Page 28 of Chasing I Do
“Actually, I would. So that next time I can bring something for you too.” His grin widened. “Just trying to be a gentleman.”
“Gentlemen bring flowers,” she said quite primly. Then she turned her attention to the reason for their picnic. “What did you find?”
“A raincoat, a hoodie, and, oh look, a snow hat.” Bubbling with excitement, she turned to Gage. “Can we stay until I try them all on Fancy?”
“I’m not in any rush,” Gage said, looking at Darcy for direction.
For a fleeting moment, it was as if they were a family enjoying a day at the park. With Kylie asking for a full day of fun, Gage looking up at her as if there was nowhere else he’d rather be, and Darcy feeling as if she wasn’t in this alone.
An expert would probably tell her it was that Gage was Kyle’s twin, but Darcy knew it was more than that. She’d never felt like Kyle was on her team. Even when they’d discovered she was pregnant, Kyle didn’t give them the kind of focus and devotion their relationship needed. He didn’t give Darcy the love she deserved.
Gage had always been different. Grounded to Kyle’s ever-changing world, favoring insightfulness over charisma. Had Gage been single when they’d met, or Darcy’s mom hadn’t only passed when she’d started dating Kyle, maybe it would have turned out differently.
But things for Kylie would be different.
“I don’t have to be back until four, so I guess it’s a fashion show day in the park,” Darcy said.
“Let’s get styling,” Gage said, taking a seat on the grass with Fancy, and bringing the suitcase with him so it would be easier on Kylie.
Heart in her throat, Darcy busied herself with setting out lunch, careful to pick a table far enough away so as not to interrupt the bonding that was transpiring over doggie fashion. After a few moments, Gage and Kylie stood over what appeared to be enough clothes to fill Kim Kardashian’s closet.
Fancy was wearing a yellow rain coat with a matching hat and galoshes. The other two sat knee to knee, the collection spread out between them.
Kylie placed a tiara on Fancy’s head. “I still don’t see a tutu.”
“Let me see if it’s at the bottom.” Gage dumped out the contents of the briefcase. A genie’s hat, mini-Ugg boots, and a Burberry coat fell to the grass. “Three different colored boas, but no tutu.”
“How about this?” Kylie asked, slipping a blue ruffled headband around Fancy’s head, unable to get it passed his neck.
“I got an idea,” he said, undoing his shoe. “Pick out one of the boas. I bet we can make it into a tutu.”
Kylie picked up each of the boas, silently debating which color would be the best. Darcy could tell she wanted the lavender one, but kept going back to the blue one, as if afraid that if she picked too girly of a color the fun day would end. Tongue peeking out, she settled on the lavender one, then handed it over to Gage.
“Excellent choice,” he said and Kylie beamed at the praise. “It matches these.”
Gage held up a pair of lavender booties, which he’d stuck on his fingers, and began moving them across the lawn. Fancy barked with excitement, and Kylie giggled so hard she fell over.
“But we still don’t got a tutu,” Kylie said, batting those lashes Gage’s way. She had his number. And, man oh man, he had hers.
“Ah, be prepared to be amazed, little lady.”
“I like it when you call me Tiny,” Kylie interrupted.
He glanced at Kylie and grinned. “Got it. But if I call you Tiny, then how about you call me Gage?”
Kylie cocked her head, her expression one of deep contemplation. “I like Mister a lot, you looked like a Mister the other day.” Kylie stood, getting eye level with Gage and took off his ball cap. She styled his hair, making more of a mess than anything, then put the hat back on. “But you don’t look like a Mister now.”
Darcy snickered and Gage sent her a sidelong look in warning. “Do I look like a Gage?”
Lips pursed in concentration, Kylie walked slowly around Gage, sizing him up, her fingers poking him in the cheek, the neck, the back of his shoulder. And when she completed the circle, she got down on her knees and put both hands on his cheeks.
Turning his head from one side to the other, she finally sat back. “You look like my daddy, but Mommy said I can’t call you that, ‘cuz only my daddy’s my daddy. She said I can call you Gage, or Uncle Gage or Mister. I got to choose.”
Emotions clouded Darcy’s eyes as she watched Gage struggle to hold it together. His throat worked hard, his breath came in sharp bursts, and his face radiated with thankfulness. “Your mom’s right, even though I look like your daddy, I’m not. He was my brother. Which makes me your uncle.”
Kylie’s arms went wide a second before she launched herself into Gage’s arms and wrapped herself around him like a monkey. “I’ve never had an uncle before.”
Gage didn’t waste a moment, scooping Kylie up into his arms and holding her tight. His eyes closed and Darcy watched him bury his head in Kylie’s hair, and she knew what he was doing.
