Page 120 of Challenged by the Single Dad

Groaning and rolling over onto his side to face Dom, Silas stretched his arms above his head, and his toes under the covers. Then he peeled open the other eye and blinked at his father. “You’ll still love me when the baby comes, right?”

Like a spear between his ribs.

Dom resisted the urge to literally clutch his chest, and cupped his son’s face instead. “Absolutely.”

They locked eyes and Silas just blinked at him, almost like he didn’t believe Dom’s words.

“Let me tell you something fascinating about the heart,” Dom said, releasing Silas’s face. “When someone new enters your life, someone that you grow to love, they don’treplacesomeone else. They don’t take space away from someone else. So when Uncle Wyatt had Griffon after he had Jake, it wasn’t like he loved Jake any less. Griffon didn’t steal space in Uncle Wyatt’s heart away from Jake. Uncle Wyatt’s heart simply grew bigger to accommodate more love.” He squinted at his kid. “Do you get what I’m saying?”

Slowly, Silas nodded, sitting up and leaning against his pillows. “I think so.”

“When the baby comes, my love for you will not change. There will not be any less of it for you because there is some for the baby. If anything, I will probably love you even more when I see how amazing of a big brother you are. As it is, I love you more today than I did yesterday. And I will love you more tomorrow than I do today.”

“Is that how it is with moms too?”

Oof.

He wasn’t expecting that question. Though he really should have been.

“Do you mean Chloe?”

Silas’s bony shoulder lifted. “Yeah. But also, Brooke and Justine and Vica. It’s not like Uncle Bennett stopped loving Aunt Carla, right?”

“Right. He will always love Aunt Carla. And Emme and Aya will always love their mother.”

“But their hearts just grew to make space for Justine.” Silas didn’t frame it as a question. He was making sense of it, which was such a huge relief.

“Exactly. They welcomed another person, and more love into their hearts but that doesn’t mean the love they have for Aunt Carla shrunk or disappeared. That’s what’s so fascinating about the heart is its capacity to love knows no bounds.”

He scrunched up his nose in an adorable way which also made the dimples on his cheeks come out. “What does that mean?”

“It means the heart’s ability to grow and welcome more love and people is endless. It’s not like the ferry where there is a maximum limit.”

“Ohhhh.” Silas nodded. “Yeah, I hate that. When some big, dumb motorhome with gray nomads in it takes up the length of two cars on the ferry so we’re stuck waiting for the next sailing.” He rolled his blue-hazel eyes. “Annoying gray nomads.”

The kids and their Bluey references killed him. Gray nomads were retired people—typically with gray hair—who took long, extended glamping trips. However, it was common knowledge that since they were retired, they operated at a much more leisurely speed than the rest of the world, since they had nowhere to be at any particular time.

“Is that what’s happening in your heart with Chloe and Mom?” Silas asked. “You still love Mom, but now your heart has grown so you also love Chloe?”

Another thing they did in the wrong order. He’d moved her in and knocked her up all before telling her he loved her.

Fuck, he was really screwing all of this up, wasn’t he?

He ruffled his kid’s hair and smiled. “My heart continues to grow and welcome more people into it. Chloe and the baby are definitely on the list.”

Silas gave him a curious look, one with bunched brows and skepticism, but he didn’t say anything. The kid was awfully cerebral for six. He understood and thought about things in the quiet of his own mind, more than he ever said anything out loud.

Dom stood up. “Do you need help picking out your clothes for the day?”

Now Silas looked downright insulted. “I’m six, Dad. I can do it myself.”

Holding up his hands in surrender, Dom chuckled. “All right, all right. I was just offering. Remember to brush both your hair and your teeth.”

Silas climbed out of bed, wearing nothing but his Spiderman boxer briefs and wandered over to his dresser. “What’s the forecast?”

Snorting, Dom grabbed his phone from his back pocket.

“More rain and wind,” Dom said. “And lots of it.”

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