She gasped in surprise, grinning as she took off.
“I planned this whole thing. Paris. A little villa. Fireworks…”
Natalie laughed lightly and kissed me again, with more heat than the first. “I don’t need anything fancy, Sergei. I just need you.”
Music to my ears.
Maisie scampered back, running so fast with those cozy, fuzzy socks she loved that she almost tripped over her own feet.
“Be careful,” Natalie and I called out in unison as she snagged her toe on the carpet and fell forward. She caught herself from faceplanting or even getting hurt, but the ring box flew out.
I held on to Natalie to keep her with me as I slanted to the side to catch the box.
“Lucky catch.”
I smiled at her. “I know.”
She blushed a bit, humoring me with how she could still be shy like that.
Still seated on the small chair for Maisie’s kid-size table, I waited for Maisie to come back and see. She wiggled her way to sit on my other thigh, facing her mother.
“I wanna see!” She clasped her hands together, and I laughed.
“Maisie, be patient,” Natalie scolded softly, still seeming to hold back a laugh.
“Will you be my wife, Natalie?” I asked her again because it seemed to stamp the moment as more official, pairing the question with the gesture of opening the ring box.
I wasn’t sure who gasped louder, mother or daughter. All that mattered to me was that Natalie nodded and held her hand out. “I can’t wait to be your wife, Sergei.”
We kissed again, then I slid the diamond ring on her finger, proving that it was a perfect fit.
“Now I have a mommy and daddy!” Maisie exclaimed, hugging us both.
“You will,” Natalie said a moment later after we had our embrace. She leaned over to get the paper she’d been holding. It had fallen to the floor. “Because it seems you already had a plan to make that official,” she said as she showed me the printout of the adoption process checklist.
“Daddy’s going to adopt me and we can be a real family,” Maisie explained before getting up to half-run and half-dance throughout the lounge.
I smiled. “I was hoping to adopt her.”
Sighing as she cupped my face and snuggled close to kiss me again, she leaned on me fully. “I was hoping you would too. But even if you didn’t adopt her and officially claim her as your daughter…” She bit her lip again, teasing me.
I furrowed my brow as she took my hand and placed it on her stomach.
“Even if you didn’t, I have a hunch you’d still be a daddy.”
Realization dawned. It clicked, and I hauled her close for another kiss.
“Really?” I asked once we came up for air.
She shrugged, then nodded. “I was going to take a test tonight. I think so.”
“Really?”
She kissed me again, entertained with how I sounded.
Happy.
Thrilled.
