“You’re making me wait a long time for an answer,” I said with an uncomfortable laugh.
“I think eighteen years is long enough to wait, don’t you?” He dragged my mouth back to his, kissing me once. Twice. Three times. Against my lips, he whispered, “It’s always been you, Harley, and it’ll always be you.”
I kissed him. Or maybe he kissed me. I didn’t have a clue. All I knew was that I was going to spend the rest of my life with this man. I knew that no matter what happened, we’d finally gotten this thing between us right.
“Daddy.” Aria’s quiet voice interrupted us. I turned in time to catch her yawning as she stood at the edge of the kitchen with wild curls and sleepy eyes. “Hi.”
“Hey, little love,” I greeted. Going to her, I picked her up and kissed her on the cheek. “I missed you today.”
“I missed you lots,” she whispered. “But I had fun with Mav.”
“Yeah?
“Mhmm.”
“Do you like having Maverick around?” I asked her, and she nodded in a mess of blonde hair everywhere. “What would you say… to Maverick being around more? What would you say if I wanted to marry him?”
“Does that mean I get to keep Duke?” she replied around another yawn. Maverick and I both laughed.This girl and her priorities.
“Are you trying to steal my dog, spooky queen?” Maverick demanded playfully. He reached out and pushed the hair away from her face.
“If you marry my daddy, does that make you my other daddy?” she asked instead. I watched him falter, and he looked to me for how to answer the question.Truthfully, I wasn’t sure how to either.It really depended on how she handled the whole thing.
“When we get married,” I began, picking my words carefully, “what you call him is up to you. Maverick is just fine. You don’t need to call him anything you don’t want to. He’s going to care about you no matter what you choose to call him.”
“Can I call you spooky daddy since I’m spooky queen?” Aria cut me off. Her head tilted against mine like she was too tired to hold it as she stared at him, waiting for an answer.
Maverick’s expression tightened with a flood of unexpected emotion, the weight of her question catching him off guard. I couldn’t begin to assume the thoughts going through his head, but I could imagine. It was far more than I was expecting out of her.
“Yeah,” he said finally. His voice broke slightly with the word, and he cleared his throat. “Yeah, I’d like that.”
A sleepy smile overtook her face, one that quickly melted into another big yawn.
“Should we get you back to bed?” I asked when her head slipped to my shoulder.
“Maybe.”That was a yes.
Turning, I held a hand out to Maverick. His fingers were warm as they slipped through mine. He followed without hesitation, his presence a comfort at my back as I carried Aria back upstairs. It was such an ordinary and simple thing, but it was all I needed.
EPILOGUE
maverick
one year later
And with that…” Judge Warner said slowly as he finished signing the paper. “This adoption is officially approved.”
I smiled—no, I grinned like a fucking idiot. My little spooky queen was officially my daughter. The words still sounded so foreign to me.
My daughter.
I had a daughter.
When Harley suggested I adopt Aria, it took me by surprise. There were a lot of things I expected and planned for in our life together, but they were normal things. Renovating the barn and turning it into my workshop. Coordinating school drop-offs and pick-ups with Roxy and Carson. Rearranging the whole house to make space for Duke and me. The normal, combining our lives, kinds of things.
But adoption? That hadn’t been on my mental to-do list.
After the initial shock wore off, I couldn’t say yes fast enough.
