Page 107 of My Five Daddies

The game continues, and I realize that I’m losing pretty badly. I don’t really care though, since my attention is basically entirely on Hazel. She laughs at something Jessie says and glances in my direction, blushing slightly. I want to storm over there and demand they tell me what they’re talking about, but that’s freakingcrazy.

The game mercifully ends and I head over to the girls. They look up as Iapproach.

“How’s it going over here?” Iask.

“Just giving Hazel here your life story, since you’ve neglected to do so,” Jessiesays.

I sigh. “You know how it is,Jess.”

“Uh huh, right.” She winks at me. “The court is all astir over this marriage, youknow.”

“I bet theyare.”

“It’s very shocking. Prince Player, tied down to onewoman.”

I sigh and shrug. “Maybe I’mchanging.”

She smiles and glances at Hazel. “Yeah, well, we’ll see.” She waves and heads over to join anothergroup.

“What was that all about?” I askHazel.

She smiles a little and shrugs. “Nothing special. Just told me somestories.”

“Nothing bad, Ihope.”

“No.” She hesitates. “Just one story inparticular.”

I raise an eyebrow and for a second, I feel nervous about what Jessie said. It’s crazy that I care what Hazel thinks of me at this point. Really, she’s my wife, and that part of this is finished. I don’t need her to love me or even to like me, and yet I find myself wanting exactly that. I want her to want me, and I’m suddenly worrying about mypast.

“Come on,” I say to her suddenly. “Let’s get someair.”

I take her hand and pull her along behind me. She quickly catches up and we duck out the front door. I find a little side staircase and we climb up until eventually we step out onto the roof of thecastle.

It’s a beautiful, clear night, and we can see all across the city of Maldin. “Wow,” Hazel says. “This isgorgeous.”

“I know.” I walk closer to the edge. “I used to come up here a lot when I wasyounger.”

She steps up beside me and we’re quiet for a second. We watch the city in silence together, enjoying theview.

“The story Jessie told me,” Hazel says suddenly, her voice soft. “Is ittrue?”

I look at her. “I’m not sure whichstory.”

“She says you saved herlife.”

I take a breath and smile. I thought Jessie probably told her any one of the hundred different embarrassing stories, but that one, that’s not a bad story at all. I think about it sometimes, actually, when I’m unsure of myself. I think about the time that I was brave, reallybrave.

“It’s true,” I say. “Except I think she probablyexaggerates.”

“What’s your version then?” sheasks.

I look back out over the city, reliving that afternoon. “It had just rained,” I say. “Really hard and for a few days. The river over there,” I point out to the west, “was swollen and flowing fast. We were out walking around the woods, hiking and playing, a group of maybe six of us. There’s a rope swing over the river, and we decided to hop on and rideit.”

I can see it perfectly. The water is flowing fast, way too fast for any of us to get in. We’re maybe eleven years old at this point, and Jessie is a gangly, awkward girl who likes hanging out with the boys. The stewards that brought us are back with the truck, smoking cigarettes and pretending to watch over us, which is insane in retrospect. The crown would never let that happen today, but I think they wanted us to grow and become independent. We sure as hell grew thatday.

“We all took turns,” I say to her. “Nobody jumped off, since the water was moving so fast, but we swung out after it and laughed as we jumped off back onto the bank. When it was Jessie’s turn, she didn’t evenhesitate.”

I take a deep breath and shake my head. “I don’t know how it happened. But she swung out over the water and fell off. I’ll never forget her scream as she crashed into thewater.”

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