Page 76 of Owned By The Cowboy

“Oh no, baby. I’m not embarrassed at all. We just wanted to figure things out before we made it official.”

“Well, it’s official now, right?” she continues. “Because the other day that lady said we were a beautiful family, and Blayne said we were married.”

“We’re not actually married, sweetheart,” I clarify quickly.

“But you’re together?” Jaylen wants to know. “Like, officially together.”

“Yes, baby. We’re officially together.”

“Good,” Annalise settles it.

Blayne turns around from the stove, a plate of fresh pancakes in his hands and an amused expression on his face. “You all knew?”

“Duh,” Nia says. “You’ve been here every night for three weeks. Your toothbrush is in her bathroom. You know where everything is in the kitchen. Plus, Mama’s been walking around looking like she won the lottery.”

“I have not been walking around looking like I won the lottery.”

“You’ve been humming,” Jaylen points out. “Mom never hums.”

“I hum.”

“You hummed when you were married to Dad,” Nia says. “And you stopped when things got bad. Now you’re humming again.”

The observation is so mature it takes my breath away. My kids have been watching, paying attention, and understanding more than I gave them credit for.

“So what does this mean?” Annalise asks.

“What do you want it to mean?” Blayne asks, setting the pancakes on the table and sitting down next to me.

“I want you to stay,” she replies immediately. “Forever. And I want to keep calling you my stepdad when people ask.”

“You called me your stepdad?”

“Yesterday at the arcade. This kid asked if you were my dad, and I said you were my stepdad.”

Blayne looks at me, and I can see something soft and vulnerable in his expression. “Is that okay with you?”

“More than okay.” I take his hand in mine.

“What about you two?” he asks Jaylen and Nia. “How do you feel about all this?”

“Honestly?” Jaylen says. “It’s weird calling someone else dad. But… you’re not trying to replace him or anything. You’re just being yourself. And yourself is pretty cool.”

“High praise from a teenager,” I tell Blayne.

“I like you better than Dad,” Nia says bluntly. “You actually show up when you say you will. You remember things that are important to us. And you make my mom happy instead of making her cry.”

“Nia!”

“What? It’s true. Dad made you cry all the time, especially in the end. Blayne makes you smile.”

“Your father loves you,” I feel compelled to say, even if it’s been a while since Richard has so much as texted them.

“Maybe,” Nia says with a shrug. “But love isn’t just a feeling. It’s what you do. And what he does is work, travel and forget about us. What Blayne does is show up.”

Out of the mouths of babes. My fourteen-year-old daughter just summed up the difference between her father and Blayne better than I ever could.

“Well,” I say after a deep inhale, clearing my throat because this shit is heavy, and important, and fucking beautiful. “I’m glad we’re all on the same page.”