Yummy-licious
Jessa4865@aol.com
Spoilers: Only for your
dinner
Disclaimer:
They're
not mine, but I still can't turn my back on them in their time of need.
"Please,
Faith?" Bosco squinted at her in
the bright sunshine, trying to give her his puppy-dog look without
taking off
his sunglasses.
She smiled
sweetly. "Absolutely not,
Boz."
"But
it's my birthday!" The puppy-dog look
wasn't working, so he switched to pouting.
She shook
her head again. "This picnic is for
your birthday, remember?" Her tone
revealed how very tired of the conversation she was.
"I
thought the picnic was for Katie's birthday." Bosco's
eyes darted to Katie, who was still chomping
happily, and thankfully silently, on the Fisher Price rattle she'd just
received that morning.
Faith's
hand darted out, running gently over the baby's fine blonde hair. "Boz, she's not old enough to enjoy a
picnic, so why would this be for her?"
Katie dropped her rattle and reached for
Faith's hand instead, dousing
her mother's hand with slobber.
"Oh,
come on, Faith! You're going to give in
eventually, you might as well do it now and spare us the argument." If he had to hound her for the rest of time,
he was going to get her to agree.
Ashley
climbed up into his lap, expertly pulling his sunglasses off and
putting them
on herself. Then she smiled at him
proudly. "Daddy, you're making
Mommy mad and Mommy said we're only going to the zoo if everyone
behaves and I
really, really want to see the l'phants.
Behave, Daddy."
Faith
snickered and patted Ashley's head.
"That's my girl."
Bosco
didn't look amused as he leaned down and whispered loudly to Ashley. "You're my girl, you're not supposed to
side with Mommy."
Ashley
shook her head, her brown curls slapping against Bosco's face. "Mommy calls the shots."
Faith
giggled as she reached out and pulled Ashley into her lap.
"You're getting to see the elephants,
even if Daddy has to stay home because he's being bad cause you're a
good
girl."
"You guys
are ganging up on me. That's not
fair." Pleading didn't work.
Pouting didn't work.
Faith was winning. Time
for whining. "This sucks!"
Faith
grinned and handed Bosco's sunglasses back to him.
"You're the one who wanted me to stay
home and take care of the girls. I have
nothing to do all day but mold them.
Besides, maybe you'll listen to them
better than you listen to me."
"I do listen
to you!" Bosco yanked Ashley back
into his lap and wrapped his arms around her.
"I just don't always take your advice."
Faith
packed the baby bag up and gathered their things together.
"Ok, time for the zoo."
Ashley
leaned forward and took Faith's hand in hers.
"Can Daddy come too?
He'll
be good, I promise."
Faith
couldn't help but smile at her three-year-old - Ashley looked far too
much like
her father for Faith to resist. "Of
course Daddy can come." They stood
up and began to walk - Bosco and Faith shoulder to shoulder, Katie in
Faith's
arms and Ashley in Bosco's.
"Daddy's paying." She
laughed as Bosco scowled.
"Of
course I'm paying. You don't pay for
anything."
Faith
rolled her eyes. "You're the one
who wanted me to stay home and take care of the girls."
"That's
your excuse for everything." He
moved Ashley to his hip and put his arm around Faith's shoulders.
Faith
giggled. "Pretty much, yeah."
When they
got back to the car and the kids were situated in their car seats,
Bosco took
hold of Faith's hand. "Thanks for
the picnic, honey."
Faith
leaned over, smiling smugly as she whispered suggestively in his ear. "That's not all you're getting."
Bosco
grinned happily. "Really?
"But
only if you behave." She winked.
Bosco
swallowed hard and directed his attention to driving.
He could behave for the rest of the day. It wouldn't take much with his precious
Ashley happily gushing over everything she would see at the zoo. He couldn't resist smirking to himself.
But he also
couldn't resist bugging Faith and promptly forgot about behaving. "Faith, I don't understand why you're so
against it anyhow."
Faith
glared at him. "We're not
discussing it, Bosco. Just stop
now."
Ashley, who
had been shouting the lyrics to some Disney songs, stopped mid-word and
watched
her parents. Faith immediately turned
around to pat her leg.
"Everything's
fine, honey."
Ashley had
uncanny insight into her parents' relationship and always got upset
when they
seemed to be fighting. She'd even
started to figure out when one of them was doing something that would
upset the
other and always warned them. Ashley
grinned at Faith. "L'phants?"
Faith
grinned back. "Maybe if I threaten
to have Daddy trampled by an elephant then he'll behave."
Two hours
later and Faith had about as much of the zoo as she could stand. But Ashley was gleefully screaming about how
much she loved every animal she saw and Bosco was ecstatic because
Ashley was
ecstatic and there was no way she could resist their beaming smiles. She stood back against the fence, holding
Katie and the ninety pounds of requisite accoutrements that taking a
one-year-old anywhere entailed. She was
hot and sweaty and sticky from goopy baby fingers.
Ashley had her precious little nose
pressed
against the glass while Bosco protectively guarded her from kidnapers
and child
molesters and bigger kids and anyone who might want to jostle his
first-born.
Ashley
turned around to grin at him.
"Monkeys!"
Bosco
smiled. "Monkeys!"
Ashley then
decided to become a monkey and tried to scale Bosco.
Faith snickered to herself and whispered
to
Katie. "Good thing he's so damn
short or he might be harder to climb."
Katie stared at Faith as though she was
listening. Then she broke into a smile,
obviously
agreeing. Faith kissed her head. "At least if she falls, she won't fall
far."
Bosco
readjusted Ashley's grip on his neck and headed back to Faith. He was grinning happily, something he'd been
doing ever since the first time he'd kissed Faith.
The grin had only grown progressively
bigger
with each baby. When he reached her
side, he leaned in, kissing her soundly.
"Please?"
"For
the love of God, no!" She dropped
the baby bag at Bosco's feet and thrust Katie into his arms while
snatching
Ashley up. "We're going to the
ladies room." Bosco scowled.
The line
for the bathroom was long and the stall was too small for an adult, let
alone
an adult and a three-year-old. By the
time they'd washed their hands, she wasn't even mad anymore. Faith eventually made it back to Bosco, after
a brief stop at the stuffed monkey cart next to the monkey exhibit
where she
purchased an array of monkey merchandise.
The last thing Ashley needed, Faith
knew, were more stuffed animals, but
Ashley's eyes lit up at the sight of the toys and Faith didn't bother
trying to
resist those mischievous blue eyes. Had
she ever been able to resist them, Ashley and Katie might never have
been
born. As Faith paid the man, she was
afraid Bosco would be mad that she was wasting money.
Bosco
hadn't been behaving himself, so she needn't have worried.
Of course, his transgression was far
more
amusing than a thirty dollar backpack that looked like a monkey hanging
off
Ashley's back. Bosco had been ensnared
by the cotton candy vendor. The giant,
fluffy bags of pink, purple, and blue sugar had caught Katie's hazel
eyes. She'd reached her chubby baby arms
toward
them and Bosco's resolve melted instantly.
By the time Faith and Ashley returned,
Katie had been put in the snuggly
and was stuffing huge wads of the confection into Bosco's open mouth. Being a year old, Kathie found just as much
amusement in smearing it all over Bosco's face and did so with abandon. Bosco grinned at Faith, unashamed of the
colorful smears adorning his face and sunglasses and shirt.
Within a
moment of her return, Bosco grew tired of the game.
"Faith, honey, can you get Katie?"
Faith
laughed and patted Ashley's clean head.
"Not until every last drop of that bag
is gone."
Bosco
tossed it in the nearest trash can.
Luckily, Katie didn't seem to care.
"But it's all sticky, Faith!"
Dutifully,
Faith got out the baby wipes and began cleaning Katie's face and hands. Katie thought it was a new game, reaching out
every time Faith got a hand clean and rubbed it in the sugar staining
Bosco's
face. "You've created a
monster." She gave up on Katie,
taking a fresh baby wipe to Bosco's face.
He rolled
his eyes, but let her clean him up.
Ashley tugged on his hand.
"Yeah, baby?" Faith
shook her head, realizing his mistake immediately.
"I'm
not a baby!" Ashley pouted, stomped
her foot, and then took off running.
Bosco
couldn't run with Katie strapped to him, but Faith responded, lack of
practice
hadn't dulled her reflexes at all.
Ashley's backpack served to be her
undoing as she tried to wheedle her
way through the crowd. Faith snagged the
monkey's tail long enough to get a firm hold of the girl's shoulders. Faith squatted down in front of her, sternly
correcting her for her behavior. Then
she pulled her into a hug and tried to explain that Daddy hadn't meant
to
insult her. Ashley obediently apologized
before she wrapped her arms around Faith.
Faith scooped her up and carried her
back to Bosco.
Bosco was
terrified, having been unable to see that Faith had caught up with
Ashley. He rushed forward as soon as he
saw them,
enveloping them both in a hug, much to squished Katie's dismay. "I think I've about had it with the
zoo."
Faith
smiled. "Katie could probably use a
nap." She nodded at Ashley while
mouthing 'her too.'
Katie was
transferred back to Faith and then Ashley got boosted up on Daddy's
shoulders. Amazingly, Ashley didn't even
complain that
they were leaving. Both girls fell
asleep in the car, leaving Bosco free to quietly pester Faith.
"Please?"
Faith
yanked her hand out of his and issued a warning. "Bosco,
stop."
"One
good reason, honey. Give me one good
reason and I'll stop asking forever."
His hands gripped the wheel tightly; his
frustration threatening to turn
to anger.
"Because
I was already married and it's not something I want to repeat, Boz. It wasn't fun." She
only glanced at him for a moment before
she turned back to the window.
He took her
hand and laced their fingers together.
"It wouldn't be like that with us." He pulled her hand up to his lips and kissed
it. "I would never cheat on
you."
"I
know that." She turned back and
tried to smile. "I just can't do
it."
"I
want to make this official. I want us to
be official." His voice was
teetering on becoming a whine once again.
"Damn
it, Bosco! We have two kids and a dog
and a house with a yard. We are official. The only person who doesn't think so is
you."
"I
just want to be able to call you my wife.
Is that so bad?" His
voice
was annoyed, but one glance into his eyes betrayed the hurt he was
trying to
hide.
She
squeezed his hand, feeling bad for denying him something she'd already
gotten a
chance to experience. "Let me think
about it, ok?"
He nodded
and glanced at her, a flicker of hope in his eyes.
"That's a pretty nice present right
there."
She grinned
and slid closer to him in the seat. "I
have something else for you too."
He raised
his eyebrows. "What?"
She
maneuvered his hand over her stomach. It
was too early for him to have noticed anything yet.
She just thought it was fitting to tell
him
on his birthday. She grinned harder,
realizing
he was concentrating on driving and didn't really know what she was
doing. "Congratulations, Daddy." His head whipped toward her in shock. She nodded.
"Again."
His face
broke into a grin, one so wide he couldn't talk around it for a moment.
"Are you serious?" She nodded again. He
pulled the car to a stop, reached out for
her, and gave her a long, slow, loving kiss.
"Congratulations, Mommy."
He kissed her again before he pulled
into traffic, keeping her hand
tightly clasped in his own. "I hope
it's a boy." He glanced in the
rearview mirror at his sleeping beauties.
"Or a girl. Even
though I'm
seriously getting outnumbered here."
Faith
giggled. "I'm sure it'll be one or
the other."
"So
how far are we?" He tried to sound
casual as he eyed her suspiciously flat stomach.
"Ten
weeks."
"We've
got a long time, then." He waited
for her to agree. "So maybe by then
you'll be Mrs. Boscorelli?" He
couldn't keep the pleading out of his voice.
She rolled
her eyes heavenward and settled her head on his shoulder.
"Maybe."
Bosco
grinned all the way home. When he pulled
into the driveway, Faith and Katie were still sound asleep. Ashley was playing with her assortment of
stuffed monkeys, mumbling to herself in her make-believe monkey
language. He was about to wake Faith when
the tell-tale
sound of the ice cream truck danced through the air.
Ashley's eyes lit up as she strained her
neck
to see it.
"Please,
Daddy?"
Bosco
thought about it - Faith had already commented on how much sugar he'd
fed the
girls that day, but he knew Faith was as whipped by their precocious
daughter
as he was. He smiled as he freed her
from her car seat. "Absolutely,
princess."
They caught
up with the truck as it turned the corner.
Ashley pointed to the biggest sundae
pictured on the menu, but failed
entirely to notice when Bosco ordered a small vanilla scoop with
rainbow
sprinkles. He gathered her up in his
arms as she munched away, getting far more ice cream on her shirt than
in her
mouth.
Faith was unbuckling
Katie when they got back. She saw the
ice cream and shook her head, unable to hide the smile on her face.
He winked
at her and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
"This is the best birthday ever." Then he grinned at Ashley.
"Is that good, Ash?"
She smiled
widely with ice cream running down her chin.
"Yup." She
thrust the
spoon into his unsuspecting mouth.
As soon as
he stopped coughing, he agreed. "It
is good, isn't it?"
Ashley face
lit up again in a contagious smile.
"It's yummy-licious!"
Faith
laughed, settling Katie in her play pen.
Bosco set Ashley down in the kitchen
with strict instructions not to
take the melted ice cream anywhere with carpeting.
Then he wrapped his arms around Faith. She smiled at him and he could see love
radiating
from her eyes. She leaned forward and
licked the corner of his mouth where some stray ice cream had landed. "You know, she's right, Boz.
You are yummy-licious."
Her eyes sparkled as he leaned in for
another
kiss.
"So
are you, Faith." He pulled her
close, completely confident that she would eventually agree to marry
him. "You are so going to be my wife." She laughed and attempted to distract him
with a kiss. "Come on, baby, how
can you resist yummy-licious Bosco?"
"You
have a point there." Then she
smiled.
|
