Page 95 of What Makes an Alien a Dad?

“Where do you think you’re swimming to, missy?” Holding her long wrap skirt up, Maya waded into the water and fished the baby out.

Anika kicked her hooves, squealing in protest.

“I’ll take her,” he offered, opening his arms.

“You want to go to Daddy?” Maya asked.

“Dada!” Anika reached for him with her arms and her tail.

Among the usual baby gibberish, that one word had been more and more prominent in her vocabulary. Every time it slipped from his daughter’s chatty mouth, a warm wave of pride rolled over him.

“That’s right,” Maya cooed, blowing a raspberry on one of Anika’s chubby cheeks. “Dada is here.” She sighed. “Can you say Mama, now?”

“Dada!” the baby giggled as he took her.

“Well, maybe later.”

The Voranian word for “dad” was short and easy to pronounce for babies. Though Maya insisted that “mama” was also easy to say in her language. Unlike most babies in Voran, Anika didn’t have the translator implant yet. He and Maya decided to wait with it so that she could learn to speak both languages of her parents first.

Barely avoiding getting kicked by the tiny hooves, Kear carried the baby to the portable shallow pool he had specifically put on the riverbank for Anika to splash in safely.

“That’s as far as you can swim for now, cutie pie.” He put the baby in the pool that had brightly colored toys mounted along the edges. A few floating ones splashed in the water, less than two hands’ lengths from the bottom.

The baby plopped down on her bum, her bathing suit keeping her afloat. She reached for a toy, while sticking another one into her mouth. Hopefully, the pool would occupy her long enough for him and Maya to eat lunch.

While Maya arranged the trays with food on the blanket spread over the glass, he opened two small containers of flavored water.

After they ate, Maya changed Anika and nursed her on the blanket while he cleaned up after lunch, furtively watching his wife and baby. Nursing seemed to completely absorb them both, making them look lost in each other.

He loved watching Maya’s face. It glowed with serenity. A peaceful smile played on her lips as she gently stroked Anika’s chubby cheek with a finger. The baby’s eyelids dropped, heavy with exhaustion after a busy morning.

His two favorite women. They often threw his carefully organized routine into disarray. But he wouldn’t have it any other way.

There were no more secrets between his wife and him. He’d told her all about Walter’s letter that he’d stopped from reaching her long ago and about that Rhea woman her ex was seeing. Apparently, Walter had contacted Maya’s mother a few months ago, looking for Maya to convince her to invest in his sporting goods store that wasn’t doing well. Maya quickly put a stop to that, forbidding that piece of shit from bothering her or any of her loved ones ever again.

They had never heard from him since. Hopefully, they never would.

Maya finished feeding the baby and carefully placed her into the bassinet. Lowering the sun canopy over the bassinet, she turned on the sleep monitoring system that would alarm them when Anika woke up or if the baby was in distress.

“Ahhh.” His wife stretched her back and shoulders, running her gaze over the river with the wide waterfall on the opposite bank. “It’s so gorgeous here. I’ll never get used to it or take it for granted.”

The property had been in Kear’s family for four generations. He remembered coming here as a child with his grandfather. The cabin up the riverbank was small but neat, with all the amenities necessary to have a relaxing family trip away from the city.

“Has your father left Voran City yet?” Maya asked, sauntering to the blanket on the ground where he sat stretching his legs.

The sun streaked her black tresses with gloss and put a spark in her eyes. The cropped top of her bathing suit gently cradled her breasts, allowing them to bounce gently with every step. The wide, air-thin shawl she had tied around her curvy hips like a wrap skirt billowed in the breeze.

His wife was and always would be the most beautiful woman in the Universe to him.

“When is your dad getting here?” she asked again.

“Just before dinner. He sent me a message this morning that he still wanted to stop by the Earth Girl’s Desserts.”

Her face split with a wide smile. “He’s bringing cupcakes?”

His wife had a sweet tooth, and from the moment his father had learned about that, he’d never failed to indulge her.

“He sure loves spoiling you.” Kear heaved an exaggerated sigh.

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