AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Let me get the cake,” Ren said.
He’d picked the cake up on their way here but wouldn’t let anyone see it. She wasn’t sure what the big deal was, but she was letting him have his way.
Ren brought the cake out in the box and set it on the table. “Should we call Michele?” she asked.
“In a minute,” he said. “I want to open this first before we do. My mother will understand. You will too, Zara.”
She wasn’t sure what was going on but watched as he opened the box and pulled the cake out to set it down.
Many might notice the planes, trains and an automobile theme going on. All Zara saw was the name Max Ryan Whitney under the words Happy Birthday.
“Oh, Ren,” Tess said. “Is that really Max’s name?”
“Yeah,” he said. “He didn’t have a middle name. When I amended his birth certificate I had to give him one. It felt like the right thing to do, even back then.”
Tess was crying and Zara felt her eyes filling too. Ren had done that long before he came to terms with things with his father.
She went to slide under his arm and give him a cuddle. “You okay?”
“I’m good,” he said. “Now you can call Michele and she can watch Max stuff cake into his mouth.”
A few hours later they were back at her house. Max had fallen asleep on the way home. He didn’t always like his morning nap, but she had a feeling he’d be too excited to take his afternoon one.
The car ride had done it, and they’d laid him down in the crib, but she expected he’d be getting up soon.
“I’m exhausted,” she said. “I shouldn’t be. I do birthday parties all the time at the daycare.”
“It’s different when it’s for your own kid.”
She did like to think of Max as hers. “I guess you’re right. And it was perfect timing the way you let your mother know about Max’s name.”
“It wasn’t just for her,” he said. “It was for you too. I want you to know it’s all behind me.”
“I know,” she said, reaching her hand out and patting his. They were sitting on the couch.
“I’ve got one more thing to prove it to you.”
“You don’t have to prove it to me anymore, Ren. I’ve told you that.”
She wasn’t sure how many more times they had to talk about this.
“And I believe you. I really do. I know you believe me too. So it’s time we took the next step.”
He got up and walked into the office at the front of the house and then came back with a piece of paper in his hand.
“Here,” he said.
“What’s that?” she asked.
“Look at it.”
She glanced down. “You’re putting your house up for sale?”
“I am,” he said. “I was hoping you’d let me move in here with you. We can put an addition on to make this house bigger and give us more room, or maybe look for something else and rent this out. We’ve got time, but I wanted you to know I’m all in. I hope it was okay for me to assume you’ll let me move here.”
She laughed. “It’s fine to assume that,” she said. “Are you sure you want to be here?”
“More sure than anything else in my life. One more thing to prove it.” He got down on his knee in front of her, her hand going to her mouth. “I didn’t want to do this at Max’s party, but it’s been hard to wait too. In my mind it had to be done in the order that it was.”
