For Fiona

25. Daddy's Day

When Lucy woke up, the sun had not yet risen, but her smile was bright enough. She opened her eyes to find Tim's face right next to her. For a moment, she paused, letting her eyes drift over his resting form. The lines of his face, usually so focused, were at peace. His hair was rumpled from where she had run her fingers through it the night before. His breathing was slow and even in the way she was accustomed to hearing when he was deep in slumber. After their conversation the night before, she was practically flying. He basically told her he loved her, and that was enough to make her giddy. Her heart almost burst at the sight of his still sleeping face, and she wanted more than anything to gaze upon him for hours on end, but she knew she had important business to attend to, so she lightly brushed her lips over his stubbly cheek and carefully slipped out of bed so as not to wake him then showered and put on one of his t shirts over a pair of small cotton shorts. Quietly, she padded down to the kitchen. She went to smell her red roses that were in a vase on the counter; Tim had bought those for her for their date the night before, and she absolutely loved seeing their rich color stand out among the white and grey of their counters and cabinets.

She hummed to a song in her head as she made pancakes and took special care to clean up after herself the way Tim likes, and then she saw Kojo amble over with his tongue out and a look on his face that signaled that he smelled her cooking. Lucy doubled over and scratched behind one of his ears as she quietly assured, "Hi, buddy! I'll give you some food when we eat, but right now, I'm taking you outside, because we don't have time to walk you this morning. Don't worry, I'll tell the dog walker so she takes you on an extra long one in the afternoon." She scooped her dog up and took him into the backyard where she gave him a quick kiss and went back inside to enact the next step of her plan.

With quiet steps, Lucy went into Fiona's room and approached her bed where she was fast asleep. Sometimes, it was so surreal she had a perfect little girl and was forging a life with Tim when less than a year before, she was barely speaking to him, and they had only kissed once "for work". As she softly pet her daughter's arm, she whispered, "Fiona, sweetheart, it's time to wake up. I've got a surprise for you."

Fiona stirred, then her eyelids fluttered open. She gazed at her mom for a moment, disoriented, then recognition dawned. "Mommy?" She mumbled.

"Good morning." Lucy smoothed a strand of hair away from her cheek. "Today's a special day, so we need to wake up."

"Special?" She wondered groggily.

"It's Father's Day! Do you remember I told you about what that means? It's the day we celebrate your daddy and show him how much we love him and how special he is."

Fiona's face lit up with sudden excitement, her sleepiness vanishing. She sat upright and proclaimed, "It's Daddy's Day!"

"Shh shh, yes it's Daddy's Day!" She hoped Tim would not hear her daughter's voice to startle him awake when she had a plan for that. "Can you help me wake up your daddy, so we can celebrate together?"

Fiona nodded enthusiastically and pulled her covers off. "Yes! I love Daddy! I want to celebrate him every day!"

"Great! Let's go!" She took her daughter's hand, and they raced down the hall into her bedroom. Lucy watched as Fiona wasted no time launching herself onto the bed while squealing, and she began to jump on the bed half singing and half screaming, "It's Daddy's Day! Wake up, Daddy! It's Daddy's Day!" It was like she unleashed a bomb of toddler energy on Tim, yet he barely moved no doubt because they had stayed up so late the night before.

Undeterred despite how his eyes were shut, she kept jumping and shouting about Daddy's Day until she heard him let out a raspy chuckle then dropped to her knees. "Daddy! Happy Daddy's Day!"