Suddenly she looks a little unsure and bites her lip. “Do you think I’m good enough? What if people don’t like it?”
I tug one of her curls, smiling at her. “I think you are talented and wonderful and so sweet to everyone. They will love you and your cake pops. But there’s one problem. They’ll all have to wait in line behind me.”
Her face beams, and she falls onto my chest, hugging me close with her whole body. I wrap my arms around her, loving this moment, loving that I’m able to make her dreams come true.
“Are you happy, little Haley?”
She pulls back and looks down at me, smiling from ear to ear. “I’m so happy, Daddy.”
“Do you want to make Daddy as happy as you are right now?”
Haley giggles and nods her head. I reach under the towel beside us and pull out the small box. Her eyes grow to the size of saucers when she sees it, and I sit up, taking her hand in mine.
I open the box, revealing the heart-shaped pink diamond. I had it designed the day she turned eighteen, and I’ve been waiting for the perfect time to give it to her.
“I’ll never love anyone but you for the rest of my life. Will you marry me, Haley?”
Small tears start to stream down her cheeks, and I use my thumb to wipe them away. After just a second she nods and throws her arms around my neck, nearly choking me.
I laugh a little at her excitement, and when she pulls back, I take her hand and slip on the ring. It fits perfectly.
She looks down at the ring and moves her fingers, watching it glitter in the sun.
“It sparkles almost as prettily as you do.”
“Daddy!” She blushes at my words, but wraps her arms around my neck again, this time pushing me back on the bed and kissing me all over. After a few minutes, of showering me with kisses, she pulls back and looks down at me. “I want a Christmas wedding.” She’s so excited, I can already see the wheels turning in her head.
“Whatever you want, little one. Anything.”
She cuddles in beside me, and I squeeze her close, thinking how lucky I am to have found the one. I’ve waited my whole life for her, and I’d do it all over again as long as I ended up with her. I kiss her forehead and close my eyes.
“I love you.”
“I love you too, William.”
She doesn't call me by my name often anymore, so when she does it, I know it’s a big deal. Having her call me ‘Daddy’ is a privilege I don’t take lightly, and I absolutely love it. But when she calls me ‘William’, I’m reminded in those brief moments that this is forever. That no matter what happens, she’ll always be mine, and I’ll always be hers. That, while we enjoy our relationship the way it is now, as long as we are in each other’s arms, nothing else matters.
THE END
Volume Three
Innocent Christmas
To the littles…. shhh, it’s our secret.
Chapter One
Haley
“I don’t care that it looks like Barbie planned this wedding! I love pink, and my Daddy loves seeing me in pink, so everything will be pink!” I half-shout into the phone, not wanting Daddy to hear me down the hall. He’s wrapping up a few things with work, so he’ll be free for the next two weeks and I don’t want to distract him. I can do this. I peek out the door to make sure he didn’t hear me before closing it softly. It’s like the words I’ve been saying to the wedding planner the last few months just don’t sink into her thick skull.
“But pink on pink is…” She pauses for a moment like she’s searching for the right word, but I cut her off because I don’t want to hear it.
“Pink on pink is what I’ll get.” I say through gritted teeth. “This is my wedding, not yours, and I know what we want.” I have to hold myself back from threatening to get William on the phone. This is my fight, and I’m making this wedding perfect for us. I always need Daddy’s help, and I want to show him I can make this day special for us and show him how much this means to me.
A Christmas wedding covered in pink sounds perfect to me. Whoever said Christmas has to be red and green didn’t see me coming. I can do Christmas in pink if I want to. No, scratch that, I’m doing Christmas in pink with a dash of silver sparkles. Period. Wedding planner or not.
“I’ll see what I can do,” she finally says, and I don’t respond. I just sit silently with the phone to my ear because ‘seeing what she can do’ isn’t going to cut it. I still have to get ready for dinner tonight, and I need her to make things happen.
The silence stretches, but I just sit there, tapping my foot, waiting. I look down, admiring my soft pink nail polish as I wait for her to speak again. The silence grows thick before she finally cracks.