“Stop wringing your hands,” I said.
“I can’t help it,” Sutton murmured.
I reached out and grabbed Sutton’s hand in mine. A diamond ring glinted on her left hand. In May, just a few months before Jason had started kindergarten, we’d tied the knot in a small private ceremony on a beach in California. With our collective friends and family around us, it had been magical and beyond my wildest dreams.
“He’s going to be excited.”
“Am I more worried that he hated kindergarten or loved it? Because maybe, if he hated it, we could keep him out another year. Or better yet, homeschool,” she suggested.
“You are not homeschooling him. He loves other kids. It would be a travesty.”
“I know,” she groaned. “But I miss him even though I work all day, and I know he needs this.”
“I was pretty proud that you only cried for ten minutes after he left today.”
“Fifteen,” she said, a tear coming to her eye. “My little boy is already turning into a man.”
I looked skyward. We’d had this discussion already. “He’s five, Sut.”
“Only thirteen more years at home, and then he’ll be going to college.”
I put my hand on her expanding belly. “We’ll still have this one at home though. And, anyway…that’s really far in the future.”
“Don’t argue with me. I’m pregnant.”
I laughed and shook my head at my outrageous wife.
Our honeymoon had been wonderful, and a few weeks later, we’d found out that we were expecting a baby girl in January. Our baby girl. We were still thinking about names. Neither of us could agree on anything.
“Oh, there he is!” She raised her hand to wave, and I pulled it down.
“Don’t wave. Wait until he sees us.”
“Fine, fine.”
We both waited, and to our delight, Jason waved at us and rushed over.
He was turning out to look just like his father. It pained Sutton on occasion to see Maverick shining out of her son, but it also brought her joy. Jason understood as much as he could about what had happened with his dad, but we knew he’d appreciate the information more when he was older.
“Mom! Dad!” Jason called. He pulled us both into hugs. “Kindergarten was awesome! Can I go back, Mom? Can I?”
My heart still expanded every time he called me dad.
Sutton choked back her tears and smiled brilliantly. “Of course you can go back! Tell me everything. What did you do? What did you learn?”
Jason recounted his day, giving us a play-by-play of everything he could remember about his first day of kindergarten. Including all of his friends and, of course, that he saw Bethany at recess, who was in another class in the same grade.
I drove us out of the school parking lot and back to our house in the Subaru I’d compromised on. I still had a sports car, but the SUV was way more useful when toting around a kid. Sutton and Jason had moved in with me, and I’d let her redecorate the whole place. It had been really hard for her to sell that place, but it had been her idea since she’d shared that house with Maverick.
“Are we still going to the bakery?” Jason asked.
He handed his backpack to Sutton and followed me inside.
“Yep. We’re still going to Mom’s work.”
Sutton had spent the last three years in culinary school, working on getting a degree as a pastry chef. At first, she’d thought it would be a waste since she worked at Kimber’s full-time. But I had known she’d truly love it, and she’d brought new life to the bakery that she was now a co-owner in.
“But, first, we have another surprise for you.”
“Did you pick a name for my new sister?”
I laughed. “Not yet.”
“I like Addison.”
Sutton shook her head. “Remember when you were a quiet kid?”
“No,” he mumbled.
“Well, this surprise is in the living room. Let’s go.”
“Is it a puppy?” he gasped. Then, he sprinted into the living room. “Please let it be a puppy.”
I glanced at Sutton with raised eyebrows. “Told you we should have gotten a puppy.”
She swatted at me. “This is better.”
“The best. What I’ve always wanted actually.”
She kissed me and then walked into the living room.
“There’s no puppy.”
“Nope. No puppy,” I said. Sutton and I took a seat. “It’s something else.”
“Remember how we told you all of those stories about your dad?” I asked.
“My dad who went to heaven?” he asked slowly.
“That’s right,” Sutton said. “He was a great man, and we all miss him very much.”
Jason looked between us, confused. “But I have a new dad.”
“You do. David is your dad, too. And, today…” Sutton said, sniffling as emotions hit her.
“Jason, I want to adopt you,” I told him.
“Adopt me?” Jason scrunched his brows up.
“That’s right. I want us to be a real family.”
“You were adopted, right, Dad?”
“Yep,” I said. “I was adopted by your grandma Celeste. And she’s pretty great, isn’t she?”
Jason nodded his head. “We go on an airplane to see Grandma.”
“Well, just like Grandma Celeste adopted your dad, your dad wants to adopt you. He wants it so that everyone knows you’re his son. Would you like that?”
“Yeah! I want everyone to know he’s my dad.”
“Well, if you are okay with it, then your dad will sign this paperwork, and everyone will know.”
“Yes,” Jason said with a big smile, “I want to be adopted.”
Sutton started crying and pulled Jason in for a hug. I opened the folder on the table and removed the adoption paperwork. We’d had it drafted weeks ago but wanted to make sure it was the right time. I signed with a flourish.
And, suddenly, it all felt official.
Here I was with my pregnant wife and our son.
Jason was finally mine, too.