The Flower Series
by Sue

May - Yellow Tulips

May - the first time in Port Charles you can really get outside without a horrible chill creeping into your bones. The trees start to bud and children everywhere are anxious to spend all day outside; including not-quite six-month-old baby girls. KD was fascinated by the outdoors; the sky, the sun and wind on her face, the chirping of the birds.

For being born too soon, it was remarkable how she was progressing ahead of schedule. Every time I laid her on a blanket on the floor she would prop herself up on her little arms and look all around; of course I would be right there with her taking pictures. It was about this time she began to laugh, really laugh. She loved having her daddy blow on her belly so the second he started, she would just giggle like crazy. I don't know who was wrapped around whose finger more - KD around her daddy's or him around hers; regardless, it was a very mutual admiration society.

The first Sunday in May found the three of us taking a stroll in the park. It was a bright, sunny, gentle day with the lightest of breezes, a perfect afternoon for being out, as attested to the throngs of people we encountered. It had been long enough that people had quit staring and snickering behind their hands, and we were able to just be ourselves. Sonny pushed KD's stroller ahead while on a lark I stopped and got a multi-colored pinwheel from a vendor. Catching up with them I kneeled in front of KD and blew on the pinwheel to make it turn 'round and 'round. She laughed and slapped her hands on the stroller tray before reaching out to try and grab the toy. Ah the joys of childhood where simple delights are the most important things in life. I was learning a lot from my daughter.

Take my practice for instance. While I had dabbled here and there since being admitted to the bar, after becoming pregnant I began to take a deep interest in family law - in protecting the rights of the children from the screwed up parents. I knew I needed to know more about psychology, so Cameron and I formed a partnership, which he laughingly referred to as Shrinkem and Suem. The firm of Davis and Lewis specialized in helping broken families iron out their legal and emotional difficulties and I might say we were doing rather well for ourselves. He and Zander were on the mend as were Sonny and Mike - how did I let myself get mixed up with fathers and sons that needed work?

A truly goofy thought entered my mind - I'd have dinner for the four most important men in my life at the moment - Sonny and Mike, Cameron and Zander. I could call the Grille and have something sent over, and the five of us could sit around the table after KD went down for the night and as Cameron would say - chew the fat. On the way back to my apartment I broached Sonny with the idea.

" Next Saturday night, how would you feel about us getting together with Mike, Cameron and Zander?"

Sonny look totally puzzled. "What?"

"I thought that maybe the five us could have dinner together. I could fix something for us. You know, father/son, father/son, and me. Four men, one woman - it'd be good for me."

He tried not to laugh and failed miserably. "What makes you think I want to share you with anyone? For that matter what makes you think they'd want to eat your cooking? I love you and I don't."

My heart skipped. He said it. Do I acknowledge and call him on it, ignore it or gloss over it" I chose the latter. "It's because you love me you'd eat my cooking. Besides, I thought everyone could cook their own meal."

"Huh?"

Whew, I got away with the gloss over. "Everyone could cook their own."

"I think the kitchen would get a little crowded, toots, and you have knives. I know - I bought them. Nope doesn't work."

"Hear me out, Sonny. I can bake a potato, right? Right. I can get a bag of salad and some dressing, and then all that's left is the steaks."

"Now I really don't understand. We all cook out own steak?"

I looked at Sonny like he had a third head. Hey, he didn't know I watch the food channel every now and then. "Fondue, Sonny. Beef fondue."

And so it was planned. I scurried around for the next week getting ready. My first dinner party - domestic bliss was within my grasp. Sonny insisted on his butcher supplying the steak, so I let him, but everything else was mine and mine alone. When I called and extended the invitation to Mike, he accepted on the spot as did Cameron, however Zander was a little problem. As soon as the laughter subsided, he made a snarky comment about how if he wanted a Hungry Man chicken dinner, he'd visit the grocery store. I don't think I ever convinced him that I was actually preparing the meal, but on the off chance that I was, he agreed to come just to be there when the smoke alarms and sprinkler system went off.

By the time the appointed evening had arrived I was calm, cool, collected and ready. This was going to be a success. My wine merchant had been consulted with the menu and had sent me home with several bottles of a lovely California red, guaranteed to blends well with my meal. I put the potatoes in to bake, the salad bowl and tongs in to chill, and pulled a container of pureed carrots and another of baked apples out of the refrigerator in order to feed KD so she'd be ready for bed soon after my guests had arrived. Of course, I miscalculated the time needed to heat the food, and ended up with two absolutely steaming bowls of mashed baby goo.

OK, I thought. Go with the flow. Bathe her while the food cools, only I didn't know until too late that she was into splashing her mommy. Really into splashing her mommy. So, fifteen minutes later, I was sitting in the kitchen, soaking wet from the chest up and shoving Sonny's recipe for sunshine carrots and baked apples into my daughter's face. Unfortunately she was still into splashing, and her hand came down flat onto the Pumba and Timon plate of mashed goo. Half a dinner, and four or five more splats later, the doorbell rang. I glanced up - 7pm. Holy cripes, two hours down the drain - they were here already. Unbuckling KD from the highchair, I went into the living room and opened the door. There stood three stunning men who looked at me and burst out into laughter at the same time.

"Fine. I admit it - I'm not ready yet. Laugh at me. I don't care."

I took KD back into the kitchen, plopped her into the highchair and started shoveling food into her mouth with a vengeance. "It's obvious sweetheart, that they've never seen a busy mom before. I suggest we just ignore them. Maybe they'll go away." I finished getting the food into my daughter then pulled her out of the high chair and took her to the bathroom for another bath and another set of clean jammies. I had just taken KD out to the living room to tell the snickering men goodnight when an explosion came from the kitchen. Mike, Cameron, and I looked up in panic. Zander told us to get down while Sonny boldly went out into the kitchen. A few seconds later he came out with a grave expression on his face and looked at me soberly.

"Alexis?"

"What? What happened?"

"Did you know that before you put potatoes in to bake you should make a small slit in them so steam could escape?" Everyone collapsed in laughter except me; my first dinner party ruined by exploding potatoes. Thank goodness they were cooking their own main course.

Sonny turned off the oven and removed the whole potatoes that were left, then took KD to bed as I sat there cursing while the other three tiptoed back into the living room to give me space. A few minutes later, Sonny came out and opened the refrigerator.

"What are you looking for - the meal I was really going to serve?"

"Butter, cheese, cream cheese or sour cream."

"Why? Are you going to harden our arteries in one fell swoop?"

Sonny grinned as he removed items from the fridge. "Yup - death by twice baked potato. Or should I say once baked, once nuked?" The man was amazing. I resolved to ask for cooking lessons when he wasn't so pressed for time.

Less than thirty minutes later the five of us were sitting around a fondue pot of hot oil, spearing pieces of cubed beef tenderloin and cooking them to our own specifications. Earlier I had set out an assortment of CD's and everyone had chosen one and put it into the CD changer. On random all disc, dinner music was eclectic to say the least; Mike had chosen Frank Sinatra, Cameron picked Delbert McClinton, and I pulled out my favorite Sting. Sonny and Zander went to their respective vehicles and came back with Abby Road and Big Head Todd and the Monsters, respectively. It was quite a musical evening.

We spent a good two hours sitting and talking, eating and drinking, and everyone got along marvelously. When the last meat cube had been fondued, Zander jumped up and cleared the table. Coming back into the dining room he looked puzzled.

"Alexis, I can't find the dessert."

"Uh, there isn't any."

"C'mon, we gotta have dessert." He went back into the kitchen and I could hear him rummaging around in the pantry. Soon he emerged with a big grin on his face and a large box of Vanilla Wafers in his hands. "I bring you cookies."

"Hey, those are the baby's. I give her one to gum every now and then." But it was too late - the guys were divvying up the contents of the box and looking at the special offer of bobble head dolls printed on the back of the carton. For three proofs of purchase you could get a set of four - either Lion King, Winnie the Pooh, Toy Story, or Mickey and friends. As they left thirty minutes later, they had agreed on who would order my daughter what set, and they were taking bets on who's she'd like the best. Unbelievable. Grown men measuring their joysticks over gifts for a six-month-old little girl.

I closed the door behind them, and thankful that KD was now sleeping thru the night, I went to get ready for bed when I stopped short at the mirror on my dresser. It was official - I was a mother. I had entertained all evening with KD's lunch on my shirt (which had smeared and spread when I got soaked bathing her) and Sonny's famous sunshine carrots in my hair and on my face - a large glob of them crusted on my upper lip. Well, it certainly explained the amused looks on their faces when they arrived, but why had they let me continue the evening looking like that? Someone was going to die and they were going to die soon. I took a quick shower and fell into bed.

The next morning I was just starting to hear KD stir in her crib when the doorbell rang. Glancing at the clock I wondered who the heck would disturb me at 7:15 on a Sunday morning. I grabbed my robe, and ran a hand thru my hair as I made my way to the front door - peeking thru the hole I saw Sonny. What the hell, I thought - last night he saw me looking far worse, so figuring I had nothing to lose, I opened the door and turned back towards my bedroom.

"You'll have to make coffee. I'm not up yet."

He chuckled as I left the room to get dressed and made up. Some time later KD and I emerged to the usual morning aromas Sonny brought to our little home, except coffee wasn't among them. I was counting on that coffee - he better have a good excuse. We went into the kitchen and on the table there was a big box, wrapped in flowery paper, a card, and a beautiful vase full of gorgeous yellow tulips. Sonny turned around from the stove and took a more than willing KD from my arms.

"Happy first Mother's Day. Open your present."

Of course I looked at the card first - it was from my gorgeous daughter and signed with her little handprint in an orangish/yellowish paint. I melted. Thru the tears I unwrapped the box to be surprised by a new coffee maker.

"It's foolproof," Sonny said as he pointed to the pictures on the side. "See you put coffee beans in here up to the line, and water in here up to that line. Then you plug it in and turn it on - it grinds the beans and makes the coffee for you - no more guesswork about how much coffee to put in. You'll be opening up your own coffeehouse in no time."

I walked over and gave KD and her daddy a group hug. "Thank you. I didn't even realize it was Mother's Day."

"Don't you want to know about the flowers?" He grinned a truly evil grin.

"Why?"

"They're yellow tulips."

"I know."

"You were cute last night."

I suddenly remember how I had looked for the entire evening; wet, bedraggled, and baby food encrusted. "Why didn't you say something? I had no idea until you left and I looked in the mirror and my hair was limp on one side where it got wet, and there was a big green stain on my blouse. There were apples and carrots in my hair, my eye makeup had run, and I looked horrible!"

"She likes my famous sunshine carrots, huh?"

"Don't change the subject, thank you very much."

"I particularly liked the dried lump of carrots over your lips."

"Funny."

"I did. Maybe you better check out the tulips."

Staring him down, I yanked the 'how to care for your tulips' card out of the vase and I began to read. It wasn't long before my glare had turned into laughter along with Sonny's. As with other flowers, different colors of tulips had varying meanings. Yellow tulips signified "you have sunshine in your smile."

Father's Day was next month. Paybacks could be hell.

part 06