Choosing Life

Chapter Sixty One

"And that should be the last bit of furniture!" David said with a smile as he and Daniel lugged an old rocking chair up the stairs and set it up in the corner of the nursery. It had been the rocking chair that had been in Emma's and Neal's nurseries and also in Ethan's and Eva's nurseries, but as soon as Emma had heard that Evie was pregnant she had insisted on giving the rocker to her step-aunt.

Evie was family, Emma had said, and the rocking chair had been passed to each child when they were born. It would be a shame for Evie's child to not be included in the tradition.

"Thanks for helping with this," Daniel said as he wiped a bit of sweat from his brow.

"Are you kidding? I wouldn't miss this for the world," David chuckled.

"...Doug asked you to keep an eye on me while he was over at his parents' house and Snow went shopping for baby items with Evie, didn't he?"

"...Okay maybe I'd been asked to make sure you didn't overdo setting up the nursery but I haven't set up a nursery in ages so I'll take all the blame if and when Doug finds out I failed," David said, giving Daniel a sheepish smile.

Daniel chuckled. "Feeling grandkid fever again? You know you still have Neal if Emma's done having kids, right?"

"I know, but Neal and Grace have said they want to still enjoy their time as a married couple before they think about kids," David said. "They've said though that they might start trying next year, and Emma told us that once Eva's a bit older, they might try for another kid."

"But for right now you're going to enjoy Evie's pregnancy and lavish her with any assistance she might need?"

"Of course, that's part of my step-brother in law duties!"

"Is that a word?"

"According to Emma, it is and arguing with her about made up words just seems to summon my son in law who will make up even stranger words in response in his quest to have everyone accept his motto of 'being normal is vastly overrated'."

Daniel shook his head in amusement. "You know, I think Emir would have fit in nicely on the Isle, from what Evie's said about Mal's crew."

"Honestly he probably took the news that the food to the Isle was being tampered with harder than even King Ben did, from what Emma told me," David said. "They'd have food drives about once a term in Auradon City when Emma was about eight, and of course other kingdoms would help out. When King Ben was around thirteen, however, he along with his friends took over running the food drives."

"Who was running them before?" Daniel asked.

"You know I don't really know," David said. "I had assumed Fairy Godmother but once it fell into King Ben's purview, it just always seemed to be something he handled."

"...But he was a child?"

"He became High King at sixteen and no one batted an eye, does the idea of a child running the Isle food drives really seem all that odd to you?"

Daniel opened his mouth and then shut it as he realized David had a point.

David shook his head. "We really should have looked more into what was going on with the Isle, but unfortunately the Summerlands didn't exactly have the pull on the council the Auroria council member had."

"The council member being Queen Aurora's mother?" Daniel asked. He faintly remembered Evie telling him something about the former monarch but it had been so long ago, Daniel had pushed it out of his mind.

"That's right," David nodded. "Honestly, Leah could probably be the only person in the world who could manage to rile up Snow. Well, except for her 'colleagues' over at the Gazelle."