by Joanna Neil
'I'm your real daddy. I didn't know about you because I was working a long way away, but now that I know you're my little boy I'll stay here with you and your mother for always.'
'For always?' Connor's eyes were still wide. 'Would we all live together here?'
Taylor thought about it. 'I don't know about that. We'd probably need to find a bigger house, one that has a lot more space in the garden so that there will be room for you to ride your car when you get it.'
Allison dug him lightly in the ribs. 'Don't start promising him the world, because you'll have to live up to it.'
Taylor nodded. 'I know that. I mean everything that I'm saying.' He reached down to pick up the little boy and then he placed him between them on the settee. He put an arm around Allison and the other he wrapped around Connor's middle. Allison snuggled into Taylor's shoulder and added her hand to cradle her son.
'So this is how it goes,' Taylor murmured. 'One, your mother and I get married.' He glanced at Allison for confirmation.
'Oh, yes,' she said. 'That's definitely number one.'
'Two, we find a big, beautiful house.'
'With a garden for my car...and a puppy,' Connor said. 'We can have a puppy if we have a garden, can't we?'
'Um...a garden, yes,' Allison said. 'A puppy...maybe. That's going to be one of the first things we get together to think about as a family.' She looked at Taylor. 'What's number three?'
'I know that one,' Connor said. 'We all live happily ever after.'
They all started to laugh at that, and over the top of Connor's head Taylor turned to Allison and stole a soft kiss. She knew that it was going to be the first of many.
