Page 228 of Keep This Promise
“Your friends, Mama James, Eden.”
“We tell them the truth. That we are together, and if they have an issue with it, they can fuck off. My friends knew this was going to happen. They’ve been giving me shit since the day you walked into my life. As for Mama James, she loves you and would never say anything bad about it. If anything, she’ll be ecstatic. As for Eden, I don’t know, what do you think?”
“I think we tell her that we’re together, and maybe it’ll lead to her eventually asking if you could be her daddy.” Sophie yawns, and her eyes start to close.
I lean down, pressing my lips to her forehead. “Good night, beautiful.”
She twists, hugging me closer. “Good night, love.”
I move to the left and shut the light off . . . holding Sophie and vowing to never let go.
* * *
We wake before Eden. “Good morning, handsome,” she says softly.
“It definitely is.”
“What time is your shift?” She kisses my chest.
I huff. “In about three hours. I wanted to go for a run and then have breakfast.”
She sits up, pulling the sheet with her. “I can make us eggs.”
“And bacon,” I remind her. It really should be its own food group.
“Of course. Eden would have it no other way. I’ll make her toast with peanut butter too.”
“Bacon!” The door flies open and in rushes Eden. “Mummy! I want bacon!”
Quickly, we both grab for the blanket and cover ourselves as she bounds toward Sophie’s side of the bed. Sophie grabs her, pulling her so they are chest-to-chest, and I quickly grab my pants, pulling them on with a speed I didn’t know I could move at.
“Mummy, Holden is in your bed.”
Sophie makes a few noises. “Uhh, well, he, umm, Holden and I are . . . well.”
Now dressed, I come around the side of the bed where Eden is and save Sophie from floundering any more. “I like your mum.”
“She’s very pretty.”
“I agree. I like her very much, the way adults like Emmett and Blakely or Spencer and Brielle like each other.”
“They kiss.” She wrinkles her nose.
“They do.”
“Do you kiss Mummy?”
I look to Sophie, who says, “We kiss each other because we care very much about each other. The way a mummy and daddy do.”
I wait to see if Eden asks the million-dollar question. “Is Holden going to be my new daddy?”
And it comes like a fastball down the middle.
“Yes, Holdenisyour daddy, not because Mummy is dating him, but because he will always be your daddy.”
Eden seems to ponder this with her head tilted up. “Always? What about my old daddy?”
“He will also be your daddy. You are the lucky girl who got to have two daddies and a mummy who loves you more than anything else in the world.”
