DALE - Nine Months Later
“Just stay away from the crib, Sally, Lacrosse. Ugh.”
I leaned back, watching Clare trying to shuffle my daughter and the dog away from little J’s crib.
Months had passed, and things had worked out perfectly. I couldn’t remember ever having been happier. When she walked up to me, I pulled her close.
“You make me so happy,” I whispered against her neck, and she exhaled slowly.
“Just because I gave you a son. However, your daughter and her dog cannot stay away and leave the little man be so he can sleep,” she groaned, albeit jokingly
“Our daughter,” I corrected, and she hesitated a moment before looking at me.
“Dale…”
I shifted so I could pull her onto my lap. “She calls you mom more often than not, Clare, and you’ve done a fabulous job raising her these last few months, teaching her all about how to be her own person, yet kind. You didn’t give birth to her, but I still consider her part of you.”
It was true. “Mom” had accidentally slipped out of Sally’s mouth a few times, but I knew for a fact that she now used it on purpose. Clare usually reacted to it, too.
Lacrosse had spent every waking minute, and every sleeping one, with Sally, and the two were inseparable. Luckily, Clare practically lived with us now, even if she insisted on keeping her house. I didn’t know why, especially since only my restoration equipment and Clare’s half-finished paintings were kept in there.
It was something she had always wanted to try. While she enjoyed starting a picture, it was obvious she’d never finish one.
I didn’t care, though, because she looked utterly content when the brush went over the canvas. I enjoyed watching her…until she’d get distracted, mostly by Sally.
“Dale,” Clare whispered. “She feels like my child.”
I knew what it cost her to say this. My mother had confided in me that Clare worried about overstepping her bounds when it came to Sally. I’d always meant to ask Clare about it, to hear her thoughts, but the time had never been right.
However, that didn’t matter because she’d obviously finally come to terms with what she was feeling.
“I have a surprise for you,” I said quietly, glancing past her at the children. Junior slept quietly and Sally rolled on the floor with Lacrosse, laughing.
“I don’t need a surprise. I have you,” Clare replied, placing her arms around my neck. Still, I pulled the keys from my pocket, watching her eyes widen in question.
“I found the perfect place. I know you’ll never give up your house, and I don’t have the patience to build anything. Let’s make a new house for our family. No longer yours, no longer mine. Ours. It’s the farm.”
We’d visited a farm to see some sheep a few months back. I’d used that excuse to show Clare around without her knowing. I’d heard the owners were going to sell, and Clare and Sally had instantly fallen in love with the property, the small stream running nearby, the wide lawn to run on.
When I stood on the porch, I’d pictured more kids playing there, knowing moving in with her would be just the first step.
Clare Delaney didn’t know it yet, but she wouldn’t be a Delaney much longer.
I already had the ring, and one day very soon, I’d get down on my knee, knowing with certainty that she wouldn’t turn me down.
Clare Delaney loved me unlike anyone had ever been loved before, and she’d never again belong to someone else. She was the one for me, and I would make her see that over and over again for the rest of our lives.
The End