Daddy's Love

Carol and I are waiting at home with Uncle Ron baby-sitting us. He got his shot early in the morning and is not in the best of moods. Carol, Davey - Uncle Ron's little are doing our best to be good. Carol told me how were the daddies last year and she is grateful to have me and not be alone this time. We heard the daddies fighting last night even though they were not exactly shouting or screaming. After a breakfast of milk and cereals uncle Ron looks tired so we convince him to take a nap and promise to be good, come what may. We maybe naughty, but we are not cruel. We sit in the living room. Davey and Carol are trying to put together the new Harry Potter jigsaw puzzle that daddies got us last week and I am trying to read a book. There is chips and cookies and milk that we are hogging from every now and then.

Uncle Ron comes back an hour later, finding us exactly where and how he left us, engaged into doing our respective jobs minus the cookies and the milk.

He smiles.

"Such good babies. Come here all of you." He sits and all three of us go and hug him tight. His arms ache when he moves it. I wonder how daddies would be doing.

After daddies left in the morning for the hospital their room looked like it survived a tornado. The lamp and the bedside table were broken. I fervently hope that they don't fight. Carol looks at me and squeezes my hand. I smile back.

"So my sweet boy and my beautiful girls, would you like to have pizza for lunch? And maybe we could snuggle and watch Harry Potter together?" We all say yes, trying to sound excited. Half an hour later we are all in the living room, eating pizzas and watching Harry Potter when the doorbell rings. We jump up. I am almost ashamed that I had forgotten all about daddies for a while. We run to the door behind Uncle Ron.

Daddy is there, only daddy. And he looks like he has lost a boxing match or something.

"Daddy! What happened?!" Carol shouts and Jumps on him. I am frozen where I am.

He is blue and black with bruises all over his face and arms. I bite back tears.

"Go inside. All of you." He says sternly.

We look at him reluctant to go inside when Uncle Ron tries sending us back to the living room.

"I am fine babies. Jay is okay too. Now go, come on." He adds gently trying to shoo us away. "Where is Uncle Jay?" I ask.

"He is over to his place. He needed some quiet time baby. He'll be back." He says.

We all go back reluctantly.

Uncle Ron puts us for a nap ignoring our feeble protests. We did not want to be bad. We did exactly what we were told to do. I hope my daddies are fine. Carol, Davey and I hug each other and fall asleep.000