“I have a question.”
“Baby girl, I have an answer,” Sloan said as she put away the toothpaste. “What would you like to know?”
“Can Rafe be our daddy at school tomorrow?”
“Uh... I don’t think so, honey.”
“Why?”
“Well...think of us like a team. My role on the team is mommy and Rafe’s is nanny.”
“It’s a very important role,” Rafe added in a weak attempt to back Sloan up.
“Well, you’re a mommy and a doctor. Why can’t Rafe be our nanny and our daddy?”
“Baby, being a daddy is a little more complicated. Plus, you already have a daddy and he’ll be here on Friday,” Sloan replied.
“Why can’t we have two daddies? One that lives with us and one who’s far away? Rafe has two mommies,” Addison said, making it clear that the two of them had already tried to sort this out.
“Rafe’s situation is different, honey.”
“That is correct,” he added.
“You’re not answering my question. You said that there are all types of families. You told us people have two mommies and two daddies all the time. Why can’t Rafe be our other daddy?” Avery said.
“Okay.” Rafe replied, like he actually had answers.
“Okay?” Sloan looked at him like she couldn’t wait to see how he was gonna solve this.
“I’ll explain. So, in this case there are two ways for me to become your daddy. One way is adoption.”
“That’s right,” Sloan said. “We’ve talked about adoption before.”
“It’s when you have a baby that you didn’t grow in your belly, but you love them just the same,” Avery explained.
“Exactly.”
“The other way is that I marry your mom. But there are a lot of steps before that could happen.”
“What are the steps? I want to hear all the steps.” Addison asked, her expression all business.
“Yes, please. This should be interesting.” Whose side was Sloan on?
“Step one: we meet.”
“Check. Go on.” Addison was really sick of his shit.
“Step two: we decide we like each other as more than friends. Steps three through forty-seven involve an intricate process with forms and interviews and off-site visits. I have to prove through another eighty-seven step process that I’m the right husband for your mom and, even more importantly, that I’m the right person to be your dad. You think nannying is hard. Try being a dad!” Both girls giggled at the way his eyes popped wide.
“How many steps is that?” he asked Sloan.
“Uh, a hundred and thirty-four.”
“See, yeah. That’s a lot of steps. I don’t know if we can complete all those steps by tomorrow. But I will be there for you as your nanny, a little bit of light security, snack vendor and driver.”
“Rafe is a part of our family. You see that, right honey? He doesn’t have to be your daddy to be with us.”
“I guess.”
