His voice cracks. We both embrace him and look at each other. This is what dreams are made of. Everyone shows up, surprising Karl even more. Ansley comes over and says hi to Olivia, giving her a big hug before taking Chloe. Olivia chuckles as I walk over to her and wrap my arm around her.
Olivia pouts good naturedly. “She just wanted the baby.”
Ansley turns around and tilts her head at Olivia. “You know I love you, but honestly, can you blame me?” Chloe pats Ansley’s cheek and giggles.
Olivia shakes her head. “No, I really can’t.”
“Everyone, thank you for coming to celebrate with us today,” I say over all the rowdiness. “Go ahead and help yourselves to food, then we can all head outside so the kids can play.” I motion to Karl to grab his food.
“I’ll make us a plate,” Olivia says.
I lean down and kiss her. “Thank you, treasure. I’m going to get my daughter and we’ll head outside.”
She chuckles and shakes her head. “Good luck.”
I walk over to Ansley and pluck Chloe right out of her arms. She pouts at me, but immediately turns and grabs Cora, Caroline’s baby, from her. I walk outside and sit on one of the rocking chairs. Chloe has started to stand while we hold her hands, so I let her bounce up and down on my knees while she babbles away.
Sometimes I feel like she’s holding an actual conversation with me. She’ll do her chattering, then wait for me to respond with something like “Is that right, Chloe?” or “What else happened?” She starts chattering away again when I do. My heart is so full it might explode. I never thought in a million years this would be my life.
When all the shit happened with Josie, I assumed I’d be alone for the rest of my life. I never thought I’d find someone as amazing as Olivia, and I definitely never thought I’d be a dad. Olivia walks out with Karl and they both sit in the chairs next to me. Karl doesn’t speak as he scarfs his food down.
“Slow down, honey,” Olivia says. “You’re going to choke.”
He slows down by maybe a millisecond. I chuckle and shake my head. Once he gets done eating, I hand him Chloe.
“Please hold her so I can eat real quick, then you can go do whatever you want,” I tell him.
He nods and plays with Chloe while I eat the pizza Olivia brought me. She finishes eating and I can tell she wants to take Chloe from Karl, but when she sees how he’s playing with her, she stops. We watch them as he blows raspberries at her and she laughs each time like it’s the first time he’s ever done it. When I’m done eating, Karl notices immediately.
“Can I go get Sammy and play with him?” he asks. Sammy stays in the barn, but I’ve been considering getting Karl a house dog since he’s grown so attached to Sammy. Or let Sammy come inside. It’s something to consider.
“Sure, you can,” I tell him.
He stands with a big smile on his face. “Thank you.” He runs down the steps of the porch, but turns around. “Mia, Elle, Evan, want to go play with Sammy?”
All three kids jump and excitedly ask their parents if it’s okay. Mia is five now, Elle and Evan, Julian and Bailey’s twins, are four. They all run off and Connor stands.
“Bec and I have an announcement,” he says. Bec stands next to him with a big smile on her face. “We’re going to have a baby, too.” All the women jump up with various screeches and screams, running to Bec to give her congratulations. I stand and step toward Connor to give him a handshake after all the other guys congratulate him.
“Congratulations. How far along is she?” I ask.
Connor sighs. “She’s almost six months.”
“Really, that far?” I ask. It’s none of my business why they waited to tell everyone.
“We’ve struggled, so she wanted to wait until she started to show,” he says.
I nod in understanding, not asking anymore questions. Everyone stays over for a few more hours before they all leave. Betsy and Crystal clean up and I have to force Olivia to let them so we can get the kids to sleep.
Karl showers while Olivia feeds Chloe. After Karl is done, he joins us in the upstairs living room. We all sit around and watch one of those home improvement shows. It’s one of the things we all enjoy winding down to in the evening. When it’s over, Olivia gives Karl a hug and kiss on the cheek goodnight, then he gives her and Chloe both kisses on the cheek.
Olivia takes Chloe to her room to get her ready for bed and I walk to Karl’s room. When he first stayed with us, he had a hard time sleeping because the house is so big and he said he heard lots of noises at night. I slept on the floor for the first couple of weeks until he felt comfortable. I know he’s fifteen, but I like walking him to his room and telling him goodnight.
“Thank you for today,” Karl says. “It was the best day of my life.”
We stop inside his room and I wrap my arm around his neck, pulling him to me in a big hug. “It was the best day of my life too. I’m so grateful you’re legally my son now,” I tell him.
Karl wraps his arms around me and hugs me back just as tight. “Me too.” He pulls away. “Good night.”
