Page 162 of Stolen Kiss

She had climbed out of bed rubbing her eyes, her dark hair a messy array and reminding me so much of Emilia, I couldn’t help but smile.

“Good morning, little princess.”

“Good morning, Daddy. Can we go swimming today?”

“Of course. Anything for the birthday girl.”

She brightened at that. “It’s my birthday today?”

I grinned. “It sure is. Do you know how old you’re turning?”

She looked down at her fingers, thinking a bit, before she held up three for me to see.

“That’s right.” I picked her up and carried her into the kitchen, where Emilia was making some breakfast. She smiled when she saw Elodie in my arms.

“Good morning, little darling.”

I held our daughter out for a kiss, and Emilia proceeded to pepper her face with kisses. Elodie giggled.

“Morning, Mommy.”

“Are you hungry?” I asked Elodie after she calmed down a bit.

She nodded. “Can we have pancakes?”

“We sure can,” I said, setting her down on her high chair.

Her vocabulary had significantly improved from just one year, and she was no longer referring to herself as Lodie but was using “I” and “me.” I didn’t think I would miss Elodie at two, but I did. My little girl was growing up way too fast.

And sometimes, I wished I could just stop time for a moment.

We had decided to spend Elodie’s birthday away from New York.

It was mostly for Emilia, who had missed out on the first two, and I liked the idea of not having to share my family for the next two weeks, though we would be throwing Elodie a birthday party once we were back for her whole family to spoil her rotten.

It took some time, but my mom had finally warmed up to Emilia and now they even spent most Sundays together, going out to eat lunch and gossip with each other.

I was happy to see things settling in their place, and I was happy to see Emilia being welcomed into my family with open arms as surely as I had been with hers, though her brother took some time to warm up to me.

Emilia came back out with a stack of pancakes on one huge plate. I stood up and took it from her, kissing her on the cheek.

“Sit down, sweetheart. I got this.”

“Thank you,” she said, smiling a bit and walking over to Elodie.

I served us breakfast, some pancakes on the side of scrambled eggs and potatoes, and I watched as Emilia helped our daughter with hers, contentment filling me.

This was turning out to be one of the best days of my life.

* * *

Later that night,when Elodie had finally exhausted herself into sleep after spending most of the day swimming in the sun, I led Emilia by the hand to our bedroom.

She was quiet as she watched me strip her out of her clothing.

I kneeled in front of her and laid a kiss on her belly. It was still flat now, and I knew it would be a while before we see any changes, but fuck, I couldn’t wait.

I couldn’t wait for all the changes.

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