“You can go by whatever makes you comfortable, love. Nobody expects you to become someone else.”
“So I can continue being Cosmo?”
I smiled at him. “I don’t think you could ever be anyone else. You’re unique.”
“You mean weird.”
“No. I meant unique, beautiful, and you already know I got hooked on how adorable you are.”
He sighed. “I have a grandmother.”
“And aunts and cousins. Do you want to meet them?”
“I don’t know, but at least I still can, right? But my mother—I’ll never meet her. If you’re right, Virgil took her away from me.”
“It’s not the same thing, but maybe your family can share their memories of your mother. How about that?”
“I’ll think about it.”
“You have time. You’ve already been through so much, and discovering what you have about Virgil and what he’d been doing all this time must have taken a lot out of you. It’s a wonder you’re even able to trust me.”
“You’re the only one I do.”
I kissed his hair. “How’s your tummy?”
“Feeling less queasy.”
“Good. Cosmo, you can come and tell me anything. I don’t want you to resort to unhealthy habits to deal with issues. That’s what I’m here for. Okay?”
“Okay, Daddy. Can we go to bed now?”
“Sure, but first we need to brush your teeth after all that candy.”
I took him to the bathroom and brushed his teeth for him. After he rinsed with some mouthwash, we went back to our bedroom and slid under the sheets. Cosmo slid his leg between mine and placed his head on my shoulder.
“Daddy.”
“Hmm?”
“What was your childhood like? Are your parents still alive?”
“My parents were great. I was an only child whom they had very late. They both died a year apart. Mom had cancer, and Dad had a stroke he never recovered from.”
“Were they nice parents to you?”
“Yeah, the best. They were supportive. I looked up to them so much, and I might have modeled my marriage with Petra off theirs.”
“What do you mean?”
“They had the perfect marriage, were kind and loving. They kept a neat house. Everything was organized and just easy with them. That was exactly the way Petra and I were until we started having problems.”
“Is that the kind of relationship you’re looking for?”
“I wasn’t looking for a relationship at all, Cosmo. You just landed in my lap, and at first, I had no clue what I was going to do with you.”
He chuckled and kissed my shoulder. “I like the sound of that. Of me landing in your lap. I enjoy being in your lap.”
“I noticed.”