After Ever After

15. Happy Not Dying

"Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to our dear darling Zara, Happy Birthday to you!"

You bounced her on your knee, smiling as you stopped her from stuffing her chubby fists into the cake.

"Hip hip, hooray! Hip hip, hooray! Hip hip, hooray!" Tom cheered, smiling handsomely past the tired lines etched into his face.

"Want to blow out the candle baby?" you asked, leaning around to see her face. She frowned back at you, not understanding. "Like this" you said, blowing out the flame and smiling at her. "Your turn" you said encouragingly as Tom relit the candle and you lifted her to hover near it.

Instead of blowing it out, she grabbed it, fist closing around the flame before you could stop her.

"Shit!" you and Tom gasped as she immediately let go and began to cry.

"Hey, you're okay, you're okay" you cooed reassuringly as she wailed into your chest, working to inspect her palm.

Fortunately she was unscathed, the flame having been doused early by her hand, which was a bright pink. Zara sucked in a huge breath before wailing anew and you let go of her hand, rubbing her back as she cried into your chest.

"Oh my goodness Possum, you're okay, you're okay" you soothed, smiling a little at Zara's hysterics.

"Maybe we shouldn't have used a real candle" Tom said, grimacing sympathetically as he picked melted candle wax off the top of the cake.

"She's seen them before, I don't know why she'd just grab it like that"

Tom shrugged, picking up the knife. "Do you want a piece?"

"No, thanks" you replied, readjusting Zara. "Do you want some cake Poss?" She shook her head, tears cutting tracks down her rosy cheeks and you giggled a little; she looked very sorry for herself. "Oh Poss, Uncle Drew went out of his way to find you this cake so we could celebrate your birthday"

In all honesty he hadn't gone further than the closest convenience store, buying a thickly frosted chocolate mud cake and a gaudy pink candle in the shape of a 1. But it was the best that could be found out here in the middle of bum-fuck nowhere.

It wasn't the first birthday that you or Tom had planned for your first born, but you'd learned long ago that the best laid plans fall by the way, especially when kids and Hollywood are thrown into the mix. Tom hadn't been scheduled to begin pre-production for a few more weeks but a last minute decision by a green producer had meant he was called away early. Rather than have Zara spend her first birthday without her Dad, you'd tagged along, much to said producer's annoyance.

"Why does he have to bring his wife and kid everywhere? We have to pay for them too and it's not like they do anything useful" you'd heard him moan the other day as you put Zara down for a nap in Tom's trailer.

The other person he was complaining to didn't reply and you hovered by the open window, trying to see who it was he was talking to.

"I mean, sure you love her, mad respect for that. But do they have to be here all the time?" he continued, his nasally voice the worst stereotype of a Californian you could imagine. You could picture him with colourful boardshorts, tinted hair and a shark tooth on a string around his neck, giving some poor server a hard time about how he can only eats gluten free organic foods that were hand washed by the Dalai Lama or something ridiculous like that. "My theory is that she comes along to keep an eye on him. You know, make sure he doesn't mess around behind her back type of thing"

Despite your cheeky imagination, you hadn't necessarily thought bad of the guy, but the insinuation that Tom would cheat on you whilst away working struck a deeper chord than you liked to admit.