Lexie and the kids had lived with John for six months. Everyone was adjusting well. Wedding arrangements were happening. They'd chosen a garden in Massachusetts to be married in. Lexie had put the kids to bed an hour ago. She just laid down herself. Her cell phone started to ring.
"Hello?" She said.
"Hi baby." John said.
"Hi."
"What are you doing?"
"I just laid down."
"Maybe I should wait until tomorrow to talk about this then."
"Talk about what?" "Is everything ok?"
"Everything's fine." "I just wanted to talk about something I've been thinking about."
"Are you proposing again?"
He laughed. "No." "Do you want me to tell you?"
"Yes."
"I've been thinking about this a lot." "I want to adopt the kids."
"Really, you want to adopt the kids?" She said happily
"Yes, I love them and I want to be their father."
"You continually surprise me in this relationship." "I think it's a great idea." "I know the kids will love it."
"Plus I don't come home for three weeks, so we have plenty of time to talk about it."
"I don't even know how we'd start the process."
"I've been looking it up." "It takes a little while to process." "Before we can start any paperwork, we have to put an ad online notifying Ricky of the adoption." "If he doesn't respond within thirty days, we can start the process."
"Well Ricky hadn't said a word in years so no worries there "
Three weeks later John was home. Everyone was sitting in the living room.
"Max, Marybeth I want to talk to you guys about something." John said "What would you think about me adopting you."
"You'd be our daddy?" Marybeth asked.
"Yes."
"I want you to be my daddy." Max said.
"Me to." Marybeth said. "I love you." "Can we start calling you daddy now?"
"Yes. "Daddy wants a hug." They both went to him and hugged him. Lexie smiled.