We turn.
She stands in the doorway, coloring forgotten, hands on her hips like she’s bracing for important business.
Brendon lowers himself to one knee again, this time in front of her. His voice is steady, but I can see the emotion flicker across his face.
“Hey, kiddo,” he says. “Can I ask you something?”
She nods solemnly.
“I know I didn’t start out as part of your life,” he says carefully. “But being here with you and your mom has been the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”
My chest tightens.
“If it’s okay with you,” he continues, “I’d really like to stay. Officially. I’d like to be your dad.”
Daisy doesn’t answer right away.
She studies him, serious and thoughtful in a way that always undoes me. Then she steps forward and places her small hand on his shoulder.
“You already are,” she says simply.
I gasp.
“But yes,” Daisy adds. “You can be my official one too.”
Brendon’s breath breaks as he pulls her into a careful, fierce hug, his eyes closing like he’s holding something sacred.
I kneel beside them, wrapping my arms around both of them, and for the first time, the future doesn’t feel fragile.
It feels solid.
It feels chosen.
Later, when Daisy is tucked into bed and the house settles into its familiar quiet, Brendon and I sit together on the couch, my head resting against his shoulder, my hand warm with the weight of the ring.
“This love changed me,” I say softly.
He presses a kiss to my hair. “Me too.”
I think about the years we lost. The misunderstandings. The fear. The way love left its mark on us even when we tried to let it go.
Some loves don’t disappear.
They wait. And then they come back stronger than ever before.
BONUS EPILOGUE
ABBY
I stir awake with a moan.
Still halfway caught in a sensual dream, I turn into my husband who’s already nuzzling the sweet spot behind my ear while massaging one of my breasts through my sleep shirt.
“That feels so good,” I moan as Brendon works my nipple into a hardened peak. “Either I was talking in my sleep, or we were both having X-rated dreams.”
“Yeah?” He slides his free hand up my thigh and under the hem of my shirt. “Were you having a sex dream about me?”
He traces the line of my panties, and a shiver of anticipation ripples through.
