Chapter 30
30
BENNY
I keep thinking Liam is going to get tired. We ride a lot of rides and go on the frogs five times, and he throws up his pretzel when we go on the boomerang the second time. But here he is, still bouncing off the walls and ready for more fun. I look at Daisy helplessly.
“He’s not just excited about Coney Island. He’s always like this,” she says with amusement. “But Mommy’s tired and you have school tomorrow.”
“I do?” he says, puzzled.
“We took today off,” she explains, “to have a special day together.”
“Because of the bad guy,” he says seriously. She nods.
“Let’s get home so you can have a bath and go to bed,” I say. Liam reacts about like I would have at that age if I had to leave a fun place to go take a bath.
He cries and hides his head in Daisy’s shoulder while she whispers to him. He sniffles and hiccups and whines that he wants to stay. He finally settles down while I stand there feeling useless. I don’t think telling him we’ll come back sometime is going to help and if I go get him another pretzel, I’m pretty sure Daisy will throw something at me.
We get him back into the car and start the drive home. After about five minutes, I glance into the back seat.
“Wow, he’s out,” I say.
“Yep, that’s what happens when he plays hard.”
“Where do you get the energy?” I ask.
She chuckles. “Some days I don’t know.”
“Thank you for this. For the whole day together,” I tell her. “He’s so fun. And smart. He knows all kinds of stuff about frogs that I didn’t know.”
“Reptiles and amphibians were a big thing last year for him. We read a lot of library books and watched this one kid show about dinosaurs a bunch.
“He really is a great kid,” I say, pride swelling in my chest.
“He really is,” she agrees with a smile.”
“I love you,” I say.
I lace my fingers through hers. She leans her head on my arm and falls asleep almost as fast as Liam did. It’s a peaceful drive home, and I keep looking back, seeing his sleeping face, his head drooping against the window. When we reach her mom’s house, I park and Daisy wakes up, apologizes for falling asleep and puts her shoes back on. I get Liam out of the car and carry him inside.
“You want me to wake him up so you can give him a bath?” I ask in a whisper. She shakes her head.
“I’ll get up early and we’ll do a bath in the morning,” she says.
I follow her to the bedroom and put him down on the bed. He stretches a little and then curls up on his side. Daisy covers him up and I reach out, touch his sweaty hair for a second, reeling from the force of emotion that hits me. How much I love this kid, how much I love his mom too.
We tiptoe out of the room, and I say hi to Mrs. Cooper who’s working at her laptop on the couch.
Daisy walks me to the porch, and I take her in my arms. “You better get some sleep yourself. He’s going to wake up and have twenty million more questions to ask in the morning,” I say. She nods.
“This was nice, better than nice,” she murmurs. “Thank you. I’m sorry I didn’t—”
“No more sorrys,” I tell her. “We’re going forward. We’re going to be a family and that is what matters.”
Reluctant, she nods. I kiss her full lower lip and then her top lip. “Good night. I’ll talk to you in the morning.”
When I leave her on the porch, I go to the office. I have business to take care of late into the night because I took the day off. No regrets about it, but I have a lot to keep on top of. I set up meetings and plan a memorial for my dad so people can pay their respects. I return emails, I make my assistant a long list for tomorrow and give detailed instructions to Josh and Malcolm. I’m done around midnight and go sleep for six solid hours.
In the morning, I make a deal on some real estate and return calls and emails. By ten I’ve closed on another deal and message Daisy about meeting up after school to go to the park. I’ll pick her up at Snip, I tell her, and we can go get Liam together. She agrees.
While I wait outside Snip for her to be finished, I message my assistant again and get confirmation that everything’s on track. I’ve got good people like her and Josh and Malcolm working for me who I can delegate to and trust them not to screw up.
Daisy steps out of the salon and I see her look around. I roll down my window. “Over here,” I call out.
“What are you driving? Where’s the truck?” she says, bewildered.
“I didn’t have a place for a booster seat,” I explain. “Much less a car seat for a baby too. It was time to upgrade.”
Daisy looks around inside the new SUV. I can tell she likes it, that she’s pleased but a little worried too.
“What did you do with the truck? You didn’t trade it?”
“It’s in the garage at my dad’s house. My house now, I guess. I’ll need to sell that monstrosity,” I remark. “I’m not getting rid of the truck. I just need to make more room.”
“Thanks for doing this,” she says. “Not just picking me and Liam up after school but the car and all of it. Making room in your life for us, being so patient. He’s seeing the social worker today. I talked to her on the phone this morning. She has a friend who counsels adults and I’ve got an appointment for the same day as my ultrasound. Do you want to come to that—my ultrasound appointment? It’s Tuesday morning.”
“I’d love to.” I take her hand and hold it. “After the park I have to go back to work for a while.”
“That’s no problem. Thanks for making time to do this. I think if we spend a little time together every day, Liam will transition easier. The social worker, Beth, emailed me a couple of articles to read.”
“I want to read them too,” I say.
“There, I forwarded them to you,” she says with a smile.
We take Liam to the park. He climbs everything and I follow him around like an idiot who thinks he’s going to fall at any second. Eventually I go sit with Daisy on a bench.
“I get how easy it would be to overprotect. I watch him on that rock wall and half of me is so proud, but the other half is imagining head injuries and hospital visits. It’s like something gets a hold of me.”
She leans her head on my shoulder. “Welcome to parenthood. Where we worry about everything that could go wrong until nobody has any fun.”
“We’re not going to be like that” I tell her. “We’re going to take him on adventures. The baby, too. I know you found out Liam was a boy while you were pregnant before. Do you want to find out this time too?”
“I don’t know. I kind of want it to be a surprise.”
“This from a woman who never met a Christmas present she didn’t shake, squeeze and sniff?” I tease.
“I’m curious. Like a natural detective,” she jokes.
In one motion she’s off the bench, camera held to her face, kneeling down to take a picture of Liam coming down the curly slide. He runs to hug her and he’s laughing. I could get used to this feeling. Pure contentment and happiness already.
As she gets up off the ground, Daisy stumbles. I’m at her side in an instant, holding her by the elbow and around the waist.
“You, okay?” I ask.
“Just dizzy,” she says. “I thought the worst was over.”
I help her back to the bench and try to distract Liam because I want to hover and fuss over her but that will worry our little boy.
“I think I better head home,” she says. “Will you drop us at Mom’s? I know I wanted a ride back to my car at Snip, but I don’t think I should drive right now.”
“Of course,” I say. I help Liam into the SUV, and he does not want help fastening his seatbelt which makes me chuckle.
We pull up to her mom’s house and Liam unbuckles and dashes inside to see his Gram. Daisy sits for a moment, and I look at her. Her color has perked back up and she is looking stronger. I can’t help how much I love her.
“Thanks again for today,” she says as she goes to get out of the car.
“Daisy, wait,” I call, causing her to turn back to me. I get out and come around the car to stand in front of her. I reach into my pocket and feel the small box that has been sitting there all day.
I get down on one knee right there on the sidewalk by the open door of my new car.
“Daisy May Cooper,” I say, and it all feels unreal, like I’m watching from above in a dream or something. “I’ve loved you since we were teenagers. I let you go once and I won’t be that fool again. I mean to make you my wife, raise our babies together, go on adventures. And never let you go. Will you marry me?”
“Yes, Benny, I’ve wanted to marry you since the first time I saw you smoking on the corner with your stupid friends, and you’re all I will ever want.”
I smile and pull her out of the car and open the box. “Oh my God, Benny!” she says. “Have you had this all this time?”
Her hand flies to her mouth, tears spilling down her cheeks.
“I told you I was going to marry you this time,” I tell her.
I lift her off her feet and hug her before I set her back on her feet to kiss her soundly.
“How do you do this? Make me fall more in love with you every day?” she says softly, sweetly. Then she looks at the ring fondly one more time.
“It’s easy, Daze. Loving you is the easiest thing I ever did. So easy I never knew how to quit.”
“I’m glad you didn’t quit because I don’t want to live without you. I want to marry you as soon as we can. Okay?”
“I like a woman who knows what she wants. You’ve got to pick out stuff for Liam’s room at my house. Our house. Make sure we do what’s going to make it easier for him. And go to that ultrasound to see our new baby. It’ll be a few weeks probably. But if we can wait six years, what’s a few more weeks?”
She looks at her ring one more time and smiles. “I love it, and I love you. I’m done keeping secrets. For good.”
“I’m going to hold you to that,” I say, kissing her lips.
“I get it now. I’m no good without you. I’ve needed you all these years and just wouldn’t admit it.”
“You have me now. And you’ll always have me.”
“That’s everything I could ever want. You, my babies, us being a family together. You’ve made all my dreams come true, Benny Falconari.”
“Not yet I haven’t. But give me a couple weeks and I will.”