Clara stayed still, absorbing every word. Her gray eyes studied me carefully, trying to understand what she’d just heard.
Valentina stepped closer, kneeling beside the couch and taking our daughter’s small hands.
“Sweetheart, we wanted to tell you before,” she said gently. “But we were waiting for the right moment—when you were ready.”
Clara blinked a few times, looking back and forth between us. Then her face lit up with a wide, joyful smile.
“I knew it!” she exclaimed, throwing herself into my chest. “I knew you were my daddy!”
I wrapped her tightly in my arms, tears slipping free before I could stop them. When I looked at Valentina, she was crying too—quietly—wearing the softest, most relieved smile.
Clara pulled back a little, looking at us with shining eyes.
“So… can I call you Dad now?”
I smiled, my heart exploding with happiness.
“Yes, my love. You can call me Dad whenever you want. I’m going to love that.”
She hugged me again right away, curling against me with pure, childlike affection.
“I love you so much, Dad,” she whispered against my chest.
“I love you too, princess. More than anything in this world,” I replied, sharing a knowing look with Valentina, who smiled tenderly at us.
“And Mommy, Dad?” Clara asked casually. “Do you love Mommy too?”
I opened my mouth to answer yes—but Valentina’s wide eyes stopped the words in my throat.
Clara didn’t wait for my reply.
“Can you love each other at least until I grow up?” she asked.
Valentina took her hand, tilting her head.
“Why, sweetheart?”
“Because I want to know what it’s like to have Mom and Dad together.”
Valentina’s eyes met mine, and I saw the same ache reflected there—the same longing.
“We’ll always be together,” I said gently. “For you, my love, we’ll always be together.”
Clara smiled, satisfied in her innocent understanding.
A single tear slid down my cheek as she nestled closer into my arms—but it wasn’t sadness.
It was the opposite.
Everything felt exactly where it belonged.
Or almost.
Only one thing was missing—but I wasn’t in a hurry.
If I had to, I would wait my entire life until Valentina was ready to be completely mine again.
***
