Reconnecting

Chapter 8

Cody's POV

I had taken the kids out to make up for the couple of Sundays I missed on our date day. They happened every Sunday, and although I never had the money to do much, I was always to pull something out of my ass that made them smile. This time I had money though. It was too cold out for the Zoo, so Edgar and I took all the kids to the aquarium, and it was a surprise. Edgar had splurged a little of the money that got put into his account for a really good camera and he was eager to test it out. 

When we got there, Bella and Mace were just so excited, bouncing in their seats, while Wilson just looked at it with a smile. Bella and Mace walked around while Edgar pushed his boys in the stroller and I pushed Wilson in the small stroller I had for him. Wilson would've been fine walking on his own, but Mace and Bella were much faster than him, and I'd like to not have to try and keep up with my slow walker and my fast walkers at the same time. 

"Look daddy," Mace said as he pointed to a tank of puffer fish. "They're like Bella when she's mad." "Are not," Bella said, her cheeks puffing up in annoyance, proving his point. She then saw one that had large eyes, "Hey it's Mace." Mace wasn't too appreciative of that. We were only at the first tank, and I can already see how today was going to go. 

Edgar took plenty of photos as we walked about of the kids, of us, us with the kids, and the various things we saw. We stayed the entire day, each of the kids getting a souvenir. As we went about, we ignored some of the strange looks we had gotten. We were two single dads taking care of our kids, together, and I know not many see that as normal. Usually in things like custody battles it's usually in favor for the mother. Edgar and I learned that even many of other assistance programs are more lenient to single mothers than single fathers, making it almost impossible for me to have gotten any help. I managed to get food stamps and assistance for paying for their day care, but I didn't get a lot outside of that. It was fucked up, but unfortunately there wasn't much I could do about it. 

When we got home, the kids had fallen asleep in the truck and my parents helped me get them inside. Once they were laid down, I stepped outside for a smoke. 

Edgar came out with his laptop and camera. He plugged the camera up to the laptop before lighting up his cigarette. I moved my chair to see how the photos looked. He scrolled through them. "That's a good one," Edgar said with a chuckle. Edgar was giving my cheek a kiss because these older women behind us were looking at us disgustingly. Their faces behind us were of wide eyed shock. Like always I rolled with it. We always did it anytime someone wanted to throw judgement at us. You want judge us, then fuck it, we'll give you a reason too. We've been doing it for years. 

There was a time when Bryce, him, and I were out getting something to eat with the kids, while she was pregnant with Tamlin. This couple had kept throwing us odd looks so Edgar and I decided to give them something to really whisper about. We acted like gay lovers and Bryce had trouble conserving her laughter the entire time. We never made out or anything, because we're not gay and I'd never kiss the man I saw as my brother, but we kissed each other's cheeks for shit and gigs when people wanted to stare. We even call each other baby, babe, honey, and dear while being slightly obnoxious. Bryce declared that her relationship with Edgar couldn't compete with our bromance, and we would joke that we were each other's forever, but she knew what she really meant to him. He made sure she knew every damn day from the moment he realized he loved her. 

"Do I want to know," dad asked as he and mom came out and saw the picture. Edgar and I burst into laughter. Edgar and I explained to them the stunts that we liked to pull when people wanted to stare at us. "My woman used to say she was always the third wheel, unable to compete with our bromance," Edgar said with a soft smile as he flicked the ashes in the ash tray. "We do it to get them to get their nosy ass eyes off our fucking kids. They want to judge, then they can look at us all they want, but never at them." 

"Damn right," I said as I blew out smoke. 

"That's one way to go about it," my mom said with a smile as dad chuckled. "Sure as hell something I never thought of," he said. Mom rolled her eyes and shook her head. 

Edgar then let them see the rest of the pictures we had taken and mom asked Edgar to send all of them to her. My eyes instantly went to the baby monitor when I heard Mace let out a harsh cough. His asthma attacks liked to hit him whenever. Many times when he's asleep and get too hot. He let out another cough with a wheeze following it. 

I was up from my chair, dropping the cigarette into the tray. I rushed to wash my hands and on the way up the stairs I took off my shirt that smelled like smoke and tossed it into my room while grabbing a clean one. I threw it on, not bothering with making sure it wasn't backwards as I went into his room. He was awake and sweating from having wanted too many blankets. I picked him up and we went downstairs. Edgar already had the treatment ready, also wearing a fresh shirt, and I sat down with Mace in my lap. "There you go buddy," I said once the mask was on him. He leaned into me as he took his treatment. 

He enjoyed sleeping with a lot of blankets, claimed they protected him from the monster under his bed because they were really things of magic. He didn't understand that it was too many blankets so I often would slip into his room after he fell asleep to take some off since we kept the heat on since it's cold outside. Unfortunately since he doesn't know it's me taking off his blankets, he thinks it's the monster and it could only get through the first or second blanket, or in his case, layers of defense. I tried talking sense into him, but he was stubborn and I just decided that it was a faze I was just gonna have to wait for him to grow out of. I tried telling him there weren't any monsters under his bed, but after he had seen a movie Edgar and I were up late watching one night, he can't get it out of his head. He had gotten out of bed because he had a nightmare, and the movie didn't help. The movie was one of real life people, and not animated, so he thought it was real, but he doesn't understand the difference between fake and real, even if it has real people in it. It really did realistic, so I couldn't blame the kid. 

When his breathing became normal, I took off the mask and Edgar turned off the machine. I continued to hold him though. He and Wilson gave me the most scares, but I would never let them see my fear when they have their health issues. I had to be strong for them. They needed me too. Edgar gave my shoulder a brotherly squeeze before he went up the stairs for the night. I held Mace for a little longer until he fell asleep in my arms. I laid him bed and only put the thin sheet over him with the stuffed sloth he picked at the aquarium. I kissed his head before going to Wilson's bed and kissing his head. I then went to Bella's room and found her at a strange angle, her foot over the edge of the bed. I moved her back to how she should be before covering her up. I placed a kiss on her head before leaving the room quietly. I went to my room and stripped down to my boxers before getting in bed. I looked at my phone, the photo of my kids in the shark tunnel looking up at it in amazement, that Edgar emailed to me, as my phone's wallpaper. They were so happy, and it was because of their happiness that I knew I was doing the right thing.