Built On Trust

He's 42

Today is Brad's 42nd birthday and even though my doctor doesn't want me to be doing much I decided to have a small party for him. It was going to be a surprise, but Shay couldn't keep her mouth shut and told him.

"Sweetie, can you please stop eating that?" I try to get Shay away from the snacks I just put out for the guests "Your snacks are right here, those are for the guests to eat."

She switches to eating her snacks then follows me around the house "helping" me decorate "Mommy, I help!" She yells over and over again when I tell her she should go play with her toys. I give her a few pieces of paper and some crayons and tell her to sit at the table "Here, you can make some pictures for daddy."

I go to finish decorating and hang up the poster with the number 4. Just as I'm about to turn around I hear Brad behind me "Happy birthday, baby." I walk over and kiss him.

"Thank you." He kisses me back then looks around at the house "You did a really good job." He walks over to the table where Shay is and helps her for a while.

A few hours later all the guests are here doing their own things. I'm sitting with Brad at the table and everyone else is drinking or talking. All the kids are playing with Shay's toys and she is complaining about having to share all of them.

"You're going to have to share a lot when your sisters get here." Brad tells her as he pulls her up on his lap "You can't keep everything to yourself, El, Coco and Sadie want to play with you."

She eventually gets the point and goes over to play with them leaving Brad and I to talk to the others. The guests make their way around to us and some stay to talk for a while and others just keep going. Brad gets up and goes over to the bar to talk to some and Courteney walks over to me a few minutes later "Having fun?" She asks jokingly.

"Yeah, it's nice to watch everyone else be excited." I turn in my seat a little so that I can see her better and watch the kids "Are they all getting along better?"

She looks around at them for a while before showing me some pictures she took of them playing together "A lot better than before. Hopefully they all realize they're gonna be growing up together and they better learn to like each other."

I laugh at what she said knowing that it's true. Brad and I are lucky to have such a great group of friends that all have families that we can all count on. We talk for a little longer then we decide it's time to do the cake so she carries it for me and Brad, Shay and I stand at the table where everyone sings and he blows out the candles. Shay gives him the pictures she made him earlier "Happy birthday, daddy."

"Thank you, princess." He picks her up and hugs her then puts some icing on her face and does the same to me before kissing me "Thanks for the party."

I get my piece and stand against the wall eating it where I'm out of the way of everyone throwing cake at each other. Jane walks over standing next to me so she won't get hot either "You don't want more cake on you?"

"Not really." I laugh at the other who look completely crazy "What Brad did is enough."

"It looks like they're all having fun. Sometimes I think they forget they're adults." She watches as George and Matt attack Brad with Shay's help and cover him completely in cake "Especially them."

"Them." I point to the three of them who obviously aren't adults "I don't think they're any older than Shay."

"And you're married to one of them." She laughs for a minute before stopping once she realizes something "I can't say much though, he's my son."

I look over at all of them and see Shay sitting on the floor in a corner and she looks upset "I guess I should go see what's wrong." I go over to where she is and get her to follow me to another room where it isn't crowded "What's wrong, honey?"

"They mean." She starts to cry again and sits on the floor.

"What did they do?" I ask as I take her to the couch so I can sit with her "Are you hurt?"

She shakes her head no and lays on me until she calms down a little "They yelling."

I finally understand what she means and I sit her up a little so she can see me "They aren't telling at you, they're just having fun playing with each other." I stand her up so she can see them all laughing "See, it's just for fun."

She gets off of the couch and pulls on my arm "We go to them." I follow her and we both go out to Brad. After a little she goes back to playing with her other kids and I stay standing with Brad and all the adults are talking and having fun.

I lean towards Brad and whisper to him "Just so you know, you're cleaning all of this up." He just smiles and says he will and we go back to listening to everyone.

"We should do stuff like this more." Court says to everyone "Just meet up at someone's house every month so we can all see each other."

George agrees with her "That sounds like it could be a lot of fun. Next month we could do it at my house."

"We should just get a big cake every time and celebrate everyone who has a birthday that month." I add to what they're saying "That way we can all just celebrate together."

All of our parents leave early knowing that most of the adults staying will be drinking which leads to some funny things happening. Brad doesn't drink much, but some of the guests really do.

George and Matt are hanging on the bar counter while Lisa, Court, Adam, Jackie and Julia are all standing around hanging on each other.

Matt separates from George and walks over to Brad and I grabbing on of each of our hands pulling us to the others "Come on, don't be so boring!" He says commenting on us standing and laughing at the others.

"Yeah!" Lisa yells joining him in trying to get us "You need to have fun!"

Brad and I let go of Matt's hands and look at each other and shrug before joining everyone. He goes over and gets himself a beer and stands with Matt, George and Adam, while I stay with the girls. I stay with them dancing for a while before my feet start to hurt and I go to sit on the couch.

Brad walks into the living room a few minutes later and sits next to me "There you are." He sits silent for a minute like he's thinking "So, do we just not let them drink anymore and make them wait to leave?"

"That's about all we can really do, we have all their keys so it shouldn't be too hard." I lay down putting my feet near him and he starts to rub them knowing they hurt "So, did you have a good day?"

"Very, the best part was being with you and Shay. Although, the party hasn't been bad either."