travis
ella age: 8
rylee age: 3
kansas city, missouri
*this was highly requested
i went straight home from the facility today since tay said she was picking up the girls from school.
i don't dare to announce my arrival home because it's rylee's nap time and taylor would kill me if i made a careless mistake like that. it's happened before and that's how i know to not let it happen again.
the house is unusually quiet the further i venture through.
"tay?" i ask as i'm walking through the main floor. rylee's room is upstairs and she has her white noise machine on while she sleeps.
after walking around a bit, i found ella curled up in taylor's side in the theater. tay is running her fingers through our daughters head, something i know that helps calm her down when she gets anxious, so it's my tell that something happened to her
i raise my eyebrow in confusion. ella has yet to have seen me. taylor slowly shakes her head letting me know not to come in.
i go upstairs and change to sweats and a sweatshirt. i peek my head and walk into rylee's room and she's still asleep in bed, so i slowly and quietly leave close the door behind me.
i see taylor rounding the corner when i close the door.
"trav, we need to talk." she says cautiously
"everything okay?" i ask
"yeah, let's go to the bedroom." she says and starts walking to the bedroom. this can't be good.
"what's wrong tay?" i ask and close the doubles doors behind me
"there are some mean girls at the ella's school and i guess they are really getting to her." she explains. as soon as the words leave her mouth, my blood immediately boils.
"what!" i boom and stand up from the couch in the bedroom
"trav, c'mon. don't." taylor grabs my arm "she's really upset and i don't want you to be angry about the situation and be upset more." she further explains
"i'm not mad." i declare and stride out of the room to go see my daughter. i go right down to the theater and find my little girl.
"ella?" i call standing in the doorway as she's curled up on one of the couches with a fluffy blanket over her making her look so small. the theater is big and steps up so the back rows can still see the big screen and there's a kitchenette in the back always filled to the brim with food, endless drinks and only the best snacks.
"yeah?" she mumbles and looks up at me. she just looks so defeated. i absolutely hate anyone that made her feel any less than the most perfect little girl there is.
"c'mon let's go." i tell her and motion my head at the door
"i'm tired." she mumbles and nestles into the blanket
"c'mon ella, i promise you'll like where we're going." i say and she gets up from the couch and trudges over to me.
"go get changed and come back down and we'll leave, okay?" i ask
"where are we going?" she asks confused
"you'll see, it's a surprise." i smile and i see her make the slightest smile and walks out.
there's a new place that opened up not too far away that has so much to do like go karts, games, some rides, and so much more.
i go upstairs to taylor in the bedroom folding laundry and watching greys anatomy.
"i'm gonna take ella out, are you okay here?" i ask
"aw trav, that's so sweet of you. i'll be perfect. rylee will be sleeping for a few hours and i'm just gonna get some work done." she says and tosses some of the girls clothes onto on the bed
"i just wanna cheer her up a little bit." i explain
"you're the best dad trav." she says. i love when she says that. being a dad is my favorite job. i love my little girls with everything in me, through everything. most times they are the sweetest little things, but even when they give me and taylor a run for our money, they are still bright stars in my eyes.
"i'm nothing with you, tay. you know you are those girls' favorite person and the best mom." i say
i go over to my wife and go behind her and wrap my arms around her waist and kiss my neck.
"i love you so much." i say into her neck
"i love you trav." taylor giggles
i stand there a bit while taylor folds laundry and i end up helping her fold
"dad! i'm ready!" ella yells from the hallway
"i gotta go. we'll be back in a couple hours." i tell taylor and give her a kiss.
"ok!" she chirps and i leave the room
ella and i go to the place and i pay for us to be there for a couple hours. those two hours we were there, a smile never dropped from ella's face.
of course there were people who stopped us and asked for pictures and everything which we did, but to a certain extent after all this is ella's time.
we played so many games, rose some rides, but ella's favorite was the go karts. she kept laughing and telling me who to pass on the track. she's too young and little to drive her own so we did a two person and she sat right next to me which was more fun.
"daddy, go!" ella laughs as we pass the final person to get in first.
i zip right past them as we turn.
ella cheers and laughs next to me and it makes me nothing but smile. it made me so happy to see a smile on her face especially after seeing her so upset.
after we left, i took ella to her favorite ice cream place, a frozen yogurt place. i let her make her own and add any and everything she wanted. she was so giddy, like any little kid would be. she piled everything on. taylor would scold me for this, but she's not here to tell me no. i also piled mine up to of course. i'm a 6'5 250 pound athlete who can eat. i scarfed mine down where ella made a small dent in her mountain which i thought was funny.
we returned home with ella happy and excited to tell taylor everything she got to do and had the biggest smile on her face.
