I pulled her close against my side. “It’s okay to ask. Whatever it is, I’ll answer it the best way that I can.”
She looked up at me with puppy dog eyes, and my heart melted. “Well, even though he’s not her real Daddy, she gets to call him Daddy. And I was wondering if I could do that someday, you know, with you.”
I swallowed the knot forming in my throat. “You want to call me Dad?”
“Dad-dy,” she corrected. “But, yes. Maybe one day, if it’s okay?”
I closed my eyes and kissed her forehead. “You can call me whatever you want, whenever you’re comfortable. How’s that sound?”
She laid her cheek against my shoulder and sighed with content. “That sounds good, Daddy.”
“Sweetheart, what’s this?”
Leslie’s voice pulled me from my trance, and I patted Rori’s thigh. She stood from the chair, and I turned around, trying to blink back the tears her question had rushed to my eyes. Rori tugged on my hand, and I bent down, only to feel her lips press against my cheek in a long, warm kiss.
“Love you,” she whispered, “I’ll go turn onTom and Jerryfor us.”
I nodded and patted her back, but I was afraid to speak for fear that my tears would overcome me. Rori rushed out of the room, and I turned my attention to the love of my life, wondering why in the world she had such distress in her voice.
Then, she held up a small red box that I had been moving around the house for weeks.
“Where did you find that, sweetheart?”
Leslie walked mindlessly in my direction. “It was, uh, just out on the bathroom counter.”
Shit, I forgot to move it.“It’s just a—well—I mean, if you really…”
After all of the weeks I had spent moving that thing around so she wouldn’t find it, I couldn’t believe how careless I had been to simply leave it out like that for her to stumble across.
Or, you could take the opening.
“Trey,” she said softly.
I offered her our daughter. “Want to trade?”
She scooped our daughter from my arm, and I plucked the box from between her fingers, and the weight of what I was holding almost pinned me to the floor. In that tiny box I had picked up from the jewelry store nearly two months ago was my entire future. Everything I had ever dreamed about and everything I had ever wished for Leslie and me to have. It all sat there, inside that little box with red-velvet covering.
“Better now than never,” I murmured.
Leslie scoffed. “What in the world are you going on about?”
I ushered for her to sit. “Take a seat. You should be sitting for this.”
She did as I asked. “You’re freaking me out a bit. What’s going on?”
Then, I got down onto one knee and took her left hand in mine. “Just a little something I’ve been thinking about.”
She gasped. “Oh, my God.”
I smiled as I cracked open the box and revealed the massive diamond ring I had picked up for her. I heard the pitter-patter of quick footsteps up the staircase before Rori made a beeline for my side, probably wondering where I was and why we weren’t already having our morning cereal.
But, when Rori laid eyes on the ring, she squealed with delight. “I’ve seen this in movies!”
Leslie shushed her. “The baby’s still sleeping, sweetie.”
Rori lowered her voice to a whisper. “Have you asked yet?”
I winked at her. “I’m getting to it. With your permission, of course?”
