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"Not right away. At first, I offered to help them both, to have Kimberley and Paula move in with me. Kimberley said she was better off out there or she would ruin both of our lives. She only wanted Paula to live with me. Kimberley gave her up to me and then she disappeared." Malcolm thought back to those days, how hectic it had been, how eager he was to give Paula a safe and loving home. "It was all so sudden, and back then, I didn't know what made Kimberley do it. Now I have a pretty good idea. I just hope Kimberley is all right."
"I can help you look for her if you want, hire private investigators," Derrick offered.
Malcolm was tempted. He could at least find out that she was OK, but he shook his head. "No. If she feels she's being hunted down, she might go deeper underground. I'm hoping she might come and see Paula one day, maybe let me help her."
Derrick took his hand and kissed it, telling him, "You're wonderful, you know that? And you're the right person to raise Paula."
Malcolm gazed into his eyes and decided to look forward, not back. "I was thinking of decorating the apartment for Valentine's Day. Not for me, for Paula," he said quickly.
Derrick grinned at that. "Sounds like fun. Maybe I can help."
"Yeah. Come over and help me hang sparkly hearts all over the apartment," Malcolm told him and the image of it made him smile.
Since Malcolm had decided that they should decorate the apartment for Valentine's Day, they needed to go buy some decorations. While Paula was eating breakfast on Saturday morning, he told her, "Guess what we need to do to get ready for Valentine's Day. We need to go shopping. What do you say?"
She said yes and then went to get ready as soon as she was done eating. Once she was out of there, Malcolm called Derrick to invite him to go shopping with them, though that seemed like asking too much. Derrick already volunteered to help him put up the decorations. That was plenty.
"You're probably too busy, right?" Malcolm said to let him off the hook. Derrick's work didn't stop when he left the office. He always had formal and informal meetings. Malcolm could hardly keep track even though it was his job. "I know how much you love shopping, so I thought I could tempt you."
"I only like shopping for Paula," Derrick said.
"This is for her, but I understand if you can't make it," Malcolm said. He didn't want to make him feel bad.
"I can definitely make it," Derrick said, surprising him. "You and Paula are the two people I clear my schedule for."
Derrick came over and they drove to the nearest mall where there was no shortage of pink and red hearts. Malcolm was a little uncomfortable with the word love plastered everywhere. It was a lot of pressure.
As usual, Derrick looked like he wanted to run from the place until he focused on what Paula was interested in. The displays of heart-shaped balloons made her smile, but a pink bear holding a red heart shaped balloon stole her heart. They had to get it and more balloons too. Then they got some heart shaped string lights in pink and white and of course heart shaped candy in heart shaped boxes.
"I'm all shopped out. Every time I blink, I see hearts. Let's eat," Malcolm whined.
"You don't like hearts, Uncle Malcolm?" Paula asked him though they were leaving with a mountain of them.
"He's just cranky because he's hungry," Derrick told her reasonably and Malcolm glared at him for making him sound like a toddler.
They stopped for lunch at a place Derrick chose. It was a Greek diner, and once they went inside, Malcolm knew why he picked it. There were murals of Greek goddesses in beautiful surroundings on the walls. Paula called them pretty ladies. Malcolm was pretty sure Derrick wouldn't normally choose to eat there himself, but Paula was delighted.
Malcolm and Derrick tried to identify the goddesses for her as they ate, but then had to resort to looking up some of them. When they were leaving, Malcolm asked Derrick, "How do you find these places?"
Derrick held up his phone. "I could ask my assistant to do it, but I want to see the surprised look on his face," he said with a grin.
It was a flurry of activity once they got back to the apartment. The decorations went up and Paula was bursting with happiness. "It's Valentine's here," Malcolm told her and lifted her up to spin her around the room.
By the time Malcolm started thinking about dinner, Derrick was already ordering it. "I should have asked," Derrick realized when Malcolm raised an eyebrow at him.
"It's OK. A guy can't think straight when he's hungry from all this decorating," Malcolm teased him.
"I'm hungry from the decorating too," Paula said.
"Hungry for real food or...?" Malcolm said. Paula ducked her head and glanced at some candy hearts in a bowl. "After dinner," Malcolm told her.
What was delivered was a gourmet dinner that included way too much food because Derrick wanted to make sure there was something Paula would like. She ended up munching on some veggies in a creamy sauce.
After that it was candy and cartoons, but not too much of either. At bedtime, Paula got into her pajamas and took both their hands so they could put her to bed together. They took turns reading her a story and watched her fall asleep in the middle of it.
"She's all tuckered out," Malcolm said as they left her room.
Now Malcolm and Derrick grabbed some wine and sat down in the living room where they were surrounded by the Valentine's Day decorations. "This feels really good," Derrick said as he looked up at the heart shaped lights. He then gazed at Malcolm. "This was what I have been denying myself. Then you came along and all my defenses fell."
