Chapter 9

"Happy birthday to me."

"Happy birthday to me."

Year after year, I'd sang the familiar tune to myself. Usually, it was accompanied by a cupcake with a single candle, when I could afford it. "Sloffers, I thought this year would be different."

I'd woken before Daddy and tiptoed out to watch cartoons and color and let him sleep in. Sometimes Daddy worked late, and I needed to be a big boy and let him sleep in.

"How can it not be when you have a Daddy who loves you?"

"Daddy!" I jumped and scrambled up on the couch. "You scared me."

"Sorry, sweetheart. Happy birthday." Daddy wrapped me in a warm hug and all the bad went away. "How about some birthday pancakes?"

"Yay!" I stood on the couch and gripped Daddy's shoulders, hopping up and down.

"A broken bone on your birthday would make the birthday boy sad."

"Sorry, Daddy."

"Finish your picture and I'll make breakfast." Daddy was making me nummy pancakes and that deserved a new picture for his fridge. I got to work, humming the happy birthday tune to myself but this time much happier. Daddy had a way of making all the sadness go away.

"Birthday boy, your breakfast is ready." Daddy called out.

"Okay, Daddy." I hopped up and skipped into the kitchen, then stopped dead when I saw the table. "Daddy."

There sat a plate of pancakes piled high with whipped cream and colorful sprinkles along with a pile of prezzies for me. I couldn't stop the tears and Daddy held me while I cried.

"Please tell me those are happy tears."

"Very happy, Daddy. Very happy. Thank you for remembering."

"I'll never forget. Now blow out the candle and let's eat so you can open your prezzies."

As soon as I blew it out Daddy removed it and I dove right in. The sugary goodness was so yummy I had to sing about it. "Nummy, nummy, nummy. It's my birthday. Yummy, yummy, yummy."

Daddy soon had his head bopping to the catchy tune. "Dear boy, I will never understand how you wear more than you eat. You have whipped cream from your chin to the top of your head." Daddy shook his head at me but smiled. "Okay, stay put while I get the washcloth."

"Now, Daddy?" I asked to be polite, but my fingers itched to dig into the pretty paper.

"Yes, dear boy, now."

"Daddy, it's a tea set! I've always wanted one." I pictured Sloffers, Kiki, and Patty having afternoon tea with me.

"Yes, you can have a tea party with your stuffies." Daddy knew, he always did, and the coffee table would work perfectly for this.

"A new pool floatie. A big rainbow ice cream." Now I couldn't decide between a tea party or swimming. Maybe we could do both today? "Daddy! Where did you find Sloffers slippers? Squee! I love them. Thank you, Daddy, for everything."

"You are very welcome, sweet boy. Daddy loves you."

"And I love my Daddy. Can I have a tea party now?" I slid into my new slippers and jumped up. "They're so soft."

"Of course. Why don't you get it set up and watch cartoons while I clean up the kitchen." Daddy started cleaning up my mess.

My mind was a fight between helping and playing with my new tea set. In the end, Little Jamie won.

Sloffers, Kiki, George, and Patty sat in front of me on the table. I gave them each a cup and a pretend cookie, but Sloffers reached for the last one.

"No, Sloffers, Patty is new, so she gets the extra cookie."

"Hello, sweet boy. How's the tea party?" Daddy slid in behind me on the couch, so I was between his legs.

"Fun. Would you like some tea?"

"Absolutely."

I poured Daddy a cup and handed it to him.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome. Sorry but Patty ate the last cookie."

"That's okay, I'm still full after breakfast." Daddy rubbed his belly.

"Drink, Daddy." I waited for him to take a drink.

"Mmm, good tea." Daddy made the yummy moany sounds and even his pinkie poked out.

"Yay. Do you want more?"

"Sure."

Hehe, Daddy was so much fun to play with.

"Daddy, can we swim today? I want to use my new raft." Everything Daddy got me was so perfect and fun.

"Absolutely. How about after your nap?"

"'Kay, Daddy."

He wandered off to do something, but I was so busy switching between my tea party and coloring that I lost track of time. When I looked up at the TV, my favorite show was over, and some weird food-chopper infomercial thing was on.

Flipping through the channels, I finally found a show I liked and curled up on the couch with my stuffies. I must've fallen asleep, and Daddy carried me to our room ‘cause when I woke up, I was in our bed. But no Daddy was in there.

"Daddy?" I wandered down the hall after I put on my swimsuit. After all, Daddy promised pool time after a nappy. "Daddy?"

"In the kitchen."

"Hi, Daddy." I skipped over for a hug. "Are we still swimming?"

"In a bit, birthday boy. You have one more present."

"I do?"

"You do." Daddy held his hand out to me. "Ready?"

"Yes?"

"You don't sound so sure."

Was I? "I trust you, Daddy."

"Good enough for me."

We walked back down the hall but instead of going to our room we stopped in front of the guest room. "Open the door."

"Surprise!"

I jumped back, thankful Daddy was there to keep me from falling.

"Happy birthday, Jamie!" Henry hugged me. "Did we scare you?"

"Little bit."

"Casey, Mitchell, let's give Jamie some space so he can check out his new playroom," Daddy Jensen said.

As they walked past each wished me a happy birthday. I had a birthday party of my own, my first.

"Hi, Chase."

"Happy birthday, cool room."

"Thank you."

Chase looked scared but Henry and I would make him feel better.

"Daddy, you made this for me?" I spun around the room. The ceiling was covered in clouds and stars someone had painted. There was a big one in the middle with "Daddy's Shiny Star" around it in fun letters. They must've been really tall to reach that high.

"I did. Does Daddy's Shiny Star like it?"

"Daddy!" I cried for the second time today while he held me. "No one's ever thrown me a party and now I have my own room and my own friends, and everybody is here."

"That's ‘cause we love you." Henry hugged me from behind since Daddy had my front.

"Look at all the animals, Daddy. You even have Sloffers, Kiki, George, and Patty on the walls." I pointed all around, pointing at so many animals my finger didn't know where to stop. "And Kiki's on a big tree! George is so tall he reaches her without standing on his tippy toes. Think he lifted her up there?"

"Probably." Daddy smiled. "That's what friends are for, to lift you up." Daddy was so smart, he knew everything.

The shelves were filled with toys and stuffies and there was even a huge jungle rug on the floor. Books lined the shelves, waiting for Daddy to read them to me.

"Your bed has a giant puppy paw on it." Henry pointed at it.

There were so many prezzies I didn't know where to start. I wanted to play with everything all at once.

I ran across the room, jumped on the bed and high-fived the paw headboard first. "It's so bouncy!"

Chase stood there staring at Henry and me.

"Are you okay, Chase?"

"I-I don't know what to do." Poor guy was lost. I wondered if his Daddy bought him any toys.

"What do you want to do?" Daddy had taken the time to label the containers on the shelves he'd filled. "We have blocks, cars, dinosaurs. Oh, I got a new tea set. Want to have tea party?"

"Okay," Henry and Chase answered at the same time.

"Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!" I hollered as I ran out of my new playroom. "Need help."

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing but I need help moving my tea set and my stuffies. We're gonna have a tea party." Before Daddy could pick anything up, I hugged him again. "Thank you for my room and the bestest birthday ever, Daddy."

"You are very welcome, sweet boy." Daddy helped me get it all moved then went back to play with the other Daddies.

"Hey, look!" Henry ran over to the shelf and came back with one of the containers. "You have a whole bucket of pretend food."

"Ooohhh, my Daddy is the bestest!"

Henry passed around the food while I filled our teacups. "Okay, pinkies out like this." I showed them how Daddy did it. "Nummy, nummy, nummy."

Chase played but didn't say anything, just stared off at the row of new stuffies on the shelf. "Do you want to hold one of my new stuffies? You can if you want to."

He nodded but didn't say anything, though he did return with a teddy bear.

"What should we name them?" I thought it would be fun if he helped me out with that. Plus, he was super new to being a Little, or a Middle, I wasn't sure which he was but he'd figure it out on his own. Either way, he was still my friend. "I like your tattoos."

"Thank you. This one is my band logo." He pointed to a big knife with blood on it.

"Embrace the Fear. Oh, that sounds scary." I didn't like blood.

"It's not. It's fun, but overwhelming sometimes. When I get off stage, I have all this nervous energy and I don't know what to do with it."

That didn't sound like fun. "Do you have any toys?" I asked him. "Coloring or playing with my stuffies helps me after work sometimes. Now that I have a Daddy, it's a lot easier to unwind."

"I have some coloring books but there are usually a lot of people around, so I don't bring them out much. I live with my best friend, David, and his boyfriend, Jordan. Jordan is a boy but not a Little. They're the ones who told me to go to the club. I'm glad I did because I made new friends."

"Friends forever!" Henry cheered.

Chase finally smiled. "Yes, friends forever. I like you guys, you play with me."

"You can come over and play with me anytime." And I meant it. Chase needed his friends to help him play better.

"Same. My Daddies let me and Jamie have sleepovers."

"So, what are you going to name your new bear?" I asked Chase.

"My new bear? He's yours, you should name him."

"Nope, it's my birthday so I get to choose what to do and that prezzie is for you." It was so easy to be nice to Chase and he clearly needed that stuffie more than I did.

"Thank you," he whispered as he stared at the bear. "It's my first stuffie."

"Cheers to his first stuffie!" Henry held his cup up and we tapped ours to his.

"I'm going to name him Beary, as in I love him Beary much." Chase cuddled Beary tight as we finished our tea.

"Let's play cars." Henry was a car-o-holic and had so many cars and racetracks at his house it was crazy. He grabbed my new bucket of cars and poured them out. "Look how shiny this one is."

We each grabbed a handful and raced them around then Chase took the blocks and built walls for us to crash through. Crashing was Henry's favorite thing. He'd giggle, drive through the blocks then clap his hands and shout, "Again!"

"All right, boys." Daddy came in. "Wow, I guess you tested all the toys today."

"We did!" I hopped up and ran over to him. "And I gave Chase a prezzie, too."

"You, my love, are the sweetest boy ever. Get cleaned up, tonight is make-your-own pizza night. I'll go start the pizza oven outside."

"Yay, pizza!" We cheered as one and cleaned up but when we got to the kitchen no Daddies were there.

"Yummy pepperonis."

"Where's your roller thingy, I want my crust thinner." Henry opened and closed the drawers until he found it. "Aha."

"It's sticking."

"We need more flour." I grabbed the bag and struggled to open it when all of a sudden... "Ut- oh."