Broken Descent (Bruno Mars)

Surprises

Bruno carried Charlotte over his shoulder and into the house late the night after; it was the day after Christmas. She had a smirk on her face, even as she slept. It would only grow happier the next morning.

"Are you excited for your surprise?" Bruno winked.

"Yes!" She exclaimed, dropping her spoon into her bowl of Lucky Charms, making drops of milk splash out onto the table.

"Finish your cereal first," Bruno laughed.

Once she finished, Bruno led to the family room, asking her to sit on the family room floor.

"Close your eyes," Bruno said, quickly running to the other room. Holding onto the present with both arms, he sat on front of her.

Giggling, Charlotte grew a bit antsy, shaking her head back and forth with her hands over her eyes.

"Alright, Charlotte. Open your eyes."

When she opened her eyes, the present crawled right into her lap. Her face lit up and her eyes sparkled. Gasping, she put her hands to her face.

"A puppy?!" Charlotte exclaimed, almost in the form of a question.

Slowly, Bruno nodded. "Well you've been asking for one for a long time, and you've been very patient. You need to help me take care of him. Understand? Do you like him?"

Giving the puppy a hug, she hadn't been that happy in a long time. She nodded as she watched the puppy that would later be named Geronimo, play on the floor. Charlotte giggled, playing tug of war with him as Bruno watched. When she was done, she looked at her dad, still sitting in front of her, and stood up.

"Thank you, Dad," she said, giving him a hug.

"You're welcome," he replied, giving Charlotte a bit of a squeeze and petting Geronimo. "Merry Christmas."

With her love of animals, getting Charlotte a dog was a no-brainer. Bruno had wanted a dog too. Charlotte proved to be a very responsible kid. Even when they had to go to Hawaii or had to go away anywhere else, it would be easy for Bruno to pay someone to take care of Geronimo. The Christmas surprise, although exciting for Charlotte, wasn't as exciting for him to show her as birthday surprise. He had worked and planned it for months. He built it by hand, all on his own. For the days leading up to her birthday, Charlotte slept in one of the guest rooms as he put it all together. She would try to go in to see it after school, so Bruno had to lock the door.

"But why can't I go in there?" she would ask.

"I told you, sweetheart. It's a surprise...it's part of your birthday present."

Charlotte was very excited from all the cards and little gifts she received from her classmates on her birthday. Bruno took her out for ice cream after school before heading home. Madison would be sleeping over that night for Charlotte's birthday and so her mom could go out.

"Ready to go check out your room?" he asked her as they entered the front door.

"Yay!" Charlotte cheered, running toward her room. Grabbing the lock, Bruno opened the door for her, watching her slowly approach her bed, which was now against the wall. Looking up, she noticed a second level. She stopped at the side of the bed, looking at the wall to see a wooden sign. The sign said "Charlotte's Library."

The rest of the wall and parts of her headboard and footboard were filled with shelves and most importantly, books. The books were picked by Miss Hunter. Watching her stand there motionless and silent, Bruno got a bit nervous. He started talking since he didn't know what else to do. Taking her hand, he stood back and pointed up at the top.

"There's a bed up there for when Madison comes over," he said, walking her over to the side of the bed where a hammock hung.

Charlotte remained silent and still.

"Over here is a place where you can read, or draw, or relax in a place that's not your bed, if you want."

Charlotte sat in the hammock, swinging and looking at the books facing her from that angle. Bruno squatted down in front of her.

"Char you're very quiet..."

Biting her lip, Charlotte's lips began to quiver.

"Aww...oh no...what's wrong beautiful?"

Throwing her head down, tears fell down her cheeks.

"Hey...Charlotte why are you crying?"

Charlotte got up and stood in front of her bed. Bruno followed behind with a little distance.

"Are you disappointed?" Bruno asked, wrapping his arm around her.

He felt devastated, not because of the time he'd spent planning and building it, but because she appeared to be so disappointed. Bruno hyped her up for months for apparently no reason.

"I'm sorry that you don't lik..."

"Dad," she interrupted, surprisingly him a little. She held on to one of his arms. "I...I like it."

"You do?" he asked, smiling, kneeling beside her. "Those are happy tears?"

Charlotte smiled, nodded, and then hugged him tight. "I love it, Dad...I really, really love it."

Wiping a small bit of her cheek, Bruno couldn't remove the grin from his face. "You have no idea how happy that makes me."

"Did you...make this?" she said a little quietly.

"Yep...all for my peanut," Bruno said, returning his arm around her waist, before letting her go to sit and look at her new collection.

Charlotte and Bruno took a while to look at the books in just one of the shelves. He watched some of her tears fall again.

"Char those are still happy tears, right?"

Charlotte turned to him, nodding and smiling. She hesitated a little. "I promise...they are. This is a....a...really big present."

"Guess what, though?" Bruno asked, helping her put the books back the way they'd been organized. He waited for her eye contact to begin speaking. "You deserve it."

Charlotte dropped her head down, only for Bruno to bring it back up to him.

"You really do," he said, moving his face a little closer to her.

"Why?"

"Lots of reasons, Char," Bruno winked, taking her hands, "but the most important reasons are because you so nice...and sweet...to everyone you meet. Whenever I...or an adult...asks you to do something...you do it...and you're so respectful..."

Watching the smirk on Charlotte's face, Bruno continued to speak.

"I'm so proud of you," Bruno smiled, feeling his emotions build.

"Why?"

Laughing a little at her cute curiosity, Bruno replied, rubbing her upper arms. "Because I have an amazing little girl..."

"Well maybe it's because I have the best dad in the WHOLE WIDE WORLD," Charlotte said with a lot of attitude and drama that Phil and Eric had been talking about for several months.

"Thank you, Charlotte. Wanna look at some more books?" he asked, resting his hand on one of the shelves. "These are some that you can read right now and then there are some in here that Miss Hunter said that are for second grade...but guess what?"

"What?"

"She said you're reading just like your classmates and you might even be able to read some of these this summer."

"Really?" she gasped.

"Yep."

Bruno smiled at her, watching her get lost in her own excitement.

"So how does it feel to be six years old?"

"Good!" Charlotte exclaimed, lunging into his chest.

For Bruno it was just as good for him for her to be six as well, because he was more excited about the future, than sadly nostalgic about the past.