Chapter 5
An empty houseis a rarity now.
Which is good because after being home alone for less than fifteen minutes, I hate it. I’m so used to the house being full that I find myself wandering from room to room as I talk with Emmy on the phone.
“I made extra and put it in the fridge, Daddy. I didn’t want you to miss out on the picnic food,” she tells me.
“Thank you, baby doll. Should Daddy be naughty and spoil his dinner?”
A sweet giggle. “Just a snack, Daddy.”
“I’m cooking dinner,” Mac grumbles in the background over the noise of the train they’re on coming back from the botanical gardens.
“But I got that fish yesterday and marinated it overnight,” Emily objects, her voice muffled like she’s turned her face away from the phone. “I’m going to steam it Thai style.”
I grin into the phone at this latest skirmish in the ongoing Battle of the Pans. Emily may be submissive but she’s all Domme when it comes to the kitchen. Mac has his work cut out for him to wrestle a dinner or two out of her a week.
“Bebe J’s blackened beans would go well with that,” Brenna says. “Want me to show you how to make them while Emmy’s doing the fish, Sir?”
Bren’s started playing peace-maker between them, which I don’t think is a role that comes naturally to her.
Emily and Mac both concede with huffs. A détente that I’m sure will break into warfare again tomorrow.
“I don’t have to be back in Jersey first thing, baby doll, so I was thinking we could go to Blunts tonight. Make sure the Nursery is ready. Give the cradle a test drive.”
Emily gives a soft squee. “Yes, please, Daddy.”
“I’ll call over and reserve some rooms. Ask Mac if he wants to come and maybe I should invite Sean and Moon, too? What do you think?”
“Yes, Daddy. If you think the Nursery is ready, could I send out the Grand Opening invites?”
I chew my lip. I’ve been hesitating on the opening. The Nursery is ready. There are finishing details, like the sterilizer for pacifiers and bottles, which is on back order. But everything essential is in place. I kept justifying it to myself that the management committee hadn’t signed off on an age-play night. They have now; there’s no reason to delay.
And I’m still hesitating.
“Let’s talk about it tonight, baby doll.”
“Okay, Daddy. Mac says he and Bren are due for a flogging scene, so could you please reserve the Stocks for them?”
“I see how this is going to go. I’m just going to be Mac’s social secretary now that he’s a club member, aren’t I?”
Emily giggles, which draws a smile out of me. There’s nothing as enchanting as my baby girl’s giggle.
“Sorry, Daddy.”
“Uh-huh. I hear so much regret in your voice, little girl. What’s your ETA?”
“About a half hour. Can I make a request?”
“Of course.”
“Can we have a shower together before dinner? If we’re going to test drive the cradle tonight, I’m afraid I’ll fall asleep and I won’t get a bath and I feel yughie after the Botanical Gardens today. The greenhouses were hot and I got sweaty.”
I chuckle. I love the words she invents.
“Your shower request is approved. There might even be time for a play with the bath crayons.”
Another small squee.
“I’ll see you in a half-hour, sweetheart. Come straight upstairs. Daddy and the bath crayons will be waiting for you.”
I hear the happiness in her voice when she says goodbye. I flip my phone over, fire off a message to Sean, and call Niall.
He answers on the first ring. “Gobshite?”
“Wanker.”
“Need me to get on a plane?”
Niall’s offered to go to England to retrieve Olivia about a dozen times. I didn’t see Niall talking to Max while Niall’s trio was here for Emily’s Halloween party but they must have put their heads together at some point. Niall cuffed me hard and hugged me tight and told me that all I had to do was call and he’d get on a plane.
“No, everything’s set for Max to go tomorrow. I need help thinking something through.”
“Fire away.”
“Nursery at Blunts is ready. Management committee’s agreed to the age-play night. And I’m dithering over sending out the Grand Opening invites. Why? I want this. I’ve been working toward this for weeks. What’s wrong with me?”
Niall sighs heavily. “Club’s still divided over age-play, right?”
“Somewhat.”
“Anyone you give a fig about?”
I grunt. I shouldn’t care what Ten thinks. He and Karl and their clique of “hard sadists” have always turned up their noses at me. I’ve never given their disdain any mental space.
His opposition to Mac hits at a different level. Mac’s a man I’ve looked up to for as long as I’ve known him. I think more of Mac than I thought of my own father. Having anyone think badly of him, speak badly of him, strikes hard against my heart. And his judgment of Emily’s littleness? That’s not something I can think too closely about or I’ll end up going for him.
“One of ‘em fought me hard on Mac’s membership. Stood up and made a big speech about my divided loyalties. And the support I thought I had from the Chairman and his inner circle melted away like butter in a hot pan.” I grumble as I open myself to what’s been percolating in my heart since the meeting. “I’ve known them for coming up on a decade. Fucking stings.”
“You’re dithering ‘cause you’re afraid this will prove them right. ‘Cause it’ll bring more judgment down on you and Emily.”
Niall cuts to the heart of things. The way he always does.
“Yes,” I admit.
“How many you figure’ll come to the open house?”
“Thirty plus. Everyone in our playgroup plus some age-players other members know who are excited about the prospect of having a dedicated nursery.”
“I know it’s not all about numbers, Lo but that’s thirty people who will get to express what’s in their souls, if only for one night. Anyone who opposes you can feck right off. Not every day you get to feed thirty souls.”
That thought soothes the sting. I smile into the phone, even though I know he can’t see me since I haven’t video-called. “Lanced a boil, mate. Thank you.”
“I could tell this was festering when we saw you at Halloween. Shoulda stuck around to knock some heads together. You know as soon as we find a place there, I’m applying for membership. Between you, me, and Mac, we’ll be running that place in no time. Kick some heads outta some arses.”
I chuckle at the visual. “I’ve never cared about their approval before. Why’s it bothering me now?”
“Cause you were never invested before. Your other subbies? They were playmates. Emmy’s your world. Mac’s the only man who’s approval you care about. Completely different. Someone gave me the hairy eyeball over the way I play with Shaan or Vashi? I’d be more than resentful. I’d be on the fecking warpath.”
He’s right. Ten’s attack on me and my loyalties smarts a little but what’s really got my back up is the suggestion that Mac’s unworthy of membership or that Emily’s littleness and the way we live are wrong.
“I’ve never questioned it. It feels right. It’s what Emmy needs. I just?—”
“You just want the people you respect to accept it.”
“Yes.”
“Give ‘em time. Let them get to know Mac. Show ‘em how you play with Emmy when she’s little; they might come ‘round. If they don’t? They weren’t worth your time to begin with.”
“You’re right.”
“Course I am, tosspot.”
“Wanker.”
“See you in Vegas.”
“Not if I see you first, Irish Elvis.”
Laughing, Niall hangs up.
Lighter, I put out some wet food for Emily’s stinky cat and head upstairs to get the bath ready for when my little girl gets home.