chapter 48: fawn's appreciation

~fawn~

       "What flowers do you think we should get Poppa?" I ask the twins. It's a special day for me and Marius, so I want to show him my appreciation by getting him some flowers and chocolates. I also want the twins to help pick out the flowers to also show their love for their poppa.

       I'm going to let the twins each pick a flower to put in the bouquet, then I'll pick a third one that I think will match.

       Harlow walks around the flower shop before she points to a red rose. Fern picks out some pink carnations, so my choice of flower are pink lilies. I tell the florist our choices for the bouquet so she gets to work on making it.

       In the meantime, I look at all the choices of chocolates and sweets. The flower shop is very smart to also sell chocolate since a lot of people like buying chocolate with flowers. Not only that, but the chocolate they sell is of very high quality. 

       Marius loves strawberries so in the end, I decide on chocolate covered strawberries. I get a few extras for the twins as well as a treat for helping me pick out flowers.

       Once the bouquet and chocolate strawberries are ready, I pay for them and receive them. I thank the florist before leaving the shop with the twins. Fern insists on carrying the bouquet home, so I let her, but that only makes Harlow want to carry something too. I give her the box of chocolate strawberries to carry her, and that satisfies her.

       We get home about shortly before Marius normally returns home, so we place the flowers and strawberries on the kitchen table before I look in the fridge for something to cook for dinner.

       Unfortunately, cooking proves to be a bit of a struggle because Fern really wants Apple to be let out of her cage. Even though Fern and Harlow have always been gentle with all the animals, it's still best for me or Marius to be in the same room as them, and I don't want Apple to be in the kitchen.

       Fern won't stop whining, so I crouch down in front of her. "Fern, I know you want to play with Apple, but Daddy needs to cook dinner so you're going to have to wait. Do you want to help me cook?"

       "No!" Fern says. She points to the bird cage. "Apple!"

       "You have to wait until Poppa gets home," I say.

       "No!"

       "Yes. You can play with Apple soon. I promise."

       Fern really doesn't like my answer, so she decides to lie on the floor and scream. I know I can't berate her since her emotions are out of control right now, but I also can't cave in to what she wants, otherwise it will teach her that she will always get her way, especially since there's a reason why I'm not letting her play with Apple yet.

       I try to pick up Fern so I could comfort her, but she pushes my hands away. Since I don't have to take her away like I had to on her birthday, I don't force her to let me hold her. Her scream soon turns into cries instead.

       Harlow tries to hug Fern to comfort her, but Fern pushes her away, causing Harlow to cry as well because she was rejected by her twin sister. 

       I gently grab Harlow and bring her over to me, wiping her tears away. "It's okay," I say. "Fern is just really upset right now and doesn't want to be touched. Would you like to hug Daddy instead?" Harlow nods and wraps her arms around me, still crying.

       I hear the front door open and soon enough, Marius walks into the kitchen. He already looks concerned, so he must have heard all the crying from the entryway. "What's going on?" he asks. "Is everything okay?"

       "Yeah, everything's fine," I say. "Fern just wanted to play with Apple, but I couldn't let her since I was about to make dinner and couldn't keep an eye on her. I told her to wait until you get home, but she didn't like that answer. Harlow's upset because she tried hugging Fern, but Fern wouldn't let her."

       Harlow notices that Marius is now home, so she pulls away from me and runs over to him, holding her arms up. "Poppa!" Marius picks her up and since she's still upset, so she wraps her arms around him and digs her face into her neck.

       "Fern, Poppa is home," I say. "That means you can play with Apple now. Do you still want to play with her?"

       It takes a few moments for Fern to stop crying and when she does, I explain to her that I'm letting her play with Apple now that her poppa is home and not because she was crying. I don't want her to think that crying means she can get her away.

       "Do you want to give Poppa his gift first?" I ask. Surprisingly, Fern nods to that since I thought she would just want to play with Apple right away. But she loves giving people things, so it's not too big of a surprise.

       "Gift?" Marius asks. "What gift?"

       Harlow squirms in Marius's arms, realizing that Marius will be given the chocolate strawberries and flowers so she wants to help give it to him. Marius puts her down, so she walks over to the table, trying to grab the chocolates strawberries.

       I hand her the strawberries and Fern the flowers, telling them to give it to Marius. They do, and he smiles as he thanks them and takes it from them. "What's this for?"

       "Well, even though we technically have a new anniversary date since we got married, we went on our date five years ago today," I say. "And I know we didn't plan anything since, again, we got married, but I still wanted to give you something to show you how much I appreciate and love you."

       Marius walks over to me and kisses me before pulling me into a hug. "Thank you, Fawn. And just so you know, I'll be getting you something tomorrow."

       "You don't have to," I say.

       "Come on, you know telling me not to get you something doesn't work considering my love language is giving gifts. I still want to show that I love and appreciate you too."

       I can't help but smile as I kiss Marius one more time. I just love this man so much and I'm so grateful to have him in my life. I'm glad I was able to fall in love with someone I could fully trust and someone I know will never hurt me. He's the best thing that has ever happened to me.

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i've been solely updating this book for the past week and a half, maybe more, but i can't help it. i really want to get to the third book, which will most likely start next tuesday! i could finish this by the end of the week since i have two chapters left, but i already promised someone another book will get an update by friday. so one more chapter this week, chapter 50 on monday, and book three on tuesday!