Broken Lantern

Chapter Twenty

As the weeks turn into months, and the seasons are changing around us, we see Dallas beginning to smile and laugh, clinging to Kevin more and more. She's definitely a daddy's girl. He's so great with her, loving her as if she had come from him. And of course, she doesn't know that she didn't, she just loves him because of how he loves her, how he's been there for her, and how he will always be there for her. She has him wrapped around her little finger too; she knows, he knows it, we all know it.

We see her begin to hold her head up by herself and then she's rolling over from her back to her stomach. This is where things start to get tricky. We can't leave her on the couch while we run to the other room anymore. And forget making her stay on her side to sleep. She's going to sleep on her belly now, like it or not. It doesn't matter how many times Kevin wakes up, turning her back to her side, she turns right back to her belly.

She's stubborn. She knows what she wants, and you best bet she's going to get it. I don't know where she could've gotten that.

She's not a fussy girl though. She's very laid back, actually. She watches us all; everyone around her. Brittany's always messing with her, moving from side to side around the room, seeing if she will follow her with her eyes, and she does. She smiles, a lot and she seems to be easily entertained. She will lay and play with toys on her own on the floor, lying on her little blanket for the longest time, which makes it easy to get household chores done.

Kevin likes to play 'funny faces' with her. He will make a face and then laugh his head off watching her try to mimic it.
She really loves Matt and Joel too, who have definitely stepped up into the role of Uncle Matt and Uncle Joel. Jessica loves her, but she doesn't want to admit it. She likes to act like she just tolerates her, but I can see how she really feels when she thinks no one's looking and she smiles at her or whispers baby talk to her, looking around to see if anyone's listening. She adores her but she has to keep up the tough girl facade for some reason.

Her Uncle Joel absolutely loves her and is tickled by her every time he's with her. "Man, she is so smart!" He's always telling us. "Look at how she copies me!" He'll say, laughing as she waves back to him or sticks her tongue out at him, laughing with him as she does it. He'll make his eyes go big and wide and she'll do the same and then fall back laughing. It's the cutest thing to watch; the two of them playing together. It's so sweet how much they love each other.

Now Uncle Matt, he's here each and every weekend, sitting with her watching the guys old recorded football games on Saturdays and Sundays. He says he's conditioning her, getting her ready for real games and he's convinced that he's going to make her love the game so much she'll want to play in high school. He's a nut. She's only four months old, but he doesn't care. He says you can't start them too early.

Brittany spoils her with cute clothes and shoes. She brings her a new outfit every week just about. Oh, and accessories too. She's got tights with polka dots and some with ruffly butts. She's got the cutest little plastic necklaces and so many barrettes, hair bows and hair bands that she had to have a little drawer designated just for holding them all.

All of her grandparents are absolutely head over heels for her. Between my parents, Darry's parents and Kevin's parents, we're lucky to see her at all. They're all the time coming by to pick her up and take her shopping or just back to their house to play for a few hours and sometimes they'll keep her overnight, which is a great help to us, allowing us some much-needed alone time to just rest or watch a movie together that doesn't have talking animals or colorful underwater worlds..

Beth loves her, and she's actually here quite a bit, just hanging out on the floor with her. She will put the phone down for most of the visit too. Robby comes over to see her from time to time, but he's a 13-year-old boy, he's not really too interested in babies. I think a lot of the time that he is here, it's because Beth is.

It's been great having all of the help and the love pouring in over her and on us too. She knows she's loved, that's for sure. And because of all of that love and attention, she's the happiest baby I've ever seen.

Today, Kevin and my daddy have planned an outing for all of us. It's March, so the weather has been a little chilly for going outside still, but it's getting nicer. Kevin, being the amazing man that he is, has noticed that I've had cabin fever and has planned an outdoor picnic for all of us.

We're not leaving the farm, but we'll be outside for a little bit. He's got some kites and I'm almost positive that Matt will bring a football. My mom is bringing the sandwiches, Elaine's bringing the chips, we'll have drinks and cups and plates, and Kevin's mom is bringing the potato salad, which is great because I love her potato salad.

"Hey, babe", whatcha doin?" Kev walks into the nursery, where I'm pulling Dallas's clothes out for the picnic. It's still a little chilly and the wind has been picking up, so I know she'll need to be bundled up pretty well. "Just getting Dally's clothes ready for this afternoon", I tell him. "Ok, well I'm gonna run to my mom's house real quick to pick her up, dad's not feeling well today, so he won't be here", he kisses my cheek, leaving the room. I grab her a pair of her leggings that Britt bought for her, they're black with tiny little pink hearts all over them, and a memory comes back to me of walking into the kitchen and seeing Kevin in my apron, cooking at the stove with tiny little pink hearts all over him. I can't help but laugh at the memory.

I get Dally dressed and take her to the livingroom, lying her down on her blanket with her plushies.

I go fix a cup of coffee and grab some strawberries from the refrigerator. Sitting at the table, thumbing through one of Kev's sketchbooks that he left in the kitchen, I hear him pulling up the driveway. Before he can make it to the door, I have Dallas in my arms, and we're headed outside to greet them both. I look out into the yard and see faces of the people I love most in my life putting down blankets on the grass and sitting down baskets and bags of food. Kevin is helping his mom out of his truck, when he looks back at me and winks.

He comes over to us and kisses the top of Dallas's bonnet that's tied firmly around her head and then he kisses me and pulls me into a hug. "You ready?" He asks, taking my hand and walking me over to the crowd.

Elaine takes Dallas from me right away and lays her in the middle of the blanket, where all of the grandparents instantly come to gather around her. Mary, Kevin's mom, is smiling and making baby noises at her, tickling her little belly. Dally's eating it up, cooing and trying to talk to everyone. Mary hands her a stuffed animal and she gnaws on its ear.

Matt grabs a kite and starts trying to get it in the air. Kevin's right behind him, trying to race him with his own kite.

Daddy, Robby and Bobby are all behind us, throwing Matt's football around, everyone is happy and playing, just having a great time together. It's the best day I've had in a long time.

I sit and watch them all, talking with all of the ladies surrounding me when Kevin gives up on his kite and comes to sit with me. Matt's kite is doing really well, it's above the trees, flying with great confidence.

Kevin gets my attention by grabbing my elbow and turning me toward him. "Hey, can I ask you something before we eat?" He asks me, a small grin on his face. I look at him and back to Dallas and then to all of the faces now looking at the both of us, surprisingly not full of curiosity.

Kevin stands up, pulling me with him. He kisses my cheek and begins to bend down in front of me. He's looking up at my eyes the whole time, wanting to hold my focus on him, not wanting it to move to anyone else.

"Alley, I told you when I gave you that ring", he says, nodding toward the silver diamond band on my right hand, "that I would ask you to marry me one day. Alley, I love you more than I have ever loved anyone. You are everything to me, all I need in this life. Well, you and Dally", he smiles at our daughter and looks back up at me, as the tears begin to fall to my cheeks. "I don't ever want to be away from either of you as long as I have a choice. Please, say you'll marry me, Alley, and let me take care of the both of you, for the rest of our lives." He's looking at me, his eyes full of hope and love.

I pull him up to me and throw my arms around him. I kiss him and then I tell him, "Yes, I'll marry you, Kevin!"

Everyone is clapping and when I look at their faces, they're crying with me.