Page 133 of C is for Comfort

Spence

“Spence!” Lexi runs from her teacher to hug me.

We’ve come a long way over the last few months. Although Lexi will occasionally get stroppy around me when she’s in a bad mood or hasn’t got her way, she seems to like me the majority of the time. She’s even told me she loves me. The first time melted my heart so completely I wasn’t sure I was ever going to recover.

Lexi has started year one, and Corey and I organised a soft play party for her sixth birthday. I’ve met both sets of her grandparents, with varying degrees of success. Corey’s parents were welcoming. I think they not-so-secretly like the idea of their son being in a relationship with a doctor.

Caroline’s parents were cold, to say the least. I was simply around one day when they came to pick up Lexi for a day out. Lexi introduced me as Corey’s boyfriend. They were stand-offish and barely said two words to me. I’m not sure what they expected of Corey. That he would put his life on hold forever in the hopes that Caroline would one day want to come back into his and Lexi’s lives?

After squeezing all the breath from my lungs with the ferocity of her hug, Lexi steps back, frowning. “Why are you here?”

I chuckle. “I asked Blake if it would be okay for me to pick you up.”

Blake and I deal with school pickups between us. I pick her up on my days off. He picks her up the rest of the time as long as he doesn’t have any work that day. It’s been working well, and so far, we’ve avoided any confusion over which of us is meant to be picking her up.

“Is it okay with you?” I ask.

“Yes. But why?”

“There’s something I want to ask you.”

“What?”

I crouch down and stroke a strand of loose hair behind her ear. “I want to ask your daddy to marry me.”

Lexi’s eyes pop wide, and she gasps. “Marryyou?” she squeaks.

“Would that be okay with you?”

She balls her hands into fists, holds them under her chin, clenches her fists together in an excited grin, and dances from foot to foot on the spot as she lets out a long, high-pitched squeal. “Yes!”

I let go of the breath I didn’t even realise I was holding. I didn’tthinkshe’d object, but you never know. She flings her arms around my neck, almost knocking me over with the force of her hug.

“I love you, Spence.” She pushes back so she’s holding me at arm’s length. “Wait. When you and Daddy get married, willyoube my daddy too?”

“Only if you want me to be. I can still be Spence if that’s what you prefer.”

She shakes her head. “You’ll be my dad.”

My heart melts, and tears spring into my eyes.

“Are you sad?”

“No. I’m really happy.”

Lexi hugs me again. “Thank you for making my daddy happy.”

I sniff and hold her tight. “I need your help.”

“My help? What for?”

“You need to help me decide how to propose to your daddy.”

She pushes back again, her lips pursed almost comically. She looks up and sideways. It’s the most adorable thinking face I’ve ever seen.

“You should wear a suit,” she says eventually. “You look handsome in a suit.”

“Thank you.”