Page 79 of Daddy's Unexpected Gift

His brow crinkled up. “You want to go to Oklahoma for your honeymoon?”

I shook my head and laughed. “Not really, but if that’s what I wanted?”

“Then, yes, I’ll take you to Oklahoma if that’s what you want.”

“It’s not. Just testing the waters, so to speak. Dubai? Tokyo? Mauritius?”

“Mauritius?” Sterling laughed.

“Dodo birds,” I explained. “I know they don’t exist, but I’ve always wanted to see the home of Dodo birds.”

“We’ll take a trip every year, and you can choose the place,” he said. “We can go everywhere.”

“Or nowhere?” I cupped the side of his face. “Cabin by a lake?”

He nodded. “Let’s start with nowhere and go from there.”

I tipped my face up, inviting him in for a kiss. He obliged me immediately. His lips were soft and warm. He held me tighter, and his firm muscles pressed against me.

“We could always just stay here,” he growled into my mouth.

“That’s a fun idea. How soon before Nanny Fletcher gets back with Georgie?”

“Too soon to do anything properly this afternoon,” he complained.

“We can always put Georgie to bed early,” I suggested.

Sterling pressed his face into the sensitive spot along my neck. I flinched and giggled as he kissed and tickled me. “That sounds like a brilliant idea. Let’s put Georgie to bed early, and we can start the honeymoon tonight.”

“I think we started the honeymoon two weeks ago,” I said around my laughter.

“So much lost time to make up for.” He planted a firm kiss on my lips and eased his grip on me. “I love you, Cecelia Alexander. That name sounds good. One more week.”

“And I love you. I think husband sounds pretty good too.”

41

EPILOGUE

STERLING

A year later…

“Mommy.” Georgie ran up to Cecelia. I strode in behind her.

Cecelia looked up from gazing down at the baby, something she seemed to do a lot more than I ever could have expected. The baby was still so tiny at barely three months old. To be honest, when I held her, I also spent a good amount of time just watching her little face.

Georgie had been small when she came into my life, but she hadn’t been as tiny as Ashley. There was something truly intimidating about an infant.

“Shh, Ashley just fell asleep,” Cecelia said quietly.

Georgie climbed up on the couch next to Cecelia and wedged herself so that she was able to stare at her baby sister and still be on her mother’s lap without pushing the baby out of the way. They were still working on sharing Mommy’s personal space.

Cecelia didn’t have much since the baby was born. Ashley was still very much an extension of her mother, relying on her for everything, her source of nutrition and comfort. And at times, Georgie was very jealous of Ashley.

Cecelia never lost her cool. Not once. She also didn’t lie to Georgie. Whenever Georgie asked if she came out of Mommy’s tummy, we had agreed to always be honest with her, but not in a harmful way. So we told Georgie she was in a different mommy’s tummy, but she was Cecelia’s baby too.

In time, she would ask about that other mommy, and that’s when she would learn about her mother. I loved my sister and missed her. And I realized I missed the idealization of Argene since I really didn’t know her well. I would make sure that Georgie knew just how special her mother had been.

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