
“Look at me!” Nell yelled from the swings.
Rachel and I both looked at her as she started to swing higher and higher.
“Be careful!” Rachel yelled at her.
“I am!” Nell yelled back.
After a few more minutes of swinging, she got off and ran over to us.
“Come play with me,” she said.
“What you want to play?” Rachel asked her.
“I want Daddy to be it. Let’s play tag,” she said, as she took off running.
“See ya!” Rachel said to me and took off running, too.
I started chasing after both of my girls. First, I tried to chase Nell, but she ran into places on the playground that I knew I couldn’t fit into. Then I started to try to chase Rachel, but she ran up the steps. Way too fast, and I didn’t want to knock over any of the kids that were trying to get up there too. Rachel had gotten by just in time.
“That was cheating,” I said to her, laughing.
“No, it wasn’t. That was using my skills,” Rachel said, with a laugh and took off running again, this time in the opposite direction.
I finally caught up to Nell and gently touched her back.
“Looks like you’re it,” I said to her.
“Hey! That’s not fair,” Nell said, laughing and running toward me. Rachel and I both ran toward the grassy area. I wasn’t sure why Rachel was headed that way, but I was just trying to get away from all the kids that were all over the park. I didn’t want to mow any of them down with my running.
I slow down a little bit so Nell could get close to me, but just as she was about to touch me, I moved quickly to the right, then quickly to the left. I avoided her touching me both times.
“Hey, that’s not fair,” Nell said, stomping her feet.
“Now, remember what I said about poor sports?” I said to her.
“Nobody wants to play with them?” she asked.
“Yes, that’s absolutely right,” I told her.
“I’m sorry. Can we go get ice cream? I’m tired and don’t want to play anymore,” Nell was asking, just as Rachel came over to us.
“What happened?” she asked.
“Nell wants to go get ice cream,” I said, as Nell nodded her head enthusiastically, looking up at Rachel.
“Let’s go get ice cream then,” Rachel said.
So off we went, and after we ate our ice cream, we went home and ended our day with a movie. It was one of the best days of my life. It seemed like every day that I spent with Rachel and Nell was the best day of my life.
We both put Nell to bed and then we went to my room and flopped on the bed ourselves.
“I love you more than you will ever know,” I said, as we were dozing off.
“Aw, James. I love you more than you will ever know.” With that, I gave her a kiss, and then we cuddled up together and fell asleep, knowing that my life was full and happy once again.