A pirate captain, no less.
So today too, Lydia went on an adventure to the lawn sea in the front yard—in the front yard there’s a pirate ship that Lydia, Liam, and I crudely built using boxes and various items—holding a bluntly carved wooden sword to achieve her dream, and since this active little villain’s birthday was near, on the front yard veranda, Liam and I were in the middle of an argument.
“Tchaiki, I want Lydia to remember this birthday as the best day of her life. It’s her first birthday at our house. But don’t you think it’s too plain if the gift is just a pirate costume?”
“But Lydia said it herself. That she wants a pirate outfit.”
Regarding Lydia’s parenting style, there’s one stark difference of opinion between Liam and me. It’s about “how much of what the child wants should we give,” and while I try to teach Lydia how the world works—that effort is needed to get what you want—by not giving some of what she wants, just like I was educated as a child, Liam hated the poverty he experienced as a child so much that he tries to give Lydia everything she wants easily.
“I understand what you’re thinking when you say that. If you let them get what they want too easily, you might spoil the child. But just this once… Yeah, it’s her birthday. A special day.”
“So we decided to give the child what she wants on that special day, and needing more than that is a bit… Liam, listen. If you get everything you want all at once, you’ll feel that much emptier later.”
Since both Liam and I are quite stubborn about child-rearing methods, the difference of opinion didn’t narrow easily. Eventually the argument continued until Lydia, who had finished playing, returned to our side.
“So…”
“That…”
As soon as Lydia appeared, we stopped the dispute and closed our mouths as if we’d made a promise. Then Lydia grabbed one of my and Liam’s fingers each with her small hands covered in grass juice—Lydia applies medicine made by crushing weeds to treat imaginary wounds sustained in battle—and shouted.
“Why are you fighting?”
While I, having no quick wit, just broke out in cold sweat at Lydia’s question, Liam, skilled at improvising, smiled brightly and told her.
“Between dads, um, a small difference of opinion arose and we were deciding whose way to go with.”
“So whose way did you decide to go with?”
Lydia asked Liam, opening her round eyes wide.
“Well… we decided to go with the way of whoever makes a better birthday cake for Lydia.”
So you’ll be the judge, Liam said, and Lydia’s expression, which had been full of worry, brightened considerably.
A cake-making contest. Honestly I’m not confident in making food, but if the opponent is Liam, it’s worth trying. So I generously accepted the sudden contest proposal. Most of all, Lydia seemed very pleased with this contest.
* * *
On the day of the showdown, that is, on the morning of Lydia’s birthday, Liam and I were busy preparing to make cakes. Since Lydia said she wanted to spend her first birthday here with only her dads, there was no need to receive guests separately, so the morning hours could be entirely used for making cakes.
“Okay, when I signal, we start.”
Ready, set, hut. Liam seriously announced the start of the match just like when entering a football game, and we started making cakes, moving busily. Sifting flour, beating eggs in a bowl… While making the genoise this way, we burned with tense rivalry without exchanging a single word with each other. In the midst of this, Liam asked what it would have been like if we’d done the same sport.
“For example, if you played football on a different team from me, or if I did high jump… Don’t you think we would’ve been pretty cool rivals?”
“…Would I have been a match for you?”
“What’s this. Coming from the world champion.”
Liam said that and skillfully whipped the batter. Since Liam normally can’t cook at all—Liam is as bad at cooking as he is at drawing—I naturally thought this contest was as good as won, but somehow I had no means to beat Liam who had set his mind to it.
While I floundered, unable to even do basic measurements properly, Liam produced genoise and whipped cream with excellent skill. However, the problem arose when he spread cream on the genoise and drew a picture on the cake with a decorating pen.
“Um, Liam, sorry but what did you draw here?”
When I pointed at the puzzling abstract painting spread on top of the cake and asked, Liam explained that he’d drawn Lydia’s favorite pirate captain character.
“…This?”
“Look, if you look closely it resembles that character! Here are the eyes, and the nose, and the mouth…”
Liam explained in an increasingly fading voice, then asserted that he’d be the one to win anyway. Because I hadn’t even finished the cake yet.
After a couple of attempts, I barely managed to make something resembling a cake, spread cream on the slightly burnt genoise, and drew pictures of Lydia, Liam, and myself inside the cake with a decorating pen. Seeing that, Liam made an expression as if looking at something very lovely, then went up to the second floor to call the judge of today’s competition.
Lydia looked at the two cakes placed in front of her and smiled brightly, then first brought her fork to Liam’s cake. Then she shouted loudly that it was delicious.
“Really, really?”
“And it’s incredibly ugly!”
When Liam asked happily, Lydia shouted in an even louder voice. At that moment Liam’s spirits completely deflated and his shoulders drooped, and that sight was quite cute so a burst of laughter came out naturally.
“Puhaha—!”
“Is this our family?”
While I was laughing at Liam, Lydia pointed at the second cake in front of her, the one I made, and asked with a curious face. I smiled at her and nodded, and Lydia hesitated to stick her fork into it, saying the cake was too pretty to eat. It seems I won this contest…
“Wow, this tastes really bad.”
While I was immersed in a premature sweet dream of victory, Lydia, who tasted the cake, said firmly. I tried to stay composed but couldn’t erase the disappointed look that appeared on my face, and that was enough to make Liam roll with laughter.
“Haha… So who’s the winner of this competition, Captain?”
When Liam asked, Lydia unexpectedly said she had two birthday cakes and even clapped her hands and jumped around. Then she looked at me and Liam alternately and said happily.
“So you both won.”
At the daughter’s answer that somehow touched my heart, I came to Liam’s side and quietly whispered while holding his hand.
“Yeah, it’s her first birthday here so just a pirate costume as a gift is a bit much, right?”
“No, I think you’re right. What you want should be obtained little by little, not all at once—that’s how it’s rewarding.”
Liam said, holding my hand back and speaking just barely loud enough for my ears. We looked at each other and smiled gently, then crouched in front of Lydia and hugged her with our flour-covered hands while shouting loudly.
“Happy birthday, our beloved Lydia!”
Side Story 3. Lydia Rowan-Blake (End)
Footnote
1) Vow Renewal: Remind wedding in Western culture
