Page 42 of A Daddy of the Heart
Chapter Sixteen
“So, what did you promise him?” Eli asked Willem. It was late Christmas Eve night and they’d just finished putting the kids to bed. “You never did tell me what Derek demanded for sending Nurse McIntosh over last week.”
Willem loaded the last of the dishes into the dishwasher. “Something along the lines of you helping plan a surprise party for his and Sadie’s anniversary.”
“Oh…” Eli leaned against the counter. “…I guess I can do that. But I’d have done it if they just asked. Derek and Sadie are the cutest couple.”
“Yeah, I figured you wouldn’t be too put out about it. And don’t let Derek know you think that he’s cute. It’s not what a strict Daddy wants a Little to think.” Willem closed up the washer, then pressed a button to start it. He straightened to look at Eli, giving him a once over. “Tired, boy?”
“Surprisingly, no.” Eli shook his head and shoved his hands into the front pockets of his jeans. “I’m still wired from the visit, and all the cookies. Is there anything that Conner can’t make?”
“Not that I have found yet.” Willem retorted, as he tugged his boy out of the kitchen and led him toward the living room.
Eli eagerly followed. Hell, he’d follow his Daddy about anywhere.Except Texas.“Do you think the kids are upset that I’m not taking them to my mom’s for Christmas? I know that Reed had planned on it, since they went to Audra’s parents for Thanksgiving. I just can’t bring myself to expose them to my mother’s viper tongue. I want them to enjoy Christmas as much as possible.”
“I would’ve spanked your bottom if you had agreed. Besides my parents and my sister will be here tomorrow and are looking forward to spoiling them.”Willem admitted as he drank half the glass of milk the kids had left out for Santa. He lifted up the cookie and handed it to Eli. “Take a couple bites. My blood sugar can’t handle any more sweets tonight.”
“Sure.” Eli took two healthy bites out of the cookie, before replacing the remains on the plate. “Are we gonna bring the presents down now, or wait for a while?” He glanced at the colorful presents already under the tree. A few were from him and Willem to the kids and each other, but there were at least half a dozen from Derek and Sadie. His Daddy’s boss was more than just Willem’s employer. He was family. “I still can’t believe that Sadie and Derek stopped by with presents for the kids. It was awfully nice of them when I know that the Ranch is probably hopping.”
“That’s Derek for you. But to answer your question, I think we should wait a while to bring the Santa gifts down.” Willem gave him a smile. “Besides, I want to know what my boy would like to do, now that the kids are in bed?”
Eli nibbled on his lower lip, glancing from the tree to his Daddy and back again. With the schedule they’d worked out, Eli got an hour of Little time each night after his Daddy came home from work. While Daddy watched the kids, he’d retreat upstairs to play with his toys, paint or just curl up on his daybed. It kept his Little grounded but he found himself missing being Little with his Daddy. Being Little was a relief but wasn’t as fun as when his Daddy played with him.
“Can we play, Daddy? I know it’s late, and we should go to bed, but we haven’t played in so long.”
“We still have a couple of hours before those little heathens are firmly in dreamland.” Willem smiled at him. “So, I don’t see why we can’t play for a bit, until then. Why don’t you head upstairs, while I make sure everything down here is locked up?”
“Really?” Hope radiated through him. He thought for sure that Daddy would tell him that they needed to sleep because the kids would be up early.
Willem arched a brow at him. “I think, since it’s Christmas Eve we can stay up a little later.”
“Sweet.” Eli brushed a kiss against his Daddy’s cheek then darted out of the room, running up the stairs.
“No running on the steps, boy.” Willem hollered up after him.
Eli slowed down, but just until he got to the top of the stairs. Once he hit the landing, he picked up the pace and flew into their room.! He wanted to build the biggest, best-est log cabin with his Daddy. But in the end it didn’t matter what they did, he decided. Daddy had said they could play and that was what was important. Daddy and Little Eli time.
* * *
When Willem entered the playroom a few minutes later, his boy was firmly in Little space, sitting crossed legged with the jumbo-sized tin of Lincoln Logs in front of him. His boy sure did love the wooden miniature logs that Willem himself had played with as a child. It made his heart happy to see Eli nearly crawling out of his skin with excitement. The past week hadn’t been easy. After Raelynn’s incident that had resulted in four tiny stitches, the next morning had brought another blow to their family. An anonymous tip had landed a member of the Child and Family Services Division on their doorstep. Of course, the worker hadn’t found any just cause for the report. The kids were healthy, happy and had a stable home environment in spite of the fact that they were being raised by a gay couple.
Both Willem and Eli had a pretty good idea of who’d reported their home as an unsafe and unfit environment for Raelynn and Jeremy. It’d damned near broken his heart watching his boy deal with the fact that either Mr. or Mrs. Atheron had actually stooped to such lengths to remove the kids from their home. So, it was no surprise that Eli had refused their invitation a few days later, to come to the Atheron family Christmas. As far as Willem was concerned, the only Atheron he wanted anything to do with was his own boy.
“Daddy! You’re here. Come play with me!” Little Eli was shining brightly through his boy’s eyes. It warmed his heart like nothing else could.
“Sure thing, my boy.” He lowered himself down on the rug next to Eli. “So, what are we building tonight?”
A fierce look of concentration crossed Little Eli’s face, before his tongue darted out between his lips. “How about the Ranch, Daddy? Can we build a mini–Rawhide Ranch?”
Willem chuckled. “Sure, I don’t see why not.”
“Goodie!” He wrestled with the lid on the container of logs. “Can we show it to Daddy Derek? And maybe Sadie?”
“Well, how about I send them a picture, instead, since I’m sure they are busy getting ready for bed right now.”
“K, Daddy.” Eli dumped the entire tub of logs. Part of the logs went on the floor, while the other half of them covered his legs. “It’s a log-jam, Daddy.” He pushed at the logs. “Maybe we should have the dozer help move them.”
“You know you could be right.” Willem leaned over to snag the small tonka bulldozer. Gently lowering the scoop down to the ground, he made tooting noises as he backed up the dozer, then spun it around to face the pile of logs burying half of Eli’s lap. “Here we go. Time to load up.”
