He looked up to the celebrant, nodding to confirm that he was ready to start, and squeezed Danny’s fingers.
Over the course of his career, out of all the stories he’d written, Eliot had never come up with a better ending.
Epilogue
Two years later...
Over the course of his life, Danny had been nervous a lot. Before big games, when he’d come out to the whole world via social media, the moments before he’d first met Eliot… it was a long list.
None of them compared to how he felt right now.
“What if she hates me?” he asked, stopping Eliot in his tracks by grabbing his sleeve.
Eliot turned to look at him, his eyes soft and fond. “She won’t hate you. How could anyone hate you? You’re basically a giant teddy bear.”
Danny shifted his weight between his feet, taking a few deep breaths.
“If you’re not sure about this, we can go. I’ll go in and explain, and we can put all of this on hold for a while.”
Taking a final deep breath, Danny shook his head. “No. I am sure, I’m just… scared.”
Eliot reached out and took his hand. “Me too. But I think we can handle this, between the two of us.”
Danny nodded and let Eliot lead him inside, trying to figure out what he was going to say. This was a big moment in their lives, and he didn’t want to screw it up.
Their case worker smiled at them the moment they walked in, beckoning them over to a table.
Beside her, there was a little girl with her mousy-brown hair tied into pigtails, peering over the table and gripping the edge with her tiny hands.
At least Danny wasn’t the only one who was nervous.
“Hello,” Eliot said in his most child-friendly voice. “You must be Melody. I’m Eliot.” He offered his hand. “And this is Danny.”
Melody paused for a few moments, then slowly extended her hand. Not bad for a two-year-old. Danny would have burst into tears if a strange man had approached him when he was that age.
Even if the strange man had been Eliot.
“She’s heard all about you,” Mrs. Rhys said, smiling warmly at the two of them.
Eliot sat down, tugging on Danny’s hand to get him to do the same. Danny sat heavily, afraid his knees were going to give out on him for reasons completely unrelated to any injury.
They were actually doing this. They were going to be parents.
He could hardly believe it.
“We’ve heard all about you, too,” Eliot continued.
Danny felt as though he should be saying something, but he was too overwhelmed to think of anything useful to add.
Melody looked straight at him.
Well, now he was definitely going to have to say something.
“Umm.” Danny swallowed. “Hi, sweetheart. I like your bows,” he nodded to the ribbons in Melody’s hair.
“Thank you,” she said, breaking into a toothy grin.
Danny breathed a sigh of relief. This was fine. He could do this. Everyone was nervous, not just him, and he had every reason to be.
It wasn’t every day you took a big step toward becoming a father.
“You’re tall,” Melody added, looking at Danny again.
“Uh…” Danny wasn’t exactly sure how to respond to that. He couldn’t tell whether it was a good or bad thing.
“Imagine how far you could see if you were sitting on his shoulders,” Eliot said conspiratorially.
Danny remembered him being nervous about the idea of raising a kid. He’d been afraid he didn’t have the skills for it.
Obviously, that wasn’t true. He was way better with kids than Danny was by a long way.
Well, this particular kid, anyway.
It was starting to feel like a good match. He could already imagine Eliot sitting back and letting Melody paint his toenails.
He could see them as a family.
Once he realized that, everything else seemed to fall into place. The tension he’d been carrying disappeared as though it had never been there, the knot in his stomach loosened.
He only got one chance to meet his daughter for the first time, and he got the feeling that was exactly what he was doing right now. They weren’t quite at that stage yet—this was just an initial meeting to make sure they were headed down the right path, but…
It definitely felt like the right path. Now more than ever.
By the time the meeting was over, Danny couldn’t stop grinning.
“She loved that coin trick,” he enthused, nudging Eliot on the way to the car. Danny had been practicing all week to get it right, and it still wasn’t perfect, but it had been good enough for Melody.
He’d already fallen in love with her.
“She did,” Eliot agreed. “Feeling better about all this?”
“Yeah,” Danny said. “Yeah, feeling way better. This really feels like the right decision now. You?”
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you glowing like that.” Eliot paused, giving Danny a soft, fond look. “You’re gonna be such a good father.”
Danny unlocked the car, breathing a sigh of relief. They were both on the same page.
“I hope so,” he said as Eliot got in, taking a moment to bask in everything that had just happened. “So are you. You’re a natural.”
Eliot laughed softly. “I’m as surprised as you are. I don’t know the first thing about children.”
Danny shrugged. “You’ve been dealing with me for years. You’re basically about to have two kids.”
“I can live with that,” Eliot said. “And love both of them.”
“So we’re going for this?” Danny asked, wanting to be sure.
“We’re going for this.” Eliot nodded. “I’m already designing her bedroom in my head.”
Danny grinned. That told him that Eliot was serious, after all.
“I’ll call Mrs. Rhys when we get home, tell her we’re ready to move forward,” Danny said. He could barely believe he was saying it.
They were going to be the world’s best dads to the world’s best kid.
Bonus Preview
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