“She’s right.” By contrast, Danny’s voice was deep and somewhat slurred, as if he was fighting sleep. And yet, no less happy for the difference. “You are the best Mommy in the whole world. We love you.”
“I love you, too, my sweet Little loves.”
She still wasn’t sold on their “Best Mommy Ever” declaration. But it didn’t matter. She didn’t need to be the best.
She only needed to be theirs.
Epilogue
Addison
“You look… happy.”
Addison couldn’t help but grin at her friend’s assessment. She’d met Meredith at a Mommy support group the Ranch had begun hosting a few months ago, and they’d become fast friends. “I am. Very happy. You know better than anyone how many bumps in the road there have been over the past six months, but things are good. Really, really good.”
Meredith smiled, the green-gold of her eyes warming with the gesture. “Good. How’s Kylie liking her new job?”
After learning exactly how much her babygirl didnotwant to pursue an engineering career, Addison had latched on to her love of books and introduced her to Arabella Cole. Arabella was the pen name of one of Rawhide U’s professors, and he’d happily taken Kylie under his wing to show her the self-publishing ropes. After a few weeks, he’d even offered her a job doing some administrative work for him.
“She loves it. And she’s even talking about taking some extra English classes so she can become an editor. Shereallyloves picking Arabella’s books apart and pointing out places the story could be stronger. And she’s brilliant at it.”
“I love that for her. What about Danny?”
Addison shrugged. “He’s still figuring things out. But I’m in no rush. I love having them here with me and it’s not like we need the extra money living at the Ranch. Eventually he’ll need to dosomethingbut for now we’re… content.”
“Good. You all deserve it.”
There was a hint of longing in her friend’s tone that tugged at Addison’s heart. “How is Annie?”
Annabeth Walker was the Little girl of one of Meredith’s oldest friends who had died earlier in the year after a long battle with cancer. After Eric’s death, Annie had come to live at the Ranch while she grieved and worked on figuring out her next steps. And since Meredith lived just a couple towns over, she made it a point to visit at least once a month to check on her late friend’s wife.
“She’s doing better, actually.” Pride filled Meredith’s voice. “She’s even talking about dipping her toe back into the dating pool.”
“Really? And how do you feel about that?”
Before Meredith could answer, an ear-piercing screech rent the air. “Mommy! Danny is being mean and won’t let me play with him!”
Rolling her eyes at her girl’s dramatic wailing, Addison flashed her guest a smile. “Sorry, I’ll be just a second.”
Meredith waved away her concerns. “No worries at all. I get it.”
Rising from the couch, Addison made her way to the guest bedroom that had been converted into a playroom for her Littles. Despite her amusement with their antics, she forced her expression into stern lines before entering. “What is going on in here?”
From her spot beside Danny’s desk, Kylie crossed her arms, her bottom lip pushed out in the most impressive pout Addisonhad ever seen. “Danny won’t let me play with him! He said his game is too growed up for Little girls.”
“Did he, now?” She let a hint of steel infuse her words, and judging by the way Danny’s shoulders immediately tensed, the change did not go unnoticed by her boy. “Well, that’s very interesting, because if a game is too mature for my Little girl, then I am fairly certain it must be too mature for my Little boy. Daniel?”
As she’d been speaking, Danny had been scrambling to mute his microphone and rip his headphones off. The group he played with all knew about their dynamic, but it still embarrassed him whenever she reminded him what aLittleboy he was in front of his friends.
Which, of course, was half the fun.
Cheeks blazing red, Danny spun around to glare at Kylie. “Tattletale!”
“Jerk!”
Sensing a meltdown coming, Addison held up her hands in the universal “timeout” gesture. “What happens to Little boys and girls who can’t play together nicely?”
It was a rhetorical question, of course. All three of them knew that if the fight continued to escalate, Addison would have no problem paddling both their bottoms until they were red and hot before tying them together in their “Get Along Shibari”. Over the past months, it had proven to be a wildly effective method of working through arguments and now even the threat of it was enough to gain their compliance.
