“Madi, want to go for a walk?” Nick asked hanging up the phone.

Madi’s face lit up. He took that as a ‘yes’.

“OK, hold on for a minute.”

“Up!”

“Hold on.”

Nick went to the table and picked up the small black box.

“Lyn...”

“Yes?” she smiled.

“Up! Up!” Madi yelled holding her hands up.

“Just a minute Mads.” he laughed. He turned to Lyndsey “Here you go.” He slipped the ring on her finger. “I love you sooo much.” he leaned in and gave her a kiss.

“I love you too baby, sooo much.” she kissed him back.

“OK, rugrat! Let’s go!” he smiled and picked Madi up.

“Weee!!!” she yelled.

“You’re high up aren’t you? Let’s go.” he took Lyndsey’s hand with his free one and set out for their walk. Madi leaned in and kissed him on the cheek as they stepped outside.

“Aww, thank you! Daddy loves you you know that?”

“La u Dada.”

“What did you say Madi?” Madi looked at him confused. “Nevermind.” he laughed.

“Do we have a stroller Nick?”

“No, we’ll have to buy one. Along with more clothes...anything else you can think of? That we’ll need when Ray and her move out? For when she visits?”

“Is that high chair Rays? We should get our own.”

“Yeah. What about one of those...changing diaper table...things?”

“Yeah, we’ll need one of those...things.” she laughed.

“We’ll go shopping tomorrow.”

“Lots of bottles and baby dishes and silverware.”

“Yeah. Toys.”

“We’ll have a hay day tomorrow!”

“Bir!” Madi screamed pointing to the sky.

“You see a bird? I see it to!”

“Bi bir!”

“No, not big bird. That’s just a bird. Close though!”

“Bir?” she asked with a puzzled look.

“It is a bird.”

Madi smiled and clapped her hands.

“She’s pretty smart for her age, isn’t she?”

“Yay!” Nick clapped his hands as best he could holding Madi. “Yeah she is. She sure doesn’t get the brains from me!”

“Ray must be a smart one!”

“Must be.”

Madi turned her face to Nick and wrinkled up her nose. “Wet.”

“Oh no!”

“Oh no!” she copied him.

“Well Miss Madi, we have to go home now!”

“No no!”

“You peed your pants! We have to get it off! Or you’ll get owies”

“O wee?”

“Owies.”

Madi gave him a confused look. “Dada?”

“Let’s go home and get this thing off of you.” he smiled.

When they got home Nick took Madi to the bathroom and took off her wet diaper. She struggled with him while he tried to get her dressed so he let her run naked.

“I see a nakie baby!” Lyndsey yelled.

“Ahh! It’s a bear!” Nick laughed and hid behind his hands. She shrieked and ran at him. “No no! Don’t get me! Ahh!” he yelled.

“Get him Madi!” Lyndsey laughed. “I’ll help you!”

“No!” Nick ran down the hall and hid in the closet.

Lyndsey got up and ran down the hall with Madi. “Come on sweetie, let’s find him.” she whispered.

“Can’t find me!” he yelled and climbed up on the shelf.

“Shh Madi. Quiet...” she slowly opened the door. “Do you see him nakie girl?” she whispered. Madi remained quiet and looked up at her. “Yell for him...say “Where are you Daddy?”

“DADA!” Nick snickered to himself in the closet. “DADA!!” she peeked her head in the closet. Nick stopped laughing. Madi turned to look at Lyndsey. “Dada?”

“Up here Madi.” Nick said.

Madi looked up and saw Nick. She gave him a big smile. “Dada!”

“Hi!”

She shrieked and threw her hands up in the air as he tried to climb down.

“Uh...I think I’m stuck.” he laughed.

“Uh oh Madi! Daddy’s stuck, what do we do?!”

“Get back.”

Lyndsey picked up Madi and backed up, sitting on the bed and watched Nick fall out of the closet.

“Ow!”

“O wee!” Madi climbed down off the bed and ran to Nick, getting down on her knees.

“I got an owie!”

“O wee?”

“Are you OK hun?”

“Kiss it?” he asked holding his hand out to Madi. “Yeah, I think it’s OK.”

Madi slobbered on his outstrechted hand.

“Thank you sweetie.”

“Fank dada!”

Nick stood up and bent down to pick Madi up. “Ouch.”

“Are you sure you’re OK?”

“I’m not sure. I’ll put some ice on it.”

Lyndsey picked Madi up and followed him to the kitchen.

“Let me see it.”

Nick obediently held his hand out.

“Does this hurt?” she asked pushing in on the sides of his wrist.

“YES!”

“Sorry.” she pulled her hand away. “Do you want me to take you to the emergency room?”

“Just let me put ice on it!”

“Fine. Come on Mads, let’s get you dressed.” She walked away as Nick grabbed an ice pack out of the freezer.

“See Madi, Daddy’s hurt. So we be extra good, OK? Or we’ll get yelled at...trust me on this one.” she laughed as she dressed Madi. When she was done she carried Madi to the living room and set her on the floor.

“Whatcha watching?” she asked sitting next to Nick on the couch.

“TV.”

“What do you want for dinner tonight?”

“Surprise me.”

“Madi, what do you want for dinner?”

“O duce.” she said turning to Lyndsey.

“OK...anything else?” she laughed.

“No.”

“Your daughter wants orange juice for dinner Nick.”

“Madi, you have to eat more than that.” He didn’t look away from the TV.

“O duce Dada.”

“Just make something...she’ll eat it. Just no strawberrries.”

“Why no strawberries?”

“She’s allergic.”

“I see.” She raised an eyebrow. “Anything else like that I should know? She is living with me.”

“Apple juice makes her sick. And I’m watching TV. Madi, give me the remote please. Come sit with me.” Madi got up off the floor and walked to Nick. “You forgot the remote!” he laughed.

Madi giggled and turned around. She got the remote and headed back to him.

“Good girl! Yay for Madi!” he clapped. “SON OF A- I’m going to the med station.”

Lyndsey inched away from Nick on the couch.

“Will you be alright with her?” he asked.

“Of course.”

“Alright.” he grabbed the keys and was gone.

“See Madi. We be careful when Daddy’s hurt.”

“Dada mad.”

“Dada mad? No he’s not mad at you honey.”

“No.”

“He just got an owie on his hand.” she pointed to her hand. “And it hurts.”

“O wee.”

“Yeah, on his hand. So we be nice to daddy OK? Hey, wanna make him a picture?”

Madi’s lip quivered. “Dada...”

“Don’t cry baby.” Lyndsey said picking her up and holding her in her lap.

“Dada?” she started crying.

“He’ll be right back..very soon, I promise.”

Madi threw a fit, flailing herself off Lyndsey’s lap. “DADA!”

“Come here pumpkin. Daddy will be back. Why don’t we make him a picture, he’ll see how much we love him and then he’ll feel better!”

Madi stood in the middle of the room crying, her tiny cheeks red and wet with tears. Lyndsey picked her back up and started dancing.

“Dada, Mama bye bye.” she cried louder.

“Aww...but Lyn is here! Don’t you like Lyn? Remember Nin? Wanna dance Madi cakes?”

“No!”

“Sunny days, sweeping the clouds away, on my way...” she sang in Madi’s ear.

“Bi bir!” she yelled still crying on Lyndsey’s shoulder.

An hour later when Nick arrived home to see Lyndsey laying on the couch, almost asleep.

“Good news!”

“What’s that?”

“It’s sprained!” he said with false enthusiasm.

“Aww..bandage?”

“Yeah.”

“How long?”

“Two weeks.”

“What about moving Ray?”

“Oh shit!”

“Worry about it when she calls. For now, you just be careful.”

“I guess we’ll see how sore it is.”

“Good news!”

“What’s that?”

“I don’t think Madi likes being alone with me.”

“Uh oh..what happened? Where is she?”

“She cried...at first I think it was cause she thought you were hurt. She didn’t want to do anything. She just kept screaming ‘Dada, Mama, bye bye.’.”

“Where is she?”

“Asleep on our bed.”

“Sleeping again?! She’ll never sleep through the night!”

“She cried herself to sleep!”

“Well, I’m waking her up. I’m sorry she was like that.” Nick headed down the hallway to the bedroom. “Baby girl...Daddy’s home.” he whispered, sitting on the bed.

“Dada?”

“Hey.”

She jumped up and wrapped her arms around his neck. “Dada!”

“You were sad with Lyn? Lyn loves you just like Daddy does!”

Madi looked at Nick’s hand. “O wee dada.”

“My owie is all better. You should go give Lyn a hug, she feels bad!”

“No o wee?”

“No owie.” he set Madi on the floor. She ran down the hall and jumped on Lyndsey. “Good girl Madi.” Nick said watching with a smile.

“Nin.” she kissed Lyndsey’s cheek.

“Aww...thanks Madi.” Lyndsey smiled.

*Ring, Ring*

“Hello?” Nick answered the ringing phone.

“Hi.” It was Rayanne.

“Hey. What’s up?”

“I gave up on packing for tonight.” she laughed. “So I just thought I’d call and see how everything was.”

“Everything’s fine. I have a sprained wrist.”

“What happened? Are you OK?”

“Long story. Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Does Madi play a role in this long story?” she laughed.

“Sort of.”

“She’s been known to do some damage.”

“I was hiding from her. That’s all I’m allowed to say.”

“Allowed? OK...” Rayanne laughed. “I’m glad you’ll be OK.”

“Hey, I’ve got a question for you.”

“Shoot.”

“Do you bring Madi in the shower with you?”

“Sometimes. Why?”

“I was curious as to what you would think of her taking one with me...ya know like if nobody’s home or something?”

“Oh, I don’t mind. She’s never...seen a guy though, so she might...I don’t know, she might ask or grab or something.”

She heard Nick laugh. “Let’s hope not. She already crushed them once.”

“Oooh...ouch.”

“Yeah.”

“She’s just not used to having to be careful yet. With you, ya know.”

“Yeah. One more question.”

“OK. You’re full of ‘em tonight.”

“Did you show Madi pictures of me? Or talk about me a lot?”

“She’s seen pictures. I have a picture of us...”

“You never talked to her about me though? Or told her who that was in the picture?”

“Yeah I have. Why?”

“Just wondering.”

“Oh...I wanted her to know who you were. But I didn’t want to tell her too much either until she was old enough to understand.”

“I understand.”

“Sure there’s no reason you ask?”

“Well, just because she caught on to who I am so quickly. I didn’t think she’d be so attached so quickly.”

“So she knows exactly who you are, huh?”

“Yeah. She screamed for me the whole time I was gone to the med station.”

“She wasn’t good with Lyn?”

“That time she wasn’t. She was OK while I took a shower.”

“Maybe she knew when you were in the shower you were still there.”

“Yeah.”

“Are you gonna be able to help me move with your wrist?”

“I’m not sure yet. I’ll still come up.”

“OK, don’t do anything you don’t feel up to. I know how cranky you get when you’re hurt.” she laughed.

“It’s all swollen right now.”

“When did you do it?”

“A little while ago. I got back maybe a half hour ago.”

“Wow...pretty fresh.”

“Yeah.”

“So, no other problems or anything?”

“Nope. Everything is fine, stop worrying!”

“I’m not worrying, I’m just wondering.” she laughed. “I know full well what she is capable of.”

“And knowing full well what she is capable of, you sent her down here with us without any warnings?”

“I didn’t get any warnings when she was born!” she laughed.

“So? It’s only fair to share the wealth.”

“So sorry..I’ll be sure to call if I think of any of her other ‘tricks’.”

“You do that!” he smiled.

“Oh yeah, if she wakes up in the middle of the night screaming ‘monser’, ignore her.”

“Why?”

“It’s just her way of getting up in the middle of the night. She’ll want to sleep with you. I don’t let her unless she’s sick.”

“Oh alright.”

“But you can make up your own rules.” she laughed.

“I’ll keep that in mind. When do you think you’ll be ready?”

“Probably two more full days of packing and I’ll be ready. Today’s Tuesday...so Friday?”

“Alright, sounds good. We’ll fly up Friday morning then.”

“All five of you and the baby?”

“Yeah.”

“Alright, can I talk to her quick?”

“Umm...if I can find her. Hang on.”

She heard him set down the phone, his voice getting farther away.

“Madi, Mommy’s on the phone! Madi! LYN!”

There was silence for a few minutes.

“LYNDSEY TAYLOR LITTRELL!!!”

He put the phone back to his ear. “I don’t know where they are Ray. They might be playing in the water.”

“Oh...OK. Well if you find her can you call me before she goes to bed?”

“Yeah, I guess I can do that. But what if I can’t find her?”

“You’ll find her. Quit joking.”

“I’m not. What if she got sucked under the water by the Lochness Monster? I’ll never find her.”

“Then you have to give me a new daughter.” As soon as she said it she knew it came out wrong.

He was silent for a minute. “Oh and I’m just going to spit one out for you?”

“That came out wrong.” she laughed.

“It’s OK. Alright, I’m off to find those two.”

“Good luck!”

“Thanks.”

“Bye.

“Bye Ray.”