Page 263 of The Bluffing Game

Dalton looks at me for a second, and then he looks down at Toby. “Toby wanted to ask you something, but I didn’t want to put you on the spot,” he says softly.

“Oh?” I look down at Toby, and his eyes are wide and happy.

“I wanted to ask you a question, but the first two times, I didn’t really get an answer, and I don’t know if I can do this or not, but I want to do this, and Daddy said that I have to ask you, but …”

“What is it, Toby?” I hold him close to me and stroke the side of his face.

“Can I call you Mommy?” he says, lower lip out. “I just really wish you were my mommy.”

I look over at Dalton because I don’t want to give an answer unless I have his permission. He nods, and I grin at him before turning back to Toby.

“You can call me Mommy, Toby,” I say softly and kiss the side of his face. “I love you, and you’re the most perfect little boy, and I love your daddy, and we’re a family, and we’ll always be a family. You know you can always count on me, okay?”

“Yay. Thank you, Mommy.” He hugs me around the neck and squeezes tight.

Dalton steps forward and strokes my back. “I love you, Sage. I don’t know how I got so lucky as to meet someone like you, but I did, and I thank the Lord every single day that you came into my life.”

“I love you too, Dalton.”

“Are you two going to get married?” Toby asks, giggling.

“One day,” I say, nodding.

“One day soon,” Dalton says, kissing me on the forehead. “Very, very soon. And when we get married, you can be in the wedding if you want, Toby.”

“Yay! I want to be in the wedding. Can I get my root beer float now, please? Can I tell Auntie Izzy that you said I can have it?”

“Okay.” I let him down, and he goes running to the back.

“My mommy said I can have a root beer float,” he screams so everyone in the restaurant can hear.

Dalton grabs my hand. “You just made his day.”

“He just made mine, actually. I love him. It’s crazy to me how much I love him, but I do.”

“I guess maybe he was made to be ours,” he says. “When we get married, if you’d like to formally adopt him⁠—”

“Of course.” I press my lips against Dalton’s and hold him close to me. “We really are a family, aren’t we?”

“You’d better believe it,” he says. “Oh, yeah.” He lowers his voice. “I wanted to tell you something.”

“What is it?”

“I got an email today—some good news for once.”

“About the money that was transferred from you selling your house?”

“No. I mean, some real good news.” He grabs his phone, opens an email, and shows me a picture.

“Who’s that?” I frown at the pretty woman with a warm smile on her face.

“That’s Louisa,” he says softly.

“Louisa? Wait, what? Toby’s mom?”

He nods. “She moved to a place in the Midwest. It’s on a farm. It’s a rehab, but they work with animals. Supposedly, it’s a way to get them to focus on something other than the drugs. I don’t know exactly how it works, but she’s two weeks sober, and she emailed me, and she wanted to tell me that she’s grateful to Brett and to me and that she’s ready to really try this time; she wanted to send me a photo because, being out there on the farm in the fresh air with the animals, she’s starting to feel like someone she didn’t know existed. She’s really enjoying the work, and even though she knows it’s early days and she’s taking it one step at a time, she feels like she can really make it this time.” He squeezes my hand. “I think that’s good, right?”

“It’s great. It’s really, really great. You’re paying for that rehab, aren’t you?”