One day, sometime later:
“Sorry... They’re back again.”
“Uh...”
“Good to see you!” came a chorus of voices.
When I went to greet my husband at the door, I found that he’d brought his subordinates home with him.
“I’m afraid they overheard me telling Corydalis that Lettie had finally learned how to talk.”
“Oh my! I see!”
Mr. Fisalis looked dead on his feet—but his co-workers seemed to be enjoying themselves, so I supposed it all evened out. Besides, I was used to getting mobbed by the knights at this point.
“Well, since they’ve come all this way, we may as well have dinner—”
“No need to show them so much hospitality. I was planning to kick them out as soon as they’d gotten a look at Lettie.”
“Don’t be such a tyrant!” the crowd yelled back.
We were a little late serving dinner due to the short-notice Guest Shift, but the knights were having such a great time flocking to Violet that no one seemed to mind.
“Hey, Lettie! I’m Angelica! An-ge-li-ca!”
“Ann!”
“Omigosh! Did you guys hear that? She called me ‘Ann’!” Angelica was practically jumping for joy.
“Okay, Lettie, what about me? Alkanna! Al-kan-na!”
“Al!”
“Aww, I hope you never stop calling me that!” said Alkanna, a huge smile plastered over her face as she hugged the little girl close.
Finally, it was Chamomile’s turn. She looked at Violet, still cradled in Alkanna’s arms, and said, “Listen up, Lettie! Your big sis here is called Chamomile! Cham-o-mile!”
“...Camee?”
“Looks like that name was a little too tricky for her.”
“I’m impressed, though! The little girl’s got a knack for nicknames.”
“I like it! From now on, I say everyone calls me ‘Camee’ for short!”
Chamomile seemed pleased with her brand new nickname.
“Gosh, she’s cute. Too cute! I wish I could take her home with me! Oh, can I? Please?” Alkanna begged Mr. Fisalis, giving Violet another tight squeeze.
“You’re not going anywhere with my little girl!” he insisted, scrambling to steal his daughter back from his subordinate.
“Meanie! That’s what you are, Vice Captain—a big, fat meanie!”
“Booo!”
“No Lettie-hogging allowed!”
“I can do whatever I want; she’s my daughter. Isn’t that right, Lettie?”
“Yeah!”
Showered in jeers by his subordinates, Mr. Fisalis screwed his face into a frown. Violet, on the other hand, continued to smile blissfully.
Then all of a sudden, Chamomile broke into a grin. Pointing to Mr. Fisalis, she asked, “Lettie, who’s this?”
Following where her finger was pointing, Violet stared right into my husband’s face.
“Heh heh. For your information, Lettie knows how to say ‘daddy’ now. I didn’t spend all that time teaching her for nothing.”
Just as he was bragging to Chamomile, however...
“Some old fart who comes over a lot.”
“Huh?! I never thought I’d hear you say something so casually cruel, Lettie! Daddy’s shocked... Hold on a second—one of you girls is playing ventriloquist!”
Violet’s answer had Mr. Fisalis aghast—but it turned out it was just Angelica playing a prank from behind her.
Nice job playing along with the joke! The whole room erupted into laughter. You’re a regular comedian, Mr. Fisalis! Aren’t you proud? Okay, maybe not.
“Hey, Angelica! Who are you calling an old fart?! Don’t be rude—I’m still in my twenties!”
“That’s the part you have a problem with?!”
You’re focusing on the wrong thing, Mr. Fisalis! I thought. Now it was my turn to play the straight man.
“Besides, you’re all older than I am!”
Oh no! That’s the worst thing you could possibly say here! Look, there’s a vein popping out on the Bombshell Trio’s foreheads! And the rest of the knights are averting their eyes... Yeah, they don’t want anything to do with this.
“See this, Lettie? Your poor daddy’s getting picked on,” Mr. Fisalis said, hugging Violet close and (fake) crying.
That got a resounding laugh out of her. “Dada! Hee hee!”
“Whoa... My own daughter got a kick out of that...”
“Omigosh! Lettie said ‘Dada’!”
“Wow! She’s grown up so much since the last time we saw her.”
“Color us impressed!”
It looked like the sound of Violet’s voice had quelled the ladies’ rage. Be glad she saved your butt there, Mr. Fisalis!
It went without saying that the knights loved Violet, but it looked like they were equally fond of their vice captain. It was nice to watch them all having fun teasing each other. Heck, whenever he was with his subordinates, Mr. Fisalis couldn’t fire off the comebacks fast enough.
Here I was so delighted every time I got to see a new side of my husband; why on earth did he seem to hate having his co-workers over so much?