HH01 - A Humble Heart (6 page)

squeaked loudly.

“Damn!” Edward said as he cupped his ears.

Mid-squeak Deana suddenly broke off, closing her eyes and wincing as she pressed the ice pack to her mouth.

Dana jumped out of her chair and walked over to Deana. “What’s wrong?”

Deana held up a hand and shook her head.

“I’m sorry, Mommy,” a tiny voice said.

“No, it’s okay, sweetie,” Deana said, wincing. “It was my own fault, Dana. I was showing Elizabeth the proper way to eat

a jaw breaker.”

“Oh no….”

Deana nodded. “I broke a tooth.”

Dana took Deana’s hand into hers and gave it a squeeze. “Do you need me to take you to the dentist?”

“No, I need to drop the midgets off, though. If it’s okay?” she shot a half-worried, half-worshipping look in Edward’s

direction.

“Of course. You’re hurt, Deana. So, we’re done.”

“Are you sure?” Deana asked nervously. Dana knew the woman’s work history. Deana was still terrified at the thought of

going back to her old job where she'd been treated poorly.

Dana pulled her into a hug. “You’re part of this family. Don’t ever worry about it,” she whispered into Deana’s ear.

Deana nodded and sniffled. “Thank you, Dana.” She took a deep breath and turned around. “Alright, guys, get in here and

behave yourselves. Auntie Deana will see you guys tomorrow.”

**********

Edward watched curiously. All day Dana had gone out of her way to treat everyone like a good friend. She never once

raised her voice to anyone. He was curious to find out if this was an act or not. There were so many fake people in Hollywood

after all, but after seeing her with her assistant he knew without a doubt that she was the real deal.

His brows shot up when he saw two of the cutest kids shyly walk into the trailer. The little girl with her slightly curly

honey blonde hair and deep blue eyes was without a doubt the prettiest little girl he’d ever seen. She sent him a shy smile,

blushed, and stared at the floor, but that wasn’t what shocked him.

A little boy, a toddler perhaps and cute as hell, stepped into the trailer, taking his mother’s hand into his and smiled

devilishly towards him. Edward blinked, once, twice and then again as he studied the boy. Holy hell…..this was eerie. The

little boy looked just like him. Correction the little boy looked exactly the way he did when he was a toddler. Amy was going

to go into hysterics when she caught a glimpse of this kid.

Dana talked to Deana for another minute before the woman left, but not before she wiggled her fingers at him and grinned,

then winced. He watched as Dana knelt down in front of her children and said hello. She gave them each a warm smile, hug,

and a kiss before turning her attention back to him.

“Edward, this is my daughter,” she gently pulled the shy little girl forward, “Elizabeth, and this little man is my son,

Cole.”

“Hi,” Elizabeth said shyly, not looking up from the floor.

Cole released his mother’s hand and walked casually over to stand in front of him. Edward couldn’t help but grin at the

little guy. Cole crossed his arms over his little chest and looked Edward over. Then with a slight nod as if what he saw met

with his approval Cole thrust out his hand.

“I’m Cole,” he announced.

Edward reached out and took the small little tanned hand into his own. He was surprised how delicate and warm the hand

felt. He’d never really been around kids. Hell, he couldn’t think of anyone he knew who had kids.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Cole. I’m Edward.”

Cole nodded firmly as he took his hand away and gestured to his bigger sister. “Dats Elizabeth.”

Edward smiled at the little girl. “It’s nice to meet you, Elizabeth.”

Elizabeth gave him another one of those shy smiles.

“Hello,” she said softly.

While he was saying hello to Elizabeth Cole took it upon himself to climb onto his lap.

“Ah, Cole, what did we talk about?" Dana asked, looking embarrassed.

Edward chuckled as he adjusted the boy so he could straddle the end of his leg. Cole leaned forward, planted both elbows

on the table and rested his chin in his upturned hands, no doubt giving his mother an innocent look.

“It’s okay,” Edward said.

“He’s my new friend,” Cole announced.

Dana worried her lip. “I’m really sorry.”

“It’s really okay,” Edward chuckled. “Like he said we’re buddies.”

“See,” Cole said smugly.

Elizabeth gently tugged on Dana’s tee shirt. “What is it, baby girl?” Dana asked.

“We didn’t get to do the food shopping today, because of Deana’s tooth. Are we going to do it now?”

“I guess we’re gonna have to if you guys want to eat, huh?”

Elizabeth nodded firmly.

“I get to sit in the carriage!” Cole announced.

“That’s not fair!” Elizabeth replied.

Dana pinched the bridge of her nose between two fingers. “Guys, it’s just the three of us. I can’t push two carriages so

only one of you can sit in the carriage and since Cole is the youngest I’m afraid it’s going to have to be him.”

Instead of arguing or throwing a fit like he’d seen countless number of kids do out in public Elizabeth nodded dutifully.

“Okay, Mommy.”

Dana pushed a loose strand of hair back as she focused on him. “I’m really sorry about this.”

Edward waved it off. “Don’t worry about it.” Then a thought occurred to him. “What grocery store are you going to?”

She frowned as she answered. “McKinley's over by Pizza Genius.”

Perfect. That was five minutes away from his house, a house that currently held no food or beverages in it. “Any chance

you wouldn’t mind me tagging along and teaching me how to shop?”

***********

Dana and Elizabeth laughed as they watched Edward struggle with the little cloth seat belt of the carriage. Cole tried to

belt himself into the carriage, but it didn’t work and Edward was refusing their help. "It's a man's job," he said with a smile

and a wink.

They watched with humor until the little plastic belt snapped off. Then Dana cringed. Something like this would have set

her ex off. Actually, Jeff would have started bitching and yelling a few minutes ago when he couldn’t get the belt to cooperate.

Unfortunately the kids remembered all too well how their father behaved even if they hadn’t seen him in almost a year.

Elizabeth gasped and cringed away, expecting Edward to start yelling and blaming them and Dana for the carriage’s

incompetence. Cole sat there silently crying. Before Dana could sweep in and take Cole into her arms Edward was there.

He smiled warmly at Cole as he gently picked him up and out of the carriage. Cole cringed, expecting to be on the

receiving end of Edward’s anger. His father had only hit Cole one time and that had been one time too many. Thankfully by then

they were already separated. She took a picture of Cole’s back and had the police have a word with the oversized bully.

“Guess we’ll have to get another carriage, buddy,” Edward said casually as he wiped the tears off of Cole’s cheeks. Cole

nodded as Edward placed him into another carriage and finally managed to belt him in. Then the men high fived each other and

Cole was back to smiling.

“So, what now?” Edward asked.

When he asked to join them, no, correction, for her to teach him how to shop, she thought he was kidding. Now she wasn’t

so sure.

“You really don’t know how to shop?” she whispered, trying not to embarrass him.

He gave her a sheepish smile and a shrug. “No.”

“Really?” She couldn’t hide her shock. He was in his mid twenties. By twelve she'd been doing all the household

shopping for a year.

“When I was a kid Amy used to go with our mom. I never wanted to. I lived at home up until a few years ago.” Another

shrug. “I was never around long enough to need an apartment or house of my own. I was always filming. Since I bought my

house," another shrug, "well, I’m still not there much, but when I am I usually have a service that does it for me or my mother or

sister does it for me.”

“Oh.” She thought that over. Then frowned. “If they do it for you then why do you want to learn? I don’t mind showing

you, but I am curious.”

He sighed heavily. “The service isn’t reliable and sometimes they charge me and never bring the food so I’m stuck with

nothing to eat or drink. Worse if they do remember to actually do it they forget half the stuff. When my family does it they

completely ignore what I want and buy what they like.” He grimaced. “I’m getting sick of fat free yogurt and diet corn flakes

and tomato juice. I swear Amy always forgets that she’s not buying for herself.”

“Ah, gotcha,” Dana said, smiling. She’d hate to have a houseful of food that she didn’t want.

“I can help!” Cole cried out.

“Me too!” Elizabeth piped in, acting less shy.

Edward smiled at the children. “Alright guys, let’s get this done.”

**********

“Mommy, he’s silly!” Cole giggled.

Dana had to agree as she watched Edward lovingly pick up a box of cookies and place them in his carriage. He paused

and then grabbed two more packages.

He sent her a lopsided grin. “Don’t laugh, woman. You’d be drooling too if it had been years since you had your favorite

cookies.”

“I can’t argue that,” Dana agreed as she placed a different package of cookies in her carriage for the kids. Then she

grabbed a package of his favorite cookies and added them. He raised a quizzical brow in her direction. “For the trailer,” she

said, earning a grin from him.

“What now?” he asked, looking both lost and eager.

Cole turned in his seat and studied the options. He pointed ahead. “Milk.”

“Milk it is then, buddy." Edward pushed the carriage over to the milk section while Dana followed behind with her own

carriage.

She tried her best not to smile, but the man was absolutely adorable as he tried to figure out the difference between whole

milk and one percent. Cole wasn’t very helpful. His suggestion was to add chocolate to it. In the end Edward threw her a

pleading look and with a playful eye roll she helped him out.

They took shopping slowly as Edward acquainted himself with the aisles and selections. Normally she’d be done in under

an hour, but tonight she was in no rush. She hated to see a grown man struggle. It reminded her of her own situation after she

left Jeff.

She had to make every cent count because Jeff refused to pay child support. Thanks to him she wasn't able to afford a car

and had to rely on her own two feet or bus lines to get her and the kids everywhere. When her book sales took off she was able

to move to California with the kids into a one bedroom apartment. They stayed there for three months before they bought the

house. It was hard, but thankfully she was able to afford Deana. As Dana’s own bank account built up she was able to pay

Deana what she was worth with a large bonus to make up for the months of poor pay.

“Mommy, why are woman acting funny about Edward?” Elizabeth asked.

Dana looked up and was surprised to see women were actually following them. How she missed that earlier she didn’t

know. Their shopping was completely forgotten as they gawked at Edward. Several of the men threw their hands up in the air,

clearly disgusted with the women’s attention for Edward and stalked off. None of the women seemed to notice the loss of their

men.

Edward, to his credit looked embarrassed and uncomfortable with the attention. He averted his eyes and focused on

shopping while talking to Cole. Cole being Cole of course smiled and waved at the women. He was such a little ladies man.

Deana and she were constantly having problems with little girls chasing him down in the playground to steal a kiss. Cole

would scream and cry, but Dana knew he secretly loved the attention.

“Edward, I love you!” a teenage girl cried out. Her poor mother blushed fiercely as she hushed the girl.

Edward smiled nervously at Dana. “I’m really sorry about this. I guess I wasn’t thinking when I suggested this.”

Dana waved it off. “It’s not a problem. You’re doing fine.” She wanted to tell him that he had the right to do whatever he

wanted and shouldn’t have to worry about this, but he was already embarrassed.

“Mommy says I can date in ten years!” Cole announced to the women earning several “awe, isn’t he cute” and laughs.

Dana sighed inwardly. She really was going to have her hands full with this one.

They moved down the aisle and Dana noted that whatever Edward put in his carriage two or three women in their late

teens and early twenties would grab as well. She couldn't help but think how uncomfortable that would make her if that

happened to her one day. Talk about pressure.

***********

Edward stole another glance at Dana as she bent over to pick up some marshmallow cereal that the kids begged politely

for. They really were good kids, he thought. Never once had they thrown a fit or raised their voices and they always said

please. Not like some kids he'd seen over the years who threw gigantic screaming fits over not getting their way.

He couldn’t help watching as her bottom swayed gently as she reached for a box in the back. Damn. Did she have any idea

what that did to a man? Probably not. Thankfully he was wearing lose jeans. No need to further embarrass himself, especially