“She is very wonderful and I love her very much. How…”
Erin moved to stand beside Caleb and put a finger to his mouth. “Questions later. Your parents are lacking sleep from setting up your surprise. We’re all hungry, but first I think you should make the introductions.”
Caleb swallowed his questions and nodded in understanding. He held out a hand to his niece. “Mom, Dad, I’d like you to meet Danielle, a very special little girl.” He caged her in front of him with his hands and offered a big smile. “She’s Daniel’s daughter.”
“How? When?” Roberta Thompson asked in awe and put a hand under Danielle’s chin, unashamed of the tears that slid down her cheeks. “What a beautiful child. You have your daddy’s eyes.”
“She’s a gift from God and Daniel, so we’ll leave it at that. Once Erin and I are married, I will be adopting Danielle.”
“Welcome to our family, young lady,” Lawrence Thompson said in a formal voice, but cleared his throat twice. “Now I understand something a little better.”
Caleb watched his father walk over to the trains and picked up three blue and white trainman’s hats.
“I hope it’s not too late to restart the tradition that my father started, running trains around a Christmas tree.” He placed one on his head with the name ‘Larry’ embroidered across the front. “This one is for you.”
Caleb grinned and accepted the hat with his name and put it on his head.
“And this one is for you, young lady.”
All eyes in the room were focused on the name embroidered on the last hat. It read ‘Danielle.’
“How did you know?” Erin asked.
“We didn’t. We were in a rush when we picked out the hats and asked for the names to be embroidered. We ordered one for Daniel for sentimental reasons. Roberta gave the woman the three names, but we never checked the spelling. I only took them out of the bag a little while ago.”
Lawrence’s face filled with a beaming smile and placed the hat on his granddaughter’s head. “How would you like to operate the Lionel train that belonged to your great grandfather?”
Danielle didn’t have to be asked twice and grabbed her almost-new daddy’s hand. “That would be so cool. You, me, and my grandpop can run the trains. He should come with us this afternoon to fly our planes while momma and my new grandmother set up for your birthday party.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Caleb said, but turned to Erin before being dragged across the room.
“Sweetheart, you can’t tell me he didn’t have a hand in this.”
“No, my love,” she laughed, and kissed him lovingly. “He orchestrated the whole thing.”
Daniel Thompson collapsed his wings and rested atop the high mountain and breathed a sigh of relief. His job was done. He’d connected his daughter with his brother and gave him the loving family he deserved. Next Christmas, Erin would be giving birth to twins, two boys.
Daniel laughed out loud, his happiness echoing far and wide. God help them!
Thank you for reading Undercover Heart and I hope you enjoyed this special holiday story.
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