Just the two of us (book 3)

Chapter 17 Family day

"Amy, we're driving now." I say as Amy takes forever to get ready.
"Yes mommy." She says like she's said 7 times already.
"If you don't hurry then I'm gonna cancel with Marshall." I threaten. Now is finally the day where Amy, Ken, Marshall and I are gonna have a family day. I think it'll loosen Ken a little more up and make him feel like he's also a part of all this, at the same time it'll make Marshall realize that Ken is a part of all this too.
"No mommy!" She whines sadly as she comes out of her room.
"Then hurry up Amy." I say irritated.
"But I can't find Suzzie." She says. Suzzie is her favorite doll.
"Because you've left her out in the car." I say. "Is that why it's been taking you so long?"
"Yes." She says.
"For god sake Amy." I sigh. "Come on, we gotta pick up daddy." I take her hand and lead her out to the car. We're already late because Amy has to take so long. I swear, sometimes it feels like I'm having a teenager.
"Mommy." Amy suddenly asks from the backseat.
"Yes honey."
"What is Marshall to me?" She asks. I didn't expect her to ask that question so soon. I can't blame her for asking because even a child can tell that all this mess aren't normal. She can tell somehow that Marshall isn't just Rachel's friend, she can tell that there's something more to it.
"He's just Rachel's friend." I tell her softly.
"So I can't call him anything?" She asks. Call him anything? What does she want to call him?
"Do you want to call him anything?" I ask her.
"Yes."
"What do you wanna call him?" I ask her a bit curious.
"Uncle." She says.
"You can always ask Marshall if you may call him that." I say. Maybe it's also important for Marshall that he gets a title? I don't know.. that's just why I want Amy to talk to him about it.
"Okay." She says.

We drive out to pick up Ken from work and then we drive over to Rachel. Me and Ken don't talk much in the car, mostly because Amy is talking really much. She talks a lot when she's excited like every other kid. I can see that Marshall is already here like I expected because we're pretty late because of Amy. We walk inside where I immediately hear voices from the garden so we walk out there.
"Hi." I say which makes both Marshall and Rachel look at me. "Sorry that we're late but little pre Madonna was very slow today."
"It's cool." Marshall says as he pulls Amy in for a hug. "Hi princess." He says as he holds her tightly. I can't help but smile at how affectionate he is towards her.
"Hi." She says shyly.
"Are you good?" He asks her.
"Mmh." She mumbles and looks up at him. "Can I call you uncle?" She asks all of the sudden. Marshall frowns in confusing probably because it was so out of the blue.
"Uncle?" He chuckles.
"Yes." She says. "Mommy says that you're not anything to me so she said I had to talk about what I was gonna call you." Oh.. I can already tell that I'm in trouble. Marshall looks at me shortly with a bit of an angry look. I'm definitely in trouble.
"I'm just Marshall sweetie." He smiles. I wanna say something, kind of defending myself because it came out wrong what Amy just said, but I can just tell that right now isn't a very good time.
"Can we play Kubb with mommy and daddy today?" She now asks Marshall.
"Sure." Marshall says and he tries to not show her how little he wants this, but I can tell that he doesn't wanna be a family with us, he just wants it to be him and Amy, but this is important to Amy and that's why he agrees to it.
"I want to be on daddy's team!" She yells immediately. Really? Please Amy, do not put me in this position. Marshall looks at me and I can really tell that it bothers him, I can tell that he's not pleased and that he doesn't wanna do this.
"Don't you wanna be on Marshall's team?" I ask Amy being very sweet in my voice.
"No I want to be on daddy's team." She demands. This is gonna be interesting. I look at Marshall who doesn't even look back at me. "Come daddy." Amy drags Ken inside to find the cones and sticks. A awkward silence is left back for us, not even Rachel says anything. This day is not gonna go well, it's not gonna go like I expected. Maybe this day won't even benefit Amy. Ken and Amy come out a few minutes later and Amy is so excited. We begin to place our own cones up on a straight line and Ken places the "king" in the middle.
"Are you ready to lose?" I ask Amy and Ken.
"You're going down!" Amy gives me an attitude which makes me and Marshall laugh.
"You're going down baby." I tell her laughing.
"Mom, you know daddy is really good at this game." She brags and I can't really argue with that, but I also know how good Marshall are at sports.
Marshall takes the first shot and knocks down a cone and I yell from excitement. I'm really competitive and that's why we never really play games at home, Ken hates how competitive I am.
Amy is up next and we let her shoot from the middle to make it more fair. Amy misses and I'm next. I don't hit as expected as I really suck at this game.
We keep going for some rounds and Ken and Marshall get really competitive as well which surprises me. It doesn't surprise me that Marshall is competitive, but it surprises me that Ken is.
Finally I knock down a cone and I get really excited.
"Well done Dane." Marshall says. We used to call each other by lasts names back in the days and I guess that still sticks.
"Thank you Mathers." I say a little proudly. He hasn't talked to me today so it surprises me that he even phrases me. I feel a cone hit my foot and I haven't even noticed that I was staring at Marshall. I look down, the cone in front of me has been knocked down and I look at Ken knowing that it's him who did it. I whimper in pain but Ken doesn't even notice me or anything. Is he angry?
"No need to apologize Ken." I say but he just looks shortly at me. What's his problem? I look at Marshall who doesn't look at me either. The game continues and as expected it's a very tight game but Ken and Amy end up wining. We walk over to Rachel which has served pie, Ken doesn't even talk or look at me. What's wrong with him? We all eat our pie and suddenly Amy stands up and takes Ken's hand.
"Come daddy." She says.
"Where are we going?" He asks her as he gets up.
"I wanna play ball." She says. Amy likes when her and Ken play the ball back and forward between each other. Ken gets up and walk further out in the garden.
"Is Ken okay?" Rachel asks. Ken and Amy are a far enough distance for us to have a conversation without them hearing it.
"I don't know." I shrug and I look at Marshall who looks at Amy and Ken.
"Are you okay Marshall?" Rachel now checks in with him as well. Marshall now looks at me.
"I appreciate that you've found a good man who's good to my daughter, but this is not gonna happen again, I can't do this again Amelia." Marshall tells me.
"Why?" I frown. This is really important for Amy.
"Because I can't.. I'm not okay with being Rachel's friend, I'm not okay with her wanting to call me her uncle and I'm not okay with her calling Ken her father. I want it only to be me and Amy for now on, I don't want the fact that you screw me over rubbed in my face." He says. I can see why it's hard but I want the best for Amy.
"I know it is Marshall but.."
"There's not but." He cuts me off. "It ain't gonna happen. It's not a benefit for Amy because it obviously puts both me and Ken in a bad mood."
"What do you mean?" I frown.
"I saw how angry Ken got during the game for some reason and I don't wanna get in between anything. I think we should just continue the companionship as we did before." He says.
"Amy thinks you don't like each other." I tell him. I haven't told anyone about what Amy said to me in the car that day.
"We don't." Marshall shrugs. I look at Rachel now hoping that she'll say something but she just looks at Amy and Ken, so I look back at Marshall again.
"And you really want Amy to notice that?" I frown.
"No Amelia but this ain't working either." I can hear the irritation in his voice now. "I'm not okay with all this."
"God, you're so selfish Marshall." I roll my eyes.
"Selfish?" He asks now. "I'm the last person you can call selfish miss fucking selfish. Trust me, this is all about Amy and what's best for Amy, this sure ain't the best for Amy because someday shit will explode. Don't you ever call me fucking selfish Amelia, because I will fucking point out all your selfishly mistakes and that list is endless." He hisses.
"Maybe that's not something you should discuss now." Rachel says.
"There's nothing to discuss anyways." Marshall says coldly. I just wanna choke him right now!
"Yeah because it's either your way or no way right?" I say annoyed.
"I'm glad that you've finally realized that." Marshall says.
"Fuck you Marshall." I mumble.
"You're not gonna start an argument now." Rachel says strictly when Marshall is about to open his mouth. Me and Marshall now sit here like two naughty school kids who doesn't dare to say another word.

I hope you liked the chapter :) Do you think that Marshall decision is fair?