Whole Lot More

Chapter Twenty Eight

Chapter Twenty Eight

"Is she ready?"

Deana disbelievingly stared out at the couple standing on her doorstep and rolled her eyes. "Ready? Hell, I had to force her to go to bed last night and she was up at the crack of dawn and dressed."

Martin laughed.

"And that's not even the worst of it, every five seconds she kept asking me 'are they here yet, Mommy? Are they hear yet?' So yes, she is ready. And she is all yours."

As if on cue they heard little running feet and Peyton popped her head around the door, just to make sure it was them. When she was sure, she gave her mother a hug and a kiss and ran around Martin and Brynne, waiting by the car.

"Good luck, you're going to need it."

*~*

"Mommy said we were going to the beach," Peyton squealed, "I love the beach!"

"We are," Brynne nodded, "But that's not where we're going first."

"Ooh, where are we going?"

"To get ice cream!"

Peyton grinned from the back seat, loving the fact that it wasn't even lunchtime yet and she was going to be allowed to have ice cream.

The rest of the ride towards the beach was virtually silent; Peyton enjoying the view of the upcoming beach out the side window, Martin and Brynne just completely comfortable with the environment surrounding them.

It was all so... domestic, to Brynne.

Peyton's eyes lit up with excitement when they parked the car in one of the boardwalk parking places and shut the ignition off, Martin pocketing the keys. Brynne came around to the passenger side back door and grabbed all of their beach bags, leaving the door open for Peyton to unbuckle and slide out.

The ice cream shop was just a little ways down the road, and the three of them set off, Peyton in the middle clutching both of their hands.

They swung her playfully front to back a couple times, until they stood in front of the older gentleman behind the ice cream shop's outdoor counter.

He looked directly at Peyton and smiled, "What can I get for you, sweetie?"

"Rainbow sprinkles," Peyton grinned.

The three adults laughed as Martin laid a hand on her head. "Pey-Pey, you can have rainbow sprinkles, but you need to have some ice cream too, sweetie."

"Oh."

"So what flavor will it be? We have vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, cookie dough, cookies and cream, mint chocolate chip..."

"Um... vanilla?"

"Vanilla with lots of rainbow sprinkles it is." It took him less than a minute to scoop Peyton's ice cream into her cone and roll the ice cream in sprinkles, making sure no ice cream was showing.

Peyton's eyes got to be as big as saucers as the man handed her ice cream cone down, and she immediately began divulging it, ice cream already making its way all over her face.

"I'll just have a chocolate cone," Brynne smiled.

The man handed her hers, and Brynne took Peyton's hand, leading her across the street to a bench where they could wait for Martin to join them.

"She's adorable," the man said.

Martin smiled, "She is, isn't she?"

"She is. And those two look so natural together."

Martin's gaze slipped out to the two girls who were sitting on the bench together and couldn't help the smile that overcame his face. "They do, don't they?"

*~*

Brynne enjoyed the sun beating down on her, her sunglasses slid on her nose, protecting her eyes from the bright rays.

She could hear Peyton squealing in the water and Martin's laugh rang out, and she could only imagine what trouble the two of them could be getting into. The two of them together always meant trouble.

Martin had been right about Peyton loving the water, the minute they'd walked down the pier to the beach she'd gotten so excited Brynne had thought she was going to run away from them and right into the water. She'd almost done that, too.

The two of them had tried to convince Brynne to come in the water with them, but she'd wanted to work on her tan some more, and had promised that before the left she'd join them in the water.

That promise wasn't good enough for Martin and Peyton, they were going to take it upon themselves to get Brynne in the water.

Peyton swam over to Martin and he grinned down at his daughter, "I think it's time for Brynne to come swimming with us, Pey."

"YAY!"

"Let's be quiet when we walk up to her and surprise her, okay?"

"Okay, Daddy."

The two of them quietly walked out of the water and up onto the beach, walking the short distance up to where Brynne comfortably lay soaking up the sun. Martin held his finger up to his lips, signaling her to make sure she was being quiet.

*~*

Brynne felt a drop of water drip onto her ankle, and discreetly opened her eyes underneath her sunglasses, watching as Martin and Peyton attempted to sneak up beside her.

She waited until they were right next to her before she reached out for Peyton, pulling the little girl down next to her and going to work on tickling her sides.

Peyton squealed and giggled, trying to grab her sides and protect herself from the attack. "Daddy," she giggled, "Help me, Daddy! Help me!"

Her giggles were music to his ears, and he couldn't help but stand back and watch the two of them squirming around on the sandy beach together, Peyton trying to get away from Brynne's hands and Brynne trying to catch the little girl and tickle her again.

"Daddy!"

"Huh, baby?"

"Help me!"

He just shook his head and grinned at the pout on his daughter's face, letting Brynne continue her assault on Peyton.

Watching Peyton, he couldn't help the feeling of just how much he'd missed in her life. It had been so long since he had spent an entire day with her. And even though it wasn't just the two of them, it didn't matter.

He just knew what he had to do. He had to make an effort to see his daughter more often. He had to see her more than when he came home and visited and he'd do whatever he had to to be able to do that. Even if it meant the media would have to find out about her and Deana.

As much as he didn't want the two of them to be thrown into the media, he needed to be in his daughter's life. He knew Deana needed the constant break from raising Peyton on her own, too.

Peyton settled on the towel next to Brynne after Brynne had finally let up on the tickling attack and rested her head on Brynne's arm, staring off at the ocean in front of her.

Brynne stared up at Martin and noticed the pensive look on his face. She knew he was thinking, but about what she wasn't sure.

"Martin?"

"Yeah?"

"What are you thinking about?"

"Just Peyton and how I'm going to miss her. And how I want to be a part of her life."

"Does this mean you're going to –"

But he cut her off. "Yeah, I think I just might."

Peyton came out of her daze at the sound of her name and smiled sweetly at Brynne. "Miss Brynne? I really like you."

Brynne felt her heart beat rapidly in her heart. Peyton had taken a liking to her, and she couldn't help but love the little girl herself. "Well I really like you too, Peyton."

She shifted her gaze up to her father and grinned. "Now Daddy, what about our plan?"

"Peyton!"

*~*