Page 32 of Jace's Secret

“Wait. I forgot one thing,” Garrett says, and gets up. He comes back with a large box that has a huge gold bow on top.

“Daddy.”

“Maybe that was a mean trick,” he says, wiping at a tear that slips down Jace’s cheek. “Bad Daddy. I didn’t realize, baby. Next year, you can have the stuffie first.”

“Oh, thank god,” he whispers and tears it open. He’s even grateful his Daddy told him it was a stuffed animal. He’s so fixated on the importance of what this type of present means to him, that the strain of not being certain it was a stuffed animal would have reduced him to tears.

It’s an octopus. He’s orange, pink, yellow, and utterly ridiculous. Jace adores him.

“We’re going to the aquarium tomorrow,” Garrett says.

“You know, you’re a really good Daddy.”

“You make it easy, my love.”

They curl up onto the couch, and Daddy holds his boy while he naps. When the first flakes of snow drift past the window, he kisses him awake so he doesn’t miss a moment.