Page 120 of Hey, Daddy

Hell, even Milena had to add on.

There was literally so much fuckin’ shit everywhere that it was hard to navigate it sometimes.

“Well, hell,” Dima said as he stared at it. “Now, I gotta try it.”

He started it up and drove it backward off the trailer.

I walked to Brecken and snagged my little girl from her.

She winked and said, “I gotta get started on dinner. See y’all in a few.”

She started to walk down the road, disappearing from sight once she’d made it to her own gate.

She came down to visit a lot.

That was one thing that I liked about the compound that Shasha had built.

The family was close.

My own family was looking for their own places to build on the same lake, only a bit farther down the shore.

Eventually, we’d have them all close.

Speaking of close, my wife came up to me, her eyes on our daughter.

The moment she was near, I pulled her into the curve of my arm and said, “We have it all, Mama.”

She leaned her face into me and said, “Just one more thing.”

“What’s that?”

She pulled away and said, “Hey, Renee?”

My mom turned toward us. “Yeah?”

“Did you bring the package?”

My mom smiled and disappeared into the house.

She came out a long minute later with two dogs in tow.

One was a black mastiff and the other…

“Oh,” I breathed. “He looks just like Finn.”

“You’ll love her name,” she said.

I walked over to the big dog and bent down.

Both of them assaulted us with kisses, but they were incredibly gentle with Rosie, still fast asleep in my arms.

I pulled the collar of Finn’s lookalike around and felt my stomach clench.

Finnia.

Finnia.

“You named her Finnia?” I asked, my heart aching.

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