Nanny with Benefits

We reached the foot of the stairs, and I heard a noise in the living room. I rounded the corner and saw Damon kneeling on the floor. I rushed over and asked him if he was okay. He nodded and said he was fine.

“I’m just doing something,” he said.

“Damon, you look like you’ve fallen. Get up.”

Alexis walked in behind us. “Dada, what’s wrong?” she asked, walking over and hugging him.

Damon was silent. He said nothing.

“Answer her,” I said in a flat tone. He was acting so strangely.

Damon shook his head and looked into my eyes. He had a wide and cheeky grin on his face. “You answer me instead,” he said, not making any sense at all.

“I think you’ve banged your head.”

“I’ve done nothing like that. This is one of the biggest things I’ve ever done in my life.” Damon reached for my hand as if he wanted to stand. I stood and reached for his fingers.

“Karly, I’ve thought about this long and hard.” Damon pulled a red box from his pocket. I gasped. He smiled. “Would you do me the honor of—”

I fell to my knees with tears in my eyes. “Oh yes! Of course I will.” I beamed with delight and tears streamed down my face.

Damon opened the box and flashed the largest diamond ring I’d ever seen in real life. He slipped it onto my finger. Damon’s eyes had also welled up. He was happy.

“Dada, why’s Karly crying?” Alexis asked, confused.

Damon pulled Alexis closer to him and sat her on his knee. “Do you remember the day we told you that you were going to have a brother or sister?” he asked. “You asked if Karly was going to be your new mommy.”

“How could I forget? All that whipped cream was fun,” she replied.

“Well, I’ve just asked Karly if she wants to be your new mommy,” Damon explained.

“She’s crying because she said no,” Alexis said, curling her bottom lip and beginning to sniffle. “You want Devin and not me.”

I crouched and pulled Alexis into my arms. I brushed her hair from her face. “I’m crying because I’m happy. I’d never say no to you, Devin, or your daddy.”

Alexis wiped her eyes. “So this means you’re now a mommy to me and not only to Devin?”

“It sure does,” I replied, hugging her tightly.

Alexis threw her arms into the air and around my neck. She kissed me wildly and began shouting, “Mommy, Mommy, Mommy!” She paused and looked at me. “I knew it’d all be okay,” she whispered. I stood and kissed Damon as I hadn’t done since he’d proposed and I’d gratefully accepted.

I looked at Alexis. “You’re so smart. It took me a while to understand it myself,” I said. Alexis wiped her eyes and started to cry. Damon picked her up in his arms.

“Why are you crying now?” he asked her.

Alexis wrapped her arm around his neck and reached for me. She pulled us closer. “I’m crying because I’m happy.”

Damon wrapped his free arm around my waist. I linked my arm around him and tears flooded from all of us. A deep gurgling and a belt of crying caught our attention.

Alexis wiped her eyes and giggled. “I think Devin’s happy too.”

Damon dropped her gently to the floor and asked if we wanted to go out and celebrate with ice cream, this time with no whipped cream. Alexis and I walked toward the stairs to get Devin ready for a trip out. It would be our first family outing with ice cream.

“I think it has to be the zoo,” Damon called out. He said he’d get the car ready and meet us outside.

Alexis was strapped into her car seat, and I slithered in next to her. Damon handed me Devin and closed the door to the car. We were all excited to go out together on an adventure. We arrived and entered the zoo. Alexis waddled at my side with her hands in her mittens, the bobbles on her woolen hat swinging. Damon pushed Devin in his stroller, and I hung onto his arm.

We stopped at two small birds in a cage that had their heads pushed against one another. They appeared to be inseparable.

“Lovebirds. Damon, read from the board.”

Alexis laughed wildly.

“What are you laughing at?” Damon asked.

“It’s like you two: lovebirds. You and Mommy kissing.”