Chapter 38: Mine
Nico
My heart was pounding as I tried to focus my watery gaze on Allie. I wanted this so damned much. I wanted to hear my sweet little princess call me 'Daddy', but I needed to make sure Allie was OK with it.
I reached for her hand, squeezing it a little harderthan I meant to, and closed my eyes briefly when she returned the squeeze. I felt a tear slide down the side of my face as Allie nodded at me, letting me know that she was on board.
I dropped her hand and jumped out of my chair, rounding the table to scoop up a squealing Gracie in my arms. I held her tightly as she flung her arms around my neck, giggling at me like this was a fun new game.
I smacked a kiss on her cheek and pulled back to look at her. I knew I was grinning ear to ear when I said, "I would love to be your Daddy, princess."
Gracie squealed loudly and clung to me like a spider monkey as I twirled her around. Allie got up and walked over to us, and I shifted Gracie to one side as I pulled Allie close in a three-way hug. Gracie wrapped an arm around Allie's neck, and Allie's arms went around both of us, as far as she could reach.
We stood there for several long moments, until Gracie started wriggling around.
"Can we eat now? I'm hungwy." she said with a small whine in her voice. She clearly wasn't nearly as overcome with emotion as Allie and I were.
I set her back down in her chair and she grabbed her fork while I grabbed her mother again. I pulled Allie tight against me and buried my face in her shoulder. I could feel her trembling, and I knew I was, too.
"Thank you, Sunshine," I whispered, unable to come up with anything more eloquent than that at that very moment.
Allie tightened her arms around my waist for a moment. "I love you so much, honey. You're going to be an incredible father."
Her voice broke just a little on that last word, and I wanted so badly for us to be alone so we could talk about this. It would have to wait until Gracie was out of earshot though, so with a quick kiss to the side of her neck, I released my grip on Allie and helped her back to her seat at the table.
Gracie hadn't paid any attention to us as she ate her fried chicken. In between bites, she continued chattering about her friends, the new story that Miss Rosa had read to them, and the field trip they were taking to the fire station the next day to learn all about fire safety.
I barely touched my dinner, even though Allie's fried chicken was one of my favorite meals. I was too busy staring at my daughter and her beautiful mother. Allie listened attentively to her, asking questions about each of her friends and exclaiming over how interesting the field trip was going to be. Allie wasn't chaperoning this one since she and Liam had gone on the zoo trip.
Liam.He wasn't a beanie-wearing hipster like I'd envisioned, but I still didn't like the asshole for the simple fact that he'd had his hands, and his goddamned mouth, on my girl. I was pretty fucking pleased that Allie had told him she was in love with me, though. It made me not want to punch him quite as much, anyway. Not that I would have done it in front of the children, but maybe out in the parking lot wouldn't have been so bad.
I wasn't sure what I would do if my daughter pushed the issue of Grayson and his daddy coming over for a pool party, but I was pretty sure I would just have to suck it up, for my little girl's sake. My daughter. Damn, that sounded so right.
As soon as dinner was over, Allie told Gracie that she could watch TV for just a little bit before it was time for her bath. Allie and I cleared the table and put away the leftovers. I offered to load the dishwasher and finish cleaning the kitchen, so after giving me a sweet kiss on the cheek and a pat on my ass, Allie went upstairs to get Gracie's pajamas out and get the bathtub filled. I heard her call down for Gracie to come upstairs a few minutes later, as I was wiping down the stove.
Once I was finished with the kitchen, I made my way upstairs to check on my girls. I could hear the soft murmur of their voices as I walked toward the bathroom, followed by the sound of Gracie's giggles. I heard Allie laugh and popped my head around the bathroom doorway to see Gracie making a beard on her face out of the bath bubbles.
"Look, Daddy, I look like Santa Claus," she shouted when she saw me. She was busy scooping up another handful of bubbles and patting them into place on her chin, so she didn't notice my sharp intake of breath or see the sudden tears herwords caused. God, I felt like such a pussy, crying like this, but it felt so damned good to hearher call me 'Daddy' so easily.
I blinked away the tears and looked at Allie, who was openly crying. She turned away to grab a towel, trying to hide her emotional reaction from Gracie. I turned toward her, shielding her even further, as I rubbed a soothing hand on her back. I glanced back over my shoulder to where Gracie's head was sticking out of the mound of bubbles in the tub. She was too busy swirling the water around and plopping more bubbles on the top of her head to pay any attention to us.
"You're going to disappear in all of those bubbles, princess," I said with a shaky laugh. I cleared my throat, trying to get control of my emotions.
Gracie scooped up another handful of bubbles and blew on them, giggling when the bubbles flew around in front of her.
Allie straightened her shoulders and turned to look at me with a smile. She raised up to plant a soft kiss on my jaw, then scooted around me with the towel in her hand.
"OK, Gracie-girl, let's finish up and get you rinsed off." She reached into the water to pull the plug from the drain. I watched as she grabbed the hand-held faucet attachment and turned it on, carefully using it to rinse the bubbles from Gracie's hair.
"Will you read me a story tonight, Daddy?" my sweet girl asked, and I couldn't help the huge grin that spread across my face.
"Of course I will, princess. How about I read one, then Mommy can read you one?"
She clapped her hands and bounced around, which sent water flying everywhere since Allie was trying to rinse the bubbles from her body by that point.
I laughed and grabbed the hand towel from the towel bar so I could dab at the droplets on Allie's face. She gave me a wry grin as she thanked me, then told Gracie to quit trying to dance around in the bathtub before she fell and busted her backside.
I held out the towel Allie helped Gracie step out of the tub, wrapping it around her snuggly as Allie used a second towel on her hair.
