Lovely, Stay Lovely

I fixed my hair in the mirror one more time before Jona chuckled behind me. "Yeh look loveleh."

"I just want to make sure!" I smiled, adjusting one last thing before turning around. "You look pretty good yourself, handsome."

"Fanks, I try to impress my girlfriend."

"You always do," I grinned, kissing his cheek before heading downstairs. We had finished our shower earlier and Jona had insisted on taking me out to dinner. "You know you don't have to do this."

"Yes I do! It's in the boyfriend code book!"

I giggled, rolling my eyes. "Oh yeah? Show me the book!"

"That's rule numbah one. 'Can't show any girlfriends the book.'"

"Ah hah," I nodded before laughing. "You're so silly."

"Not silly, in love."

I smiled and kissed him, enlacing his hands in my own before we headed to the car. It's weird how far the two of us have come since that faithful day on the street. I had no idea how drastically my life would change. Back then I was fending for two with no income, reusing a piece of cloth as a diaper, and I had no clothes. Now I have an amazing boyfriend, my daughter has everything she could ever need and I have a home. I know that Jona had a lot of mental battles to deal with when he let me live here, but we both grew and now we love each other. I owe him for the rest of my life, and I don't think I could ever forget that.

"Love?" Jona asked.

"Hmm?" I jumped, snapping out of my thoughts.

He chuckled before shifting in the driver's seat. "Can yeh answer my phone. I fink Olleh is calling."

My heart dropped, thinking immediately of the worst reasons why he would call. "Hello?" I asked, panicking.

"Jon- wait, is this Dani?"

"Yeah, what's wrong?"

"Nuffing," he chuckled. "But I do fink yeh two should get here as soon as possible."

"And nothing is wrong?" I asked again.

"Nope, sorreh fo' ruining yeh night. See yeh two soon," he said before hanging up the phone.

It didn't take us long before we got to Oliver's and I bound up the steps to his front door as fast as I could, knocking like a mad woman.

"Calm down!" Oliver laughed as he answered the door.

"Wha' happened man?" Jona asked behind me. "I can nevah catch a break!"

Oli grinned in the doorway. "Yeh might want to go in the living room wiff the little one. There's a surprise for you."

My brows furrowed as I walked past him and into the room where Abi sat in the middle of the floor. She giggled upon seeing us, flailing her arms. I turned to see Oli hadn't followed us. Frowning, I leaned over and picked up Abi. "Are you causing mischief?" I asked her.

Jona chuckled leaning on my shoulder. "Probableh."

"Dada!" Abi cooed.

My eyes widened as I processed what I had just heard. "Did you just... did she just... what?"

"Mama!" She giggled up, patting my face with her small hands. "Dada!" She laughed looking at Jona.

I looked at Jona to see his eyes wide open staring at Abi. "Wha'?" He whispered.

"Dada! DADA!" She giggled, laughing.

"Oh my god," I whispered, looking back at her.

"Mama!" She screamed, turning to me. "Dada!" She flailed.

I looked back at Jona to see a few tears shed from his face. "Jona?" I mumbled.

"I fink.... I fink my heart jus' melted...." He whispered.

"What?" I asked, still not able to grasp what was going on.

I heard Oli snicker from the doorway. "I fink I'll jus' leave yeh too," he mumbled before walking away.

"I'm a... she finks I'm her dad?" Jona whispered still unable to grasp what was happening in front of him.

"She spoke. Mama. Dada. Oh my god." Tears poured from my eyes.

Arms wrapped around me and I sniffled into Jona's chest. "Mama! Dada!" Abi giggled from my arms.

Jona kissed my forehead for chuckling. "I fink she's trying to tell us somefing."

"What's that?" I asked into his chest.

"That we're a family. Tha' we can't evah leave each othah. It's official now. Abi won't let us."

I laughed and wiped my eyes. "I can't believe it. I've never been this happy before. She thinks you're her dad."

"I kind of am," Jona nodded. "I plan on doing everyfing that she'll evah need fo' her."

"You're really going to do this?" I smiled. "You're really going to take on the role of being a dad?"

"Onleh if yeh stay wiff me. Onleh if yeh stay wiff me forevah. We can do this. We can be her parents."

Tears fell again and I snuggled back into his chest. "This is really happening."

He laughed and kissed Abi's forehead, then mine. "Yeah, we're a family."

"Family," I repeated. "We really are."