5. Chapter Five

Chapter Five

Ralphie

I hadn’t meant to snoop, but they were talking about me which made it okay. At least in my mind it did. So what if I left the door cracked a bit and took my time changing into my footie Cookie Monster jammies. I hoped Daddy liked them.

“Knock, knock,” Daddy called out. “May I come inside and tuck my sweet boy in?”

“Yes, please, Daddy.”

“Cookie Monster, huh? It suits you. Now, did you want a story?”

“Re-really?” My eyes teared. “I always wanted story time and none of the other Daddies would do it.”

“None of them deserved such a wonderful boy as you. While I hate that they hurt you, I can’t deny how happy I am to have found you, sweet boy.”

Was it possible to fall in love on a first date?

“Do you have a favorite book?”

I ran over to my bookshelf and knew exactly the one to pick. I didn’t have many but the ones I had I loved and read to myself each night. Hearing Daddy’s sexy voice read to me was gonna be amazing, I just knew it.

“Here, this one.”

“Why am I not surprised? If You Give a Mouse a Cookie for my little cookie monster. All right, crawl up in bed and get comfy.”

I sprinted across the room, landed on the bed with a bounce and got to work sorting out my pillows and blankets.

“What will you name your snowman?”

“Snowy. I was just looking for a spot for him and Howie.”

“Why don’t you hold them while I read to you?”

“Okay, Daddy.” I wrapped an arm around each of them while Daddy scrunched in beside me and sat with his back against the headboard.

“If you give a mouse a cookie.”

Daddy’s voice was as perfect as I expected. So much so, I fell asleep halfway through the book.

“Good morning, sleepy head,” Tessy said as I wobbled into the kitchen, wiping sleep from my eyes.

“Morning, Tessy. Did Daddy say anything to you when he left last night?” Right as I sat down, she slid a sippy cup of milk in front of me. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. He said that you fell asleep as soon as he started reading and to make sure you let him know when you’re up. Good date, huh?”

“Perfect. We went to dinner then to the outdoor winter wonderland then he read me a bedtime story. Well, kinda. Oh, and I got a new teddy bear named Howie and a snowman I named Snowy.”

“I’m happy for you, Ralphie. Marcel is a great Daddy. He’s just had a hard time, but he really seems to care for you.”

“I think so, too, but I’m afraid of screwing it up. I, um,” I swirled the spoon in the bowl of oatmeal she made for me. Tessy even made a smiley face on top of it with blueberries. “I heard you talking to him last night when you first got home.

“Are you mad at me?”

I shook my head. “No. I know you worry about me. I just wish you didn’t have to.”

“That day will come, sweetie, though I’ll probably never stop. I just won’t have to worry as much then because I know your Daddy will be taking care of you.”

I made a silent wish that Daddy would be Daddy Marcel.

Oatmeal wasn’t a favorite but finding the blueberries I’d stirred in was a fun game and by the time that was over I’d eaten it all.

“Good boy. Rinse your dishes and put them in the dishwasher then call your Daddy.”

I ran over and kissed her cheek. “Love you, Tessy.”

“Love you, too, sweet boy.”

I skipped to my room, grabbed my phone and made the call, and he answered on the first ring. “Hi, Daddy.”

“Good morning, sweet boy. How did you sleep?”

“Really good. I think Howie and Snowy protected me from bad dreams.”

“Glad to hear it. If you don’t have any plans today I wanted to ask if you’d like to spend the day at my house?”

“I’d love that, but how will I get there?” I wasn’t good at navigating the bus system, but I could always use a car service. Tessy had me download the app one time for emergencies.

“Silly boy, I’ll pick you up. Say, in about an hour?”

“Great, Daddy, I’ll see you then.”

I pulled my old backpack from the closet and put my new stuffies in it. Then I got clean clothes to put on after my shower.

“Somebody’s awfully happy,” Tessy said when I came out of the bathroom.

“Daddy’s picking me up to spend the day at his house. Will you be okay alone, Tessy? Do you want me to ask Daddy if you can come, too?”

She laughed. “Thank you but I have laundry to do and errands to run. Go have fun. Besides, I’m dying to hear all about his McMansion when you get home.”

“Daddy has a mansion?”

“Rumor has it it’s a big estate. I don’t remember what he used to do for work, just that he sold the business after Elion died and made a lot of money.”

“Did you ever meet Elion?”

“I did. He was a very sweet boy, much like you. He was about your size with short brown hair and dark eyes. I remember he loved ducks and usually had them embroidered on his onesies. He and Marcel had a love to be envious of. You’re the first boy he’s sought since then which says a lot about you.”

“He showed me a picture of them on their wedding day on Thanksgiving. He was handsome and so was Daddy Marcel.”

“Marcel doesn’t play the random boy game like the other jokers you’ve met. He’s the real deal and a one-boy Daddy.”

That helped settle my worried tummy a bit. It’s hard to feel worthy of anyone when all your life you were told you weren’t worth the air you breathed.

I had just got my shoes on and grabbed my bag when the knock at the door came. I flung it open without a thought and thankfully it was Daddy on the other side and not stranger danger.

“Sweet boy, as much as I love your enthusiasm, you must check first before you open the door.” Daddy stepped inside and hugged me.

“Sorry, Daddy, but I hoped it was you.”

“Thankfully it was.” He glanced over at Tessy and smiled. “Hello, Tess, how are you today?”

“Hello, Marcel. I am looking forward to my day off.”

“Well, we won’t keep you then. Enjoy!” Daddy took my bag, “Shall we, little one?”

“Yes, Daddy. Bye, Tessy!” She smiled and waved.

Daddy got us all loaded up and buckled me into his fancy car. “Zoom, zoom. I bet your car goes fast, huh, Daddy?”

He chuckled. “It does but I won’t risk your safety proving that.”

“Thank you, Daddy. That would scare me.”

“There’ll be none of that on my watch, I can assure you of that. I thought we’d have lunch and swim, maybe watch a movie? What do you think?”

“It’s too cold to swim. Do you have bagel bites, Daddy?”

“My pool is heated, little one. No chickie nuggies for you?”

“They’re okay but I love bagel bites. Mini bagels, they’re so cute. What’s not to love?”

He laughed again. I made Daddy happy which made me a very happy boy. “You have a point. I don’t have any, but we can stop by the store on the way if you’d like.”

“I don’t want to be a burden, maybe we can have them another time.”

“Ralphie, you are the opposite of a burden,” Daddy said as he pulled into a grocery store parking lot. “Let’s see what else we can find to fill the cart with.”

Daddy grabbed a cart and off we went.

“I’ve got cocoa and mini marshmallows. Fruit and veggies, too. What goes well with bagel bites?”

“Tots! Do you have ketchup and ranch?” Didn’t want to freak him out but he’d see soon enough when I mixed them together.

“I do. What do you like for breakfast?

“Whatever Tessy makes. I’m not picky. Oh, milk. I love milk. I don’t know how to really cook so if Tessy isn’t there I only use the microwave.”

“Good, I don’t want you to get hurt trying to cook. If we have bagel bites for lunch, Daddy will make a healthy dinner. Deal?” Daddy got his serious face on. I was good with healthy.

“You’re gonna let me stay for dinner?”

“I was hoping you’d stay the night, even if you decide to sleep in one of the guest rooms.”

“You’d be okay with that?” Wait, did he say rooms, as in plural?

“Absolutely. Dear boy, this relationship is about more than sex for me. I enjoy your company and being around you. You brought the light into the dark and I’d like to hold onto that.”

When the tears came, Daddy hugged me tight right there in the middle of the store. He wasn’t embarrassed of me ‘cause he didn’t care who saw.

“You deserve to be loved, sweet boy, and I want to be that man who shows you what that’s like.”

That was the second time he’d said as much. Tessy was right, Daddy Marcel was a real Daddy, and he was mine.

“Thank you, Daddy.”

“Now, let’s get some more goodies for you to have at Daddy’s house.”

“Whoa.” Tessy wasn’t kidding about the McMansion thing. “Your house is huge.” And we weren’t even inside yet.

“A bit ostentatious to be quite honest. Back in the day we frequently entertained and had guests but now, not so much.”

We pulled into a garage where three other cars were parked and there was still room for more. There was the SUV we went out in last night, the zoom-zoom car we were in now plus two more zoom-zoom cars.

“Whose cars are those?”

“They’re all mine.”

“How do you know which car to drive?” That would confuse me because I’d feel bad driving one and leaving the others behind.

“Great question. Not sure I really need all of them anymore. I start them up once a week, just to keep them running but for the most part I drive the SUV. This car is my favorite, it’s a Ferrari.”

I wasn’t about to tell him I knew zero about cars but having heard the name Ferrari before I knew it was expensive and fast.

We managed to get the bags inside in one trip, coming from the garage and through a laundry room that was the size of my bedroom then into… “Holy moly. Your kitchen is ginormous.”

“Quite lonely to putter around in. Set the bags on the island and I’ll get them put away and start lunch. There’s a prezzie on the table for you to busy yourself with while I work on lunch.”

“A prezzie, for me? It’s not Christmas yet.” Daddy liked to buy me stuff, but I didn’t want him think I was a greedy boy. He bought me crayons and two big coloring books. One was Sesame Street, and the other was a Christmas one with snowmen. Plus, he got me a Cookie Monster puzzle, too. “Thank you, Daddy, I love it all.”

“You are very welcome. Maybe you’ll make me a special picture or two for my fridge?”

I glanced over at the massive refrigerator. “I think it can hold a hundred.”

Daddy grinned. “Maybe, dear boy. Maybe.”

I wanted to color but I wanted to see the rest of the McMansion, as Tessy called it, that Daddy lived in. Through the kitchen windows I saw a huge backyard that went on forever. “Daddy, you have a swing set?”

“There is a whole outdoor play space with a jungle gym, and it was set in a massive sandbox.” Daddy stared out at it, and I wondered if he was thinking of Elion.

“It’s okay to think about Elion and talk about him. I like hearing your stories.”

Daddy sighed but not one of those irritated ones. “You are the sweetest boy, thank you.”

“You don’t have to thank me, silly. He was your boy, and you loved him, and I think it’s great that you had good times with him.”

“You are too right. Instead of feeling sad for my loss I should celebrate what we had and make sure that you and I have a wonderful life together.”

Daddy was thinking of forever. With me. Did I still count our time together as dates now or as paving the way to our forever? Dating was confusing, was there a way to speed it up?

“While the oven is preheating, why don’t I show you around?”

“’Kay.” Daddy took my hand and led me around.

“This is the den just off the kitchen.”

The entertainment center and TV spanned an entire wall. There was shelf after shelf of movies on it.

“Your TV is like being at the movie theater.” I wondered if the surround sound was just as loud as it was at the movies.

Across the shiny tile floor toward the front of the house we went past was a formal dining room. I never had more than one place to eat ever. The living room at the front was bigger than our apartment.

“Haven’t used this room in forever.” Daddy stood in the center of it. “I’m mostly in the office or kitchen. All this space is wasted now.”

“What if we got a Christmas tree? It would be huge and so pretty and then it wouldn’t look so empty.”

“Good idea, little one. Maybe one in here to place in front of the window and another in the family room to put our gifts under. What do you think?”

“Fun, fun, fun, is what I think. I love decorating trees.” Though as we got older our parents stopped buying them, but Tessy and I had one last year. We had cocoa and sang silly jingles and decorated it. It was so much fun.

We got back to the shiny tile and Daddy pointed down the hall. “My office and a bathroom are down there.”

I followed him up the stairs and at the top of the landing it split off in two directions.

“There are three guest rooms with en suite bathrooms to the left. On right is the main bedroom and one other room.” He stopped in front of one of the closed doors, his hand on the doorknob, though he didn’t turn it. “I haven’t been in this room in two years.” Finally, he opened the door but didn’t step inside. “This was Elion’s playroom.”

“He had his own playroom? How cool is that. Can I see?” He nodded so I stepped around him and went inside, though he stayed out in the hall. “Wow.”

This room was every little’s dream. Endless shelves filled with containers of toys. A huge castle was in the corner with a bed on top of it. The entire floor was a huge play rug with a city on it. There were roads and houses and all kinds of neat things to drive your race cars over. Elion had a changing table, too, he must’ve worn diapers.

“I don’t want to wear diapers, Daddy. Is that okay?”

“Of course it is. Each little is their own, and their room should reflect that.” He was super sad Daddy now and I didn’t like that, so I ran over and hugged him.

“Thank you for showing me this special room, Daddy.”

He kissed the top of my head. “You are very welcome. Maybe someday we could make it special for you.”

“It’s already special.”

“You are too sweet. One more room to see in this wing.”

“That’s the biggest bed I’ve ever seen.” I couldn’t help myself. I ran across the massive room and jumped on it. “This is so soft.”

Daddy finally laughed again. He did that a lot around me which was way better than his sad face.

“Silly boy.”

“Everything in your house, including your house, is super-sized.”

“You still haven’t seen it all. There’s another section of the house on the other side of the kitchen, plus the yard wraps around the outside of the house.”

“I’m gonna get lost for sure.”

“I’ll put an air tag on you,” Daddy winked. “Let’s go.”

Down the stairs, across the shiny floor again, past the living room and through the kitchen to a door I hadn’t noticed before.

“Double whoa.”

It was a huge, glass enclosed room with a full-size pool and jacuzzi in it. There was a set of double glass doors that opened to the outside and another door on the left, and through the glass wall I could see there was a gym.

“This is just like the one at my friend Orion’s.”

“Close to it. It’s cold far too many months here and we miss all that time being in a pool, so this was the best win for year-round usage.”

“When can we swim? Oh shoot, I didn’t bring a swimsuit.”

“You can swim in your boxers. Sorry I didn’t suggest a sleepover earlier at your place.”

“It’s okay, Daddy. I can swim in my undies and sleep in one of your t-shirts. See, all fixed.”

“You’re such a smart boy. All right, let’s strip down and jump in. One more question, do you need arm floaties?”

I almost forgot. I was too excited to swim but I wasn’t a great swimmer. “Yes, please.”

Daddy walked over to a set of cupboards and pulled a new package from it plus towels and… “What’s that?” I pointed to the big, white fluffy things.

“Bathrobes. I’m going to put them and the towels on the towel warmers so when we get out we slide right into toasty warm cotton.”

“I thought the pool was heated?”

“It is but not overly hot and I don’t want to risk my boy getting a cold.”

“You’re so thoughtful, Daddy.”