A Pennsylvania man couldn’t hold back his tears as his stepdaughter asked him to officially adopt her.

Gus Roman, of Philadelphia, was flipping through a photo book his stepdaughter, 13-year-old Alexa Figueroa, gave him for Father’s Day when he was surprised with a picture note on the last page.

“Hey Dad! 10 years seems long enough don’t ya think?! Wanna adopt me?” the note read.

Roman quickly burst into tears, saying, "Of course."

Alexa was just a week shy of her first birthday when her biological father died. Roman stepped in and began raising her when she was just 2 years old. Roman and Alexa’s mom, Mia, had a son, Noah, together and eventually the couple married. 

Noah, 7, recently began asking if Alexa would change her last name so they could all have the same one. Mia had not changed her last name either.

Alexa initially worried about changing her last name in fear that she would lose a piece of her biological dad, but when her mom suggested hyphenating her last name, she was happy with the idea.

Roman had always wanted to adopt Alexa, but wanted it to be her decision.

“I said no matter what her last name was, Eddie would always be her dad and so would Gus, and explained how lucky she was to have two dads that loved her so much," Mia said. "It was as if a lightbulb went on — she jumped up and said, ‘Well let’s do this then!’”

This past father’s day, on the anniversary of her biological dad’s death, Alexa gave Roman with the picture book and posed the question.
 
"I instantly got emotional and started crying," Mia said. "We decided since Father’s Day this year fell on the exact date Eddie was killed 12 years ago, we would do it then, to add some happiness to a sad date for us."

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