I glance over the gift, still smiling. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Now,” he wraps his arms around my waist, “you okay?”
I shake my head. “She’s never called anyone that before.”
“I figured.”
“I don’t know what to say to her. I don’t know what to do,” I whisper my fear to him.
“Honestly, I have no advice either.” He kisses my forehead. “But, it’ll be okay.”
I nod. My fears won’t leave my head. They are still there.
“Let’s go downstairs.” He takes my hand, tugging me towards the door.
The rest of the night is actually a lot of fun. Nate is extremely smart and begins to relax a little bit around us. We all help with dinner, and the kids watch Frozen, again. After their baths, I take Sadie to my room for a moment. We sit on the bed, and I brush her hair.
“Sadie,” I say gently. “Do you remember what you said today?”
“When?”
I clear my throat. “When you called Mr. A
shton ‘Daddy’?”
“I did?”
“Yes. When we were outside playing. Do you know why you said it?”
She shrugs. I turn her sideway to look at her. “Sadie, you know that Ashton isn’t your dad.”
“I know. My daddy’s in heaven.”
“Okay, I just wanted to make sure that you know that.”
“Mommy,” she hangs her head, and her wet hair falls around her face. “Will I ever have a daddy?”
I take a deep breath. I’ve never really lied to Sadie, and I’m not going to start now. “I don’t know. But, I do know I love you, and Grammy and Pops love you, and Aunt Tiff loves you so much.”
“I know.” She looks up at me with her soft brown eyes that are exactly like Tony’s. “I wish that one day I would have a daddy. Everyone else has one.”
“You do have one. He’s just in heaven, watching over you,” I try to explain to her.
“But, I don’t have a daddy to wrestle with, or dance with, or to love me.”
“Sadie, your daddy loved you so much. The moment I told him that you were coming, he couldn’t stop telling everyone about you. But, he went to heaven because he was a soldier, and he was trying to help other people. He was so brave, just like you.”
She nods.
“All right, it’s time for bed. We need to test out your nightlight that Mr. Ashton got.”
“Okay.” She hops off my bed, and we go down the hall to her room.
When we walk in, Ashton is in bed with Reed, reading a Transformers book.
“Sadie, get in my bed. Dad’s getting to the best part.” Reed waves her over.
She runs over, leaping up on the bed next to Reed. Ashton smiles at me, but continues the story. When it’s over the kids clap and tell Ashton he did a good job.