Page 63 of Keg's Revelation

“I can’t go to the family dinner.”

“Why not? Do you not feel good?”

“I’m not sick. It’s ‘cause I’m not part of your family.”

“Of course you are, sweetheart.” I had to ask, though fear gripped my heart with how she might answer. “Do you not want to be a part of my family?”

“Yes. But once you marry Mommy and adopt Ry, I’ll be the only one with the last name Allen. So, I won’t have any family anymore since my daddy is dead.”

Damned if I didn’t get another lump stuck in my throat. I dropped to my knees so I could be more at her level and cleared my throat, then prayed I didn’t fuck this up. Kids needed to come with a manual.

“Well, I might just be able to fix that, but it will be up to you and your mommy.”

“How?”

“I already talked with your mommy, and she’s okay with it. We just hadn’t talked with you yet. First though, a name doesn’t make you family, sweetheart.” I placed my big hand on her chest. “It’s what in there that does. And in my heart, you are already part of my family. But I thought that since your daddy helped your mommy raise Ry. He loved and protected him and even shared his last name with Ry when I wasn’t around. That maybe you’d let me do the same for you since your daddy’s not here anymore. I already love you, Reagan. And I’ll raise and protect you no matter what, but I sure would like to share my name with you, too. Would you let me adopt you?”

“My last name will be Borelli like yours, Mommy’s and Ry’s?”

“Yes.”

“So I’ll have two daddies like Ry, too?” With each question she threw at me, I felt the lump in my throat grow bigger.

“Yes.”

“That means I can call you daddy, too?”

And that question did me in. I wasn’t sure I could speak without my voice cracking, so I nodded. Then I gave up and let the tears fighting to be released go when Reagan lunged and wrapped her little arms around my neck and buried her face in my chest. I wrapped my arms around her while she cried.

Still holding her with one arm, I raised the other and used my hand to wipe at my own tears. I hadn’t let tears fall since I was almost fifteen and my mom died.

When Halo ran past, I looked to see where he was going, and I saw Raven standing at the corner of the shed with her hands covering her mouth. She, too, had tears running down her cheeks.

I didn’t know how long I knelt there and held Reagan before she quieted. I would have done it forever if she’d needed me to. But I knew that was unrealistic, and Ry proved it when he opened the back door.

“Hey! Are we going to eat soon or what? I’m hungry.”

We had dinner as afamily, then came home and worked more on getting things unpacked. Ry helped me break down the empty boxes while Raven helped her—our—daughter hang up her clothes.Ourdaughter. In that moment, I knew how my dad must have felt with Sami. I’d kill any man who broke her heart.

After the kids went to bed, I made a late call to the club’s attorney explaining what I needed. Mr. Long’s advice was that it would be easier for all involved to go through the adoption process the State of Washington required for Reagan’s name change for Ry also. That way, Raven wouldn’t have to explain why she’d allowed Derek to be added to Ry’s birth certificate when he wasn’t Ry’s real father.

With Derek deceased, the process would be shortened because there was no other parent who had to sign away their rights. Only Raven’s signature was required with the paperwork, then a home inspection followed by a court date so a judge could make it official.

I laid on my back in bed trying to catch my breath after showing Raven my appreciation for the family she’d given me. And turning the house into a home. “You know, I need to call Beth Evans and let her know she was right.”

“First, who is Beth Evans?”

I chuckled at Raven’s tone. “She is a sixty-plus-year-old married woman, and she was my realtor who found this house.”

“Oh. Maybe I should call her and thank her for talking you into to buying it. It’s amazing and beautiful.”

“She didn’t need to talk me into buying it, I loved the place when I saw it. It was big, but I didn’t care. She told me to find a woman and fill the house with kids because that is how you turned a house into a home. Figured she get a kick out of knowing her words were true.”

“Ah, I don’t know her, but I like her.”

“Something else I was thinking. I know we discussed having a cookout and having everyone over, but I want to hold off on it for a bit.”

“Whenever you want to have it, it’s fine with me.”

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