Drama Momma (Surprisingly Perfect Sequel)

Birthday Surprises

Chase leaned over the changing table, taking a bunch of pictures of our bubbly little girl. I finished changing her diaper, then put on the adorable unicorn birthday outfit we had for her.

"How is our little baby one already?" Chase asked.

"I'm happy I can sleep through the night, but I want things to slow down," I said.

At one, Daisy was still bubbly and happy, plus super expressive. She loved her musical toys, a lot more now that she could see with her pink glasses. No words yet, but it was something to be expected. We had her set to start speech therapy in a few weeks.

When I picked her up, she made her usual "ah-ah!" sound, followed by her happy, high-pitched screech and a smile.

"Yeah, are you ready Daisy?" I asked her. "Here we go, let's walk out there."

Her motor skills weren't great, but with every physical therapy session they got better. Now, with her special shoes, and if Chase and I each held one of her hands, she could walk across the whole house.

"Oh, before we get out there, I want to let you know that my mom says she wants to announce some surprise in front of everyone, since we don't know when everyone is going to get together again. Hope that's okay," I said.

"Yeah, I don't mind," Chase said. "What do you think it is?"

"I think she's finally upgrading from her old SUV to a new car. We always said it would be a big deal when she could finally afford a new one...oh, maybe she finally got picked for that game show she wanted to be on for the last ten years! I bet that's it!"

"That would really be something!" Chase chuckled to himself. "I guess we'll just have to see."

We each held Daisy's hands, then slowly made our way out into the kitchen, where everyone was waiting. Mom was already knelt down, taking a video of her granddaughter walking out.

Daisy looked right past her, to the living room where the other five kids were playing. She was jumping. We let her go, and she did her usual routine: take a few steps, fall, then try to get back up. Everyone clapped and cheered her on. I tried to as well, but sometimes it just really hurt to see her struggle, even though I was getting used to it.

Chase picked her up and placed her on the carpet next to Julia's girls, who immediately wanted to hug her. I thought it would bring Daisy some comfort to play with kids who had some delays of their own, and especially since they wore glasses like her.

Georgie and Genny immediately went to hug her, along with Isaac, who was her favorite person in the world. She hugged the girls back and said, "I-I! I-I!" for Isaac, of course.

Ollie and Blaze, who were now in the terrible twos, were for once, sitting quietly watching a movie nearby. Ollie was still hanging on to Barks the stuffed dog. He never let it go.

I made my way to a kitchen full of people wearing unicorn horn headbands. Balloons were everywhere, plus unicorn plates, cups, and napkins. Mom went a little overboard on the decorations.

As a regional manager, she was eligible for corporate bonuses that people like Chrys and Julia who worked on the front end, were not. So she liked to start treating the kids to big parties and toys, especially since Chase already had full college funds for all three of them.

I went over to Marisol and Destiny, who fit together like two pieces of a puzzle. With Destiny's love for hair and Marisol's love for makeup, they talked non stop about beauty stuff.

"Damn, she's so adorable!" Destiny said, looking over my shoulder at Daisy. "I'm such a proud auntie! When do I get to start doing her hair?"

"When she has more than two pigtails worth of it," I said.

"I can't believe she's one already. It goes by too fast. It really does," Marisol said.

"Don't remind me!" I said. "Chase already wants another one."

"Did you tell him he's not the one carrying it?" Marisol asked.

"That and a few more other things," I said, snickering. "At the bare minimum, I want to graduate college first."

I grabbed a few chips, then went around to everyone so I could thank them for coming. Jace, of course, was nowhere to be found. So far, he'd never even met his niece. I should've known. He barely cared about his own kids, so it made sense that he cared about his niece even less. It really said a lot when he didn't even put up a fight in the custody case. Chrys had full custody of both boys now.

Finally, it was time for cake. We took out the three-tier unicorn cake from the fridge and sang Happy Birthday to Daisy. She kept trying to grab at the unicorn face on the cake. Chase gave her a piece and put her in the high chair so she could eat it.

She laughed and smacked her hands in it a few times, then started taking fistfulls and scooping it into her mouth. I finished taking my video of her and her cake, then immediately uploaded it to all of my social media. People absolutely loved anything that had to do with Daisy. She was such a little star already.

"Hey, is it okay if I tell everyone once we're all cleaned up?" Mom asked me.

"Yeah. Go ahead. When do you get to fly out so you can be on the show?" I asked.

She rolled her eyes. "Very funny."

"But I'm serious!" I said as she walked away.

I mean, it had to be the game show, right? What else could it be?

I looked over and realized Chrys was next to me. I elbowed her.

"Ouch! What was that about?" she asked.

"What do you think it is? Mom's announcement?" I asked.

"Can't say," she said, her eyes looking straight down at the piece of purple-frosted cake on her plate.

"You know? Why do you know and not me?" I asked, my voice getting higher with each word.

"Shh. I'm saying that I have no idea either. Just be patient. You'll find out in like, half a second," she said.

All eyes went over to Michael, who was hitting a fork against a glass he grabbed from the cabinet. He gave a sort of embarrassed smile and put the glass back.

"Uh, so for starters we wanted to thank everyone for coming," he said. "While we're all here to celebrate Daisy's first birthday, with Poppy's permission, Jen and I wanted to add one more extra surprise to the day."

The room fell silent. Mom's smile was the biggest I'd ever seen. Chrys and I leaned over the kitchen island in anticipation.

"We're getting married!" they said at the same time.

My jaw was ready to hit the floor. Karen went up and gave Mom a big hug. Chrys and I looked at each other, blinked a few times, then went over to her and Michael. She showed us the engagement ring on her finger. It was a big, oval shaped diamond.

"Whoa, that's a nice rock," I said.

"I-I hope this isn't too much of a surprise...I really hope this isn't too much for you guys," Mom said.

"No, of course not!" I said.

"Yeah, after all these years, you really deserve to be happy," Chrys said.

"We wanted to tell everyone here so we could get a list of addresses! All of you mean so much to us and the girls, so everyone here is invited to our wedding!" Michael said, then looked over at Chrys and I. "You two are already so grown up and I know you won't need me much, but I'll be the best stepdad I can."

"You're already like a grandpa to Ollie and Blaze," Chrys said. "We're happy to have you in our lives."

"And you make Mom happy, which is the most important thing," I said.

"You two are the best. Bring it in!" he said.

Our family had one big group hug. The babies were getting older, Mom was starting a new chapter in her life, and everything felt more different as the days went on. But the best part of all these changes were that we were going through all of it together, no matter how big our family was growing.