“Just the four of us,” she repeated, her lips quivering uncontrollably, making AJ laugh again. “I love you, Andrés Josiah,” she squeaked out again.
“I love you too, future Mrs. Romero.”
Her eyes widened and the crying ceased.
“Oh, hell yeah,” he added with an even bigger smile. “You know I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
It wasn’t exactly a proposal, but it may as well have been. Instantly, her face crumbled, and AJ laughed again, pulling her into another crushing hug.
Epilogue
AJ
“Put that away,” AJ said with a frown as he walked into the nursery, determined to get through this with his dignity still intact.
“No way,” Clair said, holding her phone in front of her as she continued to narrate the video she was taking for her sister to watch one day. “AJ’s second attempt to change Chloe’s dirty diaper.”
“I’ve changed her diaper plenty of times,” AJ protested as he laid Chloe down on the changing table.
“Correction,” Clair said as she maneuvered to get a better angle of AJ’s face and not the diaper, “AJ’s second attempt to change Chloe’s loaded, dirty diaper.” She looked up at AJ, who was already preparing not to panic. “Changing her diaper when she’s just wet doesn’t count. Even I can do that.” Clair pinched her nose as AJ undid the tape that fastened the diaper together. “The waste basket is right there.” She pointed.
“I’m not gonna need that,” AJ insisted, but he wasn’t so sure as the smell of his precious baby girl’s diaper assaulted his nose. “I got the first one out of the—Ugh!” He gagged as he opened the diaper and saw what Addison referred to as “Chloe’s presents.”
“Presents, my ass,” he muttered. “Ugh!” He gagged again, leaning over the waste basket because he felt his stomach turn.
“There you are,” Clair said, turning to the doorway.
AJ turned to see Harrison cautiously peeking in. “Where’d you go?” she asked. “I thought you wanted to see this.”
Harrison shook his head, wide-eyed, as AJ wiped his already running nose with back of his arm. Then Harrison walked back out. “Get back here, you coward,” AJ called out as he wiped some of the mess away with a wipe and promptly gagged again. “I could use some help here.”
Clair giggled even louder as he leaned over and dry-heaved into the waste basket. “Yeah,” she said, laughing even more. “My hands are full or I’d help.”
Looking up from the waste basket, even as his hand still held Chloe’s ankles in the air, he peered at his adorably evil little girl. She shrugged then covered her mouth with the same hand that still pinched her nose, but continued to video tape the whole thing. “And Mom thought I was exaggerating about the last time you did this.”
“You were,” he said as he attempted wipe away some more of his baby’s offensive presents. “Ugh!” He gagged a few more times before leaning over and actually throwing up a little.
Chloe babbled loudly, moving her little arms in the air as if even she were enjoying watching Daddy’s pathetic attempt to change her without being sick.
“Oh, was I?” Clair said, enjoying this way too much. “Harrison,” she called out. “You gotta come in here and see this. It won’t be the same just watching the video. Look at him; his eyes are crying and everything.”
Despite his churning stomach, it still couldn’t flatten the instant smile on his face when his eyes met Chloe’s beautiful bright eyes. “You are enjoying this, aren’t you, sweetheart?”
AJ finally made it through the diaper change, but not before gagging a few more times and throwing up again. When it was all over and he’d cleaned up the whole area, Clair stepped up to help. “Yeah, you get the easy job,” AJ said as they walked into his bedroom and placed Chloe on his and Addison’s bed for Clair and Harrison to watch while he went out back to throw out all remnants of his heroic diaper change. But he stopped at the doorway when he saw Harrison climb on the bed with his girls. “Harrison.”
The wide-eyed little boy turned to him curiously. “Yeah?”
“Did you forget the rule?”
It took him a second, but AJ saw the moment it hit him. Immediately, Harrison had one foot on the floor. “Sorry, Mr. Romero,” he said.
AJ smirked, shaking his head as he walked out of the bedroom. He wasn’t sure how or why it happened, but it was sometime around the time he decided to adopt Clair. Ever since it was established that, while they’d still be best buddies, AJ was now going to be Clair’s dad and she his daughter, Harrison had gone from calling him Mr. AJ to Mr. Romero. The adoption wasn’t even final yet. But he was glad the transition from best buddies to being a family now living in the same home had been a smooth one. He just wished the damn adoption would be too.
Even though he was already referring to her as his daughter, the issue of Clair changing her last name hadn’t been discussed too much at first. Addison had offered to hyphenate hers back when they first got married so Clair wouldn’t feel left out, since Chloe would be a Romero. But once her little sister arrived, Clair decided she wanted to be part of the Romero family all the way. Getting her name legally changed had surprisingly been a much easier task.
The wait on the adoption being finalized was an exasperating one though. There was so much red tape and none of it even had anything to do with Bigsby. He’d cooperated completely. Addison had been right about the asshole. It was nothing but a bruised ego. The moment he found out how much he’d have to shell out in back child support and how much he’d have to pay for another ten plus years, his supposed eagerness about getting to know Clair was squashed.
Addison’s lawyers had since made it clear that AJ would be Clair’s father now. AJ had also made sure the guy knew through her lawyers that there’d be hell to pay if he ever came near or tried to mess with his family in any way. So it was handled with far more diplomacy than if AJ had delivered the threat himself like he’d originally hoped to.
With the generous deal and bonus he’d gotten for resigning with Padres, especially since they not only won the World Series but he’d been named MVP, AJ had no choice but to invest in more property. He bought one with two adjacent homes on the lot. Nathan and Isaiah were now each living in one, and, of course, the two stubborn asses insisted on paying him rent.
The gate to the driveway opened just as AJ was making his way to the back entryway from where he’d dumped Chloe’s diaper in the trashcan. He smiled when his eyes met his beautiful wife’s eyes. Stopping to wait, he continued smiling as she drove up and into one of the carports.
“Now you get here,” he said with a smirk as soon as she was out of the car.
“What do you mean?” she asked, coming around the car, and AJ met her halfway. “I told you I’d be gone a few hours.”
“I changed a loaded diaper again.”
Addison laughed as he leaned in to kiss her. “Oh, man,” she said with a playful frown. “I missed it again.”
“Don’t worry. Your daughter got it all on video.”
Addison laughed even more now. “Oh now she’s my daughter? I see a pattern here. Just like when Chloe loads her diaper and I’m home to take care of it, it’s my daughter that needs to be changed.”
“Exactly. And when Clair kicks ass in her Mathletes competitions or recites one of her flawless speeches, I tell everyone that’ll listen about how brilliant my daughter is.” He pecked her again as he slipped his hand in hers. “You catch on quick.”
They walked in the house together. As soon as they were in the bedroom with the kids, Clair was queuing up her phone. “You have to see this, Mom. It’s hilarious.”
Clair and Addison watched it more than once, laughing hysterically the whole time. Curiously, Harrison didn’t seem to want to watch it even on the phone. He actually stepped out of the room again, and Clair turned to AJ, shaking her head. “The sound of you gagging alone makes him gag.”