Page 38 of Daddy's Little Duckling

Rae loved it! Her favorite time of year was fall. She loved watching the leaves change colors and of course everything pumpkin spice would finally be back into season.

They headed towards the park where a catering company had worked overtime to set everything up for them. Rae couldn’t wait to see it all come together.

Emmett made sure to introduce her to everyone they spoke to. For once Rae felt important and like she belonged somewhere.

Everyone was so kind and made her feel welcome and she loved that. She kept looking around for Olivia’s car. She had texted earlier and said that she was running late.

“Hey there, Little bit” she heard from behind her before she felt a ruffle on herhead.

“Uncle M! Don’t do that. Daddy worked hard on my hair today and you are gonna ruin it.” she growled at him.

“Okay, okay. I’m sorry, Little bit. I’ll remember that for next time.”

Rae gave him one last look before grinning, sweeping in, and giving him a big hug. No matter how much he annoyed her sometimes, she would never turn down one of his hugs. They were nothing like Daddy’s hugs, but they were a close second.

“The party looks great, man. Everyone seems to be having a great time.”

“Thanks! I couldn’t have done it without Rae and her best friend, Olivia. They did most of the planning for it.”

At the mention of Olivia’s name Rae looked around again. Something didn’t seem right since Rae knew that Olivia didn’t live very far from here.

Checking her phone again for a message, she tried to push aside the nagging thoughts that something was wrong. There was no need to panic until she had a reason to.

“Daddy, can we plleeaassseeee go on the swings now? I’ve been waiting so patiently.”

“Yes, Little girl, we can go on the swings.”

Rae took off running towards the swings and could hear the sound of Daddy’s laughter following behind her. Grabbing the first one she came to, Rae not so patiently waited for Emmett to finally step up behind her and start to push.

“Higher Daddy! I wanna touch the sky!”

“This is high enough. Wouldn’t want you to fall out and get hurt.”

Rae groaned. Sometimes he took this whole health and safety thing too far. There was no way that she was going to fall and get hurt with him right beside her.

He would never let that happen, but she wasn’t going to push the issue and risk getting lines or a time out.

She learned a few weeks ago that lines were not fun to do after getting a spanking after she got caught lying to Daddy about taking her nap one afternoon when she was off and he was in the office. The darn baby monitor gave her away and she was still plotting how to get rid of it.

The ringing of her cell phone caught her off guard. Everyone she knew that would have called her was here, except for Olivia.

Dread set in her stomach and she waited for Daddy to slow the swing down enough for her to get off and look at her phone. Olivia’s name flashed across the screen before it hung up. Quickly dialing her back, Rae tried to push back the thoughts in her mind.

“Hey Olivia! What’s going on?”

“Rae, I have a problem. Is there any way your Daddy can come help me change my tire?”

“Change your tire? What happened?”

“I was driving down Second Avenue when I heard a loud popping sound. I was able to guide my car into a parking lot, but of course I have no way of changing this tire by myself.”

“Okay, don’t worry. We will figure out a plan to get to you. Just hang tight.”

Telling Olivia bye, Rae turned to Daddy who had been patiently waiting on her to explain what was going on.

“Daddy, Olivia is stuck in a random parking lot with a blown tire. She wants you to come and help change it.”

“I can’t go help her myself since I can’t really leave the party, but Miles would be the perfect substitute. He worked in a mechanic shop throughout college and would be better suited to help her do that.”

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