Chapter 14
“Okay, everyone listen to the rules. The Easter Bunny is currently hiding all of the Easter eggs for us to hunt. You all get a basket and you can go by yourself or with friends to find the eggs. But no Daddies are allowed to help.”
She gave the Daddies a stern look while her friends all giggled.
Silly Spike had pretended that he didn’t want to get dressed in the giant bunny suit that she’d made for him. But he secretly loved it.
“All of the dogs are inside,” Razor called out as he joined them.
“Thank you,” she replied. “We don’t want any dogs eating chocolate. Now, when you’re finished you can come back here and eat as many Easter eggs as you want. No one is allowed to stop you.”
Damon grinned. “I don’t think that’s an official rule.”
“Is too! I wrote it in my official Super-Duper Easter Egg hunt notebook.”
“Well, I’ll have to ask Spike about that,” Damon said.
“No need to do that. You know what snitches get.” She pointed at Damon menacingly.
Yeah, he looked suitably impressed.
As he should be.
“Right! The Easter Bunny should be about finished. Let’s go find some eggs!” she cried.
Whoops and hollers as well as laughter followed her as she led the way through the trees.
Huh. That was weird. Millie looked around. Where were the eggs? Where was Daddy hiding them?
“Um, Millie?”
She glanced over at Betsy, who held up a carrot. Then to Tabby, who was holding a potato. And Autumn, who had a parsnip?
What the heck?
“Easter Bunny! Easter Bunny!” she yelled.
She stormed off, ignoring her friends calling out to her to stop and wait for them. She caught sight of someone in the distance. A fluffy tail.
It didn’t quite look like a bunny tail. But it had to be Spike.
“Easter Bunny! Come back here! Where are our eggs and why are you leaving veggies!”
She ran off, aware that her friends were catching up.
“There he is!” He was crouched down, picking up their yummy eggs. “Get him, Littles!”
“Wait!” Brody called out. “That’s no bunny.”
Millie’s eyes widened as she took in the image. “It’s . . . it’s a fox!”
They all took a collective breath in and she turned to look at Autumn and Brody as they stared at each other.
“Daddy!” Autumn said.
Brody nodded. “Papa.”
The person in the fox costume . . . was actually the Fox?
Ooh, that trickster.
“I don’t care who he is, he’s stealing our chocolate!” Millie cried. “Let’s get him!”
Sunny and Betsy held her back.
“Let me at him!”
“What’s all this yelling?” Spike rushed up to them, the other Daddies with him. He had changed out of his costume.
“There’s a fox in these woods,” she told him. “And he’s a chocolate egg stealer.”
Spike’s eyes widened. “What? A fox?”
“The Fox,” Emme said with a frown. “But why is he stealing our eggs? Fox! Bring them back or I’m not going to be happy.”
“Same!” Sunny said with a frown.
“What the hell is going on?” Spike asked.
“Daddy!” Autumn called out. “Can you hear us? We want our eggs. Not veggies!”
“He left veggies?” Reyes asked. “That’s not weird at all.”
“All Little girls and boys need more veggies,” a voice said as a man in a fox costume stepped out of the woods, holding a basket filled with chocolate eggs.
Their chocolate eggs!
“Get him!” she cried, pointing at him.
Spike wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her up against him. Her feet were off the ground as she kicked her legs out as though she was running.
“Daddy! Let me go!”
“Nope. Not happening.”
“Fox, what are you doing?” Duke asked.
“Just trying to save their teeth and the sugar high,” the Fox replied. “I thought you’d all be happy with me? No?”
“Daddy, no!” Autumn stomped her foot.
“Hmm. Strange. You don’t want veggies instead of chocolate?” the Fox asked.
“We don’t.” There was a small smile on Brody’s face.
“Then I guess you’ll just have to follow me!” The Fox took off, chocolate eggs falling from the basket as he ran.
Everyone stood there for a moment, then Autumn ran after him with a cry. “Chocolate!”
“Sorry, Millie.” Brody turned to her with a wince. “He didn’t mean to ruin anything. Autumn was . . . well, she was sad he wasn’t coming. And I think this is his weird way of joining in. I hope he didn’t mess it all up?”
Millie grinned. “Actually, no. I think this actually made it better.”
“It did?” Brody shoved his glasses up his nose. “Really?”
“Uh-huh. Rescuing our eggs from a fox? Now, that’s an Easter egg hunt! Let’s go, Littles!” She raised her fist in the air and she would have taken off after the Fox if Spike wasn’t holding her.
“You really think this is safe?” he asked.
She glanced up at him to see him staring at Duke, then Brody, and Markovich.
“I think it’s more than safe,” Markovich replied. “He would do anything to keep these two safe. And Sunny and Emme. This is him . . . having fun, I believe.”
“All right,” Spike said, loosening his hold on her. “Then go get your eggs!”
Millie whooped and raced off. This was so much fun!
“Daddy,can you believe how many eggs I got?” Millie stared at them all laid out on the coffee table.
“I’m sure there are more there than I put out in the first place,” Spike grumbled from where he sat on the sofa behind her.
Yeah, Millie thought so too. Which meant the Fox had brought some with him.
So he hadn’t really thought they wanted veggies instead of eggs.
Yuck!
She put all the eggs back into the basket and got to her feet. Reverend Pat and the others had all gone to bed. So it was just her, Spike, and Mr. Fluffy up. Well, Mr. Fluffy was asleep.
She curled up into Spike’s lap, and he tightened his arms around her. “Good day, baby doll?”
“The best, Daddy.”
“Good, I’m glad.” He kissed the top of her head.
“I can’t wait to do it again next year.”
If she heard him groan, she was going to ignore it. Daddy would do it all over again if it made her happy.
Because he was the best Daddy ever.