I heard a creaking sound, followed by some babbling gibberish and another creak of a mattress. A few minutes later, it happened again, only this time she sounded like she was genuinely trying to say something important.
I forced one eye open, and saw Vienna standing up in her crib, gripping the railing for support. Her dark brown curls sprung all over the place, her cheeks a rosy pink, and her white onesie clung to her chubby baby tummy as she stood.
When she realized I was awake, her bright green eyes shone as she got excited and started tapping her feet up and down on her mattress, almost hopping out of her crib. She balanced for a split second before falling back into a seated position in bed. She huffed slightly, and yelled. It wasn't a whine, nor was it annoying, it was almost as if she wanted to say "dammit!" but couldn't yet.
I yawned, and stretched before forcing myself out of bed to attend to Little Miss.
"Alrighty, no need to shout, Little Miss. I'll help you." I stood before her crib, and reached down to free her from her nighttime prison. Once again, she was excited, and kicked her legs while she reached for me. Again, more gibberish talk as if she wanted to have a conversation with me, but I couldn't understand. Oh well, part of being a parent was pretending to understand what your one-year-old was saying, right?
"Happy Birthday my sweet little girl." I cooed, before kissing her tummy, eliciting a laugh from little Miss. I carried Vienna to the bathroom and placed her on the floor before brushing my teeth and washing my face. When I turned back to my daughter, she had crawled all the way to the door, and was trying to stand herself up against the door frame.
"No, no, no. You'll smash your fingers there, sweetheart." I spoke to her before picking her up. She continued to "speak" to me, and it sounded like she was scolding me for picking her up.
"I know, you want to walk. Well," I placed her down on the carpet in the bedroom, "I'd prefer if you walked in here. There's carpet, it's safer." I explained as if she could actually understand me.
She held onto my fingers with both her hands, feet firmly placed on the carpet, and tried to walk. After a beat, she let go, and stood for all but two seconds before she fell back on her bottom. Another frustrated grumble escaped her lips which caused me to laugh.
"You'll get it baby, you'll see." I scooped her up and smothered her cheek in kisses which made her laugh. I carried her down the stairs where I could smell breakfast cooking. My wife was hard at work in the kitchen, working on both breakfast and food for Vienna's birthday party later today.
I walked up behind her, balanced little miss on my hip, and used my other hand to wrap around my wife's waist.
"Good morning darling." I kissed Orchid's cheek.
"Good morning love." She turned her head to kiss me. "And good morning little miss!" She cooed, reaching out for our daughter. I handed her over, and manned the stove while she took Vienna into her arms.
"Happy birthday my little love!" She kissed all over Vienna's face, followed by a garbled response from Vienna. Orchid bent down to balance little miss on the floor, trying to get her to walk. "Come on baby, you can do it. And then we can turn you into a little dancer." Orchid whispered before kissing little miss again.
This time, Vienna balanced and took a step. I turned off the stove, adamant on not missing a single moment. She took another step, then wobbled backwards slightly before Orchid grabbed her hand to steady her. I crouched down a few feet away from Orchid, and faced Vienna.
"Come here, sweetheart." I spoke to Vienna.
"Yes, sweetheart, walk to daddy." Orchid continued. Once she was steady, Orchid took a step towards me, balled her fists, then took another step. Now, she was directly in between Orchid and I.
"Come on." I encouraged, reaching out towards Vienna. That must have motivated her, because she started walking faster, more controlled steps towards me until finally she could grasp hold of my fingers.
"Good job sweetheart!" I beamed, hugging Vienna to my chest and kissing her little head. In an instant, Orchid was crouched by me and kissed Vienna's head as well.
"Good job my little love." She beamed down, then looked at me. She cupped my cheek, and planted a kiss on my nose, then pulled back and smiled at me. "She's walking!"
"Yes, she is." I smiled down at her. Her face lit up at that, before she reached down and hugged little miss.
My girls. My family. I swear, life was too good to believe.
*
At noon, people started arriving for Vienna's party. Of course, there were our parents, and Conor. Julien, and Lily were there, as well as a lot of Orchid's and my associates from work and the studio. It was busy, but considering that Vienna was the only baby, all the attention was on her.
She was definitely getting a kick out of walking from person-to-person, giving her more confidence in her walk with each pass across the floor. At one point, all you could hear was the soft pitter patter on the hardwood floors from Vienna's bare baby feet.
Orchid had put a fluffy pink, polka dot dress on her and put her hair half up. Her little curled pony tail had a small pink bow clipped on it, making her look absolutely adorable and sweet. She was always adorable and sweet, but she looked extra adorable and sweet today.
After a while of just watching Vienna walk back and forth, we finally decided to crack out the birthday cake and ice cream.
We put Vienna in her seat with her cake in front of her, candle lit, and everyone sang 'happy birthday' to her. Orchid and I helped her blow out her candle before I took the cake away to cut up for everybody.
Orchid decided to take off Vienna's dress and leave her in a pink onesie. Good call on her part. Within a minute of putting Vienna's slice of cake in front of her, she became a chocolatey mess. It was adorable-as usual- and Orchid took lots of pictures.
Once everyone devoured the delicious cake, Orchid and I cleaned up Vienna so we could let her open her presents.
After an hour, a huge pile of wrapping paper, and too many toys and clothes to count, Vienna finally finished opening her presents, which was the general sign that gave everyone permission to disperse at their own leisure.
Our parents were the last to leave, giving some extra kisses and attention to the birthday girl who looked like she was going to knock out any second. Once they left, as if right on cue, Vienna fell asleep against my shoulder.
"Is she out?" Orchid whispered, looking down at Vienna.
"Yeah." I whispered back. "Let's take her to bed." I nudged my head toward the stairs. Orchid nodded and we both walked up towards Vienna's room.
I placed her in her crib, and she stirred in her sleep. For a moment, she sat up causing Orchid and I to pause, wide eyed and skeptical of Vienna staying awake. Little miss smiled lazily, then fell, belly down on the mattress, and knocked out completely. We both sighed a breath of relief. Once she was up, she was completely up, and we were completely tired.
"She's a piece of work, huh?" She finally spoke once we were sure Vienna was asleep.
"Absolutely." I kissed Orchid. Then, another kiss on her cheek, and another on her neck. She moaned gently causing me to groan.
"Nikolai." She gasped as I sucked on her sweet spot. I backpedalled us out of Vienna's room before we woke her up, then I lifted Orchid up, causing her to wrap her arms and legs around me.
"We need to go on a little honeymoon, babe." I kissed her jaw.
"Yes we do." She giggled, running her fingers through my hair.
"Maybe make another little miss." I suggested, smirking at her, before kissing her along her jaw again.
"Or little mister." She bit her lip, and did her little flirty eyebrow thing.
"Yes, or mister." I placed my forehead against hers.
"I'll get someone to cover the studio for this weekend, and get my parents to watch little miss." Orchid reached up to cup my face.
"I'll make the reservations for us in Vegas somewhere." I kissed her nose.
"Let's do this." She bounced slightly, grinding her hips against my erection.
"God, baby." I groaned, then kissed her lips as I walked towards our bedroom. "It's a date, sweetheart. But for right now," I fell forward, laying us down on our bed, "I need you. Now." I yanked the buttons on her flannel clean off, causing her to laugh.
"Mm, good God love, now please." She whimpered as I continued to kiss down her body.
"Yes ma'am." I whispered against her belly as I undid her pants.
"My goodness, how'd I get so lucky?" She groaned as she ran her fingers through my hair. I looked up at her, her bright blue eyes already compelling me to come closer. So, I did. I crawled up her body, and kissed her on the lips softly.
"I wonder that same thing every morning when I wake up next to you, and every night when I fall asleep next to you, and in the middle of the night when I wake up to check if you're still there." I brushed a strand of hair behind her ear before cupping her cheek.
"Every time I catch you dancing while you cook, or watch you make work schedules on your laptop, or reading a book that makes you passionate." I pressed a kiss against her forehead.
"Every time you give our daughter a bath, and do her hair, or read to her." I pressed my forehead to hers. "Darling, you call yourself the lucky one, but trust me, I'm the one who's lucky because I have you. And I'm never ever going to forget it."
"Oh stop it you, you're too nice. You're making me blush." She looked down and giggled, then pressed her palm against my cheek.
"No, Orchid, it's true." I whispered. "Somewhere along the way when I was growing up, I took a wrong turn. I didn't realize it, but I did, and you know I did. Then, out of the blue, you appeared into my life and helped me get back on track." I held her left hand in mine, then kissed her ring.
"I'll never be able to thank you enough for that. For this-this beautiful life with a beautiful wife, my beautiful wife, you, my darling, and our beautiful daughter. I just, I love you, so damned much."
She cupped my face in both her hands, looked down at me, then without warning, she flipped us over so she was straddling my waist.
"And I love you. So much. More and more every day, and I hope you know that." She continued to stroke my cheek.
"I do. And I feel the same." I smiled up at her before running my hands up and down her waist. She shrugged off her shirt and leaned forward so her lips were right by my ear.
"Now, if you're done being sweet, I would like you to fuck me." She whispered before looking at me sweetly, as if what she had just said didn't almost make me come in my pants.
I leaned up on my elbows, and let my nose graze against hers.
"Would you like this fuck hard and fast, or slow and passionate?" I growled, kissing her lips softly.
"How about hard and passionate?" She took my bottom lip in between her teeth.
"Your wish, my command." I kissed her again, before rolling us over to do exactly what she asked for.
Hard, passionate, lovemaking, because fucking just wasn't good enough for the love of my life.