Harry- 25
Sunny- 22
Rory & Nola- 6
Amos- 1 (22 months)
Juniper- 11 months
"Daddy!" Rory yells loudly, bouncing on the balls of her feet at the front door. "Nolee! Daddy is home!"
Skipping up the front porch steps, I crouch down while running to be able to bundle Rory into my arms.
"Come here, my little Peanut!" I grin, puckering a bunch of kisses to her cute little face.
"Daddy?" She calls my name, twirling her finger around one of the longer strands that have fallen from the bun at the back of my head. "Momma said it's daddy day today?"
"It's Father's Day today, yeah!" I agree, sitting her on my hip as I walk closer to the front door with a smile.
Not even seconds later, the soft pitter-pattering of feet comes skidding down the hallway as Nola's pretty smiling face rounds the corner of the kitchen door.
"You're back!" She exclaims, rushing over to me with an excited squeal.
Bending down to place Rory back on the floor, I smile even wider at my oldest two girls.
Working all day on Father's Day has been torture, to say the least, but seeing this reaction has definitely made it all worth it.
Nola clings to my leg, rounding her arms around my thigh as she places her feet on top of my shoes and giggles when I try to walk with her attached to me.
"H?" My wife calls softly from the kitchen where soft music drifts from our speaker system. "Is that you baby?"
Rory skips ahead of us but I waddle with Nola still clinging to me with a wide grin that morphs into a smirk when I see the shirt that Sunny is wearing. The shirt that she practically ripped off me last night in the heat of the moment is now sitting pretty on her body and tucked loosely into a pair of jean shorts with a dark brown leather belt keeping them up.
"Mumma looks extra pretty today," I tell Nola, running my hand over her braids that I did this morning in a rush before leaving the house to meet my project manager.
It is true.
I am so desperately in love with my wife so there is never a time where I don't find her utterly spellbinding. But, there are moments, like right now, where I look at her and I can't believe she is real.
There is nothing remotely astonishing about what she is doing. With our eleven-month-old daughter sitting on her hip in only a nappy and nothing else, she passes Mosi's sippy cup down to him with a small smile and a ruffle of his curly blonde hair.
Stunningly beautiful, I stand in awe of how she can look so perfect in my old, crumpled T-shirt, with no makeup and messily curled hair that's been scraped up throughout the day so it is out of her face.
"Momma?"
"Yeah, petal?" Sunny calls out, flicking her eyes over to Nola as Mosi spots me standing beside his big sister.
"Dada!" He grins widely and starts to tumble over to me.
He has got so much more stable on his legs that recently he has been running about like a lunatic and giving Sunny and I multiple heart attacks.
"Hey, Little Darling!" I scoop him into my arms, kissing his curls that fan around his face. "Did you miss your dada?"
He nods and gives me a hug as I smile.
"I missed you too, Mosi!"
"Play?" He points to his set of cars that are littered behind me on the carpet.
"Yeah, we can play," I tell him, starting to kick my shoes off and walk over to the rug where I bend down and sit his little body opposite me.
"Daddy said you look extra pretty today," Nola proudly declares.
Smirking, Sunny readjusts Juni on her hip and starts to slowly walk over to me.
"Oh, did he now?"
"I'd never be able to keep an affair hidden with this one around, she can never keep my secrets," I mutter under my breath.
Tutting and knowing that I am only kidding, Sunny leans forward and kisses me while I sit on the floor and let Mosi use my legs as a car track to run the plastic toys over.
"Can you take Juni bug for a second?" She asks me, passing over our little girl before discreetly trying to usher Rory and Nola back into the kitchen.
"Here, Bug!" Sitting her between my parted legs, I pass her a large plastic red car and watch as she immediately shoves it into her mouth and coats the toy in saliva.
"No!" Mosi whines, reaching out over the rug with a screwed-up face and fingers that pinch the air. "No, Bug!"
"She can't have it?" I question, knowing damn well that he is only kicking off because I have given a car that he wasn't even playing with to his little sister. "Amos, you've got four cars in your lap, they aren't enough?"
Shaking his head, he grizzles again. "No!"
"Mosi!" I warn, trying to teach him the value of sharing. "What about this red car?" Plucking another one from the toy bin, I wave it about but his full lips pucker into a face I know means he is about to throw a tantrum.
We are approaching the terrible twos and they aren't kidding when they say it is hell on earth. With Rory and Nola, Mosi is so calm-tempered and this little angel of a boy but if Juni so much as looks at one of his toys, world war three is starting.
"This one has flames on it!" I try to entice him but he still adamantly reaches for the car that Juniper has in her hands. Strings of saliva fall down her bare chest as she gums on the toy. "Sunshine?" I call out, looking over in the direction of the kitchen.
Sunny appears a second later, poking her smiling head around the door with a small nod.
"Why is Juni in only a nappy?"
"We had spaghetti for tea-"
"You said tea!" I gasp, pointing to her triumphantly.
The smile on her face drops and Sunday starts to shake her head. "No, I didn't!"
"You're British now, it's official!" I yell, lifting Juniper up from under her arms and holding her above my head.
Still dribbling, I bob my head to avoid her spit but smile widely at the sound of her contagious giggling echoing around our house. kicking her legs out like she is swimming through the air, Juni drops the car from her hand and instead reaches for my face.
"Say mumma is a British babe, Pretty girl!" I coo, shaking my head with a happy smile.
Giggling, Sunny comes to crouch behind me, resting her head on my shoulder, she smiles just as brightly as I was.
I have always considered our children as little days of sunlight. It's hardly a stretch to think about when their mother is the literal epitome of the sun. But, Juni, she has the sun in her eyes.
Already at only eleven months, she has this golden yellow ring that circles right around the black of her pupil. I first noticed it at around five months and instantly became obsessed with it.
She helped to save my sunshine and so whenever Juniper's eyes glisten in the sun, I can't help but see that yellow ring in her eyes as an angel halo.
"Say it!" I cheer again. "Say mumma is a British babe now!"
Juni doesn't repeat after me... obviously.
That's not to say that no one does. "Momma is a British babe!" Rory loudly announces with a wide grin that accentuates the dimples in her cheeks as she skids into the front room with a flamboyant spin.
My cup of happiness is overflowing with joy and so I can't help but fall back to the floor in a fit of chuckles and laughter that heals parts of my soul. I never thought I would get this sort of joy in my life but I do.
"Of course, it was you that repeated your daddy's potty-mouthed words, Roo!" Sunny giggles. "You two are two peas in a pod,"
"Me and Daddy?"
"Me and you!" I agree, sitting up and putting Juni down as she starts to squirm to get out of my hold.
Mosi happily has the stupid red car that he wanted which is fine by Juniper because she's now crawling towards a blue VW camper van lookalike.
"How was school, Peanut?" I ask, pressing a chaste kiss to the top of Roo's head as she helps herself to a seat in my lap.
Tipping her head back, she dives into a whole big explanation about her dance class and how the teacher was telling them to do it wrong because at ballet they do it properly. Pretending to know exactly what she was talking about, I smile and nod and laugh at her silliness which is the most endearing thing about her.
The whole time she chats to me, she holds my arms that circle her in a hug and twists the gold wedding band around my finger idly.
"So it was a good day then?" I question as she sucks in a sharp breath that was robbed from her when she waffled on.
"It was alright," Shrugging in reply, I love the small little aspects of myself that are floating into her personality.
She is my daughter through and through. The mannerisms she projects and the way she holds herself and conducts her thoughts are like a copy and paste of me.
"Hey, Little miss?" Sun softly calls for her, watching from afar. "I thought you were helping me and Nolee with Daddy's surprise?"
Her eyes widen and she's clambering off my lap within seconds. "Oh yeah! Silly me!"
Smiling up at her, I watch the light in her eyes spark as she spins on the spot and presses a messy kiss to my cheek.
"I'll be back, Daddy!" She tells me.
Playfully rolling her eyes, Sunny ushers her out of the room to help with whatever the surprise is and so I am left with my little babies.
"Dada cars!" Mosi points aggressively to the track he has. One of the road links has come out of place and so I quickly slip it back in and watch him smile.
"What colour is this, Little Darling?" I lift up a car and he surveys it before proudly declaring.
"Pink!"
"Good job, buddy!" I exclaim, holding my flat palm out for him to slap happily. "What about this one?"
This time it takes him a little longer to name but eventually, he proudly tells me that the car is "lellow!"
Doing what my parents never did with me, I nurture his mind with a warm smile. "You're so smart, Mosi!" Giving him a hug, I kiss his cheeks over and over. "You clever, clever little boy!"
"Daddy!" Nola yells, the twins racing into the living room with coy smiles.
Their arms are tucked behind their backs in matching positions as they sway their hips from side to side. The beautiful face that they have both stolen from their mum grins wider as I look in their direction.
"Yes, little monsters?"
"We have a Daddy's Day present for you!"
I nod, standing to my feet and haul Juni on my hip. Mosi reaches for my hand which I outstretch for him.
"Don't get too excited," Sunday tells me as I walk to the door and then am stopped by Nola holding her palm out to stop me.
"Why?"
"It's just nothing extravagant,"
"I'll love whatever it is," I tell her. "I couldn't not love something you guys made me,"
"Ready?"
"I was born ready," I grin, watching as Nolee and Rory climb onto the tops of the bar stools.
It is my natural instinct to lurch forward in case they fall but Sunny is there behind them anyway with the same warm smile.
Taking a couple of steps to the breakfast bar, I look down at the messily decorated cake that is a little wonky and very clearly homemade but perhaps the most beautiful-looking cake I've ever seen.
Taking a deep breath in, my cheeks ache from how happy I am.
"You made this?"
"Momma helped us," Rory explains. "We aren't allowed to touch the oven,"
"No," I agree. "It gets hot,"
"And it hurts," Nola adds, still haunted by an incident we had a couple of weeks ago.
The cake itself was frosted in a white buttercream and then the girls have piped little pictures on but the frosting is so much harder to draw with than a crayon so the pictures are even harder to decipher than normal.
Knowing immediately which ones are Nola's and which ones are Rory's. I get them to talk me through each drawing as Sunny bends down and grabs Mosi. She sits him in his high chair seat and starts to cut a small slice of cake to give to him. I sit Juni in front of me on the countertop and break off a small cube to chew on.
"How many times did it take you to make this?" I question as Sunny passes me a plate with a large slab of cake on it.
All the kids are settled and eating and so she cuts us both a piece and comes to stand beside me.
"Only once..." I raise my eyebrow at her. "Just don't look in the bin, baby."
"So more than once?" I question with a chuckle.
Nodding, my girl leans into the side of me and buried her head into my arm. "You're the baker of this family, not me,"
Taking a bite of the cake, I try to hide the grimace as I chew on the firm, rock-like chunk.
"Is it not good?" Catching a glimpse of my face, I quickly try to disguise the picture of horror.
Sunny's smile drops and I am shaking my head and lying.
"No, baby it's so so good! Isn't that right, girls?"
Both girls nod and so I shove another dry piece of cake into my mouth and start the treacherous task of chewing while Sunny uses her fork to grab a bite-size chunk.
Chewing it in the side of her mouth. Her nose scrunches up cutely.
"You're a liar, Harry Jones-Styles!"
"You love me?"
She nods immediately and so I push the plate away.
"I love you so much, Sun but please don't make me eat that!"
happy daddy's day to end gamerry & end gamerry only <3