Page 46 of Enemy Ex's Secret Baby

“Oh, Harley,” Dana starts first, going toward our sister. “It’s stunning.”

“Are you crying, Dana?” Harley asks in shock.

I follow. “It’s perfect.” It really is. Quintessential Harley, not doing anything by the rules, marching to the beat of her own drum. Tana is a lucky little girl to have such a strong woman for a mother. I know Harley would say the same of Stella.

I hope she’s right.

Dana and I huddle around Harley, tears springing to both our eyes. The consultant asks with delight, “Is this it?”

Harley wraps her arms around our shoulders. “Is it that obvious?”

It’s moments like these that make me realize we can have a beautiful life without Mom. Scratch that. We have a beautiful life without Mom. It aches differently than a normal life. But damn does it soar sometimes.

16

AXEL

“You’re doing a nice job staying in the lines,” I say as Stella works on a very detailed butterfly.

“Thank you. Mommy says I don’t have to stay in the lines, but that’s why the lines are there,” she replies, concentrating hard on being very careful.

“Your mom would say that,” I say with a chuckle.

Stella stops and looks at my work on the leaves. “You do a nice job staying in the lines too.”

“Yeah, well, like you said. They’re there for a reason.”

Stella smiles. “Exactly.”

We continue to color in a comfortable silence.

“Everything okay over there?” Lola asks, wiping her hands on her apron.

The bakery has mostly cleared out now, all the cyclists sitting outside enjoying their cups of coffee and pastries.

“Peachy,” I say. “You?”

“Well, that was a marathon.”

“More like a triathlon,” I reply.

Lola rolls her eyes. “Stupid.”

“What’s a triathlon?” Stella asks, raising her eyes to meet mine.

For some reason, I get a little nervous. I’m not around kids very much and if I am, they’re more ornamental in nature. What if I can’t explain things in terms she can understand? “Well, you know what a marathon is?”

Stella nods. “Like a really long race.”

“Yes, a running race. But in a Triathlon, you don’t just run. You also ride on a bicycle.”

Her eyes widen. “Whoa.”

“And you swim too, but that’s beside the point. Doesn’t fit into–my joke was–”

“Axel was just being a smart aleck,” Lola explains. “You know what that is, don’t you, Stella?”

The little girl huffs. “I am not a smart aleck.”

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