“That’s great. But even if you still get weirded out by the worms, you’re facing your fears and that makes me proud.”
“Thanks.” His brow furrows as he casts his line out into the water. It lands with a thunk.
The lake is peaceful and calm, the gentle lapping of water as ithits the shoreline the only sound on this early morning. There’s no one else in sight, though that won’t last. With the schools on break across the state, I imagine in a few hours this national park will be filled with families. I’m glad we beat the rush.
I bait my hook and step a few yards away to cast my line and settle in to fish.
Edward brings his line in slowly, tempting our finned friends to bite, but after a good thirty minutes, neither of us has had any luck.
“Fish aren’t bitin’ today,” Edward observes. He’s taken to shortening certain words the way I do, and it’s the cutest fucking thing.
“They don’t seem to be, do they?” I concur. “How ’bout we give this spot another thirty minutes or so? If we still don’t have any luck, we can move down to the cove.”
“Okay.” Edward nods. He has an incredible amount of focus for a child his age. Most of my nieces and nephews would be bored at this point, ditching their poles to play in the water or ask for a snack. He really has become one of my favorite fishing buddies, even if our birthdays are separated by over two decades. It helps that I’m madly in love with his mom.
“Um, Jackson?” Edward asks as he recasts his line. “Can I ask you something?”
“Shoot.”
Silence stretches a long moment. A bird calls out in the distance, and for a second, alarm puts me on edge as I wait for him to continue.
“Would it be okay if I call you Dad?” His question comes out of the blue, and I’m so shocked, so honored, so touched . . .
Moisture instantly gathers in my eyes.
“You want to call me Dad?” I turn to face him and blink back my tears.
“Yeah, well. I don’t have one, and everyone else at school does, and since you love my mom and you love me, it just kinda makes sense.” He shrugs, as if it’s that simple. And maybe it is. Fuck, I love this kid.
“I guess it does, doesn’t it?” I clear the emotion from my throat. “I would be honored to be your dad.”
“Cool.” He nods.
“Cool,” I repeat.
I think of all the moments we’ve shared over the past months, and how I truly believe Rosalie and Edward are meant to be my family. I am so damn lucky. I don’t feel worthy of them, but I am forever grateful this life brought us together.
“Does that make you sad?” Edward asks, noticing as I wipe beneath my eyes. “That I asked you that? I don’t have to call you Dad if you don’t want me to.”
“No, buddy. It makes me incredibly happy.”
“Then, why are you crying?”
“Sometimes adults feel something so deeply, because they’re so happy, that the emotion has to come out.”
“Yeah.” He shrugs. “That’s what my mom says, too.”
“Your mama’s pretty smart.”
He grins. He always does when I compliment her, or point out the ways she makes our lives better. I think it’s so damn cute, and I love that there’s someone I can gush over her with who won’t give me shit for it.
Another ten minutes pass, and neither of us gets any bites.
“Hey, Dad?”
I about melt when he calls me his dad. “Yeah?”
“I was thinkin’. Now that I’m calling you my dad and all, maybe you could marry my mom?”
