Page 114 of Healing Fate

She threw her little arms around my neck and kissed my cheek as I fought back tears.

I hugged her tightly, but it only lasted a few seconds before she wiggled away, grabbed the bag to pull out a positive pregnancy test followed by a baby onsie that read ‘I have the Best Dad in the World’.

I struggled to breathe.Could this be real?

I snatched Vada up in my arms and took the bag and items with me to the bedroom.

“Lucy. Wake up.”

“What’s wrong?” she asked in a sleepy voice.

“Surprise!” Vada yelled.

Lucy groaned seeing the shirt she was wearing and no doubt the look of confusion on my face. When she spotted the bag in my hand, she frowned then turned and tickled Vada.

“You little munchkin. We agreed to do that together tonight.”

Vada squealed with happiness.

“So, it’s all real? You’re pregnant?”

“Vada has everything for her birfday,” our now three-year-old announced. “Mommy. Daddy,” she said pointing to me before laying her head on Lucy’s belly. “And baby brudder.”

Lucy scowled at her. “I told you, we don’t know for sure it’s a brother. It could be a sister.”

“No. Brudder,” she insisted.

I just stared at them both in awe.

“Surprise,” Lucy finally said in a weak voice. “I’m sorry. This isn’t how I planned it at all.”

“But you are pregnant?”

“I am.”

“And the adoption papers are finalized, legal, and binding?”

“They are.”

“I love you,” I told her, leaning down to kiss my mate as our daughter squealed in disgusted delight, trying to wedge herself between us.

I’d never truly imagined what family life would look like, but this seemed pretty damned perfect to me.