Page 79 of Max's Mission

The girl stilled and looked up.

“So, what would you say if we spent even more time with Max?”

“Swimming?” Em immediately asked.

Margot chuckled. “I’m sure there will be more swimming. But I meant more as like a family. Like Amy and Ezra with their daughter Gretchen.”

“Like a daddy?” Lily asked.

Max met Margot’s gaze. A slow smile spread over his face, happiness making his eyes shine.

“Yes,” Margot said. While they hadn’t made a hard and fast commitment to each other—no professions of undying love or proposals of marriage—becoming a family unit was the goal.

“I’d like a daddy,” Em said. “Gretchen has a daddy. He’s nice.” She tipped her head back to spear Max with a look. “Will you take me to surfs?”

Max chuckled. “Of course I will. We’ll do all kinds of stuff. Just like we do now. Mostly, this means that we’re all going to spend more time together and that I’m responsible for you guys,just like your mommy is. I hope one day soon you’ll all move in here.”

“Are you gonna get married, like Ann-beth and Dean?” Emily asked.

Max’s gaze flicked to Margot’s, and he smiled again. “If your mommy says yes when I ask her.”

Emily’s head turned to look at Margot. “Say yes. We want a daddy.”

Margot laughed. “I don’t think you’ll have to worry about that.” She clutched Lily close, pressing her cheek to the girl’s damp hair as she gazed at Em. The emotion she’d been dancing around for months but never letting herself fully feel finally overflowed its well. She looked up at Max with a tremulous smile, unable to stop the words that spilled free. “I love Max very much.”

The smile froze on his face and his eyes rounded. A moment later, the widest, happiest smile she’d ever seen on him brightened his expression.

“Yeah?” He tipped his head.

She nodded. “Yeah.”

“I love you too.” He held her gaze for a moment, then looked down at the girl in his arms, then Lily. “All of you.”

Emily turned in his arms, standing up on his lap. She wrapped her little arms around his neck and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “I love you too.”

Lily pushed out of Margot’s lap and scrambled into Max’s. “Me too!”

Tears swam in Margot’s vision. She’d worried a bit how the girls would take the change in their relationship with him. She shouldn’t have.

Max looked at her from between the twins, his bright smile now a little watery.

Emily pulled back. “I’m gonna call you Daddy Max.”

A surprised chuckle slipped past his lips. “You are, huh?”

She nodded, her expression solemn. “Yep.”

Lily looked back at Margot. “Mommy, can we play with Gretchen tomorrow? I want to tell her I have a daddy, now, too!”

Margot smiled at her daughter. “We might be able to arrange that. I’ll call Amy in the morning, okay?”

“Okay!” Lily kissed Max’s cheek, then turned and sat down. “Can we have another story, Daddy Max?”

He chuckled. “Sure. Which one do you want?”

Thirty-Five

Water sluiced off Max’s shoulders as he heaved himself out of the pool, turning to sit on the edge with his feet still in the water. This was his favorite time of day. Right as the sun came up and the world was quiet and new. No traffic sounds from below or the dull roar of speedboats on the bay. Just the morning birds and bugs.

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