He clenched his jaws and took a deep breath.
“As twisted as it sounds, tonight was actually a lesson learned for me. Davey’s kidnapping was completely out of your hands, out of my control too. Just like Tristian’s had been when he was a kid,” he said.
“You were a kid!”
Brendan nodded.
“I think I can forgive myself now. At least I can start trying to.”
“Davey is back safe with us, just the way your brother came back to you.”
“Aldo Baron is still going to pay for what he did. He kidnapped my son,” Brendan growled.
I knew there was no point in trying to talk him out of revenge. He meant it when he said he would make them pay. Each and every one of them who was responsible.
My hand subconsciously drifted to my belly as I sat there beside him. I wasn’t actively thinking about it, but it must have been on my mind. A second pregnancy. Another baby. How amazing would that be?
I kissed his cheek and took another bite of my grilled cheese.
Whatever path our future would take—at least I would have him with me.
Thirty
Brendan
Rosalie was already making pancakes the next morning when Davey woke up. We heard him get off the bed, then open the door and come look for us in the kitchen.
He went straight to his mother and Rosalie lifted him up.
“Did you sleep well, honey? Are you feeling okay?”
He nodded and smiled, gave her a kiss and then came over to me.
“Is this where you live?” he asked.
“Yeah, it is, do you like it?”
Davey nodded.
There were going to be many changes in his life in the coming months, and I was worried he was too little to actually understand it. They would move into my apartment. He would have a new room. Rosalie would be able to spend a lot more time with him.
Most importantly, he was going to find out that he had a dad. That I was his dad.
Neither Rosalie, nor I knew how he was going to take this news.
Davey never had a father figure in his life.
Rosalie brought the pancakes to the table while I asked Davey to help me with the whipped cream and the fruit for the toppings.
“Do I have to go to school today?” he asked when we sat down at the table.
“No honey, you don’t have to go to school until you’re ready to go back,” Rosalie replied.
“Will I stay with Grandma? Will you go to work?” he asked.
Rosalie smiled and glanced at me.
“No, I’m going to stay home too. We can spend all day together.”
“I’m going to be home today too,” I added.
Davey’s face shined bright as he looked at my face and then his mother’s. It was almost like he was in disbelief.
“Okay. Can we get pizza? And ice cream? Can we go to the park? I want cotton candy too.”
I laughed and Rosalie rolled her eyes.
“Don’t push it there, buddy,” she said.
In reality, we both wanted to give Davey all the things he wanted. Anything that would make him feel safe and help him forget what happened the previous day.
“But before we do any of those amazing things, honey, we have something we want to tell you,” Rosalie said.
She looked at me for support. We had already decided we would tell him in the morning, as soon as possible. Give him the time he needed to get used to the idea.
Davey pouted and looked confusedly at us.
“Brendan is your daddy,” she continued.
Even though Davey was just three, it seemed like he soaked in the information for an extended period of time. Like he needed extra time to make sense of what had just been told to him.
“My daddy?” he asked, staring at me curiously.
Rosalie got up from her chair and went over to kneel down beside him.
“Do you understand what that means, honey?” she asked, taking his hands.
He was still staring at me, studying me like he was trying to figure it out.
“You mean I have a daddy? Like on my shows where they have daddies?” he asked.
Rosalie pursed her lips together and it looked like her eyes were welling up. I assumed she didn’t know that Davey had noticed this significant detail on the shows he watched regularly. That other people had daddies but he didn’t.
Rosalie stroked his hair and nodded.
“Yes, sweetheart, exactly like that. You have a mommy and a daddy.”
“My friend Sam has a daddy,” he replied, looking at me excitedly.
“And can Sam’s daddy do this?” I asked and quickly picked up all the pancakes on my plate and stuffed my mouth with them.
Davey burst out laughing when he saw how ridiculous I looked trying to chomp through all the food in my mouth. Rosalie smiled too. She looked relieved that I’d managed to make the scene a little less intense.
“No. He can’t!” Davey exclaimed, laughing even harder.
“What about this?” I asked, popping two blueberries in my nostrils where they got stuck.
Davey couldn’t stop laughing. I added some funny grunts into the mix. I loved watching him laugh. It made me happy that he was happy. That there was a possibility he would be happy with me.
“Can I call you Daddy now?” he asked when he was finally done laughing.
I had to grip the table with both hands because that was something I wasn’t expecting to hear. I figured it would take Davey a long while before he got there. But I had clearly underestimated the kid.
“Of course, kiddo, you can call me anything you like.”
“Daddy.”
“Sounds good to me.”
Rosalie gulped down the lump of joy that had formed in her throat.
“And now that you have a daddy and a mommy, we were wondering how you’d feel about moving into this apartment. So we can all live together. What do you think, honey?” she continued.
“Do I get that room?” Davey asked, pointing down the hall in the direction of the spare room.
“Yeah. It’s yours,” I said.
Davey nodded excitedly. “But I don’t have to leave school,
