Chapter 3 #3
While the Daddies all declaring they wanted to play Santa too had my Little friends cheering, hearing our own personal Mrs. Claus declaring there might be booths had their screams of joy threatening to raise the roof off our house.
“Wow, I knew I was blessed, but y’all are just the bestest friends ever!” I announced, going from Uncle to Uncle and then to my honorary Aunt and hugging them all.
As our guests prepared to leave, Henry held out a hand, palm out as if to ward me off. “Don’t even think about it!”
“Why? What did I do that was so awful that you don’t want a hug goodbye?” I asked, completely perplexed and a bit offended.
“Oh. Yeah, you can hug me,” he said as if totally oblivious to the fact he’d hurt my feelings.
“Henry, give that a bit more thought, please,” Uncle Grant said, causing Henry to look over at his Daddy. “That was a little rude, don’t you agree?”
“Rude?” Henry looked back at me. “I didn’t mean to be rude, I just meant I’m not giving my piggies back! And you wouldn’t want them anyway. I licked all their hooves just in case.”
Detective Henry had obviously left the building and Little Henry had taken his place. I loved them both equally. “Don’t be silly, they are party favors to thank you for coming and for being my friend.”
“Oh.” Now he sounded sad.
“It’s okay.” I hugged him hard then stepped back. “But seriously, you licked them? All of them?”
“Yep! I wanted to be thorough.”
Of course he did. I gave an exaggerated full-body shudder. “Ewweee.”
He grinned. “You sounded just like a piggie.”
I giggled and hugged him again. “You’re silly, but I love you.”
“Love you too.”
Grant smiled and helped Henry into his coat, trying not to laugh when his Little had to do a bit of maneuvering to transfer all his piglets in their bags from one hand to the other without dropping any.
Daddy and I stood on the porch waving until the last of the taillights disappeared around the corner. When I sighed, Daddy reached down and scooped me up. I smiled and wrapped my legs around his middle.
“Push that and you’re toast,” he growled when I leaned over to press the doorbell.
“You’re no fun. It’s Christmas!”
“You’re right. In that case, if you want to see how high a note you can reach while I swat your butt to the beat of the longest carol on that box, go ahead and press away.”
I snatched my hand back. “Nope, I think I’m good.”
“Thought so.” He chuckled as he carried me inside. I flipped off the porch light instead and he locked the front door.
I reached up to pat his cheek. “I’m sorry, Daddy, but even though you don’t need to make up any silly list now, you’re still my favorite Santa Daddy.”
He looked down at me. “First of all, I better be your only Santa Daddy, and second, though I commend you on all you’ve done tonight to cover your costs, that list is not only going to happen, it’s already been started.”
I gaped up at him. “What? When? How? I mean, why?”
“Want to add a who and a where to those?”
“Daddeee! No! I know the who is you and the where is the one thing I think I’ll be good to have remain a mystery even Detective Henry can’t solve.”
He laughed. “Just because you’d like to deny its existence, I promise you, babygirl, there is a where. In fact, I believe you’ll find the first piece waiting for you in the bedroom.”
I stared at him, trying to gauge whether that sounded ominous or exciting. Glancing down the hall, I asked, “What do you mean the first piece? Since when does a list come in pieces?”
“Since I decided they do.”
He said it so casually, as if that was the only explanation required, and I supposed it was. Bending slightly, he set me on my feet.
“Go ahead, I have complete faith you’ll be able to decipher it.” He reached around to pat my butt.
“Decipher it? Oh, let me guess, you wrote it in pig Latin.”
“Nope, but I’ll keep that in mind.” When I just stared at him, he tilted his head toward the bedroom.
“Oh, you mean, like now?”
“Yep.”
“But, I… I can help you clean the kitchen!”
“Uncle Leo and Uncle Phillip took care of that.”
“Um. I could straighten the living room!”
“It’s not messy.”
My mind was spinning trying to come up with something, anything to delay the inevitable. “I could unset the dining room table! I mean, I used a lot of stuff that needs to be put back in place.”
“Tomorrow’s another day,” he said, his grin telling me he was enjoying this immensely.
“The trash?”
His eyebrow quirked. “Babygirl, do you seriously think I’d ever ask you to take out the trash? Let alone let you go outside in the dark by yourself.”
“Well, no, but you didn’t ask, I volunteered.”
“How about you volunteer to be a good girl and go to the bedroom? I’ll be there after I take out the trash.”
“But what if there are bears or…”
“One, two—”
“Jeez, there’s no need to count. I’m going!”
I waited until I was halfway down the hall before turning back. “I want it to go on record that this is not my idea of the best way to start a happy holiday season!”
“Duly noted.” He twirled his finger in a circle, instructing me to turn around and quit stalling.
Seriously, though, who makes a Christmas list in pieces?
Your Santa Daddy, that’s who.