I stared at the image.
“A Silver Cross perambulator? Really?”
“I also ordered the seat that can go in it for when we have a second child,” Kit replied, as if it was the obvious thing to do. “We can leave the stroller Aunt Lucy bought with Alec’s parents for them to use when taking her out during visits. I ordered two identical ones to be delivered to Aunt Lucy’s and your father’s for when she’s there instead. Alec had their addresses stored in the Amazon account.”
“Let me see,” Alec asked, and grinned when he saw the baby carriage in question. “White and gold. She’s going to look like a little Cinderella!”
“Indeed. A Cinderella dress in her size has been ordered from the Disney store, complete with a headband, so she will really look the part. We can buy her a Minnie Mouse dress and ears for the second day while at the park.”
“She is going to be so spoiled,” I murmured.
Alec scoffed as he cut into his steak. “As if you’re any better. Who handed Aunt Lucy two hundred and fifty dollars and told her to buy whatever? And don’t think I didn’t see you looking on Ikea at baby furniture earlier on your tablet while Kit filled up the car.”
“There’s an Ikea in Tokyo and in Osaka. I want to visit at least one of those before we go and look at the baby rooms they’ve set up as displays and order her furniture before we go, seeing as the Fleet has an arrangement with them for pick up and delivery.”
“If we do it in Osaka on our last day, we could just take it home with us on the shuttle, as long as we let them know we’ll be bringing it.”
Alec’s suggestion was a sensible one, so we all decided that was the route to go. We’d hit the Ikea after lunch, check out the baby stuff, make our choices, go eat in the cafe, then pick up and pay for everything, then return straight home to the ship so we could put everything together. It would make for a long night, but we’d have to readjust to the ship’s time anyway, and our little princess would need her bed.
“We have another four weeks off, by the way, after we return to the ship.”
We both stared at him, then it hit me. “Paternity leave."
He nodded.
“It’s going to feel weird going back to work after so much time off,” Alec observed.
“It will, but we’ll have the time to bond with Alice Mae and get her into a routine, and decide how to handle childcare.”
“I don’t know if I can just hand her over to someone. It was hard enough leaving her tonight, and we only just found out about her and became her dads today.”
“Why don’t you see how you feel when the time comes?” I told him gently, lifting his hand from the table to kiss it.
Kit nodded. “Let’s see how things play out and check all of our options. Then we’ll choose whichever is best for us.”
Alec swallowed. “Okay.” He took a sip of his sweet tea. “But I think I might want to be a stay at home dad, at least until she starts school.”
“If that’s what feels right, we’ll support you in that. Right, Kit?”
“Absolutely.”
Something told me right then that was exactly how it would play out, and I could see it now, our darling little girl and a sibling or two growing up with three dads in a modern, gay version of the Brady Bunch style childhood. I smiled, tucking into my baked potato, happy at the thought.
34
ALEC
The Brady Bunch house tour was pretty fun, even if I did feel a bit stupid at first wearing the vintage ‘60s flared jeans and plaid ensemble a la Greg Brady onto the shuttle, thanks to Carl having gone shopping online for our outfits before we even left the ship to come down for our wedding. The retro diner had a fun vibe too, and the food was delicious. Still, I found myself looking forward to picking our daughter up.
Our daughter.
Two words I’d never in a million years thought I’d be saying those words, even to myself, this soon in my life. I wasn’t sorry they were true, even if the timing and how my cousin had gone about having us adopt her daughter could have been better. A helluva lot better, but it was what it was.
The shuttle came down for a landing with a gentle thump, and then our parents and Aunt Lucy were there with our little sweetheart in tow, sitting in her stroller, looking like the absolute little angel she was.
“What’s this?” Carl asked after we disembarked and oohed and ahhed over the adorable outfit they’d dressed her in, a T-shirt dress that read ‘Daddy’s Little Princess’. He was looking at a car seat that definitely was not the one that had been left on the front porch.
“It’s a rear facing to age five airline and surface shuttle approved car seat, developed with Mylos technology,” Carl’s dad informed him hastily. I’m sure your pilot can show you how to fit it. If not, instructions are in the pocket in the back. We pooled together to buy it as we couldn’t let our granddaughter ride around in anything but the safest on the planet.”
