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“He’s a stray?” I ask.

“I think so. He’s just so skinny. I’d have taken him to the vet, but it closed early today. I picked up a few things for him before I came home though.”

“Can we keep him, Daddy? Please?” Luddy widens her big blue eyes, rivaling this cute little puppy, and there’s no way I could say no to her.

But… “Let’s make sure he doesn’t belong to someone tomorrow before we decide to keep him. He could have gotten lost, and his owners are missing him.”

Her shoulders slump. “Okay.”

“But for now, it looks like this little one needs some extra love. Think you can handle that?”

Luddy brightens. “Mm-hmm. I’ll go make him some dinner. We made dinner for you too, Mama. And got you flowers, and I made you a card.”

Kylie stares at London for a long moment, her eyes filling with unshed tears. I breathe out a chuckle at Luddy’s inability to keep anything a secret for long. We were going to tell Kylie during dinner.

“London would like to start calling you Mama, if you’re okay with that. We were going to surprise you with a special dinner.”

Luddy gives Kylie a sheepish grin. “Yeah. I wanna call you Mama ’cause Peanut’s gonna call you that and Daddy already does.”

“I would love it if you called me Mama.” Kylie sniffs.

London nods and picks up the puppy. “Okay. I’m gonna go feed Russell his dinner.”

Dammit. I was hoping for Ruger or Madden or something, but it seems I don’t get a vote.

Kylie and I stand as Luddy searches through the bags Kylie brought in. She grabs bowls and the small bag of food to carry into the kitchen. The whole time, she’s jabbering to Russell, telling him all about the things they’re going to do together. I hope like hell he doesn’t belong to someone. It’ll crush her to have to give that puppy back.

Once she’s around the corner, I turn to Kylie. She’s swiping her fingers under her eyes, so I pull her into my chest.

“Does she really want to call me Mama?”

“Yep. She talked to me about it today. She also wants Peanut to be a girl because—and I quote—‘a sister would be much better than a brother.’”

Kylie’s laugh is watery. “Is Dani okay with this?”

“Yeah, I texted with her about it earlier. Luddy wants to keep calling Dani Mommy, and you’ll be Mama. Apparently, Dani has been hoping that you and I would get together for years, so she was already prepared for Luddy to have another mom in her life.”

“God, this has been quite the day.”

I slide my fingers through her hair and lean in to kiss her. “Anything else going on?”

“Chris has made his first demand.”

CHAPTER 26

Kylie

Knots twist in my stomach as we walk through the doors of Holt’s office. We stopped by Gray’s parents’ and dropped off Luddy and Russell—who is now officially ours as of this morning. Neither of us thought it would be fair to make her wait in the lobby while we meet with Holt, and there’s no way we can fake that everything is fine afterward.

Holt offered to give me the day off, but I knew that was the exact opposite of what I’d need. Working for him is the perfect distraction from my problems. Being able to focus on other people’s legal issues helps take my mind off my own.

Gray’s got a few horses he needs to work on after we get done here, and then we’re going to meet up at his parents’ house for dinner. They subtly suggested the plan when we told them why we needed their help watching London.

I’m beyond grateful for them. They’re constantly checking in with me, making sure I’ve got everything I need and am still feeling good.

Bev greets us with a warm smile as we step into the lobby. “Good morning, you two. Holt’s waiting. I’ll bring in tea and coffee when it’s ready.”

She offered to hold down the fort while we met with Holt. It takes a little weight off my shoulders to know she’s manning the desk if I need a moment to get myself together when we’re done.