AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I slide my card into the private elevator and ride up to our apartment, my fingers tapping against my leg nervously, but as soon as I open the front door, a tiny but very high-pitched squeak slash yap sounds around the marble surfaces, and I freeze thinking I am going out of my mind when I hear it again.
Is that a bark?
My feet start moving, only to freeze once again as I round the corner.
“Mommy, mommy, look, he is so smart. He already knows how to sit,” my daughter’s excited voice fills my ears as my eyes take up the scene in front of me.
Kira in white velour pants and zip up track suit, her red flaming hair cascading down her back in a straight waterwall, casually sitting on the floor with Victoria in a matching set but those two pigtails Kira did for her in the morning and something tiny, fluffy, and white zooming around them as they both laugh and giggle uncontrollably.
I blink and blink again, but nothing changes. They haven’t even noticed me yet; they are so enthralled by the fur ball running around them. But I can’t take my eyes offthem.
And did I hear that right? Did Vee just call Kiramommy?
I’m so far into my thoughts that I don’t hear Sophie come up behind me. “Honestly, I had my doubts about her, but I’m happy to admit I was wrong,” she tells me, and I turn my head to look at her smiling face. “They love each other, and I couldn’t have imagined a better mom for Vee.”
I swallow the lump forming in my throat. “She really called her that, didn’t she? I didn’t mishear it?”
Sophie chuckles softly, “No, you didn’t. She hasn’t called her anything else since they came back from school, holdingthat.” she points to the fur ball and claps my arm. “I’m happy for you, big brother.” I smile and kiss her forehead because, yeah, I am happy for me too. And for Victoria.
I didn’t think I could have this, but my heartless boss gave it to me.
Finally, I take one more step into the living room and make my presence known. “Is that a hamster?”
“Daddy!” Victoria jumps up from the floor, and the fur ball yaps at her with that high-pitched squeak, following right behind her. “Daddy! Look at what mommy got me!” She jumps into my hands, and I catch Kira stiffen on her spot.
“What did your mommy get you? A fur ball?” I tease her, and she dissolves in giggles.
“No, daddy! It’s a real, real dog. Mommy got me a dog!”
“I promise I never told her to call me that. I-I didn’t want to impose or anything like that. I swear.” She is spiraling out of control, and I would find it super adorable if I wasn’t so happy to hear my daughter make that decision today and didn’t want Kira thinking I am not fucking ecstatic about it.
“You silly mommy,” Vee giggles in my arms, and I set her down so she can run back to her. “Mommies don’t ask their daughters to call them that,” she tells her, and my cold,impenetrable witch lets out a tear and hugs Victoria so close to her chest, they might as well be one.
“I love you so much, my little mermaid,” she tells her, wiping those tears away and kissing the top of Vee’s head.
“I love you more!” Vee says.
Oh man, I think there’s something in my eye too. Because seeing this, my family like this, it’s all I could ever wish for. Seeing Kira become the mother she dreamed of being fills my heart with love and gratitude I didn’t know existed before. Seeing Kira full of emotions and love and smiles is like feeling that rare warm ray of sunshine on a cold and rainy day.
I drop down next to them, the little fur ball yapping even louder as I get closer to his queens and wrap both of them in my arms. “I love you both so much,” I tell them. “Now tell me who this little hamster is before he chews my leg off.”
Victoria pulls away from us, but I remain seated next to the mother of my kid and slip my arm over her waist, pulling her closer to my body and breathing in her citrusy scent I missed dearly today.
“Daddy meet Flounder,” Vee hauls the yapping dog into her arms and hugs him close to her chest, pressing her face into his white fur.
“Flounder, huh?”
“Yep.” She pops her P like she always does. “We got him after we went shopping and had ice cream.”
“Aha, and what is he exactly?”
“He’s a doggie, dad,” Victoria says with a little “duh” sound to it.
“I think you both got tricked. That”—I point to Flounder—“is not a dog. It’s a hamster.”
“Noooo, daddy. He’s a… he’s a…Mommy, what kind of dog is he?” she asks Kira, scrunching up her face as she thinks about it really hard.
“Teacup Pomeranian,” Kira tells her with a soft smile and Vee nods.
