Page 75 of Secret Seduction

Say the word, and I’ll make it happen, Peaches.

Lorenzo

She’s beautiful. Congrats!

Vanessa

She’s absolutely precious. Congrats to both of you.

Nicole

Aww, I can’t wait to meet my goddaughter!

“Please tell me we can leave to go see that adorable little girl,” Vanessa says when I walk through the door after work. “I made her the cutest outfit.”

“Hello to you too.” I give Vanessa a kiss. “And, yes, of course we can go. Though we should probably wait until they get home. It’s safer at their house.”

“Dada!” Leo squeals.

“Hey there, Monkey,” I say, having started using the nickname Vanessa dubbed him with. “You having a good day?”

I move to pick him up when he pulls himself up on the edge of the couch and then turns, acting like he’s going to walk to me. He’s been attempting to walk for months now. Loving to push the furniture around. And we had to lower his crib because he almost climbed over the side. But he’s yet to take any successful steps.

I stop in my place, waiting to see if he’ll do it, when he lets go of the couch and sloppily takes one step and then another.

“Oh shit,” I breathe. “He’s walking.”

With his brows furrowed in concentration, he takes one more step before he stops, wobbles slightly, and then moves forward two more steps, straight into my arms.

“Holy shit,” I murmur, picking him up and kissing his temple. “Did you see that, Vanessa? He walked.”

“I not only saw it, but I recorded it.”

I whip my head around to look at her and find her with her phone aimed at us.

“You walked, Monkey!” she cheers, making him giggle. “Can you do it again?”

She sits on the floor where he was, and I set him down.

“Come on,” she coaxes. “You can do it.”

Like the cutest drunken sailor, Leo wobbles one step at a time until he gets to Vanessa, and just like she did, I pull my phone out and record. When he makes it into her arms, she peppers kisses all over his face, telling him that he’s amazing.

“Want to walk back to Daddy?” she says, setting him down.

“No, Mama!” He hooks his arms around her neck, and my heart clenches in my chest as her eyes go wide with shock.

“I didn’t …” She shakes her head. “I haven’t called myself …”

“I know,” I assure her. “You’re with him every day, and he hears the other kids call the other women their mom. He’s little, and he doesn’t really know what it means.”

She nods in understanding, then glances at Leo with unshed tears pooling in her eyes. “I’m not your mama,” she murmurs to him. “But if I were, I’d be the luckiest woman in the world.”

Then she stands and brings him over to me. “I … I just need a minute, please.”