Forever In My LIFE (Book 4) 2nd Alternate

Part 65

The day after Prince's doctors appointment just happens to be Ramiel's first birthday. When we wake that morning to him chattering away to his teddy bear, I turn to face Prince with obvious excitement on my face. He quickly squashes my enthusiasm with a serious frown and a head shake, "Do not instill the rules of time onto our child."

"He's one!" I plead as he crawls from the bed, heading to the bathroom.

"We will not make him a prisoner. No," he says firmly as he enters the bathroom.

"I'm baking a cake," I say loudly, still sitting on my side of the bed.

Prince reappears at the frame of the bathroom door, shooting me a hard glare, using my name as a warning, "Dana."

I'm up and out of the bed, "Prince," I repeat just as firm, defiantly walking out of the bedroom. I hear his exasperated sigh as I pass through the sitting room, but I don't care, we're having cake.

When I get to Ramiel's room I know that Prince can hear everything I'm about to say through the monitor, so I keep it vague. "Good Morning, Handsome!" Ramiel bounces at the rail of the crib, excited to see me. "Today's a big day for you, you get to try cake," with all of the foods he's been introduced to, there have been no sweets. "If you're anything like your father, you're going to love my cake," I say as I bounce him in my arms, carrying him to the changing table.

"Your mama does make a mean cake," I hear from behind me. I turn, eyeing Prince suspiciously, his eyes are soft as he shrugs. I blink back my surprise and finish up fastening the clean diaper, then snapping his onesie closed as Prince approaches and kisses my cheek.

"Here," Prince reaches for Ramiel, "I'll get him started, go get dressed."

I frown, feeding him while I'm still in my nightie is pretty much a daily occurrence, now it's my turn to shrug as I relinquish Ramiel to Prince. "I'll be down soon," I kiss them both and head back towards our bedroom.

After breakfast I suggest we go to the Arboretum, the zoo, anywhere. Prince flashes slitted eyes at me, sighs, then reconsiders, "The Arboretum might be nice, we haven't been there lately." He ponders a moment before he asks with a smirk, "Will that allow you enough time to still bake a cake?"

"Yes," I resist the urge to add smartass to my answer.

We gather anything we might need for Ramiel, then head to the Arboretum. We're there only moments before I can feel the stress from the past few days lift from my shoulders. I look over at Prince, it seems the surrounding nature is having the same effect on him, we both have become visibly more relaxed. Ramiel, on the other hand has become more excited, pointing at the brightly colored flowers and squealing with delight when he sees birds, butterflies, or even fish in the pond.

"It seems he favors both our interests," Prince notes.

"Ummmm, maybe," I say, not exactly countering his comment. I know Prince enjoys the beauty of a garden as much as I do, but as for working in one, oh no, that would never happen.

We stop on our way home for me to run into the grocery store and gather the few things that I'll need to make the cake. I find it difficult to resist the urge to buy a birthday candle, but somehow I do. Prince looks surprised when I'm back to the car in less than ten minutes. "I'm efficient," I grin at him, "home, please, sir." I'm flashed a sour look, then a playful grin as he puts the car into gear.

Once home, both my men sit fascinated in the kitchen while they watch me turn the seemingly basic ingredients into cake batter. Prince had frowned when there was no evidence of a boxed cake mix or tub of frosting. "It's just as easy to make them both from scratch," I explain as I measure out the dry ingredients. With batter prepared and poured into the pans, I hand off a mixer beater to Prince, who looks perplexed. "Give Ramiel a taste," I urge.

"There's raw egg in this," he says horrified.

"Oh, my, God, Prince, I'm still alive, and let me tell you, I've had my fair share of raw eggs, " I huff. Rubbing my finger across the beater bar to transfer some cake batter, I swipe that across Ramiel's lower lip.

Ramiel's tongue sneaks out to taste the batter and his eyes light up, "Yummm!" He smacks his lips, then opens his mouth like a little bird, wanting more. I smile when Prince admits defeat and shares the remaining cake batter with him.

With the cake out of the oven and cooling, I notice Ramiel is starting to get irritable, it's almost his nap time. When I approach him, he reaches for me. "Come on, Little Man, nap time," I hold him against me and pat his bottom as I walk slowly towards the elevator.

Before I can reach the doors, Prince is alongside us. He doesn't always join us for nap time, but does insist on being present at bedtime. There's very little effort in the way of getting Ramiel down this afternoon, he's half asleep by the time he's placed in the crib. Once the pacifier is placed between his lips, he's out.

Prince looks expectantly at me as we stand by the crib. "What?" I ask in a whisper.

"I thought we might be able to sneak in a little time for ourselves," he grins and wiggles his eyebrows.

"Of course you would," I chuckle, letting him lead me back to the bedroom.

Our afternoon lovemaking is slow and relaxed, it's been quite some time that he's expressed his love to me so deliberately. As we lay cuddled together, we continue with the loving caresses, peering into each other's eyes. I know, for a fact, that this impending surgery has been weighing heavily on both our minds, but I see something else buried in his gaze. If I didn't know any better, I'd say it almost borders on excitement.

"What?" I whisper with a smile as he gazes into my eyes.

He smiles a knowing smile and shakes his head the best he's able against the pillow, his eyes take on more of a gleam.

I sigh and roll my eyes, he chuckles and taps my my nose with his finger. "Have I told you that you're a wonderful mother?"

"Yes, many times," I pause, "And you're a wonderful father."

He nods in acceptance then his insistent gaze returns. "Is this about the cake?"I ask.

He mouths the word 'no' and shakes his head again, his eyes travel to my breasts. "How long has it been since...?" he gently plucks a nipple with his fingers.

"I've nursed?" I pause to think, my eyes searching, "Since he started cutting teeth, but I just stopped pumping about a month ago." I look back at him, thinking he's concerned about Ramiel's health, "I still have some left over in the freezer, I add it to his cereal or formula on occasion."

Just as Prince nods, I hear Ramiel begin to stir in the crib. "We'd better get our shower now," I mention quickly.

*******

For dinner, I throw a casserole that Ray had prepared for us into the oven, then set to work frosting the cake. Ramiel hangs by me while I work, this introduction to sugar is more than he can resist. I can't say he has his father's sweet tooth, because I too, have an addiction to sweets.

Prince rolls his eyes when dab a pea sized amount of frosting onto Ramiel's upper lip. "Where's mine?" he asks playfully. I dab a bit on my lower lip, he accepts the invitation, pulling me in close and kissing it off, "Nice." He raises a brow, "Maybe a little too sweet." I pretend to swat at him with my dish cloth. "Come on Ramiel, let's go play the piano."

A little while after dinner, the moment I've been waiting for arrives as I cut into the cake. When I cut a slice for Ramiel the same size as ours, Prince stares in disbelief. "He's going to be wearing most of it, I promise," I say gently.

Prince shrugs and says matter of factually, "That diaper is yours."

I place the slice of cake on Ramiel's tray before we take a seat with ours to watch the show. Ramiel looks at the cake in confusion, then watches us as we take a bite. His hand moves in and closes into a fist around the center portion, then opens so he can examine the smashed cake. A very small amount that didn't fall into a pile onto his tray, makes it into his mouth. "Mmmmm, mmmmm," the process is repeated, but this time with more gusto. We watch, filled with amusement, as he finishes obliterating the cake into a soggy mess on his tray, only consuming a small portion.

I'm grinning like a fool, with tears of love in my eyes, and think to myself: Happy Birthday, Little Man.