So were Kristen and Law. Now that they’d found each other, as long as they fought together for the things they needed, whatever they needed, they’d always have the loving family each of them had dreamed of for so long.
Law checked the display on his phone.
“Dan texted,” he said. “He and Charlotte and Sally will meet us and the Dixons and Fin at the Dream Whip in half an hour.” He kissed Chloe’s forehead. “Wash up so we can go.”
Chloe scampered away.
She’d been excited since she’d gotten home from school about hanging with Fin and Sally tonight. She’d been just as excited to visit Ben yesterday, Mallory and Pete’s new baby boy. Chandlerville was full of friends and people she loved spending time with now—more people to help take care of her and make her part of their lives and show her that she’d always have a place to belong. People were taking the time to do the same for Fin, who was thriving just like Chloe, both at school and in the community.
Kristen reached for Law. He pulled her into a hug and a kiss that she wanted to last all afternoon.
“Chloe’s going to be okay,” she said, when he allowed her to breathe again. “We’re both going to be here for her, whatever happens with Libby.”
“We will.” He kissed the tip of her nose.
She tinkered with a few keys, making a mess of one of the simple melodies Chloe had mastered her first try. She banged her hand down on the keys. Chuckling, Law smoothed his fingers over hers, charming her into relaxing against him.
“You’re enjoying this,” she said. “Admit it.”
“Spending all afternoon with you, touching you? Always.”
“Seeing me bungle something that’s so simple for you and your daughter.”
“Our daughter,” he reminded her.
In bed last night, curled around each other and clinging and falling in love all over again, the same as every night since Kristen had helped Chloe come back to him, Law had said the same thing: that however Libby recovered, whether her and Chloe’s relationship improved again or deteriorated, Chloe would always have parents to love her. Kristen and Law would make certain they all had the good family they deserved.
Honest.
Caring.
Forever.
“I love you.” She wrapped her arms around Law, trusting him and them and the dangerous dreams they’d made each other dream. “I love you so much.”
She’d never get tired of saying it.
“I love you, too, darlin’.” He reached around her to the piano, to play the first notes of her Valentine’s song.
And then he began singing “Come Back to Me,” the promise she’d waited her whole life for him to fill her heart with, until she couldn’t imagine being anywhere else but in his arms, listening to his voice, and believing in the tomorrows they would build together.
I want to acknowledge my friends and fellow authors Dorie Graham and Catherine Mann, who first taught me the power of offering family to kids who weren’t their own, but who needed to know the power and beauty and unconditional acceptance of belonging.
Though neither of these amazing women have formally fostered a child, they’ve both opened their homes and lives and hearts to teens with no easy choices and the bottomless need to know that they are wanted, just the way they are. Dorie and Catherine are mothers to everyone they meet, in that honest and ruthlessly caring way all mothers should be. They are my inspiration.
Ladies, the Dixons are a complete fabrication. But they were lovingly crafted in hopes of capturing the drive to help that I know fills your hearts, and the hearts of all heroes who step into a lost child’s lonely world, determined to help.
I admire you more than I can say.
ANNA DESTEFANO
Anna DeStefano is the award-winning, nationally best-selling author of more than twenty novels, including Christmas on Mimosa Lane, Three Days on Mimosa Lane, Secret Legacy, and the Atlanta Heroes series. Born in Charleston, South Carolina, she has lived in the South her entire life. Her background as a care provider and adult educator in the world of crisis and grief recovery lends itself to the deeper psychological themes of every story she writes.
With a rich blend of realism and fantasy, DeStefano invites readers to see each of life’s moments with emotional honesty and clarity. The past president of Georgia Romance Writers, she has garnered numerous awards, including twice winning the Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award, the Holt Medallion, the National Excellence in Romance Fiction Award, the Golden Heart, and the Maggie Award for Excellence. She has also been a Golden Quill finalist and finalist in the National Readers’ Choice and Booksellers’ Best awards.
Join Anna each week on her blog: www.annawrites.com/blog.
Love on Mimosa Lane (A Seasons of the Heart Novel) Page 29