The Sweetest Gift - Scarlett Cole Page 0,25

was quite the night,” Elliott said, throwing his arm over Daniel’s shoulder. “How are your legs?”

The truth was, they throbbed. Scar tissue pulled tight over his joints. There had been surgeries to release the contractures where his growing frame and taut skin worked against each other. And there had been plastic surgeries to transform the appearance, something that he desperately wanted. While most of his friends were cool, there were still some who would call him a freak or Freddy Kreuger after the horror movie guy. “I’ll need a couple of painkillers tonight,” he answered truthfully. “And perhaps a chair.”

“You need me to carry you? It’s not a big deal.”

Daniel shook his head. “Definitely not.”

Elliott grinned. “Come on, I’ll give you a piggy-back. We can even make it look like a bet. No one needs to—”

“No, Dad,” Daniel said with a laugh. “I’m fine. Just, let’s walk a little slower, maybe.”

They slowed their pace as Dred hurried off ahead of them.

“Aunt Pixie must be out of her mind,” he said.

Elliott ran his hand through his hair. “Yeah. As we ran out looking for her, I was wondering what if it happened to Noah or Holly. What if they just wandered off? Scared the shit out of me.”

“Me, too. Being a parent must be really hard.”

“You know, when we were looking, and you told me that you didn’t want what happened to you to happen to her?” Elliott asked.

Daniel looked out toward the water. “Yeah?”

“I would have believed you. Back then. If I’d been your dad. There would have been no question in my mind. Is being a parent hard? Yeah, in some ways it is. It now takes thirty minutes and about five different bags of clothes and diapers and car seats and shit to get out the door, when I used to just grab my keys and go. And finding time to make out with your mom with you three constantly asking for snacks and diaper changes is a ball ache, literally.”

Daniel pretended to gag. “That is so gross. I don’t even want to think about that.”

Elliott grinned. “My point is, the logistics of being a parent are sometimes hard and often involve putting your own needs second. But loving your kids… man, that’s the easiest fucking thing in the world. And loving them means believing in them, and supporting them, and wanting what’s best for them.”

Daniel’s heart warmed in his chest. The chill he’d felt ripple through him when he’d considered what could have happened to Petal began to ebb away like the tide he was studying.

“And that’s you, Dan. I love you with every fiber of my being. And in every possible, conceivable way that matters, you are my son. Do I hope next year brings a way to get that on a piece of paper? Sure, because I know how much it matters to you. But if it doesn’t, it won’t have any impact on the way I think about you, because I already consider you to be mine.”

They stopped at the crosswalk, waiting this time for the lights to change so they could cross. Daniel studied the scuff marks on his new trainers. “I love you, Dad,” he muttered.

Elliott threw his arm over Daniel’s shoulder. “I love you, too, Kid.”

They walked the rest of the way to the restaurant in peaceful silence, but when Elliott opened the door to the restaurant, the whole room erupted in cheers.

Uncle Nik was first to reach him, lifting him off the ground in a hug so tight it was impossible to breathe.

Aunt Jenny placed her hands on his shoulders. “That was some great level-headed problem solving, Daniel. Well done.”

Then his mom got her hands on him. “You,” she said, before kissing his cheek. “I am so proud of you.”

Everyone wanted a word with him, wanted to thank him for something he would do over and over if it happened again. Yet, he realized that, somehow, despite what had happened to him, despite what he and his mom had to go through, somehow, they’d ended up in a place that was so much better.

He looked to Elliott, who was just standing quietly next to him, a look of immense pride on his face. He now had a father who truly loved him and would stand by him and believe him. And his mom was happier than she had ever been with his biological dad. And all these people loved them both.

So, regardless of the gifts he got for Christmas tomorrow…