She clapped her hands as he finished and smiled so wide that Howie was sure he’d have to pull out his sunglasses. His friends were right. Who needed anything else when his whole world was wrapped up in this child?
“I love you, Daddy!”
He smiled. “I love you, too. Did you think I’d forget?”
She nodded sheepishly. “A little.”
“I could never forget your birthday as long as it’s still on Christmas, you know,” he told her. “But if you go and change your birthday, then I might have a hard time remembering it. My old head can’t keep track of everything.”
She giggled. “You don’t have an old head, Daddy. You don’t even have white hair like Uncle Kevin’s getting.”
Howie leaned in conspiratorially. “Don’t tell Uncle Kevin he has white hair, okay? He likes to pretend he’s still twenty.”
She giggled again. “He’s not twenty! Uncle Kev’s silly sometimes.”
“I know,” Howie agreed. “So sweet pea, why don’t you make a wish and blow out your candles. And don’t forget, your birthday wishes will always come true because you make them on Christmas…”
“So it’s a double miracle,” she finished. “Okay, I remember.” She squeezed her eyes shut and mumbled something Howie couldn’t understand. Finally, after what had to be the longest wish that he could ever remember anyone making, she opened her eyes and blew out the candles.
“Great! So I guess we’ll see if it comes true, huh?” When she nodded, Howie grinned. “So, who wants some cake?”
“I wonder if everything’s okay over there,” Kevin wondered aloud as he watched Kristin feed Trevor.
She rolled her eyes. “Kevin, you’re on break right now. You don’t have to be his father all the damn time. Howie can take care of himself.”
He sighed. “I know, but I still worry. It’s not a normal occurrence, you know, when your wife walks out on you and doesn’t tell you why or where she’s going. Plus, it’s Ella’s first Christmas and birthday without her mother.”
“I know, Kev. We all know that. The thing is,” she began, patting Trevor’s back, “Howie’s not a child. He can and will get himself and his child through this. As long as they’re together, I can’t imagine Ella wanting for anything.”
“Still,” Kevin began, but she cut him off.
“Do you believe in miracles, hon?”
Kevin frowned. “Of course I do, but I think this is going to take more than a miracle to fix.”
“Maybe,” Kristin replied and frowned when the phone rang. “I thought we called all the family already. Did we miss someone?”
Kevin shook his head. “I don’t think so.” He picked up. “Hello? Oh, hey. We were just…What? When? Where?…Yeah, okay. No, we’ll be there. Do you want me to call anyone else?…No problem. We’ll be there in a few.”
When he hung up and turned back to Kristin, she saw the frown had deepened. “What’s going on, Kevin?”
He looked up at her and sighed. “It’s Howie. Rosa’s in the hospital.”
“What?!”
“I know. She was brought in to Cedars-Sinai, but Howie doesn’t know why. He said the hospital called him to tell him she was there, but they wouldn’t give him anymore information. He’s on his way there,” Kevin explained.
Kristin stood and shifted the baby. “Well, what are we waiting for? We should be there, too. You know, to make sure he and Ella are going to be okay.”
Kevin raised a brow. “Now who’s mothering him?”
“Let’s go, Kevin.”
He felt a grin break out on his face. “Yes, ma’am.”
AN: I'd like to mention that I wrote this story before Kevin left, thus the mention about being on tour when this story is set four or five years from now...
