"Thank you daddy," Joy smiled and gave him a hug.
"You're welcome princess," Dom smiled. What else would he do other than support her in any good thing she set her mind to.
Dom folded Natasha's clothes neatly. He could not help but think that she was packing a bit too much, but if she was here, he knew that she what she would say in response.
Firstly, she would ask him what he was doing in her room in the first place, and then she would proceed to tell him that you could never be too prepared.
Most women liked to pack several things with them. He had not even started packing yet, but when it was time to go, he knew he would take a few shirts, shorts and trousers and that would be it.
"Women like to pack a lot of clothes whenever they are going on a trip, even if it's a short one," Dom chuckled.
"Of course we pack a lot of clothes daddy, you can never be too sure. I also packed some more than enough clothes. Ethan helped me pack," Joy smiled.
Somehow out of everything she said, the only words Dom heard was Ethan and helped me pack.
"How did Ethan help you pack?" he asked confused.
"Oh well, we were on the phone together talking and I was asking for his opinion on what to pack and he said that I should take light colours because dark colours like black and brown suck in more heat, so I listened and I packed some yellow, and white and blue," Joy smiled.
"I see, you and Ethan seem to be very close," Dom said.
"Yes, he's my very good friend, even though he can be a bit mean sometimes," Joy frowned.
"How is he mean?".
"He calls me mean names like baby or dummy, he does it all the time," Joy said.
"And what do you do?".
"I tell him to stop it and I frowned, but he continues to do it," Joy said.
"It's not nice to call people names, no matter how harmless it seems," Dom frowned.
"I know daddy, but now I have found out something I can call him as well," Joy giggled.
"And what is that my princess?".
"Well, I heard his grandfather call him Ethie and he hates being called that, so from now on whenever he calls me dummy or baby, I am going to call him Ethie," Joy giggled.
"I see, I see, well all is fair in harmless name-calling," Dom said and Joy nodded.
"Daddy, do you have a nickname for mommy?" Joy asked.
"Why do you ask princess?" Dom sounded surprised and that he was. Her question was sudden.
"I'm just curious, because in The Cars of Vroomsville, they all have nicknames and then Ethan said that my name is so short already, so I can't have a nickname, but do you have a nickname daddy?" Joy asked.
"Well yes, I do have a nickname. You know my full name is Dominic, but everyone, your uncles your aunt, even your mommy back in the day called me Dom.".
"When did they start calling you Dom daddy?".
"Well I don't know exactly when, but it started with my grandmother. For some odd reason, when she called me by my full name, I would not listen, this was back when I was a toddler, but when she called me Dom, I turned and I was all smiles," Dom laughed and Joy giggled.
"So from then on, everyone called me Dom, everyone except for your grandpappy, he likes being very formal," He laughed.
"Oooh, I see, and mommy, did you have a nickname for mommy?" Joy asked.
"Well, Peter, her best friend always calls her Nat. He called her that since they became friends, and well your mommy's daddy used to call her Tasha, which was sweet," Dom smiled.
"And you daddy, what did you call her?" Joy insisted.
"I used to call her red, because she has ginger hair. She hated it whenever I called her that, but I still did it anyway," He laughed.
"Oooh, and she called you Dom?" Joy asked and he nodded.
"Who else has a nickname daddy?".
"Well you already know your Aunt Louise is Aunt Lulu, Charlie is short for Charles, Michael doesn't really have a nickname," Dom said.
"And ooh, yes, Nine, nine has the best nickname out of us all.".
"Yes, his real name is Xavier, he told me," Joy giggled.
"That's right, his real name is Xavier," Dom nodded.
"Daddy, why is Uncle Nine called Nine?" Joy was curious, they all called him Nine, she thought that was his real name until she found out that it was not.
"Well... it's actually a funny story... from what I remembered, we were children and we were playing save the princess or something, and from what Michael told me, your mommy said that it would be best if they all had codenames and somewhere along the line she came up with Nine for your Uncle Nine. I think it was because he was nine years old at the time... I don't even know, I wasn't in their team of knights," Dom said and Joy giggled.
"But yeah, she gave him the nickname Nine and for some reason from that day on, we all started calling him Nine. He even liked the nickname better than his own name," Dom said.
"But why daddy? Why did he like his nickname better than his own name?" Joy asked. She loved her name, even if she had a nickname, she would still love her name.
"Well... that's a very deep story princess," Dom said.
"Well we have very deep time daddy," Joy replied and he chuckled. At this rate she would be talking like an adult.
"Alright fine, so princess, technically, your uncles are not your uncles," He began.
"They aren't?" Joy was confused.
"No, they are your great uncles. You see, your grandpappy and grandmama adopted your Uncle Charlie, Uncle Nine and Uncle Michael when they were seven years old.".
"They did?".
"Mhmm, so although they are my adopted uncles, we were all the same age, we all grew up together and we considered each other siblings more than nephew and uncle," Dom explained.
"Why did grandpappy and grandmama adopt my uncles?" Joy asked.
"Well your grandmama started to have some dreams, and in those dreams she would see these three boys and their names were Charlie, Xavier and Michael.".
"Your grandpappy and grandmama only had one child and that is your grandpa Ernest Jr, they always wanted more children, but back in their time things were tough and hard, wars were going on and they didn't have enough money, so they only had my dad, your grandpa," Dom said.
"So one day, your grandmama when to give her usual donations at the orphanage and she was thanked with a performance by the children, as she was about to go, the orphanage director asked three boys to escort her to her car and their names were Charlie, Xavier and Michael, and that was when she knew she was to adopt them.".
"Really?" Joy gasped.
"Mhmm, it's surreal, but it's true. So your grandmama convinced your grandpappy, they did the paperwork and adopted your three wonderful uncles," Dom laughed.
"Yayyyyy, so if grandmama hadn't adopted them, I wouldn't have my uncles?" Joy asked.
"Yes my princess, you wouldn't have your uncles, and I wouldn't have my best friends. It's funny how God works out things," Dom laughed and Joy nodded.
"Okay, but how does all that explain why Uncle Nine doesn't like his name?" Joy asked.
"I'm getting there princess. You see, your Uncle Xavier always struggled with feelings of abandonment. He always wished to know why his mother gave him up, why his father didn't come and look for him. Unlike your Uncle Michael and your Uncle Charlie who were happy with where they came from, he wasn't," Dom frowned.
"He was always sad and frowning, and always quiet, your grandmama paid special attention to him becasue she worried about him. He hated his origin, he hated his birth parents and he felt so betrayed and abandoned.".
"Oh no, poor Uncle Nine," Joy said.
"I know right princess? Well he grew older and felt better, but he still resented his name, because that was the name his birth parents gave him. I guess he always wanted to change it but without it seeming too obvious, then your mommy came along and gave him a codename he liked and somehow we all used it.".
"I think that it was a way of escape from the resentment of his name," Dom said.
"That's so sad daddy, do you think Uncle Nine still feels like that?" Joy asked.
"No, I don't think so. I think he's matured and realized that resenting a huge part of his identity will do him no good," Dom said.