First Years Gold

Maude let out a drawn-out sigh that almost hurt his throat as he flopped his head onto the table in front of him. His straight blond hair padded the right side of his head where it lay and trailed down to his shoulders. It had taken a few years to grow it to this length. Though it was a nuisance, he just didn’t feel like going through the trouble of cutting it.

Moving his viridian colored eyes, he caught sight of four-year-old Xael. He had adopted the girl a few months ago when her parents had been killed. She would soon be five. He had to plan out a whole day with the little girl, on top of dealing with his double shifts at the hospital recently. He honestly couldn’t see how other parents did this. Why did he think he could take care of this little girl again? 

Maude groaned as he pushed himself off the kitchen table and moved over to his little girl, he was tired but she was worth it. He sat down next to her and ruffled her curly mass of chestnut hair that hung around her chin though it did reach her shoulders when straightened. She looked up at him with a bright toothy grin as her golden eyes sparkled with glee. She was playing with the bewitched children’s dolls he had bought her when he had brought her home the first time.

“Look, Temou and Reth are having a magic battle!” Xael chirped as she commanded the bewitched dolls to fight each other. They moved on her command with no help of her hands and their plastic hands let out small sparks of light to simulate using magic. Maude couldn’t help but smile at the girl. She was always so easily entertained it seemed. Maybe he wouldn’t have to plan so hard. Hopefully.

He already knew that he would be bringing her out for ice cream the afternoon of her birthday on November fourth. OH! He needs a cake. He moves over to the kitchen table again grabbing the notebook to write down things he would need. Should he decorate? Maybe just one of those signs that had ‘Happy Birthday’ in big letters. That would clean up easy. He writes that down too.

After cake in the morning, then he could take Xael to play at the park. After the park would be ice cream, then he could entertain her with some magic displays. She had always seemed to enjoy interrupting him when he trained after all. At least she hadn’t tried to cast magic yet. If she had she would be crying from the backlash of her unstable magic levels causing a wound. 

That was a good plan, he wished he still had relatives to introduce his daughter to. It would be nice for her to have other interactions, maybe that way she wouldn’t feel shy as she got older. Though, he had no relatives that associated with him to introduce her too. A yawn forced its way out of his mouth and he looked at the time as he watched Xael rub her eyes in his peripheral. It was nap time then.

***

   Xael looked up at Maude after happily shoving cake in her mouth and noticed the lines and bags around his eyes. His hair was ruffled too which confused her but she could tell that he wasn’t feeling completely happy. She pouted and grabbed his face between her small chubby hands full of cake icing. Then laughed as he sputtered and stepped back to try rubbing the icing off. She wasn’t sure what was wrong, but she would help.

   Maude finally whipped off the rest of the icing and felt like he was dead on his feet, though he did manage to smile genuinely at Xael before he rubbed at his eyes. They were more than likely bloodshot because he had pulled a night shift for the hospital, but he would be damned if that was going to get between him and Xael having fun for her birthday. He had stayed up for thirty-six hours before, this was nothing.

   Once he was sure Xael was done with her cake, he stored it away and decided to give her presents after they got back from ice cream, then he could demonstrate some magic. He grabbed his house keys and Xael’s hand as she trouted beside him on their way to the front door. He locked up and then they were on their way down the sidewalk surrounding their house. They had a park only a few minutes walk away from their house that Xael often begged to go to as often as possible. 

Once there Xael ran towards the jungle gym that held a red slide another, but bigger grey slide, monkey bars, and a balance beam. They also had a swing set a little ways away, there were only a few other parents and children here today which wasn’t too surprising. Maude found a lone bench and parked himself in it as the sun warmed him through his dark-colored clothes. Though he must have nodded off for a second because the next thing he knew the sun was nearing the noon range and Xael was bouncing around gibbering about ice cream. 

Maude chuckled as he grabbed Xael’s hand and walked with her back towards town. They had a small ice cream stand he loved though it was farther away than the playground had been. When they finally arrived slightly sweating from exertion Xael picked a triple chocolate cone and Maude got a small tin of edible cookie dough. The frozen treat was an incentive to finally head home and gave them relief from the steadily rising summer heat. 

Maude was honestly confused how Xael still had so much energy after running around all day but decided not to question it as they finished off the treats and finally made it back to the house. He unlocked the door and Xael bounded over to the den’s couch eyes sparkling as she looked at the wrapped presents on the coffee table.

“You may open them,” Maude announce once he had locked the door again and grabbed his phone to video the moment. It was after all his first birthday with the girl, he hoped she had fun today. He would have invited friends over for her, but she hadn’t made any yet in school.

Xael ripped into the presents eagerly and stared in awe at the dark grey and purple dress he had gotten for her. The other present had been a doll she had bugged him for when she saw a commercial for it. She jumped off the couch and twirled with the dress held up to her body before moving over to hug Maude’s legs tightly.

“Thank You! I love you,” Xael announced as Maude ruffled her hair. He responded in kind as he moved them back over to the couch, and called energy to his palms. The golden light reflected off of Xael’s similarly colored eyes as she watched him create small creatures that trailed the air before disappearing. These were what the golden days of parenthood were about.