Dave could honestly say that his life only got better and better each year he and Mary were together. Mary had always put him on a pedestal, even at times he didn’t feel that he deserved it. But he found himself pressing all the more to be worthy of her because of it. He was a better man because of her. She completed him. He already had everything he could ever want or need.
And that was why he really shouldn’t spend time moping about Isaac. Isaac was proud of his uncle, and Richard was a good person. Richard had worked hard to get to where he was. Richard never once lauded his wealth over other people. Most men would probably have gotten puffed up with pride, but Richard wasn’t like that. If Isaac should aspire to be anyone, shouldn’t it be someone like Richard?
Recalling the previous night when he’d been so caught up in his own pity that he hadn’t made love to Mary when she’d wanted it, he decided he would do it tonight. But first, he would tuck the kids into bed for a change.
The first one he decided to put to bed was Adam since he was the youngest. He found Mary cleaning up the parlor. Adam was running in circles and clapping two blocks together. Rachel was putting the toys in a box in the corner of the room. A glance out the window notified Dave that Isaac was getting water from the well. Dave picked Adam up and went over to Mary.
“I’m going to put the children in bed tonight,” he told her. “You had them with you all day, and I know they can be a handful. Why don’t you sit down and get some rest?”
Mary stopped dusting the table and straightened up. “You don’t have to tuck the kids into bed tonight.”
“I know I don’t have to. I want to.” He leaned forward and gave her a kiss. “I’ll be back soon for Rachel.”
“Are you sure you don’t want me to change Adam’s diaper?”
“I can manage. I’ve done it before.” Besides, from the smell of it, Adam didn’t have the bad kind of diaper to change, and he could handle that without wanting to gag. “Take it easy this evening. You do a lot around here.”
“What about your leg? Joel warned you not to do too much.”
“All I’m doing is putting the children to bed. It’s easy.”
She rolled her eyes but smiled. “It’s not easy when they don’t want to go to sleep. You might end up telling them a story to settle them down.”
He shrugged. “So I’ll tell them a story. The last time I checked, I didn’t need to use my leg to do that.”
She considered his words then nodded. “You’re right. You don’t. Thanks, Dave.”
He gave her another kiss then carried Adam up the stairs. Putting Adam to bed proved to be an easy task. As it turned out, as long as Adam could keep the blocks, he was content to lie down in the crib.
Rachel, on the other hand, wanted to talk, so he spent about twenty minutes sitting on the edge of the bed while he answered her questions. Questions like, “Why are you tucking me in instead of Ma?”, “Will you cook tomorrow like Ma does?”, “Are you going to tuck me in bed tomorrow?”, and “Have you had one of Maureen’s tarts?” He had no idea Rachel was such a talker, but then, Mary spent a lot more time with Rachel than he did.
“I’m not tired,” Rachel finally said after he broke down and told her he didn’t want to answer any more questions. She’d probably go on with them all night if he let her.
“Sometimes you have to close your eyes and wait to fall asleep,” he replied.
“That’s hard.”
“I know, but it’s the only way to fall asleep.”
“Can you tell me a story?”
“What kind of story do you want to hear?” he asked.
“I don’t know.”
“I need to know what kind of story you want to hear so that I can tell it.”
She shrugged. “Ma always comes up with stories for me.”
Since it had never occurred to him to ask Mary what stories she’d told Rachel, that didn’t help him pick something. “I’m not good at coming up with stories. Why don’t you tell me one of your favorite stories that Ma’s told you?”
She put her finger to her lips and thought for a whole minute. “I like the one about the princess who traveled from her kingdom to a new one. Tell me that one.”
Amused, he said, “I’m afraid I don’t know that one. You’ll have to tell it.”
“But I don’t know all of it.”
“I don’t know any of it.”
“Make something up. I don’t mind if you change it.”
Realizing it would probably be easier if he did that, he relented. At least he had something he could start the story with. “Alright.” He glanced up at the ceiling for a moment then started, “Once upon a time, a lovely princess decided to leave her kingdom. She had grown bored of her palace. She longed to see what else was out there in the world. So one day, she embarked on her brand new adventure to see a new land she’d never been to before.”
“That’s not right. She left to get married. She was looking for a prince.”
That would have been nice to know before she asked him to make up the story. “She headed off to a new land to find a prince to marry,” he amended. “She flew on a horse with great big wings.”
“She took a magical train. She didn’t fly there on a horse.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to tell this story? You seem to remember a lot of it.”
She shook her head. “I
