Page 27 of The Winging It Holiday Special

“Wholesome,” Dante’s dad said in Spanish, bumping their arms together.

Dante didn’t reply. He was pretty sure his dad wasn’t looking for an answer.

An instinct that proved to be right when his dad said, “You’d be good at it.”

Hijo de puta.Dante exhaled deeply enough that for a moment he couldn’t see anything through the vapor cloud in front of his face. “Dideveryoneknow about this but me?”

“Probably.” His dad smiled. “You might not remember this, but when you were little, you used to play with the girl next door. She had a baby brother. One day I came over to pick you up aftera playdate and found you with your shirt pulled up over your nipple, breastfeeding a doll. You were four.”

Dante really needed to dial up his self-awareness.

A gloved hand clapped his shoulder. “Hey. It’s good. Your mom and I are excited for you.”

Swallowing, Dante rubbed his chest through his jacket, trying to dispel an ache that felt like it had been there for years, even though he’d only acknowledged it in the past two days. “Don’t do the milkmaid’s accounts.”Don’t count your chickens, it would’ve been in English.

Then his cheeks flushed with heat, because, well,milk. God. Good to know he’d been an adorable kid, but he was glad no one had overheard that or he’d be getting chirped about it for the rest of his life.

Just then Yvette blew the whistle and intermission ended. Dante’s father grabbed his stick and got back on the ice, and Dominique delivered Michelle to the bank a few feet to Dante’s right. Gabe was facing off against Bazzer; he looked to Dante to see if he was coming out, but Dante shook his head. He needed a minute.

Michelle deposited herself in a folding chair. Dante considered for a moment, but he was wearing snow pants, so what the hell. He sat on the ground next to her. “So. Is it as chaotic as you hoped?”

She laughed breathlessly. “And then some.”

Dominique sprayed to a stop in front of them. “Uncle Dante, aren’t you going to play?”

It seemed like just yesterday she’d been six months old—a chubby, cuddly baby who peed on him when he changed her diaper. “I will,” he said. “Five minutes. I’m keeping Michelle company.”

“You can have him back soon,” Michelle promised.

Dominique did the “I’m watching you” gesture—made clumsy with her gloves—and skated back down the ice.

“You know, I thought about it.”

“About what?” Dante looked at her, squinting against the sun and its bright reflection off the snow.

Michelle tucked her legs under the dusty, scratchy throw blanket that accompanied any pond-hockey jaunt. “About being your surrogate,” she said, and Dante’s heart stuttered to a halt. “I might not want kids of my own, but—anyway. I can’t.”

Dante broke her gaze and swallowed as he nodded in understanding. “I wouldn’t have asked. It’s definitely something someone has to offer.”

But Michelle went on as if he hadn’t spoken. “I’m already pregnant.”

Wait,what?

He whipped his head around again. Michelle was fidgeting with the hem of the blanket, alternating her attention between that and Dante’s face. She grimaced. “Guess Rob lied about that vasectomy.”

“Oh my God.”

“Right?” She gave a tight, anemic smile. “I didn’t think anything of it, you know. I figured it was just stress. And I’ve always been a little… anyway. I just found out.”

Dante’s throat was drier than the Mojave. “What are you going to do?” He hardly dared to hope.

Her breath left a long stream of vapor in the air. “I thought about keeping it, but even if I wanted kids, I’d never be able to look at this one without thinking about Rob and how he fucked me over.” She tugged the blanket up a little higher, until it covered her to her shoulders. “And there’s abortion, but like, Mom’s Catholic. I know she’d support whatever I wanted a hundred percent…. But I also know she’d secretly worry whether I was going to hell, and I can’t do that to her.”

Now she looked over, met his gaze, and raised one shoulder in a self-deprecating shrug. “I don’t believe everything happens for a reason. But when I have a problem, and you have a problem, and swapping would help both of us… it seems ridiculous not to consider the solution.”

His whole body washed over with warmth. His hands trembled in his lap, and he could barely draw a breath. Happiness threatened to spill through every cell in his body… but he couldn’t let it. Not yet. This was more than he ever could’ve hoped for, but Michelle was going to be his stepsister-in-law, hopefully forever. “It won’t—” He cleared his throat. “You said you wouldn’t be able to look at them without thinking about what Rob did to you.”

Michelle’s eyes were glassy. “This way it isn’t about how Rob hurt me. It’s about turning pain into joy. It’s something I can be proud of.”

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