“Not, Julianna, she has two mommies,” Kaylee said, filling her mouth with chili.
Olivia placed one hand over hers. “Yes, because all families look different.”
“Right, like I have you and Jace,” Kaylee said, looking pleased with herself. My heart twisted. “But he doesn’t live with us.”
Olivia took another deep breath, and from the look of determination on her face, I got the sense that she was about to dive right in. “Kaylee, Kayden is your dad.”
Kaylee looked at her with suspicion and took another bite of food while I held my breath. “I want Jace to be my dad.”
I closed my eyes slowly as my heart fractured. The last thing I wanted to do was change the way Kaylee looked at Jace and I could tell from the way Olivia’s eyes started to water that she was struggling with the same thing.
“Can I?” I asked. Olivia nodded and I turned to Kaylee. “You know how your mom said all families look different?”
“Yeah,” Kaylee said, still chewing away.
“Well, that’s true, and there are a lot of ways parents can make babies. Jace can be your dad because he’s always there for you, right? He plays with you and does fun stuff with you and your mom?”
“Yeah, and he’s taking me to the father-daughter dance at school.”
“Right,” I said. “Jace is pretty awesome, and he would probably love to be your dad if that’s what you want. He’s a good friend of mine too.”
“You know Jace?” she asked.
I chuckled. “Yes, very well. When Jace met your mom, you were already growing in her belly. Has she told you about that?”
“Yeah, I was in her belly when I was a baby,” Kaylee said, sitting up straight and looking proud of her knowledge.
“Well, I helped her grow you in her belly, which makes me your biological dad. Jace can be your dad too and you can do all sorts of cool things with him. It just means that you and I share what’s called DNA.”
“What’s DNA?” she asked.
“It’s the stuff in our bodies that makes us who we are. So, you and I have the same smile,” I said, grinning as I pointed to my mouth. “See.”
She giggled, still eyeing me with uncertainty. I looked across the table at Olivia as she wiped at her eyes. I took her hand. “You share DNA with your mom too. That’s why you have the same eyes, and that pretty brown hair. You’re made up of a little bit of her and a little bit of me.”
“What about Jace? Am I made up of him too?” she asked, looking at our joined hands.
“No, you don’t have any of Jace’s DNA. Luckily, you don’t need his DNA for him to be your dad too because you love him and he loves you.”
“I get two dads?” she asked, turning to Olivia. “And a mom?”
“Pretty lucky, huh?” Olivia said, squeezing my hand. She turned to me and mouthed, “Thank you.”
“Cool. Are you going to hang out with me like Jace does?” Kaylee asked.
“If you want me to, I would love to do that,” I said.
“Okay.” She shrugged. “Hey, Mateo has two dads.”
Olivia joined her in a conversation about her classmates as she walked through what she knew about their families while we finished our chili. It was several minutes before Olivia extracted her hand from mine and the disappointment I felt at her absence was notable. Kayleeran to the couch, talking a mile a minute about the dinosaurs she hoped would be in the movie while I helped Olivia clean up the kitchen.
“You did great with her,” Olivia said as I held the pot for her to scoop the leftover chili into a glass bowl.
“Thanks,” I said. “I don’t want to take away from what she and Jace have at all. It would crush him.”
“I know,” Olivia said with a sad smile. “I’m really glad we’ve had him. And I’m really glad that now she’ll have you too.”
“It seems like you’re doing a great job with her, Olivia,” I said, setting the empty pot into the sink and filling it with water. “I know you and Jace may, or may not, pursue a relationship, but I really hope that either way I can still be in her life. Like a lot.”
