Page 44 of Proslo

“That’s our hope, sweetheart,” I told her, stroking her hair.

Kaia burst into tears. “Best present ever,” she cried. ”And it’s not even actually mine. Not really.”

“Oh, there’s an actual present for you as well,” Polmar told her. He stood up and walked over to a storage compartment.

“Um, don’t you need to fly this?” Akoni asked, looking panicked.

“We’re stopped. Think of it as being in park, with the engine on.”

“Ah, okay,” Akoni said, gusting out a sigh of relief.

“This gift is for Kaia, for being brave all this time and always keeping a happy outlook.” He opened the storage compartment, revealing the bicycle we’d had hidden in our shared office until now.

“A bike!” Kaia shouted, unfastening her harness to run to it. “Look, it’s got a basket and helmet!”

“You said you wanted to learn to ride, when they interviewed you for the TV adoption spot.”

“I do! I hope I can do it without falling off,” she sniffled.

“Kaia’s gots lots of hopes. A ship and a bike, and to not fall off,” Maui said. “You know what I hopes?”

“What?” I asked him.

“I hopes we are having sketti and nohlies for dinner. And I hopes I don’t have to go on the ships and have an operation.”

“We all hope that, buddy,” Akoni said.

“You wanted sketti and nohlies too?”

Akoni looked startled and barked out a laugh.

“Yeah, let’s go with that,” Betty giggled.

“That and the no more surgeries for anyone in our family,” I added.

Kaia walked over, throwing her arms around my neck. “Thank you for being my Daddy.” She turned to Betty, giving her a hug next. “And thank you for being my Mom.”

“And ours! They’re our Mommy and Daddy too!” Mo-mo reminded her.

“Yes, we are,” Betty laughed before turning to me. “Just so you know, the day I walked into the Scholarship Center and took the matching test ranks up there as one of the best days of my life.”

I leaned over to plant a kiss onto her lips. “Mine too, rivalled only by the day we agreed to adopt some children a social worker interrupted our honeymoon to ask us about.”

“Okay, I hate to interrupt, but it’s time to head back,” Polmar said. He wheeled the bike back into the storage compartment before helping Kaia refasten herself into her seat’s safety harness. Before retaking his own seat, he turned to wink at the children. “Be sure to be good all year.” he tapped the side of his nose. “I’ve got it on good authority that if you do, Space Santa will be coming to see you again on Christmas Eve.”

“Yay!” Maui and Mo-mo shouted.

Yay, indeed, though I couldn’t think of a better gift than what I'd already been given. I had a mate and we shared four healthy human young as well as an orange striped feline one. My life was now so full of love both given and received, it was close to bursting.

The end