Page 86 of Bad Nanny

“Our kingdom will be full of love and sparkles.” My puppet turned to look right at me. “We shall even adopt a loyal companion, Honeybun, to guard our castle.”

Delaney’s puppet bounced with joy. “Yay!” Delaney whispered, “I forgot what to say next...oh!” At regular volume, she added, “And with Queen Josie, we will have so much fun!”

“Yes, my princess. As a family, we will face any challenge with courage and love.”

Delaney moved her puppet in front of mine, and Josie manipulated them into a hug. “Thank you, King Daddy, for all your love and protection. You are my hero, and I love you very, very much. To be continued. The end.”

I didn’t even try to hide the tears running down my cheeks as Delaney popped up with a proud grin. She ran over to me, and I enveloped her in a hug. “That was amazing, sweetie. It was the best birthday present anyone has ever given me. I love you so much.”

Everyone around us was quiet, and when I looked over my shoulder, they were headed into the house, giving us a few minutes alone as a family.

Josie stood from behind the stage, wiping at her eyes. I kept one arm around Delaney and pulled Josie in with the other, holding my girls close.

“Thank you,” I whispered against Josie’s hair. “This means the world to me.”

“You mean the world to her.” She hugged me tighter. “And me.”

I wasn’t sure my heart could feel any fuller.

Epilogue

Josie

First Day of Kindergarten

It washard to believe that it was time for Delaney to start kindergarten. She’d grown so much in the short time I’d known her, and I was incredibly proud of the little girl who had stolen my heart.

I felt a mix of nerves and excitement for her as Gabriel and I walked with her between us. This was a big step, and even though she’d been a ball of energy all morning, she was also apprehensive about spending four hours away from home by herself.

The night before, as we’d helped her get her things ready for her first day, it had really sunk in that this was my life now. I’d never imagined I’d be in a relationship with a single dad, but here I was, thriving and loving every second of it.

Gabriel looked over at me as we crossed the street. Hehad been quiet all morning and was worried about how Delaney would do. It didn’t help that we had to park several blocks from the school due to all the first day traffic. At least picking Delaney up at noon wouldn’t be nearly as bad.

Once we were on campus, we walked to the kindergarten playground, where children were already playing on the equipment while their parents stood nearby waiting for the bell to ring.

Gabriel handed me Delaney’s purple backpack, that was almost as big as she was, and knelt in front of her. “You’re going to have a great day today and make lots of new friends.”

She grabbed his tie, holding onto it like a lifeline. “And you’ll be at work?”

“Yes, and Josie will be at home. Remember that Ms. Goodwin has both of our numbers, plus your uncles’. If you need to, you can call any of us, okay?” Gabriel pried her hands off his tie and pulled her into a hug. “You’ve got this, sweetheart.”

I had to hand it to him; he was doing a good job of hiding his emotions from Delaney. He’d had a really hard time falling asleep the night before and immediately started talking about homeschooling when we woke up. Luckily, I’d distracted him with my mouth before he could spiral too far.

Delaney pulled out of the hug, and I knelt as Gabriel stood. I opened her backpack and pulled out Penny.

“Remember that you can have Penny in your lap if you need her.” I handed Delaney the puppet she hadn’t touched in weeks. “You two are going to make a ton of friends.”

Delaney slipped Penny onto her hand. “What time are you picking me up?”

“As soon as you get out of school. I’ll get here extra early and pick you up at the classroom door, like we talked about.” I tilted her chin up, since she was looking at the ground. “You’re going to be fine, Laney. I thumb swore that you would, and that’s a very serious thing.”

Her lips turned up in a smile. “Very serious because we need our thumbs to make puppets talk.” She held out a thumb to me, and I pressed mine to hers.

After a hug, I stood up and helped Delaney into her backpack while Gabriel watched us.

“Thank you.” He leaned in and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek before moving his lips to my ear. “You definitely need at least one thumb for what I have planned later.”

I swatted his chest as Delaney’s teacher opened the classroom door. She was around my age and newer to teaching, but when we’d met her the week before, she had the confidence of a veteran teacher.

---