It was Easter again. Bunny and Derek played one-on-one soccer in the backyard, and little April napped in the buggy by my side. Her nap would end soon, I knew, but it was okay. I had just finished labeling the jars and sat back, closing my eyes and raising my face to the sun.
“I won! I won! Dad, you finally lost!”
I looked at Derek sharply. He seemed not to be aware of what he’d just said, dancing happily in place. But Bunny noticed, I knew. He watched Derek with tender eyes, his hand pressed to his chest.
He looked at me then, and I nodded with a smile, giving him the thumbs up. It took a year, but we finally got to the point when Derek called him dad, and he did it so naturally, he didn’t even notice.
Bunny wiped his eyes quickly, the gold wedding band on his finger gleaming in the sun.
Soon, April started squalling, and I took her out of the buggy and gave her a breast. When she was done eating, she tried to catch the loose tendrils of hair framing my face, and I leaned closer, letting her. A moment later she tugged a bit too hard, and I winced.
“Ouch! Be careful, you’re one strong little baby!”
Bunny came over, picked up a clean cotton cloth from the buggy, and draped it over his shoulder. He took her from me with a smile and kissed the top of her head. He strolled off, walking under our blooming apple trees and talking to April in a quiet voice.
I watched him, my heart brimming with joy. He no longer had the tail and ears, but he was still a fine male specimen, and he was all mine. Well, Derek’s and April’s, too. Which was even better.
I still called him Bunny, though everyone else knew him as Ben. Close enough. And a perfectly normal name.
Even though April had Bunny’s genes, she looked like a completely normal baby. But if Bunny’s information was right, she would soon develop some magic skills. I worried about that, but Bunny felt certain she could quickly learn to control her magic. And he would be here to guide her.
He would always be with us.
Derek ran to me, got a glass of lemonade, and drank it all in one. I smiled and tried to muss his hair, but he jumped out of the way, laughing.
“I’m too big for that, mom!” he said. “I’m already nine, you know!”
“I know,” I said with a smile. “You’re a big boy, getting bigger by the day. But to me, you’ll always be my little baby. Better make peace with that.”
He came over, gave me a quick hug, and escaped before I could wrap my arms around him.
“Mom?” he said after a moment, frowning. “Big boys don’t believe in Santa, do they?”
“I don’t think they do,” I said. “Though I have it on good information that Santa is actually real.”
Bunny told me. I knew a lot of interesting things about magic and fairy creatures now.
“Yeah,” Derek said, looking away. “I mean, I’m not sure about Santa. But the Easter bunny exists. I saw him once. And he made my wish come true.”
I nodded, fidgeting with my wedding band. We hadn’t told Derek yet, though we both agreed he would have to learn the truth one day. For now, though, we waited.
“Yes, I remember,” I said. “He brought you all the games and toys you wanted.”
“Oh, that,” Derek said dismissively. “He did. But I asked him for one very important thing. A big wish.”
“Really?” I sipped my lemonade, frowning. “What was it?”
Derek looked over to where Bunny stood with April, bouncing her gently on his shoulder.
“I asked for a new dad,” he said. “Someone good, who would take care of us both. Someone who would hug you when you cried, and who would play games with me, and tell Tony to stop taking my stuff at school… And you met Ben a year after I made that wish. I think the Easter bunny brought him to us. So even though I’m big, I will always believe in him. But I won’t tell anyone. They would think I’m stupid.”
It was my turn to discreetly wipe away the tears gathering in my eyes. Derek didn’t notice, he was too busy reading the labels on the decorative jars on the table.
Oh, crap.
“Mom, what’s semen?”
I closed my eyes, overcoming my instinct to giggle or try to deflect. It was my fault for prepping the jars where Derek could see, I knew. Bunny had warned me.
“It’s a kind of substance that comes out of a man’s penis. When he has sex,” I said, trying to keep my voice as even as I could. Derek knew what sex was, so I didn’t have to explain that, thank God.
Derek thought about it for a moment, frowning at the jars.
“But why do you put that in your honey? Can people eat it?”
I took a deep breath, my determination running out.
“It’s a bit of a joke,” I said, which was only partly true. “This honey has some, uh, medicinal properties. It helps women who want to get pregnant but can’t. And it’s a sort of joke that it contains magical semen.”
Bunny joined us at that moment, and he evidently caught the last part of our conversation, because he was grinning.
“Derek, will you help me with April? She needs a fresh diaper.”
“Sure!” Derek grinned, bounding off toward the house. He usually showed April various squeaky toys to distract her during the diaper change, and he took his job seriously.
I mouthed “thank you” at Bunny, who shook his head with a quiet laugh.
“You owe me,” he said with a wink before following Derek to the house.
I grinned and got up, putting the jars in a special crate. What I had told Derek was mostly true: Bunny’s honey was indeed a magical cure for infertility, as it turned out. But the warning “Product contains magic semen” printed neatly on every label was not a joke. That honey was not made by bees.
I carried the crate inside and closed the patio doors. I set about warming up the dinner Bunny had cooked that morning, and I sang to myself. The happiness and magic filling me burst out in a song, and all was well.
All that remained was to live happily ever after.
