This Is Us - Chapter 31: Chapter 31

THOMAS POV
"Daddy, they're so sparkly,"
Jaydean whispers as she looks at the rings displayed on the navy blue velvet when the jeweler lays the different engagement rings out for me to look at.
After a few days of planning, Matty and I had come up with the strategic plan to distract Luca while I went out and picked the engagement ring. I decided to take Jaydean along with me after she got out of school for some much needed one on one daddy-daughter time with my little girl.
She rested on my hip with her arms wrapped around my neck as she peered at the rings but stayed quiet. As she often does when she's around people she doesn't know.
"I'm picking out a ring for your Papa as a present, is there one that you like?" I asked her and picked up one of the rings, staring at the sparkly diamond in the light.
"I like that one daddy," Jaydean quietly points and the jeweler traces her little finger to a smaller ring in the farthest corner.
"This one?" He asks and she nods, pulling her hand back as I take hold of the ring with three diamonds instead of one. The gold ring was stunning and I couldn't believe I almost overlooked it.
"See, Mommy, Daddy, Papa," She quietly whispers to me as she points to each of the stones with a little giggle.
It was perfect.
"We'll take this one," I hand it back and he nods, taking the ring to polish it as I adjust Jayde on my hip. While it's being cleaned, the owner of the private, selective store, puts the other diamonds away.
"Usually I don't like children in the store, especially in this part of town. Most of them are nasty brats who think they deserve the whole store but I couldn't help but notice how well behaved your beautiful little girl is. What's your name sweetie?" She asks and Jaydean looks to me for permission to talk. I give her a slight nod, thinking her shyness is absolutely adorable and it reminds me of a certain someone.
"My name is Jaydean Jackson," She politely introduces herself and the woman smiles.
"Jaydean? What a beautiful name for a beautiful little girl," She says and the man waves me over so I could pay for the ring. Jayde goes back into her silent gaze as she just watches everyone else around her with her big blue eyes, examining their every movement.
"You're all set sir," The clerk smiles as he hands me the ring in a small wooden box and smiles. I thank him before putting it in the pocket of my jacket and leaving the store.
"You can't tell your papa about this, okay baby?" I warn Jayde as we started walking down the street. I kept my hood up and my head down, sliding my sunglasses over my eyes and hoping it would hide my identity to some degree.
"Okay Daddy, you can trust me with all your secrets," She smiles her little grin with one tooth missing and quickly zips her lips.
"If you don't keep it a secret, Mommy and I will be very sad," I add and she nods.
"Okay okay I get it. I'll keep it a secret. You have such little faith in me," She pouts and I kissed the top of her head.
"It's not that, It's just that..."
"Daddy look!"
Jayde points across the street to the epicenter of girly hell.
The American Girl Store.
"Can we please go?" She asks and I look over at the tons of people walking into that store.
"Maybe some other day when it's not as busy or even better, we can buy stuff online," I point out and she looks over at the store, letting out a sad sigh.
"Okay Daddy," She says in the saddest way possible with her pink lips pouted and her big blue puppy eyes on full display.
"Fine, maybe we can go in really quick," I caved like the weakling I am but I can't help it. She's had me wrapped around her little finger since she was just a chicken nugget making her mommy crave taco bell.
"Yay!" She cries out and I put her down on the sidewalk, holding her hand the tightest I can without hurting her as we cross the street together.
"You don't even have an American Girl Doll kiddo," I point out and she rolls her eyes.
"But I will after today," She smirks and I get the feeling she's been planning this manipulation for weeks.
We walk into the store hand in hand and not once does she even fight for me to let go of her because we've taught her well. She's terrified of getting kidnapped if she were to let go, which might scar her for life but hey, I don't mind holding my little girl's hand until she's forty-something.
"Look! All the dolls are so sparkly and pretty!" She coos and drags me over to several of the sets, eventually settling on having me just pick her up and hold her since she was still too short to see everything for herself.
I prefer it this way because even though she's growing faster than a weed, it's nice to know she still needs me and for now she's still my baby.
"Daddy...why do none of the dolls look like me?" She asked and I looked at the dark section of dolls, wondering over to the ones that she can pick which would look like her. But all the dolls had brown hair.
"Let's see if we can find one baby," I reassure her and go up to one of the sales associates stacking the shelf.
"Excuse me miss, I had a question," The girl turns her head and instantly gasps, dropping the boxes she had in her hand and cupping her mouth with her hands.
"Oh my god, is it really you?" She asks with wide eyes and I peer around us. Thankfully no one noticed the incident so it wasn't anything to get upset about.
"Um, yeah," I awkwardly respond and she looked like she was about to cry.
"You're so much better looking in person, I love all your albums and listen to like all your songs on repeat," She has to fan her face to keep herself from having a panic attack and Jaydean looks at me.
"Daddy, is she okay?" She asks, oblivious to the real world since we've sheltered her on the farm.
"Oh my god and this is your daughter with Matty. She's so beautiful! Hello, little Jaydean. What can I do for you!" She asks and Jayde puts a hand on her hip.
"Well, I wanna know if you have any dolls that look like me," Jaydean asks, dropping the shy act when it comes between her and her future doll look-alike.
"Of course, anything for the daughter of NTB," The girl squeals and has us follow her to a section of shelves. Looking back at Jaydean before unlocking a drawer which held the perfect doll. slightly almond-shaped blue eyes with freckles and honey-colored skin. But the dark red hair that fell into long waves is what had me.
"Wow, she's really pretty," Jayde shrugs off my hip and holds the beautiful doll in a box that was larger than her upper torso. I got down on one knee and looked at it with her.
"Do I really look this pretty daddy?" She asked me and I nodded, gently tucking the loose strands of red hair behind her ear.
"Believe it or not, you are ten times prettier than all the dolls in this store," I quickly boost her self-confidence and that genuine little smile warms my heart every single time. She turns to me and kisses my cheek before hugging the doll to her chest.
"Thank you Daddy, I love youuu," She howls and I hear a soft sniffling. I looked up, forgetting the store assistant girl was still with us as I caught her wiping the tears from her eyes.
"I don't care what the media says about you guys and your parenting style, that little girl is so loved, I think they're just jealous and can go to...you know," She grunts and takes the doll from Jaydean, bringing us to a closed front counter to check us out personally.
"There's also a tea shop upstairs where you can have holiday tea with your new doll if you want to go check it out. Usually, you have to make a reservation to get in but I'll call them and push you through." She tells us and gives the doll back to Jayde in a large bag.
"Ooh! We can drink fancy tea like Papa!" Jaydean looks up at me with those puppy eyes filled with excitement. The mentioning of her Papa has me running my fingers over the wooden box in my pocket and I nod my approval. Walking her up to the top floor where we spent the rest of our little one on one date drinking tea and eating small cakes, scones, and finger sandwiches to our heart's content with her new doll beside her.
"What are you going to name her?" I asked my daughter as she switched from tea to hot chocolate and licked her lips at the mug in front of her, topped with whipped cream and chocolate curls.
"Hmmm I'm going to name her Hana," She says and finally dives into her whipped cream like a shark, leaving a ton of whip cream on her little-freckled nose. I chuckled a bit as I wiped it off with a napkin and she giggled.
"Why Hana?" I asked and she shrugged, looking at her doll as she sipped her hot cocoa.
"I dunno, it just felt right,"