“Who’s ready to go see Grandpa?” I asked.

Blithe hopped up and down, excited. “I am! I am!”

“Not gonna lie,” Paige said. “I kind of am, too.”

“You just like the sauna he has in the guest bedroom he puts us in,” I said.

“What’s wrong with that?” she asked, grinning. “It’s not like we have a sauna in our little home.”

I made an offended sound. “Little home? I bought this home just for us.”

“I know, honey. It’s just that, it’s a townhome.”

“What’s wrong with a townhome? It’s in a decent part of town, it’s close to Blithe’s school, and it’s not a shitty commute to work for me.”

“Shitty!” Blithe said.

Paige glared at me before turning to Blithe. “No, sweetheart. We don’t say that word.”

“Sorry,” Blithe said.

Paige put her hand on my chest and looked up into my eyes. “I’m not trying to fight, okay? I love the home we have, and I like going to your father’s house in Seattle. Is that an okay thing?”

I nodded and kissed her lips, but I could still feel the tension growing between us.

Ever since Paige and I had gotten married, we made it a point to visit my father as often as he visited us. Paige didn’t want him getting the idea that we only wanted to see him if he came to us, but I didn’t see what the big deal was. He wouldn’t have purchased his own beachside condo if he didn’t want to come down here to see us, but Paige wasn’t hearing any of it.

Besides, the moment we first stepped into his house, my girls were hooked.

Blithe had her own indoor playground. The entire loft-and-attic combination had been outfitted and insulated to be a playroom for her. The walls were covered in paint that was equivalent to a dry-erase board, and she had all the colors of the rainbow and then some in dry erase markers to draw with.

There was a slide that dumped into a ball pit, and there was a small trampoline she could jump on to get into the ball pit that way. There was a television mounted in the corner in case she wanted to curl up and watch something. There was a little reading nook that always seemed to have different books whenever we came over.

It was a room fit for a princess, and we lost Blithe to that room every time we walked in.

The house wasn’t just a haven for Blithe. It was a haven for Paige as well. There was an indoor pool and a hot tub that Paige adored as well as a swim-up bar that my father kept stocked. Sometimes it was simply full of alcohol she could mix herself, and sometimes he surprised her with a bartender to mix drinks just for her.

His house was exactly like a vacation getaway, complete with our own personal sauna in our own personal bathroom to use whenever we wanted. I knew I could get us something similar now that I had so much money, but I guessed I had gotten used to being rather frugal.

I had been sad to give up my desolate isolated cabin and I had opted for the security of a smaller place we could easily buy with cash and then determine what to do later. I supposed I was afraid of commitment when it came to house buying, even though I clearly wasn’t afraid of commitment when it came to Paige and Blithe.

Another part of it, if I had to admit it to myself, was that I didn’t fully trust my relationship with my father would keep going well. I had opted to keep much of my inheritance in a trust and only take out as much as I thought we needed to live comfortably on. If things went south between my father and me, I didn’t want him dangling money over my head.

Part of me was used to running away from him, and I supposed I wanted to keep it easy to go back into hiding if I had to— this time with Paige and Blithe, of course, and the money that we had taken from the trust. We could always sell the brownstone and go back to living in a mountain cabin if we had to. I was used to that kind of life. I trusted it and knew it well. It was this new city living that had me feeling a bit overwhelmed, although I sure did love living with my girls and providing them the kind of life I knew they deserved.

“My two girls ready to get on the road?” I asked, pulling myself out of my thoughts.

“Yeah!” Blithe said.

“I’m ready whenever you are,” Paige said.

We all hopped into the car and headed out.

As soon we were on the highway, Blithe tugged on Paige’s sleeve. “Paige?”

“Yeah, sweetheart?”

“Slug buggy black!”

Blithe reached up and punched Paige in the arm. She was giggling profusely as Paige rubbed her arm. Paige’s eyes scanned the horizon for any signs of Volkswagen beetles she could use against Blithe in their little game, but I knew she would never do it. She acted like she was playing with Blithe, but Paige would always let her see it first.

“Slug buggy green! You didn’t see that, Paige?”

“No, you’ve just got hawkeyes,” Paige said, grinning.

“Wanna play I Spy?” Blithe asked.

“Sure,” Paige said.

“Can I play?” I asked.

“No, you’re driving, Daddy. You gotta be safe.”

“That’s what you get for teaching her road safety so early in her life,” Paige said.

Blithe scanned our surroundings enthusiastically. “I spy with my little eye, something white.”

“White?” Paige asked. “That could be anything.”

Blithe fell apart in a fit of giggles as Paige started calling out random things.

“The clouds?”

“Nope.”

“That car in front of us?”

“Nope.”

“Daddy’s shirt?”

“No, and it’s not your shirt, either,” Blithe said.

Paige named things for ten minutes straight before she finally gave up. “What in the world are you seeing?”

“The sign for the ice cream shop we passed,” Blithe said.

“Blithe, it’s gotta be something we can see right now.”

“Well, when we started playing I could!”

Paige rolled her eyes, and I chuckled at my daughter. Blithe was so proud of herself. Her smile beamed from ear to ear. She’d gotten one over on Paige, and I could tell Paige was agitated. She looked so cute when she was frustrated with something. Her nose would crinkle up, and her cheeks would flush a deep red.

I leaned over and kissed her quickly before I got my eyes back on the road. Oh, how I loved my wife, my daughter— our daughter, since Paige was in the process of adopting her— and our life. I guessed I’d just have to get over my fear of letting myself feel truly happy and secure due to my past.