Single Parent

Chapter 12

"Look Daddy!" Sophia screamed as she stood at the top of the climbing frame, with Rosie right behind her, having spent five minutes convincing Sophia that it wasn't scary. 

"Look at you baby, you're even bigger than me." She giggled and held her arms out for me to catch her, so I got up from the bench I was sat on, and walked over, standing in front of her, and held my arms out for her to jump down into. 

"Told you that you could do it sweetie." Rosie came around and gave Sophia a proud kiss on the cheek. "You want to come on the swings and we can make Daddy push us both?"

"Yeah!" Sophia jumped down and ran across the playground towards the swings. 

"I absolutely love your daughter." Rosie laughed, standing next to me as we watched Sophia stop to play on the slide, distacted easily. 

It had been three months since they first met, and at first I was only keeping it to three nights a week with Rosie around, and only the nights so I still spent weekends with Sophia. But then after a month or so, Rosie spent Saturday with us, and more recently, she had been just coming by whenever. She had even picked Sophia up from school for me a couple of times, which Sophia loved, because then she got to tell all her friends proudly that Rosie was there for her, and was my girlfriend. 

"She loves you too. She was practically begging me to call you this morning."

"I'm glad you did. I can't believe I ever felt jealous of that girl for getting you all to herself. She doesn't give a damn who she has, she knows she's loved and she isn't the slightest bit clingy."

"Oh just wait. You're not a complete stranger. And she oddly has more of a phobia of women than men."

"Well that's because she's constantly surrounded by you and the guys isn't she? She's going to hate you for that when she gets older and wants to start dating and has the four of you in her ear all the time."

"That's why we have our girls to keep us under control." I winked at her and leaned in to kiss her softly, pulling her up against me in a tight hug. 

"We're in public Nate."

"And? I can hug you and give you a kiss if I want to. These kids all started from a hug and a kiss."

"You are such a pervert!" She slapped me on the arm playfully and pulled away and started to walk over to Sophia. 

"Rosie?!" I grabbed her hand and she stepped back to look at me. "Move in with us."

"What? Nate now is not the time-"

"It is. She loves you, I love you. You spend most nights with us and all she goes on about when we aren't with you, are things you do with her. You can ask her first, but move in with me, move in with us babe."

"Nate honey, you know I would but-"

"But nothing. Three months Rosie. I trust you with her now. Hell, if I didn't, you wouldn't have ever been alone with her, and you always watch her for me so I can do things. Don't get that scared look in your eyes, nothing changes. Just say yes babe."

"I'll ask Sophia." She stretched up and pecked me on the lips as some kind of reassurance to me that she wanted to, but needed to think about it some more. 

I walked over to the swings and stood behind Sophia's and started to push her. Rosie sat on the swing next to her, obviously the adult swing, and she looked over at Sophia and told her to swing her legs like she was. After a while, I took Sophia from the swing and sat on the adult swing with her in my lap and kept my arms around her, hooked around the chain and swung us back and forth gently, not going too high, but letting her enjoy it, and she seemed to love it even more when Rosie started to go high.