Rocky Start (A Rocky Start)

“That’s because you said she couldn’t marry the prince until she was forty.”

“So?”

“It’s pretend, Daddy. Keysides, Mommy married a prince.”

“I suppose you have a point.”

“Still, do you want to marry a prince?”

“One day, but I have to fight the dragons first.”

“How many dragons?”

“Ten.”

“Sounds good to Daddy.”

“What does?” Georgie says with a yawn.

“Colby needs to slay ten dragons before she can marry a prince.”

“Oh really?”

“How about we save all the dragons for your daddy to slay, and you go wash up? We’re going to be eating dinner soon.”

“Okay, Mommy.”

“How’s my little guy?”

“Better.” He’d fallen and scraped his knee and wanted only Mommy to make it better. It’s true what they say about boys and girls. My daughter has me wrapped around her finger, and my son loves his mommy. “He’s playing with his toys in his bedroom.”

“Are you feeling well?”

“Yes. The nap helped, but you know what I could use?” She wags her brows. “I swear the entire time I laid in our bed, I stared at our chair and wondered if we have at least one more time before this one comes.”

“As soon as we put them down for the night. I’ll make sure you come hard for me, soaking my favorite chair.”

“I love that ugly thing,” she says, running her hands over my chest to my shoulders before her mouth meets mine. We finally pull away, and I go in the house and my daughter is standing right there.

“Daddy, what’s in your pocket? Why is my dolly there?” She reaches out, but I stop her.

I look down and pray she’s not talking about my cock, but that is exactly what she’s talking about. “Um, no. Excuse me.” I don’t think I’ve ever been more mortified. Fuck, I’m glad we’re having another son. One of these days, her mother is going to have to explain that to her.

I run into my office while my wife giggles and leads Colby away. Suddenly, I have no interest in dinner or showing my face around my kids. Still, I’m a grown-ass man and a publicist. I should know how to talk my way out of this.

Since the shock, it instantly shrunk back to a manageable size, so I adjust the fucker and pull my shirt out of my pants to keep it from making another indecent appearance. Stepping out of the room with my lie on my tongue, Colby says, “Daddy, look! Mommy let me help set the table.”

“That’s wonderful, princess.” Georgie winks at me.

“Daddy, play,” Jackson says, raising his arms with his drums. I sit down on the floor where he’s banging on a cool plastic set Bennett got him for his birthday. He’s musically inclined and loves all sorts of genres and bands.

“Show me,” I say.

He taps the beat, and I swear I know it from somewhere. The kid is on beat for at least a minute as if he’s truly playing a tune, and I want to see if I can talk to someone about helping him. I love music, but I’m not gifted and neither is Georgie. Since Georgie works as a substitute teacher at the local grade school, she can talk to the music teacher at the school, but I don’t want that asshole anywhere around my wife. I’m sure we can find someone in town. This is Texas, after all.

“So your brother is going to be a rockstar when he grows up, princess. What do you want to be when you grow up?”

“I don’t know. I’m only four, Daddy. That’s silly.” She rolls her eyes. Yeah, four going on sixteen. She’s smart and a smartass at the same time. I have no doubt that she’s going to be her own brand of trouble: a mix of us, and her aunts combined.

Sean

Twenty more years later

“Congratulations, princess, we’re extremely proud of you.”

“Thank you, Mom, Dad.” She gives us a hug before pulling back with a smile. I stare at my daughter and smile. She slayed dragons and now, she’s on to finding a prince.

“Dad, I believe we’re to call her Sergeant Princess McFadden.”

“Ha, ha, Jackson.” He throws his arms around his little sister who has finally retired from serving in the US Army for the past six years. She’s truly a tough girl who never let anything get in her way.

“How is the studio working out, Jax?” she asks him.

“Good, I’ve got a new band coming in. A little young, but I’ve heard their track and I’m interested.” Although we assumed Jackson would play in a band or be a rockstar, he realized that he didn’t like the stage or the limelight. Like me, he preferred to be behind the scenes. Two number-one chart toppers at eighteen, he quit and built a studio, and I help him occasionally to promote his artists.

“There she is.” Our son Caleb comes over and pulls Colby in for a hug. Now he’s huge. He’s larger than his brother and myself, loving to work out. Despite wanting to have more kids, we decided after three that we wanted to stop so they got enough of our attention while making sure to never neglect each other.