Little Angel

Chapter 48- Easter Sunday, April 5, 2015

Derek and I walked out of the church with our family, greeting everyone who stopped by to say, 'hi'. Derek and I had been attending the same church since forever, so we know almost all of the faces that attends mass every single Sunday. The church seats has been filled this morning because of Easter, making us see a lot of old faces that we thought we would never see again after middle school graduation.

I smiled and shook hands with an older woman named, Matilda, having our son adjusted to one of my hips.

"A pleasure to talk to you again." I said, politely.

"I saw your parents leave from the back of the alter. Why didn't you go with them?" Matilda said.

I paused for a second as I stroked my son's growing hair to think of a response to that. I rarely talk about my parents anymore as I am more than adjusted to my new life with Derek's family. It like an old wound to me. I feel so awkward approaching the subject.

"Derek promised me to take me home, afterwards." I stated.

No one needs to know about the situation.

"Oh well, that's nice. You take good care of her, son." Matilda said.

"I always do." Derek smirked

I smacked his arm for being cocky. Matilda laughs at our interaction, before she waved good-bye at us to go to her car.

I looked at Derek as I took his hand again as we approached his freshly painted, 2000 Nissan Maxima. I opened the back door to buckle Danny in his seat, before I closed the door and came to took my place in the passenger seat. Derek turned on the ignition and drove us out of here. I turned to Derek, when I realized we weren't going home.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"On a date." He simply stated, as he reached to take my hand on the center console.

{_}

"And we're here." Derek announced as he pulled into the park.I looked up see that we are at Somewhere Only We Know. The sunlight glistened on the plants that made it look greener and the blue lake sparkle, making me want to take a swim in it.

Derek smirked as he stepped out of the car, opened the trunk to retrieve a basket.

"Picnic on Our Hill? How romantic." I squealed, content at the effort that he made for our Easter Sunday afternoon.

"Anything for you two." Derek said, wrapping his arm around my shoulders, and kissing my head. He bent down a little to kiss Danny's. "Now give me my son, while you carry the basket."

"Our son." I corrected him with a smirk.

"Now you know how I feel every time you call him your son." Derek said, picking our son and putting him over his shoulders.

He held tight to his little legs, so he wouldn't fall off.

"Whatever." I rolled my eyes as I picked up the picnic basket.

"Don't you roll your eyes at me, young lady." Derek joked.

"You're not my dad." I retorted, laughing.

Can't believe I just said that in front of our baby. This is not the time to make silly remarks like that.

"Excuse me? You want to repeat that?" He dared me.

"I said, you're not my dad. Problem?" I raised an eyebrow at him, daring him to answer back.

"Danny's here. I rather not." Derek said, looking up at the kid on his shoulders.

They exchanged smiles, making me feel warm and happy inside that this is my life now.

If anyone were to tell me a year ago that I would a happy-go-lucky family life, I would have viewed them as crazy, only because we were young. However, I'm happy things are the way they are, because then I wouldn't see Danny resting his head on his father's hair as if it were a pillow. I'm also very happy that Derek has made all the effort to be there for us. Most guys would have ran away at the mention of babies. These boys are truly special to me, I can't imagine my world without them now. And I don't want to either.

I snapped a picture of them on my cell phone, smiling at their bonding experience. I never want to forget it.

I turned around to set up the picnic blanket and basket by our tree, before settling myself down on it. Derek sat down besides me, settling Danny between us. He opened the picnic basket, bringing out the sandwiches that he made for us. Danny started to babble nonsense as I mimicked every noise he made. He looked at me with admiration in his eyes probably surprised to see that someone could speak his language. He put his hand on each side of my face as I inched closer to him to plant kisses all over his face, making him laugh. I heard Derek laugh in the background. I heard him snap a picture with his phone.

"I love you, baby." I said, making Danny babble in response.

I breathed a laugh as I rose up. I sat the baby on my lap as he flailed his arms all over the place, cooing in response.

"Thank you." I said as Derek handed me a ham and cheese sandwich.

I felt pleased at the first bite as Derek digged into the picnic basket to pull out non-alcohol, sparkling apple cider and two champagne glasses. He popped the bottle opened and poured the juice inside the glass. He also pulled out Danny's bottle and gave it to me so that I can feed him.

Derek held his glass up and said, "Happy Easter, Melly."

"Happy Easter to you, too." I said, clinking my glass with his.

"Happy Easter, Danny." Derek said, clinking his glass with his bottle, making the baby smile.

I did the same, before I took a sip of my cider as Derek took a bite of his sandwich. It's so nice to be out here, eating lunch with my family as we rest in shade away from the warm, golden sun. Derek reached out to hold my hand as we continue to eat in silence. We watched as birds flew by to get something to eat. Once I finished, I laid back on the blanket with Danny lying on his back on my chest. My fiance laid back as well, looking as the clouds go by.

"Look Danny, it's a boat!" Derek said, pointing at figure in the sky.

He looked to see the infant smile at the water-mobile figured float by.

"Oooh, what about that ducky over there?" I said, looking at the other figure.

"What about that car?" Derek added.

We spent most of the afternoon, spotting a lot of different cloud shapes just to pass the time. We played airplane and a few other baby games that makes this baby laugh and squeal in joy. Derek and I also let out some laughter as we innocently teased each other with different baby toys that we brought with us to entertain Danny. All in all, we had a fun afternoon that we took a picture of so that we may remember this moment forever.