Room For More(42)

“No.” Lucy scowled.

Kacie looked at her skeptically. “Since when do you not like Gigi’s applesauce?”

“I like built apples, Mom, not squished ones,” Lucy snarled.

Kacie and I looked at each other for a brief second and tried to hold our laughs in, but we were unsuccessful. Piper joined in shortly after us and within a minute, Lucy was laughing too. All tension had evaporated from the room and it turned into the perfect morning.

We all sat together at the island, shoving our faces with pancakes and cinnamon applesauce, while the girls told stories about their first week at school.

“Brody, does the tooth fairy come to your house a lot?” Lucy asked.

I frowned at her in confusion. “Not since I was a little kid. Why?”

She shoved her hands onto her tiny hips. “Connor Gerjol said if you’re a hockey player, your teeth fall out a lot.”

Kacie let out a good laugh, trying to cover her mouth with her hands.

“Well, Conno is right, sort of. Hockey players sometimes have missing teeth from getting hit in the face with a puck or a stick, but I’m a goalie. I wear lots of protection when I’m on the ice, so I’ve never lost any teeth.”

Lucy nodded, content with the answer I’d just given her.

“Connor also said you’re our dad.” Piper added nonchalantly, looking down at her pancakes.

My eyes shot over to Kacie who sat straight up, her eyes as big as dinner plates.

“Uh…” was all she squeaked out.

Lucy and Piper both looked up at their mom, innocently waiting for the answer to a question that had unknowingly just rocked her whole world.

“Brody… is… uh…” she stammered, looking back and forth from them to me, not sure where to go next.

“It’s kind of hard to explain, guys, and we’ll be able to tell you a lot more when you’re older. The main thing to remember is I love your mom and I love you two a whole lot. If you want to tell people I’m your dad, that’s fine by me. Hopefully one day, I will be.” I reached over and squeezed Kacie’s hand as her face relaxed just a little.

“Okay. Can we go play with those ugly Barbies you brought in from the garage?” Lucy asked.

“Uh, sure,” Kacie answered, still reeling.

Lucy and Piper hopped off the stools and disappeared down the hall. Kacie watched to make sure they were out of earshot and spun around to me with tears in her eyes. “Holy shit.”

“You okay?”

“Yes. No. I don’t know. I always knew that question was coming, but I thought they’d ask where their dad was, not if you were their dad. Oh my God, I froze.” She covered her face with her hands and shook it back and forth.

“You did great.” I got up and stood behind her, massaging her tense shoulders.

“Brody, I didn’t even answer them. You did. If you hadn’t been here—”

“But I was here, and even if I hadn’t been, you would have said something perfect.” I wrapped my arms around her shoulders and squeezed tight. “You’re a fantastic mom, Kacie. Cut yourself some slack.”

She let out a huge sigh and relaxed in my arms. “Thank you.”

“For what?”

Spinning on her stool to face me, she looked me straight in the eye. “Thank you for being here today. Thank you for always saying the perfect thing. Thank you for teaching me to relax and not take life too seriously. Thank you for loving me. Thank you for being you.”

I studied her face for a second, taking in how insanely in love with that woman I really was. I loved everything about her.

Her captivating green eyes.

Her kissable lips and the way she chewed on them when she was nervous.

The freckles that sprinkled across her adorable nose.

Even the scar on the corner of her left eye that she got from a bike-riding accident as a kid.

What overwhelmed me about her was that this outside superficial stuff was just that. It was an added bonus. What made Kacie truly special to me was what was inside of her. I loved her for the way she loved me. I loved her for the way she loved her girls. I loved her for the mother she would one day be to my kids, which were somewhere deep inside of her, waiting to be created.

“It’s raining out.”

She pulled back and narrowed her eyes at me, confused by my response.

I cocked my head toward the front door. “Puddles. Ya wanna?”

A huge grin formed on her face as she realized what I was asking. She hopped off the stool and looked down the hall. “Lucy! Piper! Let’s go outside!”





“Kacie!” my mom called from the kitchen.

I threw the last of my overnight things in my duffel bag and went to see what she needed.