I whispered, “He actually did it.” Then I turned to Hal and said, “Please tell me you got that.” My best friend smiled at me as he held up his phone, which was playing the video of my son’s first steps.
I looked around the room at my housemates’ stunned faces, and then Eliot whooped with joy and started applauding as he shouted, “Yeah, Owen! You did it, little dude!”
The rest of us cheered and applauded, too. Then JoJo asked, “Why do I feel like I just witnessed a miracle?”
“Because it is,” Yolanda said, as she put her arms around her fiancée. “Every single time, with every single child.”
When I looked at Lucky, I was surprised to see tears in his eyes. He was staring at the baby in awe, and I linked my arm with his and put my head on his shoulder. “That was amazing,” he whispered, and I nodded. “I’m sorry I was in the way. He was trying to come to you, but—”
“No, he was absolutely coming to you,” I said. “He wanted to show his new friend the cow from his puzzle. Isn’t that right, Owen?”
He smiled at me and said, “Baba.”
Then he rubbed his eyes with his chubby little fists, and I jumped up and announced, “It’s nap o’clock. I might have just enough time to get him into his crib before he has a meltdown.” I picked up my son and told my friends, “Be right back,” before hurrying upstairs.
I managed to take off his little red overalls and do a very quick diaper change before exhaustion caught up to him. He cried it out as I settled him into his crib, and I talked to him quietly until the tears finally dried up.
As he began to drift off, I stroked his wispy blond hair and whispered, “I love you, angel baby. Happy birthday.” His eyelids grew heavy, and he fell asleep soon after.
I couldn’t help but smile as I watched him sleep. He really did look like the most perfect little cherub. Then I picked up the baby monitor and flipped the on-switch as I turned toward the door.
Lucky was leaning against the doorframe, and he said, “Hi there.”
“Hi yourself.”
“I wanted to make sure you didn’t need anything.”
I closed the distance between us and said, “Just this,” as I wrapped my arms around him.
He gave me a big hug and kissed my forehead. Then he took my hand and said, “Come on, let’s get you something to eat,” before leading me downstairs to the kitchen. I was so hungry that I wolfed down the plate of food he’d set aside for me and washed it down with a big piece of birthday cake.
Once I finished eating, we returned to the living room so I could open my gifts. I selected the big bag from Yolanda and JoJo first, which had an embellished portrait of Santa Claus on it. It contained exactly what JoJo had described, and she grinned at me and yelled, “Surprise!”
“This is wonderful, and I like the festive gift bag,” I told them.
JoJo raised her wine glass in a toast and said, “Reduce, reuse, recycle.”
Next up was a card from Kel and Eliot. “We found it in the Castro,” Kel explained. “Because really, where else are you going to get a card for daddies?”
There was a photo of a sexy silver fox on it with the caption, “Hi, Daddy!” Inside was a gift card to a local coffee house, and they’d written: You need this more than anyone we know. Hugs, roomie.
The three remaining boxes were from Lark and Dylan. My brother rushed over and piled them on my lap. Then he sat beside me on the floor and bounced excitedly while I opened them.
The first box contained a stylish black athletic jacket and pants, and Lark said, “That’s actually what people run in, or so I’m told. God knows I have no desire to get out there and sweat and dash about, but you seem to like it. Save Yo-Jo’s sweats for cozy evenings at home.”
I grinned at his “celebrity” mash up name for our friends and said, “Thank you. These are now the nicest things I own.”
Dylan said, “There’s also a gift card in there somewhere for new running shoes. Yours are falling apart and need to be burned. That’s something you really need to try on, so we’ll take you to the shoe store whenever you’re ready, and you can pick out what you want.”
I tried to stop my voice from shaking with emotion as I said, “You already spent way too much on me, and there are still two boxes to open.”
“The other two are just small stuff,” Lark told me.
I unwrapped the next box and found it was totally stuffed with Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, in every size they came in. “I hope you still like those,” Lark said. “They used to be your favorite. You’d get so excited whenever someone gave you one on Halloween.”
It was even harder to keep my voice steady as I whispered, “I can’t believe you remember that.”
“Of course I do.”