Page 140 of A Major Puck Up

My damn heart practically floats right out of my chest. She really is fucking tenacious. My little girl.

At the table, Millie is watching us with a big smile on her face. The warmth in my chest spreads. “Isn’t she the ducking best?”

Millie stands and wipes Vivi’s face. “Yup.”

I breathe in her fruity scent, feeling the happiest I have in a long, long time. “We’re doing okay, huh?”

She presses a quick kiss to our girl’s cheek. “We’re doing better than okay, Gav. We’re doing ducking fantastic, right, Vivi girl?”

Vivi tangles her chubby fingers in Millie’s curls, pulls her close, and presses her open mouth to Millie’s face like a big, sloppy kiss.

“Love you, bestie.”

My heart nearly stops in response to Millie’s words. Something shifts into place in this instant, and suddenly, I’m hit with a feeling of peace I’ve never known.

Vivi arches back and says “duck” again and again, encouraged by the giggling fit it sends her cousins into.

Through dinner, I can’t stop smiling, even as my cheeks ache. My girl loves my daughter. And I’m in love with my girl.

Beckett may have thought I needed to be punished for being a dick today, but it turns out having the kids over has made this the best night I’ve had in a long time. Maybe ever.

Everything is going to be fine.

“Want to join us at the pediatrician tomorrow? We could go from there to family day at the arena.”

Millie’s snuggled up next to me, exhausted after reading all three stories Winnie insisted on. When she came out of their room, Vivi was still wide awake on my lap, saying her favorite word.

I sat with her for far too long, enamored by our conversation, even if it was one-sided and consisted of only one word, before finally putting Vivi down for the night.

In bed beside me now, Millie tilts her head and studies me. “You want me to come to family day?”

“I assumed you’d be there with Daniel anyway.”

She bites her lip. “I was—but…” She sighs.

I stroke her cheek. “What, Peaches?”

She gives me a soft smile. “Nothing. It sounds nice. Thanks for asking me to come.”

“Of course. I want you everywhere I am.”

A huff of a laugh escapes her. “That’s because I’m super nanny.”

I squeeze her side, making her squirm. “That you are. Tonight was fun with the kids, yeah?”

“They’re hysterical.”

“They’re ducking awesome.”

Millie’s eyes dance as she ghosts her fingers over my bare torso. “I still can’t believe her first word was duck.”

“Me neither. We’ll do better with the next kid.”

Millie sucks in a soft gasp, the sound making my stomach sink.

“Sorry. I know we said maybe one day,” I backpedal.

With a kiss to my shoulder, she eases my worries. “Don’t take it back now, Coach. Be confident in your request.”

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