Ivy fussed lightly to be taken away from the balloons, but once she was in the wagon, she looked around with newfound interest. This was a very new experience! Almost immediately she tried to squirm out of Alec's grasp so she could crawl to the other end of the wagon to test it out. Sloan gladly helped to push the wagon to get it started, only teasing Alec a little bit as it took the three of them to get it into motion. Milo, of course, hiding his dorky smile behind the camera, took pictures of the event as it got going.
The guests who were around that part of the yard cheered good-naturedly for Ivy, because just like Sloan had said--who didn't want to see a baby being pulled about in a wagon? For her part, once the wagon began moving, Ivy sat up and held onto the edge, wanting to pull herself up on her feet and babbling with a big smile on her tiny face.
Standing perfectly still, with the plates still in his hands, Dark swallowed hard as he watched the wagon ride begin, feeling his eyes dampen before quickly blinking it away. There were his sons playing with his daughter on her birthday. On her very first birthday. Doing just enough to keep only the pride in his voice he said, really to anyone who was around him at that moment, "I was able to hold her in just one hand, you know."