Family and other surprises by Kakie
Chapter 3
Ally came down the stairs and whistled when she saw Larry.
He posed and smiled. "You like?"
"I like."
"Do I look like a father of a pre-teen?"
"I'm the wrong person to ask. The thoughts I am having of you right now are definitely not of you as a father."
He leered at her. "Hold those thoughts. Do I look okay?"
"You look terrific and so does Maddie. She's wearing the dress she wore to the wedding last year and it would be nice if you could recall that."
"Ally, I remember everything about our wedding day including what Maddie wore. Give me some credit."
"Sorry." She saw Maddie come down and turned. "Oh wow. You look beautiful."
Larry smiled and offered her his hand. "You really do. Just as beautiful as you did last year at our wedding. You were the second most beautiful woman then but tonight you are the tops."
Maddie blushed and smiled. "Thanks."
Maddie and Larry walked into the gym and paused. "Since this my first father and daughter event, what's the protocol?"
"The what?"
"What's the first thing we do?"
Maddie looked around. "Get some punch?"
Larry smiled. "Sounds good."
"Great. I'll go get some." Maddie darted off towards the punchbowl but was waylaid by a group of girls anxious to talk to her.
"Hello, Larry."
Larry turned and saw Maggie Holmes. "You're Maggie, Sara's mother."
She smiled. "You remembered. I'm pleased."
Larry looked around. "Is Sara here?"
"Her good for nothing father couldn't be bothered with this so Sara decided to stay home. Maddie is very lucky to have you in her life."
"I'm the lucky one. A wonderful wife and two great kids."
"Two?" Maggie was puzzled.
"I have a son in Detroit."
"You must be a great father."
He shrugged. "I do my best. If this is a father-daughter thing, why are you here?"
"I'm a chaperon. My job is to make sure all the girls behave and the dads are enjoying themselves."
Across the room Maddie was watching the action with interest.
"Do you see the way Sara's mom is making the moves on your dad?" asked Annie.
Maddie nodded. "I see them."
"That's the same way she came broke up Ashley Richardson's parents last year."
"I don't know Ashley Richardson."
"That's because her mother was so mortified that everyone knew before she did that she took Ashley and her sisters and moved to Foxborough."
The two girls watched as Sara's mom placed her hand on Larry's arm.
"He would never be interested in her. He loves my mom and only my mom."
"Ashley said the same thing. If I were you, I would go and casually interrupt their little chat."
"Good idea." Maddie made a quick trip to the punch bowl and made a beeline for Larry. She briefly considered "accidentally" dumping the punch on Mrs. Holmes but changed her mind. She might ask Larry to help clean her up.
"Here." She handed Larry his cup and watched as Maggie removed her hand.
"Thanks. You were gone a while."
"Had to say hi to some people. Hi, Mrs. Holmes. What is Sara doing tonight?"
The interruption surprised Maggie but she recovered. "Good evening Maddie. You look lovely. Sara and her older sister took in a movie."
"Great." She turned to Larry. "Can we dance?"
Larry smiled with relief. "I would love to."
The two of them walked to the dance floor leaving Maggie behind.
As they danced, Maddie kept one eye on Maggie who was watching Larry intently. Maddie vowed that no one would split up her parents, especially not that hussy.
"You dance beautifully, Maddie."
Maddie looked down and giggled. Somehow she had managed to get her feet on top of his shoes. They were dancing with only one pair of feet.
"You must like to dance. You and Mom do it so often."
"When Ally and I were dating we would meet after work at this bar with a dance floor. We did it so much, that dancing became a thing for us."
"I know about that bar. I've seen the pictures and heard the stories. Did you really get Sting to sing for her on her birthday?"
"Ally likes to forget that it was a duet not a solo song."
Maddie giggled. "You also built her a snowman to look like you so she wouldn't be so sad when you were living with Sam."
Larry smiled. "I sure did. She was so moved that she bought a freezer just for him and moved him into her bedroom."
"You two are so great together. Everyone's parents should be like mine."
Larry could feel his throat choke up. "Why don't you go see how long the wait is for pictures?"
"Okay." As she walked away Larry tried to pull himself together.
"Which princess is yours?"
Larry turned as saw a pudgy man standing beside him.
"That one," he said pointing to Maddie.
The man nodded. "I know her, or at least I know of her. Her mother is the leggy lawyer with the short skirts. I would love to be in court when she drops her brief.case. You're married to her? Lucky man." Anger churned inside Larry but he chose to stay calm. "Which of the girls is yours?"
He pointed to the girl Maddie was talking to earlier. "Her name is Annie. She is my wife and my pride and joy."
Larry nodded and watched Maddie return.
"They can see us now."
"Great. Let's go."
After a round of pictures, dancing to a few more songs and introductions to her friends, Larry was ready to go home. Maddie was too. Every time Sara's mother looked like she was going to pounce on Larry, Maddie found something else for him to do.
Larry started the car. "Did you have fun?"
"I had a great time. What about you?"
"I had a good time being with you. Your friends seemed nice. What did they think of me?"
"They thought you were cute."
Larry thought this over. "Just cute? A puppy is cute."
"Well, Nicole thought you were a hunk. But then again, she thinks George Clooney is a hunk."
Larry smiled. "And you don't think George Clooney is a hunk?"
"No way, he's so old."
Larry swallowed a chuckle. "What about me? Am I a hunk?"
"Not to me. You don't think of your dad as a hunk."
Larry pondered this. "So you think of me as your dad?"
"I guess. You do all the dad things and you seem to like it."
Larry pulled into an all night diner and stopped the car. "Maddie, I do the dad things with you because I want to. I know I'm not your dad but in my heart you're my little girl. Sometime after the wedding I began to see what a special person you are and I began to care about you and pretty soon I fell in love. And the fact that you're Ally's daughter made me love you all the more."
Maddie's heart soared. "Me too."
Larry reached over and pulled her close. The tears began to flow from both. Larry pulled back. "There's one more thing. Remember last year when Ally went to court and adopted you?"
"Yeah. How come you didn't?"
"Ally and I talked about it and we didn't want to rush you. I wanted to but Ally wanted to wait until it was what you wanted. I still want to adopt you, Maddie. I want you to be my daughter legally."
Maddie thought for a second. "Will I have to change my name again?"
"I would like you to but I won't force the issue. If you want to remain Maddie McBeal, that's fine with me."
"But you'd like me to be Maddie Paul."
Larry grinned. "I'd love you to be Maddie Paul, daughter of Larry and Ally Paul, sister of Sam Paul."
"Sam. Does he know about this?"
"That I want to adopt you? Yes, and he's fine with it."
Maddie stared out the window. "What if you and mom split up? What happens to me then?"
Larry was stunned by the question. "Split up? Where did that come from?"
"No where."
"Maddie, what aren't you telling me?"
"Nothing."
"Look, I'm a lawyer; it's my job to get people to tell me things they don't want to. I'm very good. Now tell me what's bothering you."
Maddie sighed. "I saw you talking to Sara's mom."
Larry was confused. "You saw me talking to Maggie and what?"
"I saw the way she was flirting with you."
Aha, thought Larry. That was the answer. "I saw her flirting with me, too. She wasn't very subtle about it was she?"
"She's a hussy," blurted Maddie.
"A hussy?" laughed Larry.
"She broke up Ashley Richardson's parents. I don't want her to do the same with you and mom."
"Is that why you've been watching me like a hawk?"
"I didn't want her to get too close."
"Maddie, honey, you don't need to worry about that. I'm not going to leave Ally for another woman, especially not Maggie Holmes."
"She's gorgeous."
"But I don't love her. I could never love anyone like I love Ally. Did she ever tell you about what we were like when we met?" He started the car and pulled into the street.
"Not really."
"We were like two terriers, always scraping. From the moment we met there was this spark. We pretended like we couldn't stand each other but the more we argued the bigger the spark. There was an attraction building and finally it reached a fever pitch. Do you know how I asked her out on our first date?"
Fascinated, Maddie shook her head. "How?"
"Ally had hired me to defend her in a case. I won the case but she wasn't happy. She was forced to apologize to someone she didn't want to. After the case, I followed her back to her office."
The case is over, Larry, you can leave now.
I don't want to leave. I want you to ditch the father and son act, I'll declare Nelle void and we can have dinner tonight.
Done.
"And that was the beginning. Ally and I may fight, we may slam doors and we may say things we don't mean but at the end of the day we still love each other and no one, Maddie, not Maggie Holmes or anyone else, will come between us."
Maddie loved the story he told about their first date. "So I guess Mrs. Holmes was wasting her time."
"That's what I told her, of course in a nice and polite manner."
He pulled into the driveway. "Maddie, I meant what I said about adopting you. I want you to think about it."
They both got out of the car and started towards the house. Maddie stopped. Larry turned. "What's wrong?"
"Yes. I want to be Maddie Paul."
Larry's face lit up and he pulled her close. "This is terrific. I don't know what else to say."
"I love you, Larry."
"I love you too, Maddie."
Maddie pulled back. "Are you going to tell mom what happened with Mrs. Holmes?"
"I hadn't thought about it," he answered truthfully. "What do you think?"
"I think we should tell her," Maddie stated. "She needs to know what happened."
Larry held back a chuckle. "How do you think she'll react?"
Maddie stared at him. "She'll be angry, of course. But that's okay, I'll tell her that you did nothing wrong."
Larry knew how Ally would react. But he couldn't resist having Maddie come to his rescue. "I would appreciate it."
They found Ally lying on the couch reading a book. She smiled when she saw them. "How was the dance?"
"It was fun. Are you sick?"
"Nope, just relaxing." She received Larry's kiss. "Did you have a good time too?"
"Sure did." He sat down next to Ally and began to rub her shoulders.
"Did anything happen?"
Larry and Maddie exchanged a look.
"Well, honey, something did happen."
Ally turned to Larry. "What was it?"
Larry took a deep breath. "Do you still have that number for the adoption lawyer?"
Ally was confused. "Why would you need.. Oh. Oh." She looked from Larry to Maddie several times. "Are you telling me."
Larry smiled. "Yes, I am telling you that Maddie's agreed to be my daughter for real."
Ally was so excited she jumped up and grabbed Maddie. "This is terrific, this is wonderful, this is every good adjective I can think of." She let Maddie go and pulled Larry into a passionate kiss. "I love you so much." She let him go and beamed. "This is definitely news. I want details. How this happen? Who said what?"
Larry pulled her down beside him on the couch. "All that later." He exchanged another look with Maddie.
"There's something else I need to tell you." He winked at Ally.
Ally caught the wink. "Okay, I'm listening."
"Sara's mom, Maggie, came on to me."
Ally paused. "Did she now?"
Larry nodded. "She did. She thought I could use a little company."
"With a wife, two kids and a career, I didn't realize you were lacking for anything. At least tell me she made it worth your time. Did she offer to make you king of your own country? Did she promise to take care of you for the rest of your life?"
Larry shook his head. "No, she didn't. She didn't offer me anything but herself."
"What a rip-off. If she's going to try and steal my husband, she needs a better offer than that."
"Mom!" Maddie was astonished.
Larry and Ally looked at each other and began to laugh.
"Don't you care that Mrs. Holmes put the moves on Larry?"
"Maddie," Ally said, between chuckles. "This isn't the first time a woman has tried to catch Larry's eye. When we were dating, half the woman in my office wanted him. And I'll tell you a little secret. Even an old girlfriend tried and it didn't work. I don't worry about it." She placed her head on his shoulder. "It's flattering to be married to a man that other woman want. It's great for my self esteem."
Larry kissed her on the forehead. "Don't believe that self esteem crap. I have seen several men eyeing your mom. They want her too."
"So it doesn't bother you? You don't get jealous?"
"I didn't say that," replied Ally. "Any woman who loves her man would be jealous. It's a natural reaction. But how you deal with it is what's important. I know Larry loves me. So if I see him chatting with another woman, my first instinct is not to grab her by the hair and him by the throat. It took us a long time to get to that point."
"Which is not to say we don't backslide. I recently jumped to the wrong conclusion about something. It was wrong and it was stupid but luckily Ally forgave me. We still make mistakes but getting involved with other people is not one of them."
Maddie yawned. "For a long time I never understood why you dumped Victor and married Larry so fast. But now I think I do. You're like Ross and Rachel on Friends. They're soul mates. Goodnight."
She headed upstairs. Larry turned to Ally. "Ross and Rachel?"
Ally sighed. "I am so glad I have you here for her teen years. They scare me."
Larry stood up and pulled her up. "Between her and Sam, by the time this baby is a teen, we'll be experts."
"I hope so. So tell me, what did you tell Maggie?"
He wrapped his arms around her. "Maggie who?" He leaned and kissed her.
From the top of the stairs, Maddie watched and smiled.
Chapter 3
Ally came down the stairs and whistled when she saw Larry.
He posed and smiled. "You like?"
"I like."
"Do I look like a father of a pre-teen?"
"I'm the wrong person to ask. The thoughts I am having of you right now are definitely not of you as a father."
He leered at her. "Hold those thoughts. Do I look okay?"
"You look terrific and so does Maddie. She's wearing the dress she wore to the wedding last year and it would be nice if you could recall that."
"Ally, I remember everything about our wedding day including what Maddie wore. Give me some credit."
"Sorry." She saw Maddie come down and turned. "Oh wow. You look beautiful."
Larry smiled and offered her his hand. "You really do. Just as beautiful as you did last year at our wedding. You were the second most beautiful woman then but tonight you are the tops."
Maddie blushed and smiled. "Thanks."
Maddie and Larry walked into the gym and paused. "Since this my first father and daughter event, what's the protocol?"
"The what?"
"What's the first thing we do?"
Maddie looked around. "Get some punch?"
Larry smiled. "Sounds good."
"Great. I'll go get some." Maddie darted off towards the punchbowl but was waylaid by a group of girls anxious to talk to her.
"Hello, Larry."
Larry turned and saw Maggie Holmes. "You're Maggie, Sara's mother."
She smiled. "You remembered. I'm pleased."
Larry looked around. "Is Sara here?"
"Her good for nothing father couldn't be bothered with this so Sara decided to stay home. Maddie is very lucky to have you in her life."
"I'm the lucky one. A wonderful wife and two great kids."
"Two?" Maggie was puzzled.
"I have a son in Detroit."
"You must be a great father."
He shrugged. "I do my best. If this is a father-daughter thing, why are you here?"
"I'm a chaperon. My job is to make sure all the girls behave and the dads are enjoying themselves."
Across the room Maddie was watching the action with interest.
"Do you see the way Sara's mom is making the moves on your dad?" asked Annie.
Maddie nodded. "I see them."
"That's the same way she came broke up Ashley Richardson's parents last year."
"I don't know Ashley Richardson."
"That's because her mother was so mortified that everyone knew before she did that she took Ashley and her sisters and moved to Foxborough."
The two girls watched as Sara's mom placed her hand on Larry's arm.
"He would never be interested in her. He loves my mom and only my mom."
"Ashley said the same thing. If I were you, I would go and casually interrupt their little chat."
"Good idea." Maddie made a quick trip to the punch bowl and made a beeline for Larry. She briefly considered "accidentally" dumping the punch on Mrs. Holmes but changed her mind. She might ask Larry to help clean her up.
"Here." She handed Larry his cup and watched as Maggie removed her hand.
"Thanks. You were gone a while."
"Had to say hi to some people. Hi, Mrs. Holmes. What is Sara doing tonight?"
The interruption surprised Maggie but she recovered. "Good evening Maddie. You look lovely. Sara and her older sister took in a movie."
"Great." She turned to Larry. "Can we dance?"
Larry smiled with relief. "I would love to."
The two of them walked to the dance floor leaving Maggie behind.
As they danced, Maddie kept one eye on Maggie who was watching Larry intently. Maddie vowed that no one would split up her parents, especially not that hussy.
"You dance beautifully, Maddie."
Maddie looked down and giggled. Somehow she had managed to get her feet on top of his shoes. They were dancing with only one pair of feet.
"You must like to dance. You and Mom do it so often."
"When Ally and I were dating we would meet after work at this bar with a dance floor. We did it so much, that dancing became a thing for us."
"I know about that bar. I've seen the pictures and heard the stories. Did you really get Sting to sing for her on her birthday?"
"Ally likes to forget that it was a duet not a solo song."
Maddie giggled. "You also built her a snowman to look like you so she wouldn't be so sad when you were living with Sam."
Larry smiled. "I sure did. She was so moved that she bought a freezer just for him and moved him into her bedroom."
"You two are so great together. Everyone's parents should be like mine."
Larry could feel his throat choke up. "Why don't you go see how long the wait is for pictures?"
"Okay." As she walked away Larry tried to pull himself together.
"Which princess is yours?"
Larry turned as saw a pudgy man standing beside him.
"That one," he said pointing to Maddie.
The man nodded. "I know her, or at least I know of her. Her mother is the leggy lawyer with the short skirts. I would love to be in court when she drops her brief.case. You're married to her? Lucky man." Anger churned inside Larry but he chose to stay calm. "Which of the girls is yours?"
He pointed to the girl Maddie was talking to earlier. "Her name is Annie. She is my wife and my pride and joy."
Larry nodded and watched Maddie return.
"They can see us now."
"Great. Let's go."
After a round of pictures, dancing to a few more songs and introductions to her friends, Larry was ready to go home. Maddie was too. Every time Sara's mother looked like she was going to pounce on Larry, Maddie found something else for him to do.
Larry started the car. "Did you have fun?"
"I had a great time. What about you?"
"I had a good time being with you. Your friends seemed nice. What did they think of me?"
"They thought you were cute."
Larry thought this over. "Just cute? A puppy is cute."
"Well, Nicole thought you were a hunk. But then again, she thinks George Clooney is a hunk."
Larry smiled. "And you don't think George Clooney is a hunk?"
"No way, he's so old."
Larry swallowed a chuckle. "What about me? Am I a hunk?"
"Not to me. You don't think of your dad as a hunk."
Larry pondered this. "So you think of me as your dad?"
"I guess. You do all the dad things and you seem to like it."
Larry pulled into an all night diner and stopped the car. "Maddie, I do the dad things with you because I want to. I know I'm not your dad but in my heart you're my little girl. Sometime after the wedding I began to see what a special person you are and I began to care about you and pretty soon I fell in love. And the fact that you're Ally's daughter made me love you all the more."
Maddie's heart soared. "Me too."
Larry reached over and pulled her close. The tears began to flow from both. Larry pulled back. "There's one more thing. Remember last year when Ally went to court and adopted you?"
"Yeah. How come you didn't?"
"Ally and I talked about it and we didn't want to rush you. I wanted to but Ally wanted to wait until it was what you wanted. I still want to adopt you, Maddie. I want you to be my daughter legally."
Maddie thought for a second. "Will I have to change my name again?"
"I would like you to but I won't force the issue. If you want to remain Maddie McBeal, that's fine with me."
"But you'd like me to be Maddie Paul."
Larry grinned. "I'd love you to be Maddie Paul, daughter of Larry and Ally Paul, sister of Sam Paul."
"Sam. Does he know about this?"
"That I want to adopt you? Yes, and he's fine with it."
Maddie stared out the window. "What if you and mom split up? What happens to me then?"
Larry was stunned by the question. "Split up? Where did that come from?"
"No where."
"Maddie, what aren't you telling me?"
"Nothing."
"Look, I'm a lawyer; it's my job to get people to tell me things they don't want to. I'm very good. Now tell me what's bothering you."
Maddie sighed. "I saw you talking to Sara's mom."
Larry was confused. "You saw me talking to Maggie and what?"
"I saw the way she was flirting with you."
Aha, thought Larry. That was the answer. "I saw her flirting with me, too. She wasn't very subtle about it was she?"
"She's a hussy," blurted Maddie.
"A hussy?" laughed Larry.
"She broke up Ashley Richardson's parents. I don't want her to do the same with you and mom."
"Is that why you've been watching me like a hawk?"
"I didn't want her to get too close."
"Maddie, honey, you don't need to worry about that. I'm not going to leave Ally for another woman, especially not Maggie Holmes."
"She's gorgeous."
"But I don't love her. I could never love anyone like I love Ally. Did she ever tell you about what we were like when we met?" He started the car and pulled into the street.
"Not really."
"We were like two terriers, always scraping. From the moment we met there was this spark. We pretended like we couldn't stand each other but the more we argued the bigger the spark. There was an attraction building and finally it reached a fever pitch. Do you know how I asked her out on our first date?"
Fascinated, Maddie shook her head. "How?"
"Ally had hired me to defend her in a case. I won the case but she wasn't happy. She was forced to apologize to someone she didn't want to. After the case, I followed her back to her office."
The case is over, Larry, you can leave now.
I don't want to leave. I want you to ditch the father and son act, I'll declare Nelle void and we can have dinner tonight.
Done.
"And that was the beginning. Ally and I may fight, we may slam doors and we may say things we don't mean but at the end of the day we still love each other and no one, Maddie, not Maggie Holmes or anyone else, will come between us."
Maddie loved the story he told about their first date. "So I guess Mrs. Holmes was wasting her time."
"That's what I told her, of course in a nice and polite manner."
He pulled into the driveway. "Maddie, I meant what I said about adopting you. I want you to think about it."
They both got out of the car and started towards the house. Maddie stopped. Larry turned. "What's wrong?"
"Yes. I want to be Maddie Paul."
Larry's face lit up and he pulled her close. "This is terrific. I don't know what else to say."
"I love you, Larry."
"I love you too, Maddie."
Maddie pulled back. "Are you going to tell mom what happened with Mrs. Holmes?"
"I hadn't thought about it," he answered truthfully. "What do you think?"
"I think we should tell her," Maddie stated. "She needs to know what happened."
Larry held back a chuckle. "How do you think she'll react?"
Maddie stared at him. "She'll be angry, of course. But that's okay, I'll tell her that you did nothing wrong."
Larry knew how Ally would react. But he couldn't resist having Maddie come to his rescue. "I would appreciate it."
They found Ally lying on the couch reading a book. She smiled when she saw them. "How was the dance?"
"It was fun. Are you sick?"
"Nope, just relaxing." She received Larry's kiss. "Did you have a good time too?"
"Sure did." He sat down next to Ally and began to rub her shoulders.
"Did anything happen?"
Larry and Maddie exchanged a look.
"Well, honey, something did happen."
Ally turned to Larry. "What was it?"
Larry took a deep breath. "Do you still have that number for the adoption lawyer?"
Ally was confused. "Why would you need.. Oh. Oh." She looked from Larry to Maddie several times. "Are you telling me."
Larry smiled. "Yes, I am telling you that Maddie's agreed to be my daughter for real."
Ally was so excited she jumped up and grabbed Maddie. "This is terrific, this is wonderful, this is every good adjective I can think of." She let Maddie go and pulled Larry into a passionate kiss. "I love you so much." She let him go and beamed. "This is definitely news. I want details. How this happen? Who said what?"
Larry pulled her down beside him on the couch. "All that later." He exchanged another look with Maddie.
"There's something else I need to tell you." He winked at Ally.
Ally caught the wink. "Okay, I'm listening."
"Sara's mom, Maggie, came on to me."
Ally paused. "Did she now?"
Larry nodded. "She did. She thought I could use a little company."
"With a wife, two kids and a career, I didn't realize you were lacking for anything. At least tell me she made it worth your time. Did she offer to make you king of your own country? Did she promise to take care of you for the rest of your life?"
Larry shook his head. "No, she didn't. She didn't offer me anything but herself."
"What a rip-off. If she's going to try and steal my husband, she needs a better offer than that."
"Mom!" Maddie was astonished.
Larry and Ally looked at each other and began to laugh.
"Don't you care that Mrs. Holmes put the moves on Larry?"
"Maddie," Ally said, between chuckles. "This isn't the first time a woman has tried to catch Larry's eye. When we were dating, half the woman in my office wanted him. And I'll tell you a little secret. Even an old girlfriend tried and it didn't work. I don't worry about it." She placed her head on his shoulder. "It's flattering to be married to a man that other woman want. It's great for my self esteem."
Larry kissed her on the forehead. "Don't believe that self esteem crap. I have seen several men eyeing your mom. They want her too."
"So it doesn't bother you? You don't get jealous?"
"I didn't say that," replied Ally. "Any woman who loves her man would be jealous. It's a natural reaction. But how you deal with it is what's important. I know Larry loves me. So if I see him chatting with another woman, my first instinct is not to grab her by the hair and him by the throat. It took us a long time to get to that point."
"Which is not to say we don't backslide. I recently jumped to the wrong conclusion about something. It was wrong and it was stupid but luckily Ally forgave me. We still make mistakes but getting involved with other people is not one of them."
Maddie yawned. "For a long time I never understood why you dumped Victor and married Larry so fast. But now I think I do. You're like Ross and Rachel on Friends. They're soul mates. Goodnight."
She headed upstairs. Larry turned to Ally. "Ross and Rachel?"
Ally sighed. "I am so glad I have you here for her teen years. They scare me."
Larry stood up and pulled her up. "Between her and Sam, by the time this baby is a teen, we'll be experts."
"I hope so. So tell me, what did you tell Maggie?"
He wrapped his arms around her. "Maggie who?" He leaned and kissed her.
From the top of the stairs, Maddie watched and smiled.