As the kids start tearing apart wrapping paper, I watch the multicolored Christmas lights dance across their faces. For a moment, my eyes drift to the tree, and I smile. It’s a hodgepodge of Christmas ornaments that were put up without a care. It reminds me of something straight from a Christmas movie and so unlike anything we’ve ever had before.
Evan would be rolling over in his grave if he saw us now.
“You good?” Mac murmurs.
I look over at him and press a soft kiss to his lips.
“I’m good.”
Mac smiles slowly at me, making my heart race.
“Daddy, look! I got a leather jacket like yours,” Emily says, making us both suck in a breath.
Slowly, he turns toward her and smiles, tears in his eyes. “Put it on and show me.”
I place one hand over my heart, willing it to slow down as I watch my daughter put on the leather jacket. Mac already views these kids as his, but to hear her say it?
“Look, I even got a patch like yours,” she says over her shoulder as she shows us the back of the jacket.
“Well, look at that. It looks real good on you, Em,” he tells her.
She sits down and starts opening the other gifts, as if she didn’t just rock our world.
Daddy.
She called him Daddy.
“I’m so sorry. I didn’t put her up to it. It’s too soon…” I mumble quietly.
Mac places his hand over my mouth and shakes his head.
“A mhuirnín, it wasn’t soon enough. I’ve been waiting for this moment since the first time I saw them. I fucking love our kids, and I’m proud to be their dad. The only thing I wish was different is that I was there from the moment they were born. I wish I could take all the bad shit they saw and make them forget it, but if I did that, then who’s to say we would have found each other?”
I lean my head against his shoulder as I stare him in the eyes.
“I love you,” I tell him quietly.
“I love you more than you know.”
He picks up my free hand and kisses my knuckles before intertwining his fingers with mine.
We turn back to the kids, and I watch as Tanner grabs one out from under the tree. I frown when I see the wrap job. It’s definitely not mine, and I know it’s not one that Mac did.
Tanner walks over and hands it to Mac.
“What’s this?” Mac asks as he removes his arm from around me.
“I made it for you.” Tanner shrugs.
“You made him something?” I ask, caught off guard.
I took both the kids shopping for gifts for Mac, but I never even thought to ask if they wanted to make something for him.
“Yeah, I made it at school. It’s not a big deal,” Tanner says as he shifts his weight from side to side.
“Did you wrap this?” Mac asks.
Tanner’s head bobs.
