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Juliet peeks in the room watching as Thomas talks like he had to baby Hiapo so long ago.
His touch, soft and gentle.
His voice, tender and sure with a lightness about it.
His words, range from silly to reassuring to completely in love.
Only this time, it’s their baby.
Dark black hair sticking out in every direction.
The impish twinkle of his eyes mirroring that of his father.
As does the charming smile and easy going disposition.
His light eyes, the only thing reminiscent of his mother who still holds out hope he’ll have a British accent of some sort.
Her mind travels to another time she stood outside a door of his. A time her heart was overwhelmed by a mix of a love she barely understood and the regret of being too late. He likes to say it’s all part of what makes their love story perfect.
It’s that love story she’s listening to him tell their baby boy now.
Shortly after their son was born, her husband declared it the Magnum boys’ favorite bedtime story. Instead of the traditional Once Upon A Time, it starts with Mommy and Daddy didn’t like each other very much at first. He was from America and she was from England. They were very different and would argue every day. Mommy would even have her dogs be very mean and chase him around Robin’s Nest.
She won’t tell him for fear of what it will do to his already oversized ego, but it is her favorite story too. The story of them makes her smile every time she hears it.
“Your Uncles, though, they always liked her and she liked them so Daddy knew he had to keep trying to figure out how they could be friends.”
“And then one day, Uncle Nuzo died and Daddy was very sad. Your Mommy helped him to catch the bad guys and tried to make him feel better by being nicer. So he decided to be nicer too. They kept arguing but now they did it for fun.”
She shakes her head. No way this child understands any of what’s being said no matter how attentive he looks. He merely adores his father’s voice. Already idolizing him.
“Daddy asked mommy to be his partner in his investigation business, but Mommy wasn’t sure. She had a whole life in London that she left to come to Hawaii and she thought she maybe wanted to go back. Daddy was so happy when she didn’t move there and even happier when she agreed to be his partner.”
“Everything was going great, Mommy and Daddy worked very well together and helped a lot of people. Then one day in the car, mommy was very, very, very grumpy. When Daddy finally convinced her to tell him what was wrong, she was sad that she might have to go live in London again for a very long time. Daddy was very sad too because he couldn’t imagine not seeing mommy every day. He wanted to help her so badly because he wanted her to be happy and he didn’t want her to go away.”
“Luckily, Uncle Robin saved the day and Mommy got to stay.”
“Then she fell in love with an evil doctor who whisked her away to Kenya and Daddy had to patiently wait for her to come back to him.”
Juliet laughs and rolls her eyes from her spot in the hallway.
“Six months later…”
“Daddy was secretly dating someone else.”
Magnum glares at her as she enters, “What have I told you about interrupting my bedtime story with your irrelevant edits?”
She laughs, sliding her arm around his waist to snuggle against him.
“I’m not sure I’d call this interrupting. Our son appears to have fallen asleep during your enthralling story.”
Leaning her head against him, she’s amazed yet again that they produced this perfect little human.
He wraps his arm around her, “Something he learned from his mother no doubt.”
“That only ever happened while I was pregnant.”
“Exactly, you taught him to do this.”
“Magnum.”
The way she said his name like this when the three of them were together made his heart melt. It was a sound that was content like she didn’t need anything more than what was right there.
“I still need to finish one more part.”
Ignoring her eye roll, he continues, “Once they were a couple, Daddy courted Mommy so she knew how special she was to him. It’s important to do that for the person you love. You can’t ever take it for granted that they know. It’s important to remind them as often as you can.”
He turns to her, “I missed you today.”
He had spent the day helping TC move furniture into the new home he and Mahina recently bought while she worked with their newest client.
“I missed you too.”
She slides her hands up his chest and around his neck, knowing the love in his eyes is mirrored in her own, “I think it’s time for you to put your wife to bed Mr. Magnum."
“Whatever you say, Mrs. Magnum.”
He lifts her up so he can carry her the short distance to their bedroom. Her giggles widening his smile as they kiss.
After all the time spent wondering, it turned out that the real versions of marriage and parenthood suited them better than either ever imagined.