Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
The flower does not dream of the bee, it blossoms and the bee comes—Mark Nepo
Tula
Sadie and Wren both looked like cats who ate the proverbial canary as they came out of the trees hand in hand to join her on the log.
“What’s going on?” Tula asked.
“Nothin’,” Wren said.
Tula shook her head. “Wren, I hate to say this, but you might want to look into a refresher course to hone up on your fibbing skills.”
Sadie laughed. “That’s not a bad idea, though I’m not sure how I could sell Daddy on the idea of adding that to the Ranch’s curriculum.”
“Forget school, tell me what you know,” Tula demanded.
“We would—”
“We can’t—”
The two girls looked at each other and when they began to giggle so hard they were giggle-gasping. Tula just stared at her fellow Bees and shook her head. “That’s so very informative—not!”
Blake leaned over from where he was sitting a bit further down the log. “They mean they could but won’t.”
Tula stared and shook her head “How did you get that from”—she waved her hand at Wren and Sadie who were clutching onto each other as if to keep from vibrating right off their log seat—“this?”
Eloise piped up, “Little-ish is a language of its own. You’ll catch on. It means they don’t want to spill the beans because it might ruin the surprise.”
“And they know they’d be making a far different sound if they spoiled the moment.” Heads turned around to see Master Derek had come up from behind them.
“Scooch,” Master Travis said.
Tula scooted to the side so the men could step over the log. Each Daddy reached for his Little, pulling them apart and then onto their laps. The movements were done in perfect synchronization, and she smiled. “Big-ish has its own language, as well.”
Chloe looked puzzled. “But they didn’t say anything.”
“Oh, but they did,” Tula corrected. “You don’t have to speak to communicate.”
“She’s right.” Payne jumped up and then cocked his head a fraction of an inch in one direction, his hip in the opposite and then ever so slowly, they watched him lift his brows while shaking his head.
Eloise laughed. “Pretty good, but I’m a bit confused over whether you’re attempting to convey disapproval or flirting.”
Recovered from her laughing fit, Wren suggested, “It’s supposed to be just one eyebrow.”
Payne straightened and grinned. “Not when you’ve got two Daddies who are former rodeo stars competing to see who’s the best at arching their eyebrows. It’s always more of a dance than a quirk.”
Blake giggled and just like that, every Little within hearing distance was doing their best to emulate the perfect eyebrow lift that held the most significant meaning to each of them.
Sadie jumped off her Daddy’s lap. The fact that she just stood there, arms crossed with the toe of her boot tapping the ground had the brows lowering and eyes focused on her.
When one hand dropped and the fingers flexed, a chorus of “ohhhhs” rang out.
Tula might have been the newbie of this incredible Little giggle, but she smiled and then said, “And that, my friends, says a great deal without a single word being uttered.”
Chloe laughed. “I stand corrected, Bigs do have a way of getting their point across.”
As if to provide another visual example, both Masters Derek and Travis turned to look across the circle, an action which drew every Little’s attention as heads swiveled to follow their gazes.
Time seemed suspended as all conversations cut off completely. Then as if one being, every ARK camper burst into laughter, as their final camper joined them.
Tula just stared, the synapses in her brain snapping and sparking as she watched the man she’d fallen head over heels for walk toward them.
He wore a huge grin and when he twitched his hips hard to his left and then to his right, causing the trunk of the inflatable costume to swing from side to side, more than a couple of Littles rolled off the logs and onto the ground, howling with laughter.
Even Masters Derek and Travis where chuckling.
Tula looked to where Sadie and Wren were smiling ear to ear. When Wren caught Tula’s eyes, she giggled.
“I told you there was an elephant in the room.”
Her statement had Master Derek looking from Wren to Tula, but he didn’t utter a word or ask for clarification. As Tula had just pointed out, he didn’t need to. All he had to do was move his glance to where Master David was and back again to have a slow smile curling his lips.
“And he looks hungry.” Sadie wagged both her brows.
Heat bloomed throughout Tula so fast and so hot she thought about running to jump in the river. Then again, if the flood of arousal she felt was any indication, she didn’t need water to be wet.
“In honor of providing us with a great demonstration on how not to panic when you bumble… excuse me, tumble, out of your canoe, I wanted to reward our Bees with a little prize. And from the beautiful wreaths you are all wearing, it’s clear that Bees aren’t the only creatures who love flowers.
Sadie and Wren, would you and Tula fly over here and join me? ”
The three Bees jumped up from their seats and at a glance at one another, lifted their arms and flapped them as they began to buzz, dipping and weaving around each other in a random zig-zag dance of their own design until Tula did a spin and ran right into Sadie and they both went down.
“Sorry,” Tula and Sadie said at the exact same moment.
“No worries.” Wren reached down to help pull her friends to their feet. “We just need better choreography.”
Tula’s giggles were due to the simple joy of play and the fact that even though she was a bit rumpled from the day’s activities, her hair was mussed from her flight, and her face flushed, her Daddy was looking at her as if she were the most incredible creature he’d ever seen as they moved to stand in front of him.
Master David lifted the lid of the box and the trio’s “ohhhh” had their friends’ standing as if to get a better look.
“They are so pretty!” Wren exclaimed.
“Almost too pretty to eat.” Sadie stared at the cupcakes that filled the box. Each one was decorated with different colored flowers, petals of red, pink, yellow, blue and white, all shimmering with the edible glitter that had been sprinkled across them. “But only almost.”
Tula wasn’t looking at the cupcakes. Instead, she was looking at her Daddy. “How did you know?”
“I knew where we would be camping and knew about the field of flowers. And while I didn’t know I wouldn’t have to finagle a way to connect the two with tonight’s dessert when I called in my request, I admit I wasn’t surprised to hear you mention them.
Nature seems to speak to you perhaps more clearly than it even does to me. ”
Sadie looked between the two. “That’s so sweet, but I think she meant how did you know about this?” Reaching out, she gave the inflated trunk a tug.
Master David grinned. “That took a while, but when I remembered it was Littles who were talking, it became clearer. Oh, and just in case you don’t think I have massive code-breaking skills, if you’ll take care of handing these out, I just might have an additional prize for—”
“On it! Bees to me!” Sadie declared, taking the entire box out of his hands and heading for the eager campers.
Tula gave a last look at her elephant and went up on her tiptoes to whisper something in his ear before brushing her lips across his cheek.
She left him with his mouth dropping open and a look blooming in his eyes that had goosebumps popping out on her arms as she flew to help hand out the cupcakes.
“Heaven Leigh will never cease to amaze me, these are just too cute. Your Daddy is sweet,” Wren said as she slowly peeled the wrapper off the jumbo-sized cupcake Master David had presented to each of the three as their special prizes.
“And sneaky.” Sadie plucked the candy bumblebee off the field of purple violets that decorated the top of hers.
Tula savored the taste of dark chocolate of the frosting that served as the bed of soil her flowers sprouted from before speaking.
“Why do you say sneaky?” When Sadie and Wren exchanged a look, she realized it was one she’d seen before.
“Spill it. What do you know that I don’t and should I be concerned? ”
“Not at all,” Sadie was quick to reassure her. “It’s just that your Daddy would have to possess some mean Hogwarts-level skills to fit all of these prizes in that bag I saw.”
“These came in a box and so did the others,” Tula said as she held up her prize.
“Exactly,” Wren said. “But we saw a bag and your Daddy wouldn’t let us so much as take a teensy-tiny peek inside to see the prize.”
“You know, maybe it’s not a prize,” Sadie said, licking a smear of purple icing off the tip of her finger.
“Then what was it?” Wren asked.
Sadie shrugged. “I think we’re going to have to have Tula answer that for us. But it must be something juicy from the way he kept grabbing the bag and holding it out of reach.”
Tula laughed. “It’s probably a bag of peanuts.”
“I don’t think so,” Sadie said.
“Why not? He picked up on the whole elephant in the room thing. He even made a joke about needing a trunk to carry his prizes,” Wren offered.
“Because Master David does not appear to be the type of Daddy who is going to be open to sharing so won’t need an entire bag.” She smiled and licked her lips despite the fact there was no crumbs to be found. “Not when he’s only interested in one princess peanut.”
Both their heads swiveled to Tula and she could feel herself blush all over again as a picture bloomed in her mind. She offered her own smile. “Well, I never pictured myself as a circus snack, but I’m willing to open myself up a little.”
Wren giggled. “Oh, Tula, I’m betting you’ll be opening yourself way more than a ‘little’.”
As Tula gasped with the realization of how her words could be twisted, her friends laughed and reached out to hug her. “Hey, you’re gonna squish my prize!” Tula squealed as she tried to keep her cupcake out of the squeeze.
“Have you seen the size of your elephant?” Sadie asked. “Consider this as training.”
Tula decided a squashed cupcake was well worth the sacrifice and surrendered to the embrace. Stuffing the remainder of her treat into her mouth, she hugged them right back.