Chapter 14 - Simple Pleasures

When our first movie was over, we had filed into the kitchen and Amelia got Aiden to help her make a batch of chocolate chip oatmeal cookies.  It ended up being a messy endeavor but the final product would be outstanding, I’m sure.

“I cracked those eggs!  It’s not fair that I have to sit the rest of the process out.”  I whined.  I can’t believe they’re kicking me out of my own kitchen.

“Stop being a sore loser Daddy.”  Aiden hollered out at me, getting a chuckle from Amelia in the process.

“Yeah, Daddy!”  Amelia looked at me as she echoed my son’s statement.  I turned toward her and watched her as she dabbed a glob of cookie dough on Aiden’s nose and then wiped it off.  She looked up at me and smiled sweetly and pointed toward the hall and slapped her wooden spoon into her hand, motioning she meant business.  I couldn’t help myself but laugh.  Amelia and my son, in cahoots; and I loved every minute of it!

“Okay.  You win!”  I say with my hands up in the air, in surrender.  “I’ll go get our next movie ready.”

“No dice, Daddy!”  Aiden says.  “We have to wait until the cookies are baked before we watch the movie.”

“Oh.”  I said.  “What should I do then?”

“Go to your room and play with your toys!”  Aiden said so matter-of-factly that I had to poke my head into the kitchen because Amelia had busted out laughing.  “That’s what I do when I’m not supposed to be around.”  He looked seriously at Amelia, his face changing into a look of confusion at why she was laughing.

“How about I go into the den and read for a bit?  Is that good?”  I ask Aiden.  “Are you going to be okay?”  I turn to Amelia, smirking at her because I knew that her mind had reached a gutter of sorts.

“I’ll be fine.”  She answers, wiping the tears of laughter from her cheeks with the back of her hands. “Little man, where do you get this stuff?”  I hear her asking Aiden as I walk away.

Forty-five minutes later, my house smelled of complete sweetness and Amelia walked in.

“Daddy!  The cookies are ready!”  Aiden runs in excitedly and runs back toward the kitchen.

“What he said.”  She chuckled, pointing her thumb over her shoulder in the direction Aiden had gone.  I put my book down and got up.  “I thought you’d like some downtime, by yourself.”  I walked up to her and grabbed her hand.

“You really didn’t have to.”  I tell her.

“I know.”  She said.  “But he’s so much fun!”   She skipped playfully to put emphasis on the fact that she enjoyed being a kid again.  I let Amelia lead me to the kitchen where Aiden was sitting on a chair at the kitchen table.  Three plates were sitting empty on the table.  Amelia came with another plate and proceeded to put a rather large cookie on each our plates.  I looked down and noticed that they were heart shaped and mine had something scribbled on it with icing.  I looked closer.

I love you, Daddy.  A & A

I looked up and smiled at both of them.

“Thanks guys.”  I say as I felt a lump forming in my throat.  “Which one of you came up with this idea?”  And I looked between the two and both were pointing at the other giggling.  I shook my head at the silliness of the two of them.

Filled with sugar, bologna sandwiches and warm notions for the future, we headed back downstairs to the TV room.  Aiden rushed for his man-made nest full of blankets on the floor while I sat on the couch with Amelia cuddled into my shoulder.  As the movie started, I looked over at my son, on the floor and then over at Amelia and I felt blessed that I was able to partake in life’s smallest of pleasures.  It almost felt sinful to feel this happy.  The only thing plaguing me was the fact that even though I had made love to her last night, I still didn’t know how she felt about us; not entirely at least.  After today, I’m not sure how long I could stand to wait before really knowing what her plans were for us.

At dinner, Aiden and Amelia were up to no good again as we ate our take-out Chinese food.  Between flicking grains of rice at each other or saying silly things that didn’t make sense and making funny faces, they had me howling with laughter.  The excitement of the day must have tuckered Aiden out more than I thought because by seven he was asking for his bed.  As Amelia took care of our dirty dishes, I took Aiden upstairs and gave him a quick bath, changing him into his pajamas.

“Daddy?”  He asked.

“What’s up buddy?”  I ask.

“Can Amelia tell me a story tonight?”  He asks me.  Now this should be interesting.

“Sure buddy.”  I tell him.  “I’ll go get her for you.”  And I let him climb into bed and pull his blankets over himself.  “Do you want me to come back in after or should I say goodnight now?”

“Goodnight Daddy.”  He says and hugs me as I give him a tight squeeze, kissing the top of his head.

“Goodnight son.  I’ll be right back with Amelia.”  I tell him and winked as he fidgeted in his bed with excitement.

I stood, leaning against the wall, listening as Amelia told him a story about a little boy named Aiden who was nothing but a regular boy by day but a superhero by night, saving one sad person at a time by hugging them.  She even created a character for herself and got Aiden involved in helping her tell her story.  They mapped out all sorts of missions that required Mr. & Ms. A, as they had called themselves, to save Big Daddy from the evil witch, Witchy Trish.  Now that one deserved a chuckle because it came from my son’s mouth.  Eventually, as always, everyone lives their happily ever after.  Mr. A was able to go play at the park and Ms. A decided to go on a long vacation with Big Daddy, according to Aiden, that is.  Somehow, I wouldn’t have minded my long vacation with a certain Ms. A.

“So what did you think?”  She asked Aiden.

“It was fun.  I like your stories, Amelia.”  He says.

“Thank you little man!”  She says.

“Daddy and I don’t do our stories like that.”  He explains to her.  It was true.  My stories were created from scratch, just like hers but I was normally the one that ran it from start to finish.  I had to hand it to her; it was honestly an ingenious way of getting his already overactive imagination involved.  It seemed like she enjoyed the story as much as he had; to be honest, so had I.

“I’m sure your Daddy’s stories are great.”  She tells him.

“Yeah.  He should tell you about the one where the prince kisses the princess and asks her to marry him.”  He perked up and I heard her giggle slightly.

“Is it a good one?”  She inquired.

“Yeah.  The best one!”  Aiden says excitedly.  “The little frog, Aiden finally gets his kiss to turn him back into a boy in that story!”  And another giggle came from Amelia.

“You do beat all, little man.”  She tells him.  “Goodnight mister.”

“Amelia?”  My son asks.

“Yes Aiden?”  She says sweetly and I can hear the smile on her face.

“Do you love me?”  He asks.  I heard Amelia take a deep breath to that one.

“Yes little man, I love you to the moon and back.”  She tells him and he giggled.

“That’s super far!”  He says and it was Amelia’s turn to giggle.

“It sure is.”  She answered.

“Do you love my Daddy?”  He paused.  I gulped but I found myself leaning in to make sure I heard right.  “He loves you very much.  He told me so.” Bless you my boy!

“Yes, little man, I love your Daddy too.”  She whispered.  “But you can’t tell him because he doesn’t know yet and Amelia wants to tell him herself really, really soon.  Shh!”