Perfectly Knight (Jordan Knight Fanfic, Liadan #4)

Silver and Surprises

-NATE-

The soft notes of the Lion King classic, Can You Feel The Love Tonight drifted throughout the farmhouse as I tapped my pen against the table and tried to find the right words to express what I wanted to say on the card to my parents that was going to accompany my part of the engraved silver plate set that all of us kids had pitched into buy since silver was apparently the gift for a 25th anniversary.

I'd had weeks to come up with the perfect thing to say, but everytime I began to write something, it didn't seem to match up to what was in my heart. I skimmed my eyes over each of the kids' marks on the card-Nicky had simply written 'happy anniversary, love you' in his best oversized penmanship. Mattie and Jamie had made scribbles that Michelle had labeled for each of them before signing for Rosie and writing a very lovely note just above the space where my paragraph was supposed to go.

Little ink dots revealed that I'd put my pen to the paper plenty of times. The words just hadn't come yet.

"Daddy?"

"Yes, kiddo?" I peered over my shoulder to see Nicky gazing at me from his place on the piano bench. An anxious smile filled his face and his eyes were wide.

"Was that good? You think everybody will like it?"

"I think they'll love it," I nodded. "You sound amazing. Elton John would be jealous."

"Who's Elton John?" Nicky tilted his head sideways.

"The guy who wrote the song," I explained. "I'll have to show you a video later. Remind me."

"Okay," he nodded as the doorbell rang and he hopped off of the stool. "I'll get it!" he called out as he raced to the door. "GranMari! Grandpa!"

"Hey cutie, was that you we heard playing so beautifully?" Marilyn's voice sounded.

"Yeah, did you like it?"

"I loved it, I'm going to have to get you to record an album for me," Red replied and Nicky grinned from ear to ear.

"Daddy says I'd make the songwriter jealous," he declared proudly.

"Your daddy's right," Marilyn smiled as she and Red stepped into the kitchen while walking hand in hand and her eyes met with mine. "Hey, Nathan, you look very nice."

"Thanks, so do both of you," I smiled and noted that they were dressed to the nines instead of their usual attire of scrubs or jeans. "You two didn't have a special event tonight that we're pulling you away from, did you?"

"Oh, no," Red shook his head. "Just a boring s'moring hospital gala thing. I was half asleep before it started."

"Really?" Marilyn gazed up at him with a smile. "I found that pediatric surgeon's speech about fundraising strategies to be interesting. It didn't hurt that he was a very handsome Ginger. I honestly thought about asking for his business card."

"Is that right?" Red smirked playfully and she nodded. "Well I was thinking about asking this gorgeous brunette nurse who caught my eye if she'd like to get drinks together sometime."

Marilyn blushed and a smile filled my own face as I gazed between the two of them and decided they were literally Michelle split into two people.

Even before the recent paternity test that Michelle had taken with her mother's blessing for peace of mind, I'd had no doubt that it would come back positive. All of my wife's features that were missing from Marilyn were clearly reflected in Red and vice versa. Plus, the chemistry they still had all these years later was palpable. It was the exact kind of sweetness that I knew was needed to produce a woman as sweet as Michelle.