“Daddy, will you throw me in the pool later?” she asked me. I grinned down at her, surprised every time at how fast she was growing.
“Give me a few and I’ll be back in.”
She ran off to meet with her friends. I grabbed Frankie’s hand to place on my heart. “I wish you could feel this, this overwhelming joy. I wish I could transfer it to you somehow just so you could feel it.”
She nuzzled my hand. “I don’t need it transferred. I feel it. Everywhere.”
* * *
Frankie
Later on,the pool was covered to transform into a dance floor. The kids were all inside, sleeping or watching movies in the home theater while the adults continued to party into the night. Twinkling lights were strung up in the trees surrounding the garden, and gentle oldies crooned from hidden speakers. It was a warm summer evening, and the air smelled sweet of flowers. Brooks was whispering with a handsome stranger I didn’t recognize and waved at me with a wink when I caught her eye. Emma and Wesley, Charlie and Kate, Harrison and I all found our way toward one corner, together dancing and swapping partners with each song. Even Agata managed to boogie down with Otis the OT.
Eventually, I made it back into Harrison’s arms. We were both so tired at this point that I hardly shuffled side to side, resting against his chest, feeling his familiar comfort.
“I think Agata just squeezed Otis’s bicep,” I whispered to Harrison.
“We’ll have to keep an eye on her,” he said with a wink.
George sat watching with a contented smile on his face. When the speakers began to play “Fly Me to the Moon,” Otis went to George and managed to get him up for a dance. The young man held George with sturdy gentility as on-screen old footage of William and George, only a few seconds long, played on a loop. George smiled with wonder, hand going to his mouth. Harrison stopped to watch with shining eyes. The silent video showed George throwing his head back to laugh before resting it on William’s shoulder. George looked my way and mouthed a thank you before resuming his dance with Otis.
“That’s incredible,” Harrison said in a choked voice, catching our interaction. “Where did you find it?”
I cleared my throat. Everything had come together more perfectly than I ever could have imagined. “Buried in a box. It was on old film most of it was ruined but the specialist managed to save a little.”
“I feel like I’m in a time machine.”
“Keep watching,” I said, knowing the order of everything played tonight.
Then it was nineties camcorder footage, streaked and shaky, of children playing in the pool. A chubby Charlie danced on screen, and somewhere to our left, Charlie groaned, and Kate giggled. Emma and Wesley smiled up as the camera zoomed in on Emma in the water with Harrison. So young and happy, cheeks red from the sun, and smiles so big.
“It’s so wonderful. It’s all so wonderful,” Harrison said. “Thank you for doing all this. I’ve always loved it here.”
“We should stay here forever,” Frankie said.
“I would like that.”
We danced close, foreheads touching. Harrison traced his lips over my shoulder as I rested my head against his chest.
“We’ve always done things out of order, not traditionally,” I said eventually, gathering my courage.
“Does that bother you? Because you know I will drop to my knee and ask you right now,” he said.
I held on tight to his arms. “Don’t you dare make this about us. Plus, I’m pretty sure Charlie and Kate beat you to the punch.”
“What do you mean?”
“They disappeared for a while,” I said, wiggling my eyebrows.
“Ew. I did not need to know that.”
I smacked his arm lightly. “And when they came back, Kate had tears on her cheeks. She went to Emma and showed her a ring.”
“What? She showed Emma first?” Harrison asked, outraged.
“I think she was closer,” I said.
“Doesn’t matter. Charlie told me first when he was ring shopping,” Harrison said with a sniff.
