#10 :: Brotherhood

39. Ethan

As much as I love school. Six weeks holidays are much much more enjoyable. Especially as I make the most of it by spending it with my boys.

Today I decided to take the boys to the park. I had managed to do all the holiday shopping and pack all of our stuff. So I thought what a better way than to spend our last day in London than a nice time at the park.

Tire them out so they sleep early tonight so we're up bright and early for our flight tomorrow.

"Daddy can we go and play now?" EJ asks me.

I had them sit there and let their food digest. Before they go running off and next minute they're throwing back up their lunch. I looked at my phone and I felt they had sat here long enough.

"Yeah okay, EJ remember Ezra will copy what you do and he might not be able to do what you can. So be careful."

"Yes daddy! Come on Ez!!" EJ said running off with Ezra right behind him.

I look at them two and laugh. Honestly I couldn't describe no love better than the love I have for my kids. It's not easy having three children under the age of ten. I make it work nevertheless.

"C'mon Elijah, let's go on the swings. Stop crying son." I said to him as he starts crying because he can't go and play with EJ and Ezra.

He's just too young, he's also very small and I'm still having to keep an eye on EJ and Ezra. Once in the swing he had stopped crying and started smiling.

"Ethan?" I heard someone say.

I turned around to see Michaela.

"Hey Michaela, what you doing here?"

"I have my nephew for a couple of days so I decided to take him to the park. What a coincidence that we would end up at the same park!" She says.

Same thing I was thinking.

"It is isn't it. How olds your nephew?"

"7."

"Well you can join us if you want?"

"Oh I don't want to impose..."

"You won't be."

"Well, okay then."

"EJ, Ezra!! Come here for a minute."

"Yes dad." They say once they reached me.

"This is my friend Michaela and her nephew..."

"Sanchez." Michaela said.

"Sanchez. He's going to play with you two okay? Be nice!"

"Yes dad! Cmon Sanchez, cmon Ezra." EJ said and went running with the two of them running behind them.

"Thanks for that. I was thinking he would have ended up getting bored with me."

"It's cool. So how have you been enjoying your holidays?" I asked whilst still pushing Elijah on the swing.

"It's been nice. I miss the kids though weirdly."

"Yeah. When I first started I forgot it was half term and got ready for work. Got all the way into my car and it hit me that it was holidays."

Michaela laughed.

"Awww... he's fallen asleep." She said.

I looked at Elijah and just like that he was fast asleep. I smiled. I picked him up and went and sat down.

"Isn't it hard?" Michaela asked as she watched me holding a sleeping Elijah.

"Isn't what hard?"

"Three boys? On your own?"

"Erm, it can be hard but then I look after 30+ kids everyday at school. I love my boys so whereas some parents see it as a chore I enjoy it. Watching them grow, them learning things I teach them. I even learn from them believe it or not."

"That's sweet."

For the remainder of the day the boys played and then we all went to a restaurant to eat. After that I dropped Michaela and her nephew home.

"Thanks for today. Had a really great time. You also made me see that guys with kids don't seem as bad as I thought."

"Oh really?"

"Don't get any funny ideas. I'm just saying, I love the bond you guys have."

"Why thank you." I said.

We stood there for a minute staring at each other. No one said a word but I could tell she was slowly swaying towards me.

"Listen, I'm going away with my boys tomorrow; but when we're back if you have your nephew let me know and we can all go somewhere like bowling or something?"

"Sounds good." She said.

"Aunty I'm tired." Her nephew said.

"Okay, let's get you inside." She said to Sanchez. "Thanks again, we had a great time." Michaela said before going inside.

I smiled as I walked back to my car. By the time I got home all three of my boys were fast asleep.

To be expected.

I made about four or five trips to the car before I was inside doing one last check; making sure everything was packed for our holiday tomorrow.

Once all that was done, I showered and climbed into bed. I checked my Twitter as I do to see a few tweets from Michaela.

"Had a really great day today." @KaylaKayla

"I'm starting to think if maybe, just maybe... I judged a book by its cover." @KaylaKayla

I smiled.

Okay, I have a confession. I don't follow her on twitter but I found her twitter. I check it now and then. So that's how I knew she was going to be at the park. She had tweeted it. So I decided to turn up. If you ever want to prove something to someone ain't no better way than showing them. And from her tweets... I did just that.