Ignoring Anna’s indignant “hey,” Lane said, “I sure am.”
They made pancakes, with Ella helping and Toby thinking he was helping.
When Lane and Kym gave Toby his presents, his delighted shouts filled the house. Once he got the idea of ripping the wrapping paper off, his little fingers made quick work and quick mess of it all. Ella had chosen Toby a new backpack for day care that came with pencils and stationery inside. It was something Anna had the sneaking suspicion Ella knew she’d end up using herself, as Toby wasn’t yet big on colouring in. A new box of toddler Legos from Kym was upended in seconds and spread over the floor, the colours brightening the normally dull white linoleum. At one point, Toby wandered into the kitchen with the Thomas the Tank Engine pyjamas Lane had bought him pulled on back to front and clutched at Anna’s legs, flushed and grinning. She ran her fingers through his silky hair, grateful that, at least for now, he was having a good birthday.
“Hello, big birthday boy!” came calling down the hallway just as they were sitting down to breakfast, and Toby squealed. Anna had just managed to get one of his legs into his high chair, but as Andrew wheeled in a bright green tricycle, Sandra right behind him, all hope of him sitting vanished. Instead, they ate standing around the room as Ella taught Toby to use his newest present.
The rest of the morning passed with getting Toby’s new bed into his room, now that Anna’s parents were there to help, and dismantling the old cot. As soon as his new bed was ready for him, Toby grinned at Anna and lay down, pulling his new blanket up and completely over himself. All that was left was a wriggling lump under the cover.
There was a pang in her stomach as she looked at the pieces of the cot on the floor.
He was growing up.
A hand cupped her shoulder, and she nearly jumped. Her father stood behind her, an odd look playing over his features as he watched the lump wriggle further down the bed.
She put her hand over his and watched Toby.
“Right now, it’s like I’m watching Jake when we put him in his first bed.”
The grip she had on his fingers tightened. For a moment, she almost didn’t breathe, as if she could scare him off with the slightest movement.
“Jake called me when they got Ella in her first bed, asking if it was legal to sedate kids.”
Andrew gave a startled laugh. “My son did that? Really?”
“It was the second week, and the new freedom meant getting her to stay in her bed was a nightmare. He called saying they found her in the kitchen playing with her tea set at two a.m. He said that if he had to sit down and pretend to be ‘Mrs Bird’ in the early hours of the morning one more time to pacify her into going back to bed, he’d scream.”
“He’d do that with her?”
She nodded—of course he had. Her brother had done anything for his kids. “It settled after a few weeks, but Sally sent me a photo of him on the kitchen floor downstairs wearing a purple feather scarf and blearily eating fake biscuits.”
Andrew gave a small chuckle, and his hand stayed on her shoulder, as heavy as a promise.
As Toby became bored with what he was doing, he scooted on his bottom to the gap at the end, past the small guardrail that ran along the edge of the bed. After a moment of staring at it with a furrowed brow, he figured it out, managing to slide down and grin at them, his sense of triumph unmistakable. With a final pat of the sheets, he walked up to take Anna’s offered hand.
“Ella?” His l’s still came out more like y’s.
“Want to find your sister?”
Toby nodded, then held out his hand to his grandfather, who took it, giving him a small smile. “Ganpa.”
Andrew’s smile only grew as they were tugged downstairs.
Giving up on getting Toby down for his usual late morning rest, they instead all sat on the front porch, watching Toby ride his tricycle up and down the front path while Ella followed on her scooter.
Her leg bouncing slightly, Anna asked her mother, “And you picked up the cake?”
“For the third time, ‘yes’. And I brought the cupcakes I made.”