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She insisted on continuing to work.
She’d grown to like doing her copywriting career. She’d even drafted up some email blasts and ads for social media for the range that I planned to implement as soon as I figured it out.
Now, though, she had an actual laptop, not just her tablet. And she was going to be putting in a desk in the basement to use as her little office area while the kids played down there as the weather grew colder, and they would be outside less.
“Okay,” Isaac said, smiling, not caring when we got to practice, just wanting to do it.
“Hey, guys,” Lana said, walking in, and taking Clara from my hip, depositing her on hers instead, then leaning up to press a kiss to my lips.
Hazel let out a giggle.
Isaac pretended to gag.
But he was smiling down at his plate when he thought no one was looking.
“We can count that as a veggie, right?” Lana asked as Hazel reached for the bottle of ketchup, squeezing more of it onto her food.
And it was all just… so normal.
So average.
Yet so, so fucking right.
I wanted thousands of other mornings just like this one.
And I almost couldn’t fucking believe that I was getting them.
Seth - 9 months
He’d started calling me “Dad” three months before. A shy, little hesitant mutter, feeling me out, fearing rejection.
He couldn’t know that I’d been waiting for that moment since his mom and I got serious.
So it was time.
I had a ring in my pocket.
And a question in my heart.
But I wanted to talk to the first man in her heart before I spoke to her.
“Hey, bud, can I talk to you about something for a minute?” I asked, catching him outside with Rodney who was sniffing around the yard, refusing to find a spot to pee already.
“Okay,” Issac said, brows pinched at my serious tone.
“It’s about your mom,” I said, watching as worry etched on his face, a knee-jerk reaction I hoped would fade over the years, as he became more confident that I was going to do everything in my power to keep her happy and safe.
“Is she okay?”
“Yeah, bub, she’s fine. It’s actually about, well,” I said, reaching in my pocket, and pulling out the ring box. His gaze followed the movement as I flipped the lid. “It’s about this. Do you know what this is?” I asked.
“A ring.”
“An engagement ring,” I clarified. “I want to ask your mom to marry me,” I told him, watching his eyes light up, filled with hope. For the happy-ever-after he’d been hoping for since he drew that picture at the kitchen table that first time.
“Really?” he asked.
“Really,” I agreed, nodding. “But the thing is, I’m not supposed to ask her first.”
“No? Why not?”
“Because I’m supposed to ask her dad.”
“She doesn’t have a dad,” Isaac said.
“I know. Which means you are the man in her life. And I have to ask you for permission to marry her,” I told him, watching as he straightened, as he processed the weight of his responsibility.
“Oh,” he said, nodding.
“So, I am asking you if I can marry your mom.”
“You’ll be good to her?” he asked.
“Yes. Always.”
“You won’t hurt her?” he asked, voice small, those memories still fresher than I wanted them to be. They would fade a bit with time. With security.
“Never. It’s my job to make sure Mom never gets hurt again,” I told him.
“She loves you,” he said.
“I love her too,” I told him.
“Okay,” he decided, nodding.
“Okay?”
“You can marry her,” he said, giving me a big smile.
“Thanks, bud. That means a lot to me. But I actually have one more question for you,” I said, tucking the ring away.
“About Mom?”
“No. No, actually, this is about you,” I told him.
“Me?” he asked, tensing a bit again, completely unsure what I was about to ask.
“Yeah. See, I’m going to marry your mom. And we will be a family. But I was wondering if you would want me to… adopt you,” I said, my own voice a little tight.
“Adopt me?” he asked, face scrunching up.
“Yeah. See, no matter what, we are a family. But if I adopted you, and your sisters,” I added, not wanting him to think I valued them less, like his biological father had, “you guys would get to have my last name. And on paper, it would say that I am your dad. And I’d really like to be your dad, Isaac.”
There was one beat where my heart was thudding hard in my chest, unsure what he was going to say, until he just fucking… launched himself at me, arms so tight around my neck that he was making it hard to breathe.
“Yes,” he said, voice thick, and his little body was jerking as he cried.
I felt tears sting my own eyes as well.
I wasn’t sure until that moment just how much I’d been hoping he would say yes.
