He gave me a small smile. “I hope you don’t mind, but I miss Ariel. I need to pick her up from my mom. She said she would keep her until this afternoon, but I don’t think I can wait that long.”
I think I fell even more in love with him right at that moment. To see how much love he had for that little girl was simply amazing. I unwrapped the sheet from around my body, and began searching around the room for my clothes. “Mind if I come along?”
He grinned widely at me, his blue eyes sparkling as he pulled his shorts up and picked up my bra that was by his feet, hooking it with his thumb as he held it up to me. “I would love it if you came with me, Ally.” He swiped his lips once against mine and reached around to cup my ass. “Now, let’s go get Ariel. I think you two need to be properly introduced.”
Epilogue
One year later
Ally
If someone had told me this is what my life would be like one year ago, I would’ve never believed them, but I wouldn’t change it for anything in the world. I couldn’t imagine my life without Nick and Ariel. The three of us had become our own little family.
I had been worried at first, not wanting to take over as her mother, but wanting to fill the role for her at the same time. It took some adjusting at first in Nick’s and my relationship. We were used to it just being us, so getting accustomed to having a baby added to the mix was a little different, to say the least. We learned a lot of things about having a baby over the past year, that was for sure.
Ariel giggled when Nick and I swung her between the two of us again, as we walked through the sand in front of our house, with Gunther trailing behind us. Nick finally let him come home when Ariel was about six-months old. He had been worried that Gunther would be jealous of the baby, so Kelly and Charlie had taken him in. It was cute how worked up he was over it. So, I finally persuaded him to let Gunther come back, just to try things out, and he quickly became attached to Ariel. That dog was so protective of her.
Nick asked me to move in only two weeks after we were officially back together. He had been so nervous that I was going to say no when he asked, but I said yes before he could even get the whole question out of his mouth.
“Hi,” Nick whispered, grabbing the sides of my face as he stared down at me. Ariel collapsed by our feet, running her hands through the sand and quietly giggling at the feel.
“Hi,” I whispered back, reaching up to place my lips against his. We didn’t get much quiet time, so when we did, we had to take advantage of it. He kissed me tenderly until pulling back and nipping at my bottom lip. “Come here.” He sat down in the sand, pulling me onto his lap, and wrapping his arms around my waist.
We watched Ariel play in the sand silently, listening to the ocean and just enjoying the moment. It was so perfect. Just the four of us, the sun setting in the horizon, and the sky swirled with different shades of oranges and reds. It was my favorite time of day.
Nick shifted behind me, and I looked back to see him licking his lips, before he gave me a shaky smile, and leaned over to grab Ariel. “Hold on one sec.” He lifted me off of his lap and placed me down onto the sand next to him, before he turned his body away from mine and picked up the backpack that we had carried out with us.
I saw him pull something out, and then lean down to whisper something in Ariel’s ear. She let out a tiny little giggle, saying something back to him in her baby gibberish. Nick and I were basically the only ones that could decode it half the time, me more so, since I was the one who took care of her during the day while Nick worked. I loved our time together.
I was still amazed that Kara had just up and left this little girl’s life. We never heard from her once since Nick had been given sole custody, and I think the day that Nick got that, we both felt a little bit of relief. I couldn’t imagine myself leaving her life and I wasn’t her biological mother. She had my heart, just like Nick did, and they would both have it forever.
“Here ya go.” Nick handed me Ariel, setting her on my lap so she was facing me. I smiled at the white sparkly tutu that he had put on her, one of my many creations. Ariel was turning out to be my best model when it came to my work. By the time he came home from work, almost every night, I had her in something new. He would just shake his head and smile.