Sunny's Love

chapter Four





The next morning, Sunny awoke to the alarm clock playing her favorite love song. Grinning, she took a hot, steaming shower and dressed for the plane ride to Florida. As she started downstairs to find the children, they’d just finished their breakfast. They were heading up the stairs to get dressed for the trip.

“Do you guys need help?” Sunny asked. She scooped both of them up in her arms and gave them a good morning kiss.

“Someone’s in a good mood this morning,” Alma said from the foyer as she witnessed the display of affection.

“Good morning, Alma. I’m just anxious to get to Florida.” She smiled at the older woman.

“I can dress myself,” Brice proudly said, as he wiggled out of her arms and headed up the stairs.

“I’ll help him, Sunny. You can go eat,” Allison said in a very grown up voice.

“Okay, Ali, thanks. Let me know if you need help.” Sunny and Alma exchanged a grin.

“They are wonderful, aren’t they? And they’re so well behaved,” Sunny said as she helped herself to coffee in the kitchen.

“To be as spoiled as they are, yes, they’re great kids.”

“Alma, you should have told me to set my alarm earlier. I should get the kids up and feed them. That’s probably part of my job.”

“No, honey, it gives my day a great start to take care of those babies first thing in the morning. If you did everything for them, you’d be exhausted at the end of the day. We all help each other out here.”

“I’ll miss our little chats for the next two months. Are you and George going to be able to get away while we’re gone?”

“Yes, we usually take a road trip during the summer. After that, we just spend the rest of the time relaxing. There’s still work to be done here, but not a lot, so it gives us some alone time.”

“That’s wonderful. Where’s Chase this morning?”

Alma smiled. “He said something about an errand to attend to at the office. He said he‘d be back in about an hour or so. That man is so busy at the office right now. I’ve talked with Alice and she can’t wait to meet you.”

“I can’t wait to meet her either.”

About that time, Chase came in the kitchen door, whistling. He stopped as the two women stared at him.

“What are you two staring at? Can’t a man whistle the morning he’s about to leave for his summer home at the beach?”

Sunny was glad to see some of the strain that had shown on his face the night before had disappeared.

“Did you get your packing done, Chase? It was late when you got in,” Alma asked, handing him a cup of coffee.

“Yes, Alma, I did. I’m ready for a week of sun and relaxation,” he told his housekeeper cheerily.

“I’d better go see if the munchkins are dressed yet. It’s hard to tell what they chose to wear.” Sunny got up and headed for the stairs. “Ali wanted to help Brice and I bravely allowed it.”

“I’ll help you, Sunny.” Chase followed her, as Alma watched, smiling.

They walked up the steps together. As they reached the top, Allison came bouncing out of Brice’s room.

“You look very nice, Miss Allison,” Sunny told the little girl.

“But you haven’t seen Brice. He wants to wear a red shirt with green shorts. I keep telling him it’s not Christmas.” The little girl gave an exasperated sigh and held her arms up in the air in disgust.

Sunny and Chase both laughed. Chase looked at her and said, “I’ll handle this one. You and Allison go on downstairs.”

“Okay, good luck, Daddy.” Sunny took Allison by the hand and they headed back downstairs, where George was preparing to take the luggage to the car for them.

“Let me help you, George,” Sunny said. “Chase is busy trying to convince Brice that he really doesn’t want to wear Christmas colors in June.”

“Oh, boy, this oughta be good.” George grinned as he started up the steps.

“Allison, why don’t you go see what Alma is up to and I’ll help George.”

“Okay, Sunny.” The little girl went skipping into the kitchen as Sunny headed back up the stairs. She went into Allison’s room and grabbed her luggage then walked back downstairs with it.

“Sunny, what in the world do you think you’re doing?” Chase called to her from the landing.

‘You were occupied, so I thought I’d lend George a hand.” She turned around and looked up at him smiling.

“Brice is under control now, so let me do that. I don’t want you throwing your back out or anything.” He joined her on the stairs and whispered so only she could hear, “We can’t have that now, can we? It might put a crimp in our summer plans with the kids.”

“Chase, I think I can handle it.” She laughed as she handed the larger bag to him.

“I’ll take care of it. I’d better get this luggage out there before George comes back in for the next load.” He picked up another smaller bag.

As if on cue, George came back into the house and was heading up the stairs. Chase went on down the stairs and out to the car while Sunny went in search of Brice.

The little boy was walking out of his room and thankfully Chase had convinced him to wear khaki shorts with his red shirt and he looked adorable.

“Who is this handsome little man walking down the hallway?” Sunny asked as she took the little boy’s chubby hand and walked with him. She would have loved to have just hugged and squeezed him. He so needed a mother’s love. Even though he had the best daddy in the world, and plenty of people to love him, she knew he had to miss his mommy.

“It’s Brice!” He giggled as he looked up at Sunny. The look he gave her melted her heart.

“I think I may just have to claim you as my new boyfriend, you’re so handsome,” Sunny teased as he giggled again.

“You’re too old to be my girlfriend. You need to be my daddy’s girlfriend.”

At that exact moment, Chase came up the stairs. He looked from Sunny to Brice and said, “What did I just miss here?”

“Sunny wants to be my girlfriend, but she’s too old. I told her she could be your girlfriend, Daddy.”

Chase laughed as he scooped the little boy up in his arms. “Out of the mouths of babes,” he said.

She blushed as Chase set Brice down and went to get another load of luggage. The little boy ran down the stairs, unaware of the impact of his statement. As Chase passed by her, he said softly, “I hope that remark didn’t make you uncomfortable, Sunny.”

Sunny smiled. “No, it’s okay, Chase. He’s just a little boy. He can’t begin to understand how these things work.” She quickly turned to go downstairs to check on the children. After all, that was her job.

Both children were in the kitchen with Alma and the three of them were laughing together over a secret. They all got very quiet when Sunny walked in.

“What’s going on in here?”

“Not a thing, Sunny.” Alma looked at the children and the three of them shared a secretive smile.

Sunny thought the whole household must be going mad. She poured herself another cup of coffee and sat down to wait for the luggage to be loaded.

A short time later, Chase came into the kitchen. “Are we all ready to go? The car’s loaded and George is waiting to drive us to the airport.”

Sunny grabbed her purse and hugged Alma goodbye after Chase and the children had gone ahead outside.

“I’ll see you in a few months, have a good vacation with George,” she said.

“And you work your magic on that man. From what I’ve seen, it won’t take much, Sunny. I expect you two to come back here with some good news at the end of the summer.”

“Alma!” Sunny was shocked by her words, at first. It dawned on her, suddenly, that Brice must have told Alma he wanted her to be his Daddy’s girlfriend.

“I call it like I see it.”

Sunny shook her head, hugged her again, and ran out the door to join the Dupont family.