How Green Becomes Wood

"Oh boy." McCoy saluted him with her wine glass. "That is quite the gap! And I thought the six-year gap between my boys was big." She paused and tilted her head. "Are you the Dark with the premature baby? With family in Egypt? No, your wife's family is from Egypt. Correct?"
 
"It is a big gap, but they are very good to her," Dark replied calmly, "And I am that man, yes, and it is my wife who is from Egypt. My sons are Ciara's nephews, we took them in at 14, and they were 15 when my daughter was born."
 
"I do," Dark replied, taking a quick glance at Ciara to confirm this was appropriate. If she agreed, he took out his phone and pulled up his neatly organized photographs of his children. There were plenty he could show, and many he liked to, but he tested the waters just by showing his most recent favourite, "This was taken at my brother's birthday party, it was Western themed, so we had to dress up."
 
Ciara gave a slight nod to indicate it was fine to show pictures.

McCoy gasped and cooed in delight. "Oh my goodness, that is so precious! Your children are beautiful. Redheads are such fun! And that little one? Oh, she is so cute!"
 
"Thank you," Dark replied, hesitating between his desire to show more pictures and his more private nature, "Every time I believe I could not be prouder, they prove me wrong." Anyone who had gained the skills to read him would see at once not a word of that sentence was a lie.
 
McCoy put a hand to her heart, practically melting. "Marry me, Mr. Dark," she said dramatically.

"I think your husband would protest," Ciara remarked.

McCoy waved a hand. "I'm sure he'd learn to live with it." She winked at Dark, showing she was teasing. Dark was attractive, she wouldn't lie if asked, but she really was fond of her husband, and too old for casual encounters. "Do you have- Oh! Margret, come here. This little baby is wearing the most adorable outfit!"

Margret, another older woman, came over to see Dark's picture, and her crooning soon brought over two more, and even a couple of fathers to see the pictures. They begged Dark to see more, obviously more interested in Ivy than the twins, but excited for any pictures.

Ciara moved off to the side, amused, and left Dark to fend for himself. She did stay close in case he called for backup, but she couldn't imagine he'd protest showing pictures too much.
 
"I am too certain my wife is the grandest woman alive to even pause to consider," Dark replied easily. Truthfully, he wasn't annoyed, able to recognize a joke when he heard one, but nonetheless he did wonder how many people were proposed to as frequently as he was.

Once he found himself in the crowd of people asking for pictures, he did oblige in showing them more. It was something he enjoyed doing, and a privilege since he had the cutest baby in the history of the world, but he still did his best to make sure there were not people enclosing him at all sides. He showed them his most recent pictures of Ivy, pictures from when she was covered in paint, pictures of her with her brother or her parents, or with their pets, and also pictures from when she was an impossibly tiny newborn so he could show off how much she had grown. Naturally, he did still show pictures of the twins, even if Ivy wasn't in them, but since the crowd clearly cared more for his toddler than his teenagers, he showed them more of her. And anytime Daizi was even partially in the image, he was clearly utterly besotted with her.
 
Eventually, someone tapped on the microphone, calling everyone's attention. He then announced that dancing would begin, started off by a display of fancy footwork by Kimberly and her group.

Kimberly and the two other girls in flapper dresses who'd spoken to Dark before - Red and Silver - hurried out to the dance floor. They struck a pose, waited, and when the band struck up again, they started doing a very good Charleston, their heels kicking up energetically and their hands waving precisely to the beat. One by one, they took turns doing a short solo dance that showcased the various variations of the Charleston. The windmill, Side-to-Side, Bubbles, doubles, scarecrow, knee-slaps, and the break. The dances were not all exactly perfect, and there were a couple of out-of-sync moments, but all three were clearly having fun during their three-minute exhibition. They ended with a flourish of sparkles and bowed before squealing their way excitedly off the floor amid applause.
 
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