Page 95 of Second Dance
I bowed my head, thinking about Mattie. A feeling of peace settled over me. She could rest easy now. The kids were safe. And I was headed home to tell them the good news.
The tide was low that afternoon, the waves curling softly against the sand. As I made my way down the path toward the beach, I spotted Peter and Bella kicking a soccer ball back and forth onthe packed sand. I watched for a moment, gratitude flowering in my chest. How I loved them. All I’d wanted from the moment they entered my world was to give them a good life. Now that Gillian and Grace had come to us, hopefully forever, we would morph into a new kind of family. One bound by love, not blood.
I made my way toward them. They stopped kicking the ball and looked up at me, then jogged my way.
Bella brushed a strand of hair from her face. “Did it go okay?”
“Yeah. He signed the paperwork. Everything’s official. He’s agreed to give up his parental rights. We still have to go to court on Friday to make it legal, but that’s just a formality. Ben expects the judge will officially grant the adoption without hesitation, since I’ve been your stepfather for such a long time and that it was clear your mother wanted you to be with me after she passed.”
Peter stared out toward the water, quiet for a long moment. “So he’s really gone?”
“Yeah. He promised to disappear. No more showing up, no more games.”
Bella sank down on a log, drawing her knees up to her chest. “I hope it’s true.”
“It is,” I said. “Ben made sure of that.”
Peter kicked at the sand. “I wonder why he never wanted us.”
I shook my head. “Guys like us will never understand a man like that. He’s made one poor choice after another. Frankly, I feel sorry for him that he’s missed out on being your father. It’s one of the greatest things that ever happened to me”
Bella’s voice wavered. “I know exactly who he is now. I’m sorry for all the trouble I caused.”
“Me too,” Peter said quietly, sitting next to his sister on the log.
I sat between them and put an arm around each shoulder. “I’ve been thinking about your mom today. She’d be happy it’s all sorted now and we can get on with our lives.”
For a while, we were quiet, listening to the rhythmic pull of the waves.
Then Bella looked up at me, her expression soft, her voice husky. “Are you going to ask Gillian to marry you?”
I turned to her, blinking. “What?”
She shrugged, that same teasing spark in her eyes her mother used to get. “You heard me.”
Peter gave a half-smile. “We all know where this is going. And we’re glad. For you and for us.”
I let out a low laugh, shaking my head. “You’ve no idea how happy that makes me.”
“We wanted you to know that we’re good with it,” Bella said. “Even though change is hard for me, I’m going to do my best to embrace it.”
I looked out at the horizon. The water caught the light in a dozen shades of gold. “I’ve been wanting to talk to you both but things have been so hectic. I’m going to ask her very soon. I know her ring size now.”
They both smiled.
“Dad, you have to make the proposal epic,” Bella said. “Gillian deserves that.”
“Epic? I may need some help with that,” I said.
“There’s something else we wanted to ask you,” Peter said.
“Shoot,” I said.
“We were thinking about Grace, you know, once you and Gillian get married,” Peter said. “And we started worrying that she’s going to feel sad if we’re adopted but she’s not.”
I stared at my children, utterly flabbergasted by their generosity.
“She’s always wanted a dad,” Bella said softly. “She told me that one night. And she said she always imagined someone like you.”
