Conner quickly picked up his 3 year old daughter and grabbed her bag from the counter.
"Ollie, Marie and I are leaving!" Conner shouted into their house. They had upgraded from Oliver's tiny one bedroom apartment to a 3 bedroom townhouse when they adopted Marie. Oliver walked down the hall and kissed Conner goodbye.
"Ew! Daddy has cooties!" Marie said, covering her eyes and giggling. Oliver smiled and kissed her on the head.
"I'm going to pick her up from daycare, right?" Oliver said buttoning his sleeves.
"Yes, I'll be home around five." Conner said opening the front door, "I love you."
"I love you too" Oliver replied smiling.
Conner quickly put Marie in her car seat and started the drive to daycare.
•••••••••
Oliver swung open the door to the daycare center and walked in.
"I'm here to pick up Marie." He said to the receptionist.
"Sign here" the perky reception said handing Oliver a sheet of paper on a clipboard. Oliver signed the paper and head to the back.
"Daddy!" Marie shouted as she ran towards Oliver. Oliver picked her up and hugged her.
"How was you day, my little M&M?" Oliver asked as he walked toward the daycare doors.
"I coloured and I played with dolls and I went down the slide and I took a nap and I ate lunch and-" Marie rambled on.
"Wow, you did a lot of things today didn't you?" Oliver said buckling her seatbelt
"Yup!" Marie said smiling, "Daddy can I ask you a question?"
"Sure, Sweetie" Oliver said starting the car.
"Why don't I have a mommy? Because Cameron says that everyone has to have just one mommy and daddy but I have two daddies and no mommy, so why?" The 3 year old asked looking up at her father.
"Well, um, you see, god I don't know how to explain this...so you do have a mommy and daddy that is different from me and dad. She just thought we were so nice that she wanted to give you to us. Do you understand?" Oliver said bitting his lip.
"I was a present?" Marie imagined being given to her fathers with a big red bow on her head.
"Sort of. I'll explain more when we get home." Oliver stalled.
•••••••••
Oliver opened the door to find Conner standing in the kitchen. He smiled and took Marie in his arms.
"Hi munchkin! I got off work early so I can play with you even more before bed time!" Conner said ticking his daughter.
"Um, Marie, why don't you go play with your dolls and Dad and I will come play with you in a bit." Oliver said as Marie scurried away to her playroom.
"What was that about?" Conner asked.
"Okay so today Marie asked why she doesn't have a mom..." Oliver said sitting down at the kitchen table.
"And? She had to find out she was adopted sooner or later. I mean, she doesn't look like either of us at all." Conner said. It was true, with her dark curly hair and brown skin, Marie didn't resemble her fathers in the slightest.
"But I didn't want it to sound like her biological mom didn't want her." Oliver worried.
"The important thing is that she knows we love her." Conner said kissing Oliver's cheek.
"You're right." Oliver sighed.
"I just love it when you say that" Conner smiled. Oliver hit his arm playful and started into the other room to play with his daughter.
