Natalie & King

Ch.32

King finally understood in a few weeks, there would be two new born babies in the house and he didn't seem to care at all. Other than wanting to pick out their names, he didn't act interested. All of King's attention was on his puppy. As long as it wasn't Kohle or the fact he was still gone, I didn't mind him obsessing over the dog. They didn't go anywhere without each other, including Wal-Mart. Trying to get King away from Thor wasn't easy and it wasn't any easier keeping Thor away from King. They were inseparable.

Between doctor appointments, running after King and his sidekick and keeping up with laundry, I barely had energy to cook every night and neither did Bay. When mom offered to cook even though she was practically on her death bed, I gained a small ounce of respect for her. She didn't have to cook or help take care of King but she did. I felt so many different emotions every time I saw her helping around the house or being a grandma to him. Even if I never got to feel her love as a child, I was happy King did.

"Mama!! Bay!! Come on!!" King screamed loud enough to snatch my attention. He was running ahead of us and Thor was trying his best to keep up. When I felt Bay's hand give mine a gentle squeeze, I gave her a quick once over and raised an eyebrow.

"How do you feel?"

"Like I'm tired of walkin' and I'm not in the mood to be at the park. You're the one with red cheeks, how do you feel?" Bay raised an eyebrow right back at me and then smiled. "I don't feel like she's comin' if that's what you're gettin' at." She linked arms with me and let out a frustrated groan. Even though I pretended like our walks to the park were for King, Bay knew what I was doing. As much as she griped and complained though, she went walking every day with us.

"Do you think he'll be alright sharing my attention?" I asked as we walked up the sidewalk and watched King tumble and roll down a small hill with Thor. Happiness radiated out of every pore in his body. His golden curls were braided into thick corn rolls because Bay didn't understand why I let it hang down a majority of the time. The truth was I couldn't braid to the scalp to save my life. Plaiting was one thing, I could do that in my sleep.

"I think he'll learn. Oh my God, do you hear that?" she squealed and turned around so I did the same. I heard the ice cream truck before I saw it. Bay's excitement intensified when King ran over with the same energy. As soon as the driver spotted our smiles, he parked the truck in front of us. The grin on Bay's face matched the smile on King's and my heart couldn't contain so much love at once. King picked out a Thor ice cream bar and didn't waste a second biting into it. Bay gushed over the ice cream shaped like Tweety bird. I personally didn't like it but it was her favorite, so I let her have a foodgasm over it. I got the same thing every single time I stopped the ice cream truck. The triple decker chocolate chip ice cream sandwich.

We ate our ice cream and enjoyed the walk home in silence. King was occupied with trying to keep his ice cream away from Thor and Bay tried her best to hide her winces and sighs. Her ice cream was long gone and she kept cutting her eyes at the rest of mine until I finally gave it to her. She did that a lot when I didn't eat fast enough for her.

"Can we go trick or treatin' on Halloween mama?" King licked the ice cream from his chin and tossed the stick on the ground.

"Pick it up and throw it away when you get home. And I don't know baby."

"Why don't you know?" he picked the stick up and shoved it in his pocket with an eye roll. Sometimes, I noticed bits and pieces of my personality in King and when I did, it always took me by surprise. I wondered how many times he saw me roll my eyes like that before he picked up on it. Did I do it often?