“Well, maybe I’ll do a little more than tell you, later,” she whispered. “I promise I won’t keep you up too late. I know you have a game tomorrow.”
How the hell could she do that? Turn me on with nothing more than a hushed promise? Let alone in public with both of our kids present?
She brushed her lips against my cheek, gave Ethan a kiss on his forehead and then stood straight. “Is it time?” she asked.
“I think so,” I said, barely able to contain my smile.
“Lettie, I’d like to show you our latest exhibit,” she said, offering Lettie her hand.
“I’d like to see it,” she said in a voice way beyond her age.
Hand in hand they walked just in front of me to a corner of the room where a small, child-sized podium stood lit by a single beam of light.
“What’s it called?” Lettie asked as she walked towards the exhibit.
“Scarlett McPherson,” I answered, which earned me a set of five-year-old eyes as big as saucers.
“Really?” she asked us both, her eyes narrowed in suspicion.
“Really,” Bailey answered. “Why don’t you take a closer look?”
As Lettie stepped forward, Bailey took my hand, her grip nearly crushing my fingers in her nervousness.
Lettie’s lips moved as she read the papers we’d placed there, her forehead puckering at points, but never giving up. That was my girl. Tenacious, smart, and every ounce as courageous as her mother…her new mother.
“Petition for adoption?” she asked, finally turning around.
Bailey nodded, biting her lower lip as a lump crawled up my throat and lodged there. “I want to be yours forever,” Bailey whispered. “Is that okay?”
Lettie’s eyes flickered between mine and Bailey’s, even stopping on Ethan’s dark curls. “Like Ethan?”
“Just like Ethan,” I said, my voice cracking. Sure, I lost man-points for losing it a little, but God, this moment was everything.
“Yes!” She screamed, forgetting all about her gallery-manners.
She raced for us and we both sank to our knees, Lettie in Bailey’s arms, and all three of them in mine as they cried.
Lettie and Bailey openly wept happy tears, and it felt like each one was a balm for my soul, bringing life to a land that had lived in drought for far too long.
Ethan’s cry? Well, he was tired of being squished against his sister.
I laughed, which came out as a choked, distorted sound. I’d never been this happy, but I knew it would only get better from here. Better with years, with additions to our family, with love and laughter and everything Bailey brought to me.
“I love you, Bailey McPherson,” I said, as she stood, our daughter curled against her shoulder.
“I love you, too,” she answered, happiness shining out of her gorgeous eyes.
Never had four words meant so much.