That Blue Gibson: Another Round

forty-eight

"Happy wedding birthday, Daddy!" she screeched, throwing herself into his lap and by the sound Dave made, managing to land a knee in an unfortunate spot. "Lizbeth, look at their Annie ears!"

Following her eager pointing, she felt her mouth drop open when she recognized the matching headbands Harper and Violet were wearing. The green satin ears with black lace at the edges and little silver charms decorating the middle, charms that Liz immediately recognized as the ones that would incessantly bounce off her cheekbones in the sea breeze. The girls exchanged worried glances that made Liz snap her jaw shut, but it was too late to keep her chin from quivering.

"That's what took us so long," Violet explained quickly, clearly trying to keep Liz's tears at bay, "They didn't have them out on the floor so we asked if someone could find them for us."

The idea that they'd asked some poor soul to scrounge around in a back room for a pair of ears in her character's theme that probably hadn't been on a store shelf in months made the tears spill over her lashes and Liz scrambled to shove her glasses over her eyes. 

"We asked for Wicked Stepmother ears first," Harper quipped, always perfectly on time with her jokes just like her father, "But they don't make them."

"Well, that's just silly," Liz managed to squeak out, "As soon as we get home I'm calling my guy at Disney and demanding they make some."

"Happy wedding birthday!" Phee chirped, bouncing between her two sisters in a whirlwind of bright pink princess dress to fling herself at Liz.

"Anniversary," Violet's sighed, "Happy anniversary."

"Thanks, V," Dave's soft voice made Liz look up just as he wound his arm around his daughter's neck to drag her into a hug, and she just caught the gloss in his eyes before realizing they were both about to break down in sobs.

"You guys ready to go find some rides?" she asked quickly, shoving herself up from her knees and twirling Ophelia around to get a giggle out of her, "Tea Cups or Carousel first? Wait, where the hell are the Hawkins kids?"

*

Once everyone was assembled, Liz walked between Violet and Harper, following Dave and the rest of the kids at a distance down the remainder of Main Street while staring up at Sleeping Beauty's Castle. 

"Was it really hot wearing that green dress all the time?" Harper suddenly asked, reaching up to feel the satin on her headband. "It looked really heavy."

"It was really heavy. Especially when it was wet, which was all the time. Ugh, it was torture," Liz groaned, remembering how stifling that corset had been in the Caribbean sun, "Everything about that costume was awful. Half the time I felt like my boobs were going to fall out, the other half I thought I was going to die of heatstroke."

"Dad loves that movie," Violet laughed a little and eyed her father, still several steps ahead of them, "He took us to see it like eight times."

"Yeah, but the last few times we went to see it, none of us really asked to," Harper added, "He just... took us. I think he had a crush on you even then."

Liz felt her heart jump at the thought of Dave taking his girls to see one of her movies long before they'd ever officially met. "That evens the score a little," she laughed, "Cause I've had a crush on him since the nineties."

The group wound their way through Fantasyland first, riding as many rides as they could before the heat became too much for the younger ones and they decided to retreat to New Orleans Square where the air-conditioning beckoned.

"We should have rented a stroller," Dave grunted, lifting a sound asleep Owen further onto his shoulder.

"Yeah, I have a feeling Everleigh isn't going to last much longer either," Liz agreed. "Want me to go grab one?"