Hart

Four Years Later

“Coop, put your underwear on and quit whipping your pee-pee around.”

That’s what I hear when I walk in the door from a long day of work at the bed and breakfast with Cub. The new addition is coming along quite nicely. I’ve found a fondness for building things and started my own company once we settled here in Montana.

“Momma, I’s might have to pee.”

Vannie’s voice grows as stern as possible, which isn’t at all. “Coop, if you need to go potty, just pull down your underwear and go to the bathroom.”

“Daddy!” A butt naked, chubby little boy wearing his favorite pair of cowboy boots with wild sprays of dark blond curls sprints my way.

Vannie’s perched in my mom’s old rocking chair with her old blanket nursing our daughter. She blows her bangs out of her eyes when she sees me. Coop is a lot like his daddy, pushing and testing every limit he comes into contact with.

“I gots to pee.” Coop cups his junk and begins jumping up and down.

“Let’s get it done, son.” I grab the brown cowboy hat from the hook, plop it on his head, and open the front door.

Coop steps out on the front steps like he’s a real man about to make the world his bitch. I’ve really met my match with this one.

“Daddy, need music to pee.”

I reach deep down in my pocket, pulling out my cell phone and firing up some AC/DC for the boy. It takes him a moment before he gets the job done. He gets a little too excited about the music, dancing around while peeing.

“Not on your mother’s flowers.” I pick him up under the shoulders and move him to the side. “Never pee on your mom’s flowers, son.”

“Sorry, daddy, I just wove that music.”

“I know, buddy.” I pat his head, ruffling up his already crazy hair.

He looks up at me, pushing back the oversized hat. “Daddy, can we take my sister back?”

I kneel down, trying like hell to not smile at him. Coop’s had a hell of a time over the last two weeks since his sister came home.

“No, you can’t.”

He crosses his arms over his bare chest. “I don’t wike her. She cries and makes mommy blusterated. I just want to be the only kid in the house, so momma will sing to me like she uses to.”

The door of the house opens with Vannie staring down at us. She tosses me a pair of Superman underwear. I can tell by the look in her eyes she’s heard the conversation. It’s a warm summer’s evening, and my wife looks exhausted.

“Give me her.” I hold my arms up. “Go lay down and I’ll order pizza.”

“She just went down, but order pizza, and I’ll go lay down with her.” Vannie goes to close the door but stops. “Coop, I love you.”

“Love you, Momma.”

Vannie closes the door, leaving us men on the porch.

“Here, Tiger.” I hold out his underwear for him to step into.

It takes quite some time for him to get his boots into the tiny leg holes. We both sit down side by side on the porch. Coop with both of his elbows on the top of his legs with his chin resting on his little fists.

“Can I pee on my sister, Daddy?”

Oh, Jesus, it’s in moments like this one where I miss my mom the most. She’d know exactly what to say and how to handle Coop.

I wrap my arm around him pulling Coop to my side. “No, you can’t. You have a very important job, Coop. You are going to be the man that protects your little sister. She’ll need you, and you’ll need her.”

“Like Belle?” he asks.

I nod fighting back the tears. Even after having the world, it still hurts when I hear her name, especially coming from my son’s mouth. “Exactly. Just be patient and always know that your mommy and daddy love you so much and that will never change.”

“Okay.” He adjusts the hat. “I’m sorry, Daddy.”

“Never be sorry, son. You always come to Mommy or me. But I think your Mommy could use some extra hugs tonight from you.”

“Okay.”

We sit in silence. I let Coop snuggle up to my side knowing he needs this time. I’m tired and hungry, but my family will always come first.

“Daddy, do you hear that?” Coop jumps up on the step.

Oh, I hear it. This boy is well-trained.

“Daddy. It’s coming.” He’s off the steps and out on the grass before I stand up. “Hurry, we gotta beat the other kids.”

I smile seeing so many of his mother’s features in his face. I stand up slowly, laughing that my partially naked boy is ready to chase an ice cream truck with me. I grab his little hand and begin running. It’s more like a long gated step for me, but Coop puts all of it into his run. When I spot the neighborhood kids open the door, then it’s game on.

“Shoulders, Coop.”

He raises his little arms for me to pick him up and I throw him on my shoulders. He keeps one hand on his hat, and the other clutched around my chin as I full-out sprint to the truck.

We beat all the kids to the truck and order handfuls of ice cream. It will always be my secret from my family that I own the damn truck. Chasing ice cream trucks is one of my favorite things to do with them.

Dribbles of vanilla ice cream fall on my chest. I’m sure Coop is up there doing his best to get the ice cream down as we walk back to the house. The boy has my appetite.

“Let’s not tell Mom we had this much ice cream before dinner.”

“Okay, Daddy.” He pauses for a minute. “I can’t wait until my sister can do this with me.”

I squeeze his little calf with my free hand, smiling like I just won a million dollars. There’s a car in our driveway when we make it back to the front lawn. Peaches steps out of her rental car and Coop goes wild. He loves his batshit crazy Aunt Peaches. He flies into her arms, smearing his ice cream mess all over her, even offering her a taste of his half eaten ice cream cone.

Vannie never wakes up through dinner with the loud noise coming from the three of us. We enjoy a night eating greasy pizza on the couch and watching some dumbass cartoon. Right before he dozes off in my arms, I whisper in his ear the same thing I tell him every night before he falls asleep.

“You are a king, my son. May your heart be wild, and your soul wander until your picture is painted perfectly.”

He groans and then drifts off. I pack him to bed using baby wipes to clean up his face and hands. The house is lit up with a half empty pizza box next to an empty one. Every single light is on along with the television.

“You’ve done real good here, dumbass.” Peaches swats me in the back of the head.

“Thank you.” I wrap her up in a long hug.

She makes monthly visits to ensure she’s an active part in my children’s lives. We both freeze when we hear the beginning of a cry coming from my bedroom.

I rush down the hall and grab my daughter before she wakes Vannie who is curled up in a ball in the middle of the bed sleeping.

“Hey, baby girl,” I whisper to her and kiss her chubby cheek. “Let me warm up some titty milk for you.”

I’m a fucking professional at warming up bottles with one hand. Coop looks a lot like me from his blond hair and the way he acts. But my little girl is a replica of her mom with the same nose and wild, dark hair. She couldn’t be any prettier.

“C’mon, work with daddy here.” I bounce and coo to my little girl.

“Give her here.” Peaches holds out her arms.

I gently lay my little girl in her arms. It’s the first time she’s met her great niece. Tears fill her eyes as she studies the little girl. I have to turn away to finish warming up the milk.

By the time I’m done, she’s in full pissed mode when I relax back into my mom’s old rocker. She latches onto the bottle fast.

“I’ll always have your six, Maria Belle.” I brush her cheek with my finger.

Her eyes drift closed as she finishes her bottle.

“She’s perfect, Hart.” Peaches kisses my forehead.

I shrug. “I know, she is my daughter.”

Peaches shakes her head, her exhaustion coming through clear as day. She grabs her bag and quietly sneaks into Coop’s room. He has a special bed just for when his Aunt Peaches visits.

After changing and burping her, and then rocking Maria back to sleep, I place her in the bassinet that’s on my side of the bed tonight.

I crawl into my own bed pulling Vannie to me. She rustles around and then sits straight up in the bed.

“I’m going. I’m going.”

“Hey, baby.” I grab her around the middle pulling her back to me. “She’s asleep.”

I pull her tank top over her head and then put my hands where they belong…on her beautiful skin. “Go back to sleep, Shug.”

She answers me with light snoring. Her half shattered heart pendant still hangs around her neck. We’ve had to replace the chain a few times, but Vannie refuses to take off her friendship necklace that she shared with my mother.

I’m feeling a bit of Coop’s pain right now. Every night before we fall asleep, Vannie sings me a song she wrote for me. I had no clue she did it one afternoon many years ago on the floor of Peaches’ living room while I slept. She only sings to her children and me these days, and it may be one of my proudest accomplishments.

I’ve lost a lot in life, but in the end, I have everything.