The crying hadn’t stopped for hours. A baby with an ear infection was no fun.

Y/N was walking around the kitchen, bouncing Grace up and down, trying to get the wails to stop.

“Baby, what do you want?” I’ve done about everything I can,” Y/N almost pleads with the baby. “Mommy wants to sleep.”

I was suddenly aware of the fact the Y/N didn’t sleep at all last night.

I walk over to Y/N, and take the baby from her. “I got baby duty tonight.”

Crap.

I’m screwed.

“Are you serious?” Y/N asks, eyes wide.

“Yeah,” I smile.

What am I doing? I love Grace to death but…

“Ok I’m going to bed then.” She bolts from the room after giving me a quick kiss on the cheek.

“This isn’t going to be bad,” I thought.

I look down at my crying baby. “Alright Gracey, ready for some daddy-daughter bonding time?”

The answer to my question is just more sobs.

“Daddy?” Lily looks up at me.

I look down at my baby girl in my lap. “What’s up, baby girl?”

She pauses, thinking over the best delivery of the question.

“Why don’t your legs work?” She says softly.

I’m shocked by the question. “Well…” I start. I don’t know how to answer. There’s so many things involved. I put my hand behind my back. “That’s a good question, baby girl.” I say, not really there.

“It sounds like a long story.” She says, with all the empathy a six year old could have.

“It’s really long.” I chuckle. “But I think it’s a story for when you’re older.”

“But I wanna know,” she whines.

I sigh. “Once upon a time there was a princess with red hair. Three knights were at a ball with the princess and her friend, because the evil prince and his friend had left for another ball.”

“That’s awful!” Lily gasps.

“It is.” I mutter. “Anyways, when the knights were escorting the princess and her friend back to her castle, the evil prince and his friend came and...

“Mommy, what are we doing?” Johnny asks.

“We’re going to go see…someone.” You say, not knowing what to call him at this point.

“Will I like them?” Johnny tugs on your arm.

You pause for a second. “Yeah.” You finally answer. “You would’ve loved him.”

“Well that’s good.” He nods.

How little he knew how much this was killing you.

“So mommy, why are we at the cemetery? It’s spooky.”

“I told you we’re going to go see someone.” You say, making your way to his headstone.

“Oh,” Johnny whispers, realizing from your tone you didn’t want any annoyance.

“Here.” You say, stopping in front of the grave.

“It says… Da-ll-as Wins-ton.” He had just learned to read.

He looks up at you, a bit confused. “Mommy, I’m Johnny Winston.”

“I know.” You say, biting your lip.

“Mommy… Is this-“

“Yeah, buddy it is.”