A long lane at night

2.8. COME INTO MY WORLD Part 3

We make our way to the back of the house, where the wood oven is already high at work and the smell of fresh pizza travels through the air. Uncle Henry and Nanna Maggie are sitting close to the oven, laughing at something they said before I got there.

Alice was sleeping surrounded by pillows on yet another bassinet, this one had small wheels under it that were safely locked now, and a white mosquito net covered the whole thing, keeping her safe and fresh. One more look at the sink close to the wood oven showed me the thermal bag with bottles I had on me when I got here yesterday. She was staying just inside the house, at a safe distance we could all watch her and get to her in a fraction of a second, but far enough so the adults could still enjoy their evening without risking waking her up.

We heard movement on the other side of the house and five minutes later, Nate came to meet us all. He was wearing a fresh change of clothes and gladly took a plate with two large slices from his father's hands.

'Is everything alright, Munchkin?' I asked after I let him finish both slices. We did a lot today, he deserved at the very least to eat in peace.

'As perfect as it could be, Sunbeam,' he answers with a warm smile, his eyes almost closing. I've seen this smile before loads of times and it always made me happy. It somehow made me miss all those years when he wore glasses. Whenever he smiled like that, his cheeks would move the glasses from his face and he'd always have to adjust them. It was his decision to change to contacts and he looked perfect either way, but the glasses added an extra level of cuteness to the whole picture.

We talked and laughed the night away and we managed to eat our way through most of the pizza we got at the parlour. At some point of the evening, Nate got close to me, away from all the others, and whispered words I loved to hear.

'Try not to react too strongly, but I put the rest of the Turkish delights I had in your room.'

'Our.'

'What?'

'Our room, Nate. I'm sorry, and you're always totally free to move back to your place at your own will, but I don't really think that moving forward we'll have my room or your room anymore.'

'I honestly don't even see the point,' he said as we made our way back to the party. 'But still, our bed is a mess and I'm not going to organise it by myself, mister.'

'How about I go feed ... Nate, since you already accepted, do you mind if I ...?'

'You want to refer to Alice as our daughter, don't you?' He asked, knowing me far too well.

'I really think I do.'

'Want to try it out and see how that feels?'

'Sure. As I was saying, how about I go feed our daughter and you make our bed?'

'And how did it feel?'

'If I say "easier", will it make sense?'

'A lot.'

'And how did it feel for you to hear it?'

'At the same time surreal and a very deep dream come true.'

'Want to try it?'

'What?'

'You know. I gave it a go, now it's your turn.'

'Oh,' he blushed a bit. 'Okay. Let's see ... I'm sorry, Jack, I won't be alone organising your mess in our room as you have all the fun feeding our daughter by yourself.'

'Wow, two birds with a single stone. First things first, don't worry, Munchkin. We'll first go to the nursery to give her a bottle and when we take her to our room, we'll sort out through that mess together, okay? Some of that stuff does belong to you.'

'Fair enough.'

'Now, the most important part. How did it feel?'

'I might still be a little bit stuck to the surreal part, because I didn't have all that time to prepare like you did, so part of me felt like I was taking a dare into a dangerous zone, but that was a small part. I love her in a way I can't even begin to explain and I love her father in a way that makes my heart feel about to burst. And how did it make you feel, Jack, hearing someone else call Alice their daughter?'

'You played right to my possessiveness, Munchkin. You knew that was where it was bound to sting if it ever did. But it didn't. I told you, I want to share all that I am with you. And I also am Alice's father. Ergo, you're Alice's father.'

'We're not having her do to us what you do to your fathers, are we? The whole "call them both the same thing because I have fun watching them go crazy" thing. We're not doing it, are we?'

'YES! I KNEW IT!' Dad Brian screamed. He was sitting only at a small distance from us, so it was obvious he couldn't help but overhear my entire conversation with Nate. Dad Brian turned to dad Allan with a victorious look on his face. 'Twenty-two years I've been telling you, Allan, "Jack does it on purpose, he has fun watching us lose our marbles trying to figure out who's the dad he's calling", but you were always so defensive, always going "that's just how he processes things, my love. It's a natural thing that now became his thing." And now I have the proof! Now I can call all that bullshit to your face!'

Everyone was roaring with laughter, even Nate, who was red because he had revealed my biggest secret.

'Fine, I give in,' I said, raising my hands in a dramatic defeat. 'What do you want me to call you? I already got a new name for Nate today, let's get the party rolling, then.'

'What?' Dad Brian followed my overdramatic reactions and placed his hand on his chest. 'And throw away more than two decades of training? Are you insane? Now it's too late. I'm "Dad" and Allan's also "Dad" and we'll both be "Dad" forever. At least my younger sons have the kindness to call me "Pop".'

'We can change that, dad!' The twins said in unison.

'And never be released from your lawn and errand obligations? Are you insane, boys?' Dad Brian had his victorious smile back on. It is impressive how easily he owns his children. All of us. I really want to learn as much as I can from him. I love dad Allan's parenting as well, but that power dad Brian has ... I liked it.