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“Daddy, is Mommy your Valentine?”
Sam looks up from the book he’s reading at Ainsley’s question, expression amused. “Well- yeah, I suppose she is.”
“You haven’t asked her?!” Ainsley’s jaw drops, and Sam lets out a little huff of amusement as he set his book down. The nine year old looks affronted at the idea of him not asking his partner of a decade and a half to be his Valentine. “Daddy. You have to ask her! How else will she know she’s your Valentine??”
“You’ve got a point there, sweetheart,” he agrees, and closes a bookmark into his book, setting it on the coffee table and sitting forward. “So, what do you think I should do?”
Ainsley’s entire face lights up, and Sam can’t help the way he smiles as she launches herself off the kitchen chair she’s sitting at, coming to sit next to him on the couch, nearly vibrating with excitement.
“Well- you have to get her flowers, and- and chocolate, and jewelry!” she exclaims, words nearly tripping over themselves in their haste to leave her mouth. Sam listens patiently, nodding along.
“Well, I guess we better go to the store then, hm?” he says, and Ainsley nods fervently.
Rowena was out with Blair and Fiona running errands with a visiting Claire, and Sam was excited to spend some one on one time with his eldest. He helps Ainsley into her sneakers and then her red raincoat, and her little hand slips into his as they walk to the car through the sprinkling rain. Once Ainsley was strapped into her car seat, Sam pulled out of the driveway and headed into town.
Their first stop is the flower shop, and Sam lets Ainsley pick out a handful of red roses from a bucket of water, adding in three pink carnations and a little bit of baby’s breath to finish the bouquet.
“This is for my mommy!” Ainsley tells the florist as she wrapped the flowers together in a sheet of pink tissue paper and red ribbon, and the woman smiled at her. “My daddy is asking her to be his Valentine!”
“Well that is very sweet,” she says, and uses the scissors the make the ribbons curlicue, Ainsley’s mouth making an o shape of surprise as she watched. “What else do you and your daddy have planned?”
“Lots,” Ainsley stresses, and both Sam and the florist chuckle at her sincerity. Once Sam had paid and they were back in the car, he meets Ainsley’s gaze in the rearview mirror.
“Where to next, boss?” he asks, and she tapped her chin dramatically.
“Jewelry!” she cries, and Sam saluted her before heading to a local shop that sold signature pieces that Rowena favored. He keeps Ainsley up on his hip so she can see into the tops of the glass cases, and she keeps her arms looped around his neck, occasionally pointing to something she liked.
“What about that one?” Sam points to a chunky blue crystal necklace, and Ainsley makes a face and shakes her head, pulling a snort of amusement from Sam. “Alright, smarty pants. You pick, then.”
Ainsley’s little brow furrowed, looking intently at the rows of jewelry, before she finally pointed at a large, luminous opal ring, the milky stone set between two emeralds on a silver band. It’s beautiful, and very Rowena, and Sam softens as he presses a kiss to his daughter’s head.
“She’ll love that, Ains,” he says, and Ainsley beams up at him, arm tight around his neck as she settled her head against his. “What about those earrings to match?”
He points to a pair of emerald and opal studs, designed to look like moonlight over leaves, and Ainsley nodded enthusiastically. The shopkeeper, an elderly woman with a mess of graying braids, smiled at them as Ainsley pointed out their selections.
“My daddy is asking my mommy to be his Valentine,” Ainsley tells her, and the older woman laughed as she rang them out. She winked at Sam.
“Your mommy is a very lucky lady,” she tells Ainsley, and Ainsley giggled, burying her face in Sam’s neck.
After the jewelry store they stop at McDonald’s for lunch, Ainsley happily munching on chicken nuggets and swinging her feet, humming to herself as she dunked each nugget in barbeque sauce. Sam watches her, smiling, and pops a fry into his mouth.
“So, what’s next, kiddo?” he asks, and Ainsley finishes chewing before she answers.
“We need chocolate, Daddy. Lots of it,” she tells him, and he arches an eyebrow. “When Leo asked Abby to be his girlfriend he gave her three big candy bars. Three, Daddy!”
“That’s a lot of candy bars,” Sam says, though he’s still shellshocked by the fact that his daughter even knew what a girlfriend was at her age. Ainsley just nodded, and ate another chicken nugget, unbothered by the way her father had gone pale.
“He gave her a Crunch bar, a Kit-Kat, and Reese’s,” Ainsley continues, dunking a fistful of fries into her ketchup. “Abby’s favorites were the Reese’s, and she shared the Kit-Kat with me, since they’re my favorite.”
Sam chuckled to himself and ate another few fries until they’re both finished- once they’ve cleaned up, they head to the drug store down the street, and Sam lets Ainsley roam free on the candy aisle. He held the basket while she plunked candy into it- Rowena wasn’t much of a sweets person beyond M&Ms and a recent affinity for gummy Nerd Clusters, so Sam knows most of this candy will be devoured by the girls, but he doesn’t mind.
Ainsley requested Chappell Roan on the drive home- a current favorite of all the girls- and she sings loudly from the backseat as they cruise down their street, the rain finally stopped. The driveway was still empty when Sam pulled up, and Ainsley asks to carry the bag with the jewelry into the house, carrying it carefully as Sam carried the rest.
Ainsley directs Sam on how to arrange everything in the living room, the jewelry in the center of a ring of candy and the flowers in a crystal vase Sam had unearthed from under the sink. She sighed happily once it was set, hands clasped together beneath her chin.
“It’s perfect, Daddy,” Ainsley tells him, and Sam grins, dropping a kiss to the top of his daughter’s head just as the front door opened. “Mommy!”
“Hello, my angel!” Rowena greeted as Ainsley ran to her, Blair just behind her and Fiona up on Claire’s hip. “Did you have a nice afternoon with Daddy?”
Ainsley nodded fervently, and slipped her hand into Rowena’s, tugging gently. “Mommy, Daddy has something to ask you.”
Rowena arched an eyebrow, looking in Sam’s direction, and let Ainsley guide her toward the living room, Sam just behind them, Claire and Blair trailing behind them curiously. Rowena gasped softly at the spread in the living room, and Ainsley looked up at her proudly.
“It’s come to my attention that it is a travesty that I have not officially asked you to be my Valentine, Rowena,” Sam says, and Rowena’s features softened, her nose wrinkling fondly as she looked up at him. “Ainsley, in all her wisdom, has helped me correct this grievous oversight.”
“Aye, she’s quite smart,” Rowena winked at their eldest, and Ainsley flushed happily, squirming happily in place.
“So, my love. Will you be my Valentine?” Sam asks, and Rowena closed the distance between them, cupping his chin between her fingers and kissing him firmly.
“I wouldn’t want to be anyone else’s,” she answers when they part, grinning. “This was wonderful, Ainsley. Thank you, my little love.”
“You’re welcome, Mommy,” Ainsley beamed. “I picked out the ring!”
“And it’s lovely,” Rowena tells her, cupping her cheek. “You know me so well.”
“Well, shit, if I’m not coming home to this Kaia’s sleepin’ on the couch,” Claire says, and both Sam and Rowena chuckled at the blonde. “You two give Dean and Cas a run for their romantic money these days.”
Rowena rolled her eyes, and came to take Fiona out of Claire’s arms, the toddler snuggling into her mother’s neck, clearly sleepy.
“Do you want to stay for dinner?” Sam asks, and Claire shakes her head, smiling.
“I’m surprising Kaia with sushi,” she says, and then holds her arms out. “Niece hugs, please.”
Ainsley and Blair flocked to her, and Claire pressed kisses to both their heads as they clung to her. When they finally parted, she saluted Sam and Rowena and blew a kiss in Fiona’s direction.
“Still on for bar trivia next Thursday?” she asked, and Sam nodded. “Excellent. Happy Valentine’s Day!”
Ainsley and Blair waved, watching as her car pulled out of the driveway, and Rowena leaned back into Sam, his arm coming around her as he buried a kiss in her hair.
“I love you,” he whispered, kissing the top of her head again, and hears her hum softly, fingers coming up to press over his heart.
“Sap,” she murmurs, but he can hear her smile. She tipped her head back and Sam kissed her smile, grinning himself. “Happy Valentine’s Day, Samuel.”
“Yeah,” he murmurs, and kisses her again. “Happy Valentine’s Day, Rowena.”