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“Come on, boys! Let’s get your coats on.” My voice bellowed through the narrow hallway of our cottage. The first snow of the year always made me tingle with youthful joy. It was the first winter that I would have with Oliver and the boys in our new home upstate. We had only been in the home for a couple months, but it was more us than any other place we had previously lived in.
Sam and Ben came flying down the stairs and practically tumbled through the hallway. Lacking the strong muscles of his older brother, poor Benny tripped and smacked his forehead on the ground. He immediately began to wail, tears streaming down his chubby cheeks, “Daddy!!! Sammy hurted me!!!”
I rushed to gather Ben in my arms just as Oliver came down the stairs.
“It’s okay, Benny. You’re alright. Just a little bump on the head. A kiss will make it all better.” I soothed my sweet baby boy with multiple kisses to his forehead, relieved that there was no blood or swelling. Sam came over and started tickling his brother to get him to crack a smile. My two beautiful boys were giggling again in no time. I however, was slightly disconcerted by the thin socks that donned their feet. What was Oliver doing the whole time he was supposedly getting the boys dressed to go outside?
“Honey, I thought you were going to dress them in warm clothes, you know it’s cold outside. We’re not just walking around, we’ll be sledding and-“ Oliver halted my eye roll with a kiss to my forehead as he sauntered past me and into the laundry room. He returned moments later with thick boot socks and warm sweaters fresh out of the dryer.
“Come here, boys. Let’s get your clothes on to go sledding,” Oliver stated while giving me a side glance as if to say you need to trust me to take care of you.. all of you.
I sighed and flashed Oliver a smile of concession. I still couldn’t believe that goose was all mine, even if he did drive me crazy occasionally.
It was still snowing when we arrived at the park. There was already an accumulation of 6 inches that had occurred overnight. The pure white snow glistened in the sunlight, just begging to have little footprints stamped all over itself. I stayed back to gather the sleds and various other snow toys while Oliver bounced off toward the big hill with the boys. A wide smile washed over my face at the sight of my three boys, my three boys, laughing and bounding through the snow without a care in the world. The fall semester had been tough on Oliver, lots of stress with students in tough situations, so I was relieved to see him enjoying himself letting the worries of the world dissipate.
“Come on, Daddy! Sled go! Sled go fast!” Ben squealed as I approached the three of them. Oliver gave me a peck on the cheek and grabbed the sled from my grasp to put it down for Ben.
“Let’s race!” Sam said.
Oliver and I smiled at each other and nodded toward our boys. I wrapped Sammy in my arms and Oliver wrapped Benny in his. We got situated on the sleds then Sam counted down, “One, two, three… go!!!”
We went flying down the hill at an alarming pace. Sam and Ben were squealing with delight, while I was clenching my teeth for fear of slamming into some nonexistent tree in the distance. It seemed as though Oliver and Ben were going to prevail on this one.
“Yay, Benny! We’re winning!” Oliver exclaimed.
“We go! We go fast, Daddy!” Benny responded.
By the time Sammy and I reached the bottom of the hill, Oliver was already twirling Ben around in a circle, showing off their victory dance .
“Good job, Daddy and Benny,” Sam sighed and high-fived his brother. I bent down to kiss the top of his head. I was so proud of Sammy for being a good sport and teaching his brother how to lose gracefully.
“Dog pile on Daddy!” I yelled. Sam and Ben immediately charged towards Oliver, pushing on his legs and clinging to his boots. Oliver collapsed to the ground, “I’m hit! I’m being eaten alive! Help!” The boys continued to climb all over Oliver, and I couldn’t help but join in on the fun.
“I’ll save you, Daddy!” I wrestled my way into the clump of bodies, moving Sam and Ben out of the way so I could nuzzle my way into Oliver’s chest. The boys climbed on top of me in retaliation, trying to shove me out of the way with little success. All four of us rolled on the ground, giggling and wrestling until the children gave up and went off to race each other down the hill. I tumbled into Oliver’s arms as he lay on his back, and he squeezed me as if he could keep us there by sheer force. We exchanged a couple deep, slow kisses. I looked up at him from under my lashes and went to speak, but found words futile devices that couldn’t properly convey how much my heart swelled with pure contentment. I would have happily remained in Oliver’s arms for the rest of eternity, watching our kids play in the distance, endless laughter and endless love.
After a long beat, I finally found the words.
“I love this, Oliver.”
“What?” Oliver turned his gaze from the clouds to my eyes.
“Everything.”
“Us, you mean?”
“Those two are one and the same.” I smiled and stroked Oliver’s lips with my thumb before planting a steady kiss with a subtle moan.
We spent the rest of the day racing down the hill, building snowmen, and making snow angels. Our faces were frozen but our hearts were warm. Once the boys were tired out, we packed everything up and headed home.
Oliver made hot chocolate for all of us while I snuggled up with the boys on the couch in front of the fireplace; Sammy on my left and Benny on my right. Both boys started to yawn, and I wondered if Oliver and I would have to drink four hot chocolates by ourselves. Oliver returned with drinks in hand, planting kisses to the top of each of our heads before settling down next to Sam.
“So boys, what was your favorite part of the day?” Oliver asked.
Ben squirmed and took hold of the conversation, “Daddy, we go fast!”
“That’s right, Benny boy, we went really fast.. faster than Sammy and Daddy, didn’t we?” Oliver winked and Benny couldn’t contain his giggles. I squeezed his tiny frame and kissed his dark curls. Oh, how I would never tire of those innocent laughs.
Sam looked pensively into the fire and sipped his hot chocolate. My baby boy looked so grown up, he was really becoming such a good big brother. He heaved a huge sigh and tugged at Oliver’s shirt. “And what about you, Sammy? What was your favorite part?” Oliver nodded and wrapped an arm around Sam’s shoulder.
“Everything. Today was the best,” Sam said. Oliver squeezed him harder, and Sammy crawled his way up Oliver’s torso to kiss him on the cheek. As he grew older, Sam rarely gave out free kisses anymore, so when he did, it was special. I knew Oliver thought the same; he went to say something but the words caught in his throat and tears swelled in his eyes. We held eachother’s gaze for many moments, his tears mirrored in my own eyes.
I felt a tug on my leg and found Benny looking up at me, arms outstretched. I scooped my baby into my arms and placed him next to his brother, snuggled inbetween Oliver and myself. Both boys were asleep in minutes, Ben’s head in my lap and Sam’s head in Oliver’s. We carried the boys upstairs and into their respective beds without stirring them awake. Once both boys were down, Oliver wrapped his arm around my waist as we walked out of their room. I stopped in the doorway to turn around and have one last look at my babies for the night.
“Sweet dreams, my beautiful boys,” I smiled up at Oliver, “all three of my beautiful boys.”
“I thank my lucky stars each time I wake up and this isn’t a dream,” Oliver responded.
“Me too, Elio. Me too.” I sighed and planted a soft kiss to Oliver’s lips. I would relish this for rest of my days.