“This is daddy and I at our wedding!” Ziggy exclaimed, going through the wedding album. A small girl with blond curls was flipping through a different, older album.
“Momma! Who dis?” she exclaimed, pointing at a picture of a little boy. Now, there was a picture she hadn’t seen in a while. Five years, to be exact. Ziggy smiled, pulling the little girl into her lap.
“That would be Dawson, your big brother,” she explained, nostalgia taking over as she ran her fingers gingerly over the photo. In the picture, her late son grinned up at the camera, face covered in strawberry ice cream.
“My big brudder?” Joy asked, looking up at her mother. “How come I never met him?” she asked, frowning.
Ziggy sighed, unsure of how to explain it to her. “Well, baby, he was very sick,” she said, figuring lying to her would be worse than the truth. “He wasn’t much older than you, actually. But mommy lost him, and I miss him very much,” she explained. The little girl in her lap frowned, wrapping her short chubby arm around her waist.
“I’m sorry momma. What was he like?”
Ziggy laughed, wiping the tear that had strayed down her cheek. “Well, he was a lot like you actually. Goofy, adorable, sweet as cherry pie,” she teased, peppering her cheek in kisses, with a reward of adorable giggles from the three year old. Behind them, the front door opened with the arrival of Sheppard home from work.
“Daddy!” Joy exclaimed, bouncing up and rushing over to her father. Ziggy laughed, shutting the photo albums and standing up. She lifted up Joy so Sheppard wouldn’t have to bend down.
“Welcome home, sweetheart! How was your day?”
Sheppard loved coming home to his girls, loved walking in to hear the excitement in his daughter’s voice when he opened the door and stepped through, and this time was no different. As she ran up to him, he had just enough time to take his backpack off and unhook Cheesecake’s harness, who quickly stepped out of it and licked the little girl before running off to the kitchen to get some water before she reached him.
“Joy!” he answered with just as much fervor, taking her from Ziggy and hoisting her up above his head. “It was ok. But I’m glad to be home because you have no idea how much I’ve missed this silly little girl,” he said, bringing the giggling three-year-old back down so he could tickle her, intensifying the giggles. She wrapped her arms around his neck and laid her head on his shoulder and he took the opportunity to lean down to kiss Ziggy. “How was your day? Any adventures I missed out on?”
