A long lane at night

2.14. GOOD INTENT Part 2

Later that day, dad Allan sent Nate and I off to the big city to try on our outfits. I thought it would be nice to take Alice for the ride and to have a nice outing only with her two fathers.

Since the theme for our wedding was black and white, my dad had helped us choose this pair of slim overcoats with matching colours. I would wear the black one with white buttons and some other white details. Dad Allan had insisted I wore black so it would narrow my broad shoulders a bit. Nate would benefit from wearing the white overcoat with black buttons and details because it would, according to my dad, have the opposite effect on him.

'Now,' dad Allan said through the video call, 'go to separate changing rooms. I don't want you seeing each other fully dressed until your wedding starts.'

I rolled my eyes at him.

'Dad, that's an ancient tradition and there isn't even—'

'I don't give a shit about tradition, Jack,' my dad cut me. 'I just want everyone there to be able to witness the look on your faces when you see each other in your wedding attires for the first time.'

Fine, that was a fair point.

We left the shop half an hour later and I called my dad one more time to tell him we were leaving, but wouldn't be heading home right away.

'Your Nanna called me all excited to tell you're taking her great-granddaughter to see her,' my dad's voice said through the car speakers. 'Good call, son. She'd have a fit if she ever suspected you were so close to her and didn't pay a visit. Will you be home for dinner?'

'I don't think so, dad,' I answered. 'I reckon Nate and I will want to find a nice place to have dinner with Alice. But we won't be home too late, all right?'

'All right,' my dad answered. 'Have fun and call me if you need anything. Bye.'

'Bye,' I hung up. 'Hey, Princess,' I said to Alice, putting up my most excited voice while looking at her through the rear-view mirror. 'Let's go visit Nanna!'

Now, the linguist in me knows fairly well that babies under the age of one don't speak. They make incoherent sounds, such as 'bababa', 'dadada', or 'nanana', especially to mimic the sounds they're hearing. However, the father in me cried his eyes out the first time she made 'dadada', because I would forever swear that she was calling me.

'Nananana', Alice 'said'.

'Yeah, Nanna!' I congratulated her. She hadn't said a thing, I know. I was proud regardless. 'Good job, Princess!'

It was a short drive. We arrived there merely ten minutes later. I had Alice in her baby chair and Nate knocked.

'One minute!' My nanna screamed from inside. I'll never get tired of that.

When she finally opened the door, she had an apron on and a kitchen cloth on her shoulder. Nanna Maggie opened her arms wide to welcome us in a warm and tight hug.

'My boys!' She said through a teary voice. 'It feels like forever, even though it hasn't been! And our sweet little Alice! Hello, baby girl! Hello!'

Alice laughed at the silly faces Nanna was making for her as Nate and I made ourselves comfortable in her living room couch.

'Now,' Nanna said. 'You'll have to forgive me, but I didn't have time to prepare anything. I had just arrived from church when you called me telling you were coming, Jack.'

'Oh, Nanna,' I stood up. 'We don't want to cause you any trouble, we can come back another day if today's not a good time for you.'

'Stop speaking non-sense, will you, boy?' Nanna waved her hand at me. 'I said I didn't have time to prepare anything, not that I wasn't going to serve you anything. I already called Mr Mack and he'll deliver some goodies for us in no time.'