Page 29 of Dad's Cop Buddy

“How did you girls meet?” my father’s guest asks, and Casey and I look at each other. We thought everyone knew our story, and I’m not exactly sure how to respond. Before I can answer, Casey pipes up and says, “We met in the war.”

Confused but still making every effort to be polite, the older woman laughs, and I quickly change the subject. “I hope you’re hungry. We have enough food to feed an army,” I say and Casey tries to fight back her laughter.

We sit down on the patio and sip sweet tea while the kids play and the men chatter around the grill. It’s a perfect day, and as I look over at my handsome husband, he winks and blows me a kiss.

“Your father said that Kent might be retiring from the force. Is that true?’ Candice, my father’s date, asks.

“He is. He’ll be moving into the private sector as a security consultant. He could probably go on indefinitely as police chief, but he wants to spend more time with the kids. No more calls at two in the morning, no more long days in the office. I can’t wait.”

“You don’t think that having him around that much will drive you crazy? Sometimes a little distance is a good thing.”

I consider what she’s saying and honestly can’t imagine a time when I won’t want Kent at home with me. I could never get tired of him, and he never does anything that would drive me crazy.

“No. I love having him at home. He’s the center of my universe.”

“These two have the greatest love affair that I’ve ever seen in my life,” Casey gushes. “They should make a movie about them.”

“Well, that’s the nicest thing I’ve ever heard. I’m very happy for you,” Candice tells me.

“Baby, food will be ready in ten,” Kent calls up to me. That’s my signal to collect the kids and dry them off for dinner, so I grab the towels and excuse myself.

When everyone is situated, we all sit down at the table. As everyone chats and eats, I feel Kent’s hand on my knee. I reach down and slip my hand inside it. He looks at me and smiles. There’s such a light in his eyes when he looks at me. It makes me feel like I’m the most beautiful girl in the world even when I’m waddling around with an eight-pound baby inside me.

“Presents!” Kenneth shouts, startling me. “Mommy, Daddy, can I open presents?”

“It is getting a bit late. If he’s going to have a chance to eat cake and play with his gifts before bed, we should get started,” I tell Kent.

He gets down on the floor with Kenneth and helps him open his gifts as Kennedy and Kurt cheer him on. When he’s not looking, I grab my phone and snap a picture of them. It’s these moments when my husband and kids are together that I want to capture and hold on to.

Surrounded by new toys, it takes everything I have to pull Kenneth away long enough to blow out his candles, but once he has, we cut the cake and celebrate another family milestone.

Night falls and I excuse myself to put the kids to bed. When I return from tucking them in, I find that Kent has abandoned our guests outside. He’s in the den on his phone. He sees me and ends his call.

“Who was that?” I ask.

“Don’t worry, it’s good news.”

“What do you mean? What good news?”

“I didn’t want you to worry, so I didn’t tell you. Today was Sanders’ first parole hearing.”

“Why didn’t you tell me? Shouldn’t I have been there to talk to the parole board?”

“They were advised about your pregnancy and understood your absence.”

“What about Casey? Why wasn’t she there?”

“She was, baby. She came here right after. Listen to me. He was denied. He has to do five more years before he’s eligible again, and I’ll make sure he’s denied then, too.”

“I wish you would have told me, but I’m glad to hear that he was denied.”

“See, now we have two reasons to celebrate tonight.”

We return to our guests, and Kent tells them the news about Sanders. Candice doesn’t understand, but my father and Casey are overjoyed.

Our guests leave, and I begin clearing the mess from the deck. Kent pulls out a chair and tells me to sit and rest. I watch as he clears the table and picks up all of Kenneth’s new toys. He takes all but one little race car into the house then returns and sits down beside me, pushing the little car across my swollen belly.

“What are you doing?” I ask him.

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