Hannah was only a year and half old when Jim first moved into the house, so she hardly understood what was going on. She hardly even knew who her Uncle Jim was. She would mainly just stare at him whenever she passed by the couch. There were a few times where she would wave at him and Jim would reply with his usual wave and forced smile. Other than that, Hannah did not seem to comprehend that Jim was living at their house.
Hannah was now two years old and sort of understood that there somebody other than her parents and brothers living in the house, but she still didn't entirely understand that it was her uncle. She still knew nothing about Jim's problems and didn't understand that he was always feeling sad. Anthony was bracing himself for the questions that she would start asking sometime within the next couple of years.
One day, however, something very unexpected happened. It had started out like just a regular day, with Jim having just finished his lunch (ham sandwich) and now staring at the ceiling and Anthony keeping a close eye on Jim from the dining area. Anthony was trying to read the newspaper, but it was hard doing so when his eye was darting back in forth from the paper to Jim.
Hannah, wearing a pink tutu and tiara, came running into the living room singing some gibberish song that she had made up. Anthony couldn't help smile a bit as Hannah ran around the room in circles. It was pretty adorable to watch.
Jim also started watching Hannah as well. After a few seconds of running around the room, Hannah looked over at Jim and then walked up to him. She leaned onto the couch and began hopping up and down, smiling very largely. Anthony had expected Jim to just stare at her for a few seconds and then wave and roll over, just like he did with the boys. Instead, he stared at Hannah for several seconds and then did something that nearly made Anthony's jaw drop through the floor. Jim smiled. It wasn't one of his forced smiles. It was a genuine smile.
"Hi sweetie," Jim said, still smiling. Anthony was completely frozen.
"Hi," Hannah responded, waving.
Jim slowly sat up on the couch. Hannah leaped onto the couch and began to hop up and down. Jim continued to stare at her and smile.
"What'chu doing?" Jim said.
"I'm a princess," Hannah said, as she continued to hop up and down.
"Are you?"
"Yeah."
"That's great. You're a pretty princess."
Hannah smiled and hopped off the couch. She did a twirl and then sat down on the floor, where her stuffed rabbit and pig was laying. After about a minute of her playing with the animals, Jim (who had continued to smile and watch her the entire time) slowly stood up and walked over to Hannah.
"What are you doing now?" Jim asked.
Hannah held up her stuffed animals and smiled.
Jim sat down on the floor with her. Anthony kept a very close watch.
"Are those animals?" He asked.
Hannah nodded and handed him the pig.
"I'm a bunny!" Hannah shouted as she moved the stuffed rabbit along the floor. "And you're a piggy!"
Jim started to move the pig along the floor with the rabbit.
"Hi, Mr. Piggy," Hannah said. "I'm a bunny."
"Hi, Mr. Bunny," Jim replied. "I'm a pig."
"It's Miss Bunny."
"Oh, I'm sorry. Miss Bunny."
"We're going to the zoo! Let's go!"
"Okay!"
Throughout all this, Anthony was text messaging Ellen, who was taking Daniel and Elijah to get haircuts at that moment. It would have been too much of a shock for her to arrive home and see what was happening.
Jim and Hannah played with the animals on the floor for several minutes. Hannah continued to come up with adventures for "Mr. Piggy" and "Miss Bunny" while Jim happily followed along. Anthony began to smile very largely as he watched. Tears also began to form in his eyes.
"You can't catch me Mr. Piggy!" Hannah shouted, standing up with the rabbit and running to the couch.
"Oh yes I can!" Jim shouted, following after her with the pig.
Both Hannah and Jim collapsed onto the couch. Jim then tapped it against the rabbit.
"I got you!" Jim shouted.
Hannah began laughing wildly. She lay down on her back with her head hanging off the couch, causing her tiara to fall off. Jim kneeled down and picked it up.
"Ooh, your princess crown fell off," Jim said, placing it back on Hannah's head. "You can't lose that. Princesses need their crowns to stay pretty."
Hannah smiled largely, but then she suddenly got a strange look on her face. She leaned up and put her hands between her legs.
"I have to go potty!" Hannah shouted.
"Uh oh," Jim said, still smiling.
"I'm on it!' Anthony shouted, quickly leaving the dining area.
He walked over to the living room and lifted up Hannah, who kept a tight grip on her rabbit. As Anthony carried Hannah over to the bathroom, Jim held up the stuffed pig and said: "I'll be waiting for you right here, Miss Bunny!"
It was safe to say that Anthony hadn't expected the afternoon to turn out this way.
Ellen obviously hadn't seen any of this coming either, as her expression was pretty much the same. Jim and Hannah continued to play in the living room together up until Ellen returned home with the boys. Ellen couldn't help but just stare in bewilderment for at least five minutes.
"But Minnie, where's my cake?" Jim asked as he moved a white stuffed bear along the floor.
"Right here!" Hannah shouted, moving her Minnie Mouse doll along the floor. She the picked up a plastic cake and handed it to Jim.
"Thank you!" Jim said.
He then began moving the stuffed bear's hands to make it look like it was eating the cake. Hannah leaned back on the carpet and began kicking her feet.
"Mmm!" Jim said. "This cake is yummy! Thank you, Minnie!"
"Butterflies! Butterflies! Cookies!" Hannah shouted as she kicked her feet.
Jim laughed.
"Are you kicking your feet? Look, I can do it too!"
Jim then began kicking his feet in the exact same way as Hannah, causing both of them to laugh together.
Ellen looked over at Anthony. She had an awkward look on her face.
"I don't even know what to say about this," Ellen said. "Do you?"
"Not really," Anthony replied. "But isn't it beautiful?"
"Beautiful? I don't know about beautiful. I guess this is kind of cute to watch, but I also find it pretty weird to see a grown man in his underwear playing with a little girl's toys on the floor."
"Well, I think it's beautiful. Every bit of it."
"Why?"
"He's happy."
"What?"
"Jim. He's finally happy. After so many years, I finally get to see him happy. I finally get to see his smile again."
Ellen was silent for a very long moment.
At that moment, Hannah had started to crawl around the floor on all fours. Jim began to laugh.
"Now what are you doing?" He asked, still chuckling.
"I'm a puppy!" Hannah shouted. "Woof! Woof! Woof!"
"Are you? Well, then I'll be a puppy too. Actually I'll be a big dog. Since I'm big. But I'll be a nice big dog. And I'll protect you from all of the mean big dogs."
"Woof! Woof! Woof!"
Jim and Hannah then began to crawl around on all fours together. They both barked loudly as they did.
Anthony began laughing quite hard. Ellen also couldn't help but smile herself as she watched. It was the first time she had smiled since she had seen Jim behaving this way.
"Are you crying?" Ellen asked Anthony.
"Yeah," Anthony said, wiping his eyes with both of his hands.
Jim and Hannah continued to play with each other for the next several hours. With the exceptions of wanting to eat, needing to use the bathroom, and taking her nap around three o'clock, Hannah hardly even acknowledged either of her parents up until her bedtime. She was entirely focused on her new playmate.
Jim and Hannah mainly played with toys for the next several hours (the adventures that Hannah came up with were just so adorable), but they did other things together as well. At one point, Hannah tried to do a hand stand and Jim tried to do one along with her. At another point, Jim and Hannah began to chase each other around the house, ending with Jim grabbing Hannah and spinning her around. Hannah, of course, laughed wildly as he did this.
Anthony continued to smile and tear up quite a bit as he watched the two play together. After seeing nothing but Jim's sadness for over eight years (ever since Cassie and Meagan's first and only visit), he couldn't but cry as he finally got to see Jim smiling again. It seemed to good to be true.
After Hannah was put to bed around seven-thirty, Jim returned to his normal routine of laying on the couch. However, he still continued to smile for a while. It was clear that there were very different things were going through his mind at that moment.
After Jim went to bed around eleven, Anthony and Ellen both got ready themselves. However, Anthony could not fall asleep. What was going to become of Jim from this day forward? Was he finally going to get out of his gloomy state? Was this just a one-time thing? Would he only be happy around Hannah? Was this the beginning of returning to his former self?
It was definitely not a one-time thing. As soon as Jim woke up the next morning, the very thing he said was: "Hannah isn't awake yet, right?"
"Right," Ellen replied, drinking her coffee.
"Okay, well I guess I'll go wait over there," Jim said. He then walked over to the living room and lied down on the couch. A giant smile took up almost his entire face.
Hannah ended up waking up about an hour later. After finishing her breakfast (Hannah could hardly do anything when she was hungry), the very first thing she did was race of to the living room and start hopping up and down next to Jim. Anthony smiled very largely as he watched from the kitchen.
The next hour and half or so consisted of more adventures with Hannah's toys, Jim and Hannah doing weird dances, and Hannah riding Jim's back like a horse. Both Anthony and Ellen watched the entire time (while at the same time trying to keep an eye on the boys), smiling and laughing.
Hannah eventually wanted to eat lunch, giving Jim the perfect opportunity to take a shower. As Jim entered the kitchen about twenty minutes later, Anthony nearly dropped his glass of water. Jim was fully clothed.
"Hey guys," Jim said as he walked in. "How ya' doin'?"
"Jim," Anthony said, still quite surprised. "You...finally decided to put on some clothes."
"Yeah, I know. I just thought I'd make myself a bit more presentable for my play date. I can't go on adventures with Minnie Mouse in just my tighty whities. It's not gentleman-like."
"Umm...okay then. Great."
Jim walked over to Hannah, who at that moment was focused on her turkey sandwich. Jim began stroking her hair, which got her attention.
"Hi Sweetheart," Jim said.
"Hi," Hannah replied, smiling very largely.
"Do you like your lunch?"
"Yeah."
"Is it yummy?"
"Yeah."
"Well, I'll let you keep eating. I'll be waiting for you in the living room."
"Okay."
The next several hours was more of Jim and Hannah playing with toys, running around the house, pretending to be animals, and Jim grabbing Hannah by her feet and dangling her upside down. If Anthony didn't already have flashbacks of Jim and Cassie playing together (there were too many memories to even count at this point), seeing Hannah laughing wildly as Jim dangled her upside down would've given Anthony pure nostalgia overload.
Right before Hannah went to the bed, Jim gave her a giant hug and kiss. He then whispered to her: "Goodnight Princess. I can't wait to see you again tomorrow. We're going to have such a fun day."
Sure enough, this is how things were for the next few years. Jim and Hannah continued to play together each day. Whether it was toys, pretend, dress-up (Jim couldn't fit into Hannah's outfits, but he at least put on funny hats and glasses), dancing, or running around together, Jim and Hannah spent each doing almost nothing but playing together. Ellen would always give Anthony highlights about what happened during the day each time he returned home from work. Anthony severely wished that he could be at home each day to watch Jim and Hannah playing together.
As Hannah grew a little older, she and Jim began doing different things together, including having tea parties and painting nails. Jim also soon introduced Hannah to the "Castle" game that he had played with Cassie and Meagan years ago and Hannah had a blast with it. She just loved pretending that she was an actual princess, especially while wearing her favorite princess dress that she had gotten for her third birthday. She also thought it was hilarious seeing Jim wearing one of her tiaras.
Past memories continued to return to Anthony's head the more and more that he saw Jim and Hannah play together. At this point, it was clear why Jim really loved playing with Hannah. Anthony perfectly understood and didn't think it was wrong at all, but he decided it was best not to bring it up to Jim. He didn't want to ruin Jim's happiness.
Although Jim and Hannah's bond had started out as something very adorable and beautiful, problems began to ensue from it as time passed. By the time Hannah was nearing four, she had become practically inseparable from Jim and would get very upset whenever she had to leave him. Hannah's first day of preschool had been extremely difficult since she refused to leave the house and (according to her teacher) cried almost the entire day. Each day afterwards, Jim always had to hug and kiss her and ensure to her that he would be waiting right at the house for her, which only mildly helped. There were some times where Ellen had to pick Hannah up from preschool early (sometimes after only a few hours) because she wouldn't stop crying.
Jim himself would get pretty disappointed whenever Hannah had to leave, as she was the only thing that made him feel happy at this point and he would have to wait several hours before she came back home (unless, of course, she came home early). Anthony (who took Hannah to preschool each day) would always cringe as he imagined Jim laying on the couch for hours just waiting and wishing that the time would go by faster.
By the time Hannah was four, a much greater problem arose. At this point, Hannah was much closer to Jim than her own parents. While Hannah still loved her parents very much, she clearly only wanted to spend quality time with Jim and nobody else. This upset Anthony and Ellen quite a bit as they both loved Hannah very much and wanted to have a bond with her as well, especially since she was their only daughter. Anthony and Ellen both constantly tried to make an effort to have one-on-one time with her, but Hannah always refused. She only wanted to be with Jim. Whenever Anthony or Ellen tried to spend quality time with Hannah, she would demand that Jim join in with them. If Anthony or Ellen tried to take her out somewhere (even if it was somewhere that they knew she would love, such as Toys "R" Us), she would start to cry. It was a nightmare.
In addition, Jim and Hannah's very close relationship was also affecting the boys. Daniel and Elijah both constantly felt jealous that Jim spent so much time with Hannah and hardly even talked to them. While Joel didn't seem to mind Jim spending so much time with Hannah, he really wished that he could talk to Jim more. The only thing Anthony and Ellen could tell the boys was that Jim spent the most time with Hannah because she was a girl and Jim is used to raising girls, because that's all he's ever had.
"What's wrong with boys?" Daniel once asked after being told this.
"It's not that he doesn't like boys," Ellen had replied as she was folding laundry. "It's that he just doesn't know how to play with them because he's never had one. He's just not use to them."
"But he's a boy," Elijah said.
"Well, it's been a long time since he's been a little boy," Ellen said. "He doesn't really remember what he liked to do back then."
"Wait, so I'm going to lose my memory when I grow up?" Daniel asked.
"No, that's not what I said."
"Does that mean my math homework is pointless, because I'm going to just forget about math when I grow up?"
"Daniel, please go do your homework."
Even with all of these problems, Anthony still did not want to say anything to Jim about it. After visiting Jim at the hospital following his suicide attempt (the moment where Anthony first discovered Jim clinging to life still haunted Anthony's nightmares), Anthony made a promise to himself that he would never ever do anything that would upset Jim again. Jim's bond with Hannah had made him happy for the first time in several years and Anthony just couldn't take that happiness away from him. He just couldn't.
But Anthony just couldn't do nothing. He had to find some sort of solution to this mess. This was his daughter. This was his only daughter. He was supposed to be the first man that she ever falls in love with. He needed to do whatever it took to build a great relationship with her.
After a long talk with Ellen one night (which left Anthony feeling extremely tired as he went to work the next morning), they both decided that the only thing that they could do was to spend as much time with Jim and Hannah as possible. Although Anthony and Ellen had joined in on Jim and Hannah's playtime before (considering this was pretty much the only way to spend time with Hannah), they usually only did so when they had time for it. With a house and three other children to take care of, it was often hard to find time to make time for Jim and Hannah. However, if Anthony and Ellen wanted to build a great relationship with Hannah, they needed to make as much time for her as possible. It was going to be a long and extremely difficult process, but it would be worth it in the end.
"This was how Jim and Hannah formed their relationship," Anthony said as they talked. "We just need to do the same."
That night, Anthony and Ellen came up with a routine that would that they began the very next day. Whenever Ellen picked up Hannah from preschool on weekdays, the very first thing she would do after returning to the house was ask Hannah and Jim what they were planning on doing together. She then would happily play along in their games up until Anthony arrived home from work about three hours later. All the while, Ellen made sure to keep a close eye on the boys.
After Anthony returned home from work, he would join in on Jim and Hannah's games while Ellen left to go make dinner (which usually ranged from forty five minutes to an hour). After dinner was over, either Ellen or Anthony (they took turns) would spend time with Jim and Hannah up until Hannah's bedtime. They then could use the rest of the night to spend time together.
After breakfast on weekend mornings, Anthony and Ellen would each take turns spending time with Jim and Hannah for two hours. While one parent was spending time with Jim and Hannah, the other parent could focus on either cleaning the house, spending time with the boys, or just relaxing for a short while. Once again, Anthony and Ellen could use the time following Hannah's bedtime to be with each other.
Obviously, the most difficult part about Anthony and Ellen's new routine was getting little time to spend with each other. While there were some very rare moments where Anthony and Ellen could join in on Jim and Hannah's games together, there usually needed to be at least one parent taking care of the house and giving plenty of attention to the three boys. The boys also often felt jealous that their parents made a routine based entirely around their sister but not them. Overall, the routine often lead to a lot of stress.
However, this stress was balanced out by all the happy moments that Anthony and Ellen finally got to spend with Hannah. Thankfully, she had no problem with her parents joining in on the games. As long as her Uncle Jim remained part of them, she was perfectly fine. Anthony was beyond happy to finally be getting to spend time with his daughter and building a bond with her, though he couldn't help but feel a bit awkward and silly at times as he played the games. While Jim seemed to have no problem getting into Hannah's stuffed animal and castle adventures, Anthony often felt goofy as he tried to follow along with the games himself.
"Umm...do I have to put this on?" Anthony asked as he was handed one of Hannah's tiaras.
"Yes, it's your prince crown!" Jim said, smiling widely. "You have to look pretty for your princess!'
"Yeah, I'm your princess, Daddy!" Hannah shouted.
"Okay sure," Anthony said, putting on the tiara. "I'm your prince! Look at my crown!"
Jim and Hannah both laughed.
It was safe to say that Anthony was still learning how to play with a little girl (he had only gotten to play with Cassie and Meagan a few times). Thankfully, there was so much that he could learn from Jim.
"Hey, you wanted a girl," Ellen once snickered to Anthony after he finished playing another ridiculous game of Castle.
"Yep," Anthony had replied, smiling. "And I can't be more grateful to have one."
Ellen felt even more awkward playing the games than Anthony did. While Anthony had at least gotten some experience playing with little girls years earlier, Ellen had no experience whatsoever. Even tea parties were something that she struggled with doing right.
"I don't care what anyone says," Ellen once said shortly after Hannah was in bed. "Boys are a whole lot easier."
"Not with potty training," Anthony had replied, chuckling.
"True, true."
Despite the awkward feelings, Anthony and Ellen still always had a fun time playing with Hannah. It didn't matter how weird they felt, they was getting to spend time with their daughter. Anthony and Ellen loved Hannah with all of their heart and loved anything that they did with her. Whatever it took to finally build their bond with Hannah, they would happily do it.
Sure enough, Anthony and Ellen's plan worked in the end. By the time Hannah was nearing kindergarten, she loved spending time with her parents just as much as Jim. She was now even willing to spend some alone time with them. Anthony and Ellen now took Hannah out to spend quality time with her at least once a weekend and Hannah would always have a wonderful time. She wouldn't cry once whenever she left Jim.
Hannah's first day of kindergarten was definitely much better than her first day of preschool, although it was still pretty emotional. But for a much different reason.
Just as Hannah was about to head out the door with Anthony, Jim walked up to her and kneeled down to her level. A giant smile spread across his face.
"Bye Princess," He said, as a large tear dripped from his eye. "I hope you have an amazing day."
"Thank you, Uncle Jim," Hannah said, smiling back at him.
Jim and Hannah then began to hug each other very tightly. It was very beautiful to watch. Anthony couldn't help but tear up a bit as he watched.
After Jim and Hannah finished hugging, Jim gave her a giant kiss on the cheek and then stood back up. He was wiping his eyes quite heavily.
According to Ellen, Jim cried for at least another thirty minutes after Anthony and Hannah left. Anthony was really hoping that Jim was crying out of joy and not out of sadness about a certain something else.
As the months continued to pass, Hannah began to spend less and less time with Jim. Though they still had a great relationship and Jim still sometimes spent time with her, Hannah never seemed to be entirely focused on him anymore. She was not only starting to prefer to be around her parents more often (particularly Anthony), but she also liked to just play by herself. It seemed that even young children liked to have some alone time every so often. Not to mention that Hannah had also began to make plenty of friends in kindergarten and she often wanted to play with them rather than any of her family members.
Needless to say, Anthony and Ellen were beyond happy that they finally had a great relationship with their daughter again. Anthony in particular was beyond ecstatic that Hannah had turned into a giant daddy's girl. But sadly, not all of the members of the Burleson family were entirely happy about how everything had turned out.
Hannah had been the one thing that made Jim feel happy for the first time in a long time and it was clear that he was sad that she didn't want to spend time with him as much anymore. It was also very clear that he was desperate to get her to rekindle their old bond, as he constantly would ask her if she wanted to play. Whenever Hannah rejected his offer (usually saying that she would rather play by herself or with Anthony), a very sad and hurt look would always appear on his face. Jim was now back at the stage where he spent most of the day with an upset look on his face.
Anthony would not only feel sad for Jim, but would also feel very terrified. This is what Anthony had always been trying to prevent. He couldn't bear to see Jim sad again. Not after what had happened a few years earlier. Not after he finally found happiness again...
But what could Anthony do? He, Ellen, and Jim all spending time with Hannah is what had lead to this outcome to begin with. Anthony couldn't just force Hannah to only spend time with Jim again. If anything, that was exactly what Anthony didn't want to do, as he couldn't even imagine losing the great bond he had formed with his daughter. Basically, Anthony felt he was trapped and there was almost no way out.
After a month or so of constantly stressing about these things, Anthony and Jim finally had a talk about the entire matter. However, Anthony hadn't provoked the conversation. Jim did.
Anthony had been in the dining area drinking his morning coffee and looking over work papers when Jim randomly walked up to him.
"Hey Anthony," Jim said, rubbing his eye a bit.
"What's up, Jim?" Anthony asked, taking a drink from his coffee.
Jim took a very long deep breath.
"Anthony, I just wanted to say I'm sorry about these past few years," He said, rubbing his eye again.
Anthony stared at him for a moment.
"What do you mean?" Anthony asked.
Jim took another long breath.
"About spending so much time with Hannah," He said.
"Jim, you don't have to be sorry about anything," Anthony said.
"But I pretty much took Hannah away from you."
"Jim, please don't think that. I was glad you got to spend so much time with Hannah. I wanted you to be happy again."
"But then she didn't want to spend time with you. Didn't that hurt you?"
"Well, I...I..."
"Never mind. You don't have to say anything. I already know the answer.
Anthony sighed.
"Jim, the only thing I've wanted is to have a relationship with Hannah as well. That doesn't mean you still can't have one. There' nothing wrong with wanting to have close relationship with your niece. That's actually pretty common."
"Anthony, please stop trying to butter everything up. I already know how you felt about everything. How you really felt. I went overboard on my relationship with Hannah and you know it. You just don't want to tell me how you really feel because you don't want to upset me. Am I right?"
Anthony said nothing.
"Yeah, I went overboard. But honestly, I really couldn't help it. That day that Hannah first stared at me happily, I felt something that I hadn't felt in several years. That warm feeling. That feeling that I only used to feel when...when I still had Cassie and Meagan. When that feeling came to me again...I...I...I just couldn't control myself. I just had to...I just..."
"Jim, you don't need to explain," Anthony said. "I already know."
Jim sighed heavily. Anthony could see tears forming in his eyes.
"Anthony," He said, wiping his eyes. "I just wanted to let you know that I was never purposely trying to take Hannah away from you. I just wanted to...I...I just wanted to...I just wanted to have those moments again. The moments that I lost..."
Jim sniffled and heavily wiped his eyes.
"But don't worry about it anymore, Anthony," Jim continued. "I've done some deep thinking about this whole thing. I can try to get those moments back as much as I want, but it will never make me Hannah's father. I don't want to replace you as her father, Anthony. I know what it feels like to lose a child. I never want the same thing to happen to you."
"Jim, you weren't replacing me as Hannah's father," Anthony said. "You know that there's more to being a parent than just playing with your child."
"Spending time with your child is what creates the most happiness. Spending time with your child is what builds the most happy memories. Spending time with your child is what forms a great relationship. I'm the one whose been doing that the most with Hannah in the past few years. Not you."
Anthony said nothing.
"Anthony, I want you to spend as much time with Hannah as possible. I don't want to get in the way anymore. She's your daughter and I want y'all to have a great life together. Same goes for the boys."
"Jim," Anthony said. "You can spend time with Hannah as much as you want. I want you to be as happy as possible.
"And I want you to have a great relationship with your daughter. That's what would make me happy, Anthony. I want you and her to be happy together."
Anthony said nothing.
"That's all I wanted to say, Anthony. I kind of want to get some rest right now. I feel a little tired."
Jim turned to walk out of the dining area, but then he suddenly turned around again.
"One more thing, Anthony," Jim said. "Please don't worry about me. I'm not going to try to hurt myself again. I'll be fine. You don't have anything to worry about."
Jim then walked over to the living room and lay down on the couch.
Anthony looked down and stared at his coffee cup for over ten minutes. He had no idea how to even feel at that moment. He didn't know whether to be relieved, sad, or worried. Although he was feeling slightly more calm then how he'd been feeling all month, so many thoughts were racing through his head. The same question that had been flying through his mind for years suddenly popped up again: what was going to become of Jim in the future?
At that moment, Anthony heard a loud pattering of feet and something tugging at his arm. He looked down and saw Hannah excitingly jumping up and down. Like always, she was wearing a pink tutu, her favorite tiara, and a large amount of messy make-up (Anthony was starting to regret buying that make-up kit for her fifth birthday).
"Daddy! Daddy!' Hannah shouted as she excitingly hopped up and down. "I want to dance with you! Let's dance together!"
Anthony wanted to smile as wide as possible, but he just couldn't keep his mind off of Jim. All the racing thoughts just wouldn't leave his head.
"It's a growing process," Anthony thought as he walked out of the dining area, holding Hannah's hand. "It's a growing process."
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