The Hardest Part Is Letting Go Of Your Dreams

Friday morning Frank kisses us goodbye and leaves for work and Ruby and I sit at the table and draw for a little while, me getting a head start on the next comic strip until Ruby gets bored and says "Daddy I'm bored." I chuckle and set my sketch pad aside as I say "What would you like to do baby girl?" "Can we play dollies?" She asks and I smile and say "Ok go get your dolls." She jumps down off her chair and runs out of the room before coming back, her arms loaded with Barbie dolls. "In the living room Rubes" I tell her and we go in and set up on the floor, changing the dolls outfits and walking them
around, making them interact as Ruby instructs me. After a while there's a knock at the door and I know it's Mikey so I stand up and walk over to answer it, Ruby standing up too and toddling after me. "Daddy" she says and I turn around to see her toddling towards me holding her arms out. I bend down and pick her up before walking over and opening the door, coming face to face with Mikey. Mikey smiles wide and says "Hey Gee. Hey cutie pie, you must be Ruby?" He says and Ruby says "No" and buries her face in my neck. I smile and shake my head, trying to convey that he shouldn't worry about it and he smiles and shrugs. I step back and usher him inside and once the door is closed Ruby wriggles around so I put her down and she toddles back over to her barbies. I step in and hug Mikey, happy to see him again after so long and while we're hugging and greeting each other I hear Ruby scream at the top of her lungs "That's MY daddy" and when I look down she's standing beside us hitting Mikey's leg as hard as her little body can manage. "Hey hey stop it. We don't hit people" I scold her and her little bottom lip quivers before she bursts into tears and sobs out "My daddy." I kneel down infront of her and pull her into my arms. "Shh Shh Rubes it's ok, I'm right here, I'm still your daddy." "My daddy" she whimpers out quietly as her cries slowly die down. When I stand back up I bring her with me, resting her on my hip and gently wiping her cheeks dry. "Rubes baby this is Uncle Mikey, he's daddies brother. I think you need to say sorry for hitting him, that wasn't very nice was it?" She shakes her head and says "No." "Do you want daddy to take your dollies away?" I ask and she stops shaking her head and stares at me. "Say sorry Ruby" I tell her and her bottom lip quivers again. "It's ok Gee, really" Mikey insists but I shake my head. "No hitting other people isn't ok and Ruby you need to say sorry right now" I say turning my attention back to her. "No" she screams and starts thrashing around in my arms so I carry her to her room
and lay her on the bed. "Time out miss" I tell her sternly before walking out of the room and pulling the door closed halfway. Ruby starts screaming and it's hard but I keep walking, ignoring her. When I get back into the living room I sit down with Mikey and say "Sorry Mikes, I don't know what's wrong with her, she's never done anything like this before." "Hey it's ok, she's only three she doesn't understand. Three year olds throw tantrums sometimes." I smile and we sit and catch up, Ruby's screams eventually dying down. I'm about to get up and go check on her when I hear little footsteps and a tiny little shaky voice call out "Daddy." I stand up and walk to the doorway, seeing her standing in the hall, her teddy dangling from her fist. I open my arms to her and she runs forward, holding her arms up and I pick her up and cuddle her to my
chest. "You ready to say sorry now?" I ask. She nods and says "I'm sorry daddy." I kiss her forehead and say "Good girl. Now you need to say sorry to Uncle Mikey." Her face screws up into a frown but she doesn't protest and I take her back into the living room and sit on the couch beside Mikey, sitting her in my lap. "Go on baby" I say and she mumbles out "I's sorry." Mikey smiles down at her and she clutches her teddy bear to her chest. "Hi Ruby I'm Uncle Mikey. That's a nice teddy you have there, what's his name?" She stares at him before saying "Billy." Mikey smiles wider, finally getting somewhere with her as he says "That's a nice name. I actually brought you a present. Would you like it?" "Present?" She says, perking up and he gets up and goes over to his bag beside the door and pulls out a soft cushion shaped like a doll, with wool hair. It's extremely colourful and Ruby's eyes light up at the sight and she drops her teddy, reaching out towards
it and making grabby hands. Mikey chuckles as he sits
back beside us and hands her the cushion. Ruby crushes it to her chest in a cuddle and smiles wide. "What do you say Rubes?" I prompt and she says "Thank you." Mikey smiles and says "You're welcome sweety." Soon it's lunch time so I slide Ruby off my lap and go into the kitchen to make lunch, leaving her with Mikey. When I come back in with some
sandwiches and juice Ruby is sitting on the floor with Mikey playing dolls again, giggling and babbling away to him like they're old friends and I smile, happy she's ok with him.

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