Chapter 34

11/25/2041

Luca sat in his chair and was looking up recipes for Thanksgiving. He found a recipe for LOW SODIUM APRICOT MUSTARD GLAZED ROAST TURKEY.

"That sounds good," Luca muttered to himself.

"What sounds good?" he asked, as he entered the bedroom.

"A recipe for a turkey," Luca said. "Here is the link to the link to the recipe," messaging him the web address.

"I'll look at it and see what we need," Tyree said. "Anything else?" Tyree asked.

"LOW SODIUM SWISS POTATOES AU GRATIN," Luca said, sending him the link.

Tyree looked over both recipes to see what they needed. He checked the kitchen for the ingredients for them.

"I'm going to the store," Tyree said.

"Okay, I'll wait here for you," Luca said.

"Don't forget to lock the door," Tyree said. "I love you,"

"Love ya," Luca said. Tyree kissed Luca's cheek before he headed out the door.

Luca locked the doors and went into the nursery. He smiled at Elena, who was sleeping peacefully in her crib. Luca let out a soft sigh as he sat down in the rocking chair. He closed his eyes slightly and listened for any signs of Elena waking up. Luca had been asleep for a couple of hours when Elena started fussing.

"What's wrong, baby girl?" Luca said, as he got up and picked up his daughter. Luca went into the kitchen and put Elena into the high chair. He gave Elena some food and the fussing stopped. Luca turned his head when he heard the click of the lock on the door.

"Welcome back," Luca said when Tyree walked in carrying two paper bags of groceries. "How did it go?" he asked.

"It took a few moments to find the right turkey, but I got one," he said. "The rest of the food was easy to find,"

Luca helped put away the light stuff while Tyree put away the turkey and the stuff that went on the high shelf. Luca let out a low yawn.

"Did you get any rest?" Tyree asked. "Your eyes are red,"

"I slept for a couple of hours before Elena woke up hungry," Luca said.

"I'll take care of our daughter," Tyree said. "You go and lie down." As he got up, Luca said, "Baby girl, don't give your daddy too much trouble," before heading to their bedroom.

While Luca rested, Tyree spent time entertaining Elena. The living room was filled with Elena's giggles as they played a game of peek a boo. When a nasty smell invaded Tyree's nose, he covered his nose and asked, "Did you pull a stinky?" Elena cooed at him. Tyree took her back into the nursery and prepared to bathe her. "Eww, baby did a big stinky," Tyree said, as he stifled a cough. He threw away the dirty diaper into the trash can and laid Elena in the warm water. The door opened and Luca walked inside.

"Eww, somebody had a messy diaper," he said, holding his nose. Luca grabbed the can of air freshener and sprayed the room.

Luca sat down and watched as Tyree bathed Elena. Once Elena was cleaned up and dressed, Tyree handed her to Luca.

"I'll take it out," Tyree said, as he emptied the waste basket. Luca rocked the baby while Tyree did some house cleaning. Tyree walked into the nursery and found both Elena and Luca sound asleep. Luca's hand rested on his baby bump. Tyree pulled out his phone and snapped a picture of the adorable sight. Tyree brought up Luca's art blog and posted the photo titled "My Beautiful Family."

When it was almost time to pick Alicia up from school, Tyree placed Elena in her crib and wrote Luca a note. He didn't want Luca to wake up and start panicking. Luca woke up to find Elena in her crib.

"How did you get there, little one?" he asked softly. Then he saw the note on the table.

Love,

I've gone to get Alicia from school. Elena is in the crib. Have a nice nap. I love you.

Ty

"So, it was your daddy who moved you," Luca glanced at Elena and said. Luca changed Elena's wet diaper, and they went into the living room. He sat down in a chair in front of the fireplace and propped up his feet. Luca turned on the TV and switched it to his favorite YouTube channel. When the front door opened, Luca headed to the hallway with Elena in his arms.

"How was school?" Luca asked.

"I had fun," Alicia said. "When do we go to see Grandpa and Uncle Thomas and Adrian?" she asked.

"In 3 days," Luca said.

They went back into the living room to warm up in front of the fireplace. "Are there any toys that you want to take with you?" Luca asked.

"My dolly," Alicia said. "And my frogger,"

"It's going to be cold, so we'll need jackets," Tyree said.

"We'll start packing Wednesday," Luca said. The rest of the day, they talked about what was going to be taken and what would happen once they got there.

11/28/2041

After the kids were taken care of, Luca and Tyree started preparing for the Thanksgiving feast. The turkey was the first thing they started preparing. Christmas music played on the TV in the living room.

"Mommy, daddy, will we see Santa this year?" Alicia asked.

"We should be able to," Tyree said.

"We'll see when he's seeing people," Luca said.

"Can we get pictures taken?" she asked.

"You should be able to," Tyree said.

Around noon, the food was finished being prepared, and everything was loaded into the car. Luca dressed Elena in warm clothes and packed her belongings for the weekend. Tyree double-checked that Alicia was prepared. They were all packed and on the road by 2 p.m. Christmas music was playing on the car radio.

"Should we get a real tree or a fake one?" Luca wondered.

"A fake one or we'll be sweeping pine needles for a long time," Tyree warned.