Page 38 of Wrong Number, Right Gray Wolf

“Daddy, they’re not real.”

“People say that about us too,” Stephen reminded her.

“Fine. I won’t go with any fairies or gnomes or elves or trolls without asking. But if there’s a dragon, no one’s stopping me.”

“Dragons are real, though.” Stephen was the best at these silly conversations.

“My statement stands.”

She wouldn’t really leave with anyone, not even dragons. She’d met dragons before. They were just people who sometimes had wings. She was being silly, but I still couldn’t help but hope there were no dragons despite knowing that.

The cabin looked like it belonged on a postcard. Posy helped me bring everything in, despite Stephen insisting that he was fine to help. I believed him. He was fine to help, but that didn’t mean I wanted him to. He had a job, and that job was to have a peaceful, calm pregnancy. And if that meant I lugged all of it by myself, I wouldn’t have cared.

“Daddy, you brought a lot of food,” she whined.

I was confused. “Why don’t you sound happy about that?”

“Because it’s all food food.”

“What are the alternatives?”

“Candy.” She was dead serious.

“That’s because I have a surprise.” Stephen stood off to the side, holding his belly the way he did when the baby was moving. “There’s a candy store about fifteen minutes from here.”

That was news to me. I hadn’t packed anything because I thought we could go a few days without, but leave it to Stephen to plan ahead. “So I thought maybe tomorrow, we could go and see what kind of goodies we could find.”

She was all about that.

We grilled burgers for dinner, ate them on the rolls Miss Caitlin made, and then sat outside and enjoyed the view, listening to the rolling river and Posy keeping her eye out for gnomes.

“She’s really something, isn’t she?” Stephen took my hand.

“She is. And I was thinking… I know we’ve been working really hard to have Posy feeling like her family isn’t changing and that you’re part of it, and I’m part of it, and she’s part of it.”

“Do you think we aren’t doing enough?”

“That’s not it. It’s just that it’s always going to remain that on paper, I’m her guardian. What if we ask her if we can have you on paper too?”

Tears were trickling down his cheeks. “That would be the biggest honor, but it’s not up to me or you to decide.”

“I’m asking on behalf of a little gnome hunter.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. She called you her papa at school, and Sally, because it’s always Sally, said that you weren’t because we weren’t married and that you could leave anytime. She said she knew it wasn’t true, but I think the paper would matter to her.”

We talked some more and decided that tonight, after we read Posy’s story, we would ask what she thought.

“So are you saying that I would have my dads who lives with the goddess and also have you and daddy like I do now, but with a fancy paper?”

“Exactly.”

“Does that mean you can never leave me?”

“I was never leaving you anyway.”

What it did mean was that no one could make her leave if something happened to me.