Chapter 20
Chapter Twenty
RYAN
I snuck back to my grandma’s place early the next morning, ass still tender from last night’s activities. Jones had protested when I tried to get out of the bed, and our sleepy morning scuffle had turned into a quick jerk-off session before he’d reluctantly let me go.
It wasn’t like I wanted to leave either. If we’d had the time, I would have demanded he give me a good fucking. This time, I could hopefully last a lot longer than a couple of thrusts.
My ass squeezed at the thought of his cock sliding heavenly against my prostate. Jones was spot on about it being better than his fingers, and now I couldn’t wait to try it again.
I entered Grandma’s house just as the door to the room Karla and I shared opened. Her little head appeared first as she looked around. When she caught sight of me, a huge smile lit up her face. She ran toward me and jumped into my arms.
“Daddy!” she cried, her joyous voice ringing in my ear. I laughed and picked her up, glad I’d had the foresight to shower at Jones’ before coming here.
“I missed you, Daddy!” Karla said and hugged my neck so tight she almost choked me.
I laughed and gently loosened her grip. For being so tiny, she had quite the power on her.
“I missed you too, baby, but I promised we’ll be together all day today,” I told her. That seemed to mollify her. She nodded and wiggled in my arms to be let down.
“Are you hungry? Do you want to help me make breakfast?” I asked her. She nodded and held out her hand for me to take. I smiled and led us into the kitchen to start up some pancakes for the family.
Mom came out of her room just as we finished the first batch. She smiled wickedly when she saw me and sauntered over. “Looks like someone had a good night yesterday.”
“Mom, can we not?” I whined and added another batch of pancakes to the pan.
Mom chuckled and bent over to Karla’s height. “Why don’t we leave the cooking to Daddy, and Nana will do your hair? I was thinking mermaid braids today. What do you think?”
“Yeah!” Karla yelled and abandoned me to follow her nana to the living room .
I let out a sigh of relief, having once again successfully avoided talking about relationships with my mom.
She already knew Jones and I were together without even having to ask.
Hell, with how up-to-date she was with the local gossip, I wouldn’t have been surprised to learn she knew about us dating before even I did.
All that to say, she just liked teasing me.
My grandma came out for breakfast just as I finished cooking. Karla went to greet her gigi and showed off the beautiful braid Mom did for her. Mom adorned the single braid with white pearls that popped out against Karla’s black hair.
My grandma complimented her, which made Karla giggle happily. She ran toward me and gestured for me to bend over. When I did, she clipped a tiny pearl in my hair. It’d grown out just long enough to keep the tiny hair ornament in place.
“Now we match!” Karla said with another giggle.
“That we do, baby,” I agreed and glanced at my mom, who was fixing her gray-blonde hair to be identical to Karla’s. Mom’s fingers expertly weaved through her hair without even looking. She smiled our way with pure joy and love on her face. Maybe her meddling and gossiping weren’t so bad, after all.
Since I didn’t have any meetings today, I left the pearl in my hair. Karla was endlessly happy about this and would interrupt her playtime every so often to come tell me I looked pretty.
Just as I closed my laptop and finished work for the day, Karla ran over to me again. “Daddy, I have something to tell you,” she said seriously.
“That I look pretty?” I teased her, and she nodded and giggled. I would never get tired of hearing that sound.
She plopped herself over my leg and hung there. “Can we go see Papa and Lily?”
I was still hesitating about whether to let her keep calling Jones that, but I wanted to talk to Jones before making a decision. At this point, Karla definitely knew what the word meant and kept choosing to call him that. Though, I guess it didn’t help that Jones kept responding to it.
“You miss them?”
She nodded. “I miss them, so I want to see them. I miss Mommy, but I can’t see her.”
“Oh, baby,” I said, tears prickling my eyes. I pulled her onto my lap and hugged her. “I miss your mommy, too. So, so much, but she belongs to the sky now. But I know she’s looking down, watching us.”
I’d had the talk with her, gently telling her that her mom had died, but I still wasn’t sure she understood what death meant beyond her mommy being gone, and she wasn’t coming back.
She nodded into my chest. I stroked her back in comfort. “Why don’t we see if we can find Mommy in the stars tonight? Her light shines brightest at night.”
“Okay!” Karla piped up, sounding excited. She then tilted her head and asked, “Can we go see Papa and Lily now?”
“Let me ask if it’s okay first,” I replied with a laugh. She sat on my lap, legs swinging on either side of mine as she urged me to call him.
Jones was quick to pick up and told me to get our asses over there. Karla hopped off my lap and ran to our room to pack. I laughed when she returned a few minutes later with her bag filled with nothing but her toys and Puppy stuffed at the very top.
Shaking my head, I packed another bag with our clothes and necessities. Karla ran to her nana and gigi, happily telling them she was going to find her mommy in the stars tonight.
“Oh, baby. She’s going to sparkle so bright for you,” my mom said and pulled Karla into a hug before letting my grandma have a turn.
We said one last goodbye, and then we were on our way. Karla sang ‘ Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star ’ the entire car ride there. She totally butchered the words, but surprisingly, she stayed perfectly in tune. Perhaps I had a little singer in the making on my hands.
Jones was in the rocking chair when I pulled up to his cabin. The sight was becoming very familiar and comforting. The only difference was that Lily wasn’t waiting with him this time.
“Papa!” Karla called as I let her out of her seat. She charged at Jones, but he was ready and scooped her into his arms .
“There’s my baby girl!” Jones said with a laugh. He pressed kisses onto her cheeks, which made her even more giggly as she tried to evade his curly beard.
“Where’s Lily?” she asked when his attacks stopped.
“She’s resting inside. Do you want to go see her?” Jones asked, and she nodded. “Okay, but you have to be gentle, all right? Our mama is gonna have her babies any day now.”
Karla nodded again and wiggled to be let down. She rocketed inside as soon as her feet touched the ground. Jones and I watched, both of us shaking our heads.
When she’d disappeared inside, Jones turned to me. “Hey you,” he said, looping an arm around my waist. “I missed you this morning.” He trailed kisses along my chin before snatching my lips for his own.
“I was with you this morning,” I replied breathlessly after he’d stolen his kiss.
“Mmhmm, it wasn’t nearly long enough,” he replied, lips finding mine again. His hands slipped under my shirt, but I caught them before he could go any further.
“Karla’s waiting for us,” I said with a hiss, and glanced towards the door to make sure she hadn’t caught us in the act.
Jones chuckled, released me, and held his hands in the air, palms facing me. “Fine, I’ll be good,” he said, then rounded to the trunk to grab our things.
“Is Lily okay?” I asked as I grabbed my computer bag and Karla’s bag that was full of toys. He took the duffel, then closed the trunk.
“She’s been staying near her nest. I think she might give birth today or tomorrow,” he said, a worried frown creasing his eyebrows. I knew he was still scared about his little fur baby going through labor.
“Should I stay with her tomorrow while you’re at work?” I offered.
“Yeah? I’d really like that,” he replied, the corners of his mouth twitching up. I wasn’t sure if he meant he liked me watching Lily or me being at his place.
We carried our things inside and found Karla lying beside Lily. She was having a full-blown, one-sided conversation with the dog, who looked back at the tiny human with clear indulgence in her eyes.
Jones and I smiled at each other, then I pulled him into the guest room to drop off the bags. I checked through the door to make sure Karla was still preoccupied before telling Jones, in hushed whispers, about stargazing tonight to find Karla’s mommy in the stars.
Jones pulled me into his chest and told me he’d love to join us.
I happily agreed. I didn’t want to let Karla’s memories of Kassy fade, but talking about my best friend wasn’t always easy.
She was a piece of my heart that would never return, and it was bittersweet.
Having Jones by my side would help ease the heartache.
“There’s one more thing we need to talk about,” I said, after cuddling in his arms for a few minutes.
“Is it about this pearl in your hair?” he teased and gently flicked the hair ornament. “It looks good on you.”
I’d completely forgotten it was there and quickly pulled it from my locks, grumbling that Karla put it there. Jones just laughed and swept my hair back.
“What should we do about Karla calling you Papa ?” I asked, laying it right out there.
“Do we need to do something about that?” he asked, sounding genuinely bemused.
“We can’t keep having her call you that, right? What if she gets confused?”
“She started calling you Daddy as soon as she learned how to talk. You told me that yourself,” he argued.
“Yeah, but that’s different. I was her godfather, and I knew I’d always be in her life.”
“I don’t see how it’s any different. I’ll always be in her life, too, and if I may be presumptuous, I hope to be her future stepfather,” Jones said smoothly.
His words stopped whatever rebuttal I had in my throat.
“Jones…”
He pressed his lips to mine to swallow the rest of the sentence.
“You don’t have to reply right now. I know it’s too early and I’m thinking too far in the future, but you’re it for me, Ryan.
I’ve loved you since we were kids, and I don’t think that’s ever changing.
And that sweet little girl, she claimed my heart so long ago.
I wasn’t kidding when I said I want us to be a family: you, me, and Karla. ”
He spoke the words firmly. He was so confident in what he wanted that it left me speechless.
“Just think about it, okay?” he asked. He pressed a kiss to my temple, then left me in the room with the sound of my heartbeat in my ears.
How the hell did I get so lucky to have a man like Jones love me and my daughter?
When I became Karla’s legal guardian, I was ready to put my dating life on hold to raise her.
I’d heard enough horror stories to want to keep strangers away from her, but I knew Jones would never do anything to hurt her.
Jones accepted me and treated her like she was his own.
And now here he was talking about marriage . At least I think that’s what he was hinting at when he said he wanted to be Karla’s stepfather.
I was worried about a little title while he was already thinking about our future together. The entirety of it all made my head spin, and I was dazed throughout dinner.
Even when we all found our way to the rocking chairs on the patio, Karla and Jones excitedly pointing at the brightest stars to each other, my mind was still swirling.
But when Karla happily called him Papa again while pointing out a star that sparkled hello to us, I didn’t correct her.