Forevermore

by Lynn Galli

  Willa pulled in on her bottom lip, a sign she was thinking. Nothing in her expression told me she wanted me to leave right now after making such an outrageous request.

  “It’s just, I can’t allow for her not to have someone. I can’t leave that up in the air. And please know that you don’t have to agree. This is a major decision. I want her to have an option besides Briony’s parents. I can’t let her go through this ever again. I had to—” I cut myself off before I told her too much. I’d never told anyone but Briony about being in foster care. Willa might have guessed, especially since I didn’t talk about what it was like for me growing up. Sure, she could have guessed, but I didn’t feel comfortable talking about it.

  “You don’t want her to be relegated to foster care again. I don’t either,” she agreed quietly, looking off through the French doors to her pool deck. It was one of the reasons I was asking her to be Olivia’s guardian rather than Briony’s suggestion of Jessie. Sure, Jessie hung out with the kids, was basically a big playmate for Caleb, and obviously adored them. But Willa loved the kids, Olivia specifically. I could see it in the way she talked to them. In the way she walked with them, always making sure she knew exactly where they were whenever we were out together. How it mattered what they were doing, if they were having fun, and if they were getting everything they needed to be happy.

  “Just, if you could consider it, please. You obviously have to talk to Quinn, but consider it.”

  She let out a long breath. “I don’t need to. I’d be honored to take care of her if the worst happened.”

  Just like that? This wasn’t Briony I was talking to. Willa considered things. Took time. Didn’t have kids for a reason. Then again, she knew exactly what she’d be getting with Olivia. Maybe it was that easy. It certainly had been for me. “That’s…thank you, but I know you need to talk to Quinn.”

  “Do I?” she asked with a grin. “Would you have to ask Briony?”

  Would I? No. If I wanted to take on the guardianship of another child, she wouldn’t stop me. Should I? Yes, but again, it wouldn’t be necessary. Briony was like that. Apparently Quinn was, too.

  “M, you don’t need to worry about Olivia. She will always have options and family. If you and Briony are sure about this, I’d like to meet her parents again. If something were to happen, we’d need to work together for Olivia’s sake. She can stay temporarily or permanently, whatever she wants. She’ll never be without a choice or a home again.”

  God, I wanted to hug her. I’d never wanted to hug anyone other than Briony and the kids, but now I wanted to hug my friend. My best friend, who listened to my greatest fear and made it go away. I felt tears push heavily against my eyes.

  “If we did take over guardianship, don’t worry on my end. If something happens before she’s out on her own and Briony’s parents aren’t in a position to take her in, she’ll have my sister or my mom, and as a last resort, my lame-ass brother, who’s only a lame-ass as a brother, but a great father to my nephew.”

  I really wanted to hug her. This friend of mine. Everything I’d thought about, wanted to go through with her, for the security of Olivia’s future, she just talked through.

  “Thank you, Willa.”

  My hand reached out on its own. It was a full second before my brain caught up and yanked it back. The space between us seemed to stretch for miles but wasn’t more than a few feet. I could do this. I should do this. It wasn’t enough to just thank her. With both brain and hand working together, I reached out again. My fingers curled over the top of her hand, palm resting flat. The initial static shock pulsed through leaving a slight tingling in my fingers, but I forced my hand to remain gripping hers. I waited for the next sensation of pain, like badly scraped palms, but it never came. Amazing.

  “M,” Willa said softly and squeezed my hand in return. This was the first time I consciously touched my friend, and bless her; she didn’t make a big deal about it.

  “You’re a good friend,” I told her. “Always so good to me.”

  “Same here, the best, actually.” She smiled.

  I pulled my hand back, setting it on my thigh. “Talk to Quinn, even if you don’t have to, please do. We’d like to have Lauren re-do our wills as soon as the adoption goes through.”

  “I will. Tonight. No need to worry. She adores Olivia as much as I do.”

  I stood and she did the same. The conversation went exactly as I’d hoped. Better than I thought it would. As amazing as my life had been over the last few years, I shouldn’t be surprised when things worked out better than I expected anymore.

  M’s EPILOGUE

  Two Months Later

  The alarm on my laptop beeped. I glanced at the clock, amazed that it was almost time for dinner. I had one more paper to grade, but I didn’t care. Before I would have plowed through, would have worked until I’d forgotten to eat, until my eyes closed from exhaustion. I’d fallen asleep at my desk many nights before Briony came into my life. I didn’t need to keep working. I would get the paper done tomorrow before my first class. I didn’t let anything get in the way of spending time with Briony and the kids.

  Shutting down the laptop, I stretched and popped out of the chair. I straightened up the desk in case Briony needed to get some work done later. When we moved into this place, we had two separate offices, but once Olivia came to live with us, we started sharing the den downstairs. I wasn’t sure I could do that, but Briony mostly gets her work done in the living room and rarely needs to use the office when I need to.

  I headed upstairs to check on the kids. Caleb was lounging on the loveseat in the bonus room at the top of the stairs. He was fidgeting and tapping his pencil on the pad of paper that sat on the coffee table. He had a desk in his room, but he usually liked to do his homework out here.

  “I hate algebra!” he declared as soon as he saw me coming up the stairs. The petulance that had surfaced at times over the summer had vanished. Spending time with his grandparents and cousins had helped, but it was having our family whole again that really brought back the considerate boy I knew and loved. “Don’t say I’m going to need this when I get older, M. I don’t buy it.”

  I smiled. That was his mom’s favorite saying when he pushed back on his homework. “Unfortunately, your mom’s right on this one.”

  “Will there ever be anything I learn that I won’t need?”

  “Geography.”

  His eyes popped because I’d actually given him an answer. “Seriously?”

  “It’s nice to know countries and locations, but you’ll find it changes over time. Europe has several more countries now than when I studied geography in school. So memorize all you like, but it’ll change by the time you get to my age.”

  “Ancient?” he joked.

  “Decaying,” I confirmed. “Need help yet?”

  He shook his head and sighed dramatically as he looked back at his book.

  “Dinner will be ready soon,” I reported and turned to head into Olivia’s bedroom. She preferred to sit at her desk for homework unless she needed help, then she’d bring her books to the dining table. We had a rule that they needed to try to get their homework done on their own at first. “How’s it going in here?”

  Olivia looked up from her textbook and smiled. She had two rulers placed on the book to help keep her place when she read. It was a technique I’d done research on when Briony and I recognized some of Olivia’s learning blocks. We hadn’t had her tested for dyslexia yet because we wanted her to settle into this family unit with us. We knew she felt inadequate academically and didn’t want to inflate that notion by making her take a test that would confirm a learning disability. In the seventh grade, it wouldn’t make much difference to have it verified. We’d wait until next year before testing and seeking a specialized tutor.

  “Almost done. Just two more pages,” she said. “Did you know that Julius Caesar was stabbed twenty-three times by some of the senators he worked with?”

  I walked up behind her and lo
oked down at the world history text she was reading. “I’d heard that, yes. Did you know that we have Julius Caesar to thank for revising the calendar to follow the solar year, not the lunar cycle? And that the first of the year wasn’t always January first?”

  She turned in her chair to face me, eyes wide with wonder. This was one of the many things I loved about her. She really liked to learn. It was difficult for her, but she loved learning something new. If I told her everything she’d learn from reading that book, she’d retain it all. She was one of the best auditory learners I’d seen.

  “When was it?” she asked.

  “Their new year started in March not January.” I reached out and pulled her ponytail free of the hoody she was wearing. “How many sides does an octagon have?”

  Her eyes darted up before she responded, “Eight.”

  “That’s right. So which month should October be?”

  Her eyes flashed when she realized the answer. “Eighth.”

  “Very good. Now for the bonus round, which month do you think is named after Julius Caesar?”

  She thought for a while before the answer came to her. “July!”

  “You’re so smart.” I slipped that in during every homework session to reinforce what I knew to be true about her intelligence. She could doubt it from time to time, but my goal was to make her believe it always. “And just so you know, August is for Augustus Caesar. You’ll probably read about him next.”

  “How do you know all this stuff?”

  “Nerds know stuff.”

  She giggled and my heart warmed at the sound. She was more talkative and open and laughed a lot now. It was as if the second she knew she was here to stay, she felt safe to be herself. And I loved this secure, sweet girl.

  “You’re not a nerd, Mom.”

  I still drew in a breath every time she called me Mom. Briony had held a family meeting when we passed the home study and knew we’d be getting the best recommendation from the case worker. She expressed our hope that Olivia would start calling us Mom or whatever she felt comfortable with. It took a week before Olivia let it slip the first time. After that, when she was sure she’d be ours, Briony and I were Mom. Both of us, which I liked, even when we both responded if she called to us.

  “Nothing wrong with being a nerd, sweetie. Both your moms are nerds, and we’re going to do everything we can to turn you into one.”

  “Good luck with that.” Caleb joined us at the open door. “We’re too cool for that. You and Mom can be in your own nerd cult. Don’t try to recruit us.”

  Caleb was developing his mom’s sense of humor. He could make me laugh almost as much as his mom could. “Dinner’s soon, kids.”

  “Does Mom need help?” Olivia asked because that was exactly like her.

  “We’ll handle it. Get your homework done so we can have a final showdown of badminton after dinner. The net comes down tonight before it’s too cold to spend any time outside anymore.”

  They both yelped with excitement as I made my way downstairs. Briony was humming in the kitchen, the best sign that she was happy.

  “Hi, hon,” she greeted. “Did you get the papers graded?”

  “All but one.”

  She turned and gave me a sly smile. “And you’re not itching to get that done? Not feeling an unnatural pull back to the office to get that one little ol’ paper done. An obsessive need to finish it?”

  I couldn’t help but laugh at her tease. She’d been working on my tendencies, which she called compulsions, to finish things before moving on to something else. After the honeymoon wore off, these compulsions of mine started to get under her skin. I worked on them so I could now walk away without finishing a task if something else needed tending. Dinner prep and stolen moments with Briony were worth abandoning whatever I was doing. But sometimes I liked driving her a little batty. It made up for the things she did that made me want to grind my teeth.

  “What can I help with?”

  “Pork chops are almost done. The stuffed zucchini should be pulled out of the oven. I’ll have the kids put together the salad when they get down here.”

  “Tasty.”

  She smiled and leaned in for a quick kiss. “Yes, you are.”

  My stomach tingled at the look in her eyes. I slid my hands up her arms and pulled her closer. She dropped the spatula she was holding and wrapped her arms around my neck. In the next second my mouth was sliding against hers. Pliant, soft, tantalizing lips teased me before her tongue plucked at my lower lip twice and pushed inside to stroke mine. Kissing had become one of my favorite activities. Something I’d never done for thirty-six years dominated my to-do list every day now. I was lucky to find a partner that felt the same.

  “Damn, woman, you’re winding me up at the exact wrong time.”

  “Oh?” I teased, pushing her against the counter and lifting her legs.

  She yelped in surprise and placed her hands on the counter to help me lift her into a seated position. “You are so bad.”

  “We have some time.”

  “We have no time, and you know it.”

  “I know, but I like winding you up. You’ll be on fire by the time the kids hit the sack tonight.”

  She leaned down to kiss me again. Her fingers stroked down my chest, brushing over one breast before gliding back up. “We’ll starve if we don’t stop right now.”

  “I’m good with starving.” My hands slid up her thighs and gripped her hips, pulling them against my stomach.

  “Mom!” Caleb yelled as he thundered down the stairs.

  I pulled back, both regret and promise in my eyes as I moved from between her legs. She slid off the counter with the same expression but started chuckling just as quickly. Life with kids meant constant interruptions.

  “What’s for dinner?” Caleb asked as he came in the kitchen. He eyed us with suspicion for a second. I resisted checking to see if my hair was mussed.

  “You’ll find out when you sit at the table. Get a salad started and call your sister to set the table.”

  “Livy!” he bellowed from the middle of the kitchen.

  Briony shook her head and sighed. “I meant, go get her, don’t yell from down here.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” he muttered, racing out of the kitchen to the bottom of the stairs to yell again.

  Briony turned to me. “I am speaking English, right?”

  I laughed at her constant battle to get Caleb to follow instructions when he had a very stubborn mind of his own. I turned to pull the zucchini pan out of the oven when her hand stopped me. The look in her eyes added ten degrees to the room.

  “Tonight, we’re finishing what you tried to start here, sexy,” she vowed and planted another kiss on me as the kids joined us. “Done with homework?”

  “Done,” they both said.

  “How do your ears feel, sweetie?” Briony asked Olivia, her fingers going to trace the shell of Olivia’s ear and touching the peridot stone that glittered there.

  “These are so much better than those piercing studs, Mom,” Olivia reported, her fingers flicking the other stone. “I love them.”

  “They’re perfect for you, kiddo,” I said, happy that she’d been able to get her ears pierced on the schedule her mom had planned for her. Briony had pulled off the perfect birthday celebration for Olivia, giving her the day she wanted with her friends and getting her ears pierced as promised. That almost as much as telling her we wanted to adopt her gave Olivia all the security she seemed to need. Even when her aunt came to visit a few weeks ago, Olivia didn’t show any of the shyness or hesitation she’d shown when we’d seen them together the last time. She was thriving in our home and her aunt seemed both relieved and thrilled for her niece.

  “Eden’s trying to get permission to pierce hers now instead of next year like her dad promised,” Olivia told us.

  “Maybe I should get a piercing,” Caleb said as he brought the salad bowl to the table.

  “One from your top lip to your bottom lip with a nice b
ig fastener?” Briony teased.

  “Oh, funny. Mom’s a comedian.” He elbowed Olivia, happy to have a coconspirator in all things anti-parental now. “We’ll go broke if she goes out on tour.”

  “Clever,” Briony told him, handing him the pork serving dish and Olivia the zucchini. She turned back to me and slipped her arms around my waist, bringing her mouth to mine.

  “Again with the kissing,” Caleb declared in an exaggerated sigh. He rolled his eyes at Olivia this time, but she wasn’t nearly as bothered as he was by our PDAs.

  “How would you like it if I mocked you when you start kissing your girlfriends?” his mom taunted.

  “M’s not your girlfriend, Mom. You’re married. You should be over the kissing by now.”

  We laughed. My hand went to Briony’s back, rubbing a familiar pattern. She turned a breathtaking smile my way before telling him, “It doesn’t work that way, bud. Get used to it.”

  He shook his head like he’d never understand his mom. I turned back to Briony and sighed happily. I could definitely get used to evenings just like this one for many years to come.

  If you enjoyed Forevermore, don’t miss the book that introduced M and Briony, Blessed Twice, along with the others in Lynn Galli’s Virginia Clan series, Wasted Heart, Imagining Reality, and Finally. Preview each on the following pages.

  Blessed Twice

  There were about a million other things I could be doing right now. Playing tennis, reading a mystery, calling my son at summer camp, working out, rollerblading, base jumping, banging my head against a low hanging beam, and all would be more pleasant than my sixth first date. Cripes, my friend Caroline knew a lot of women. A lot of women who were so wrong for me.

  This one’s name was Polly, and she worked as a court clerk. After her third cup of coffee—I’d learned never to commit to anything that would last several courses—I could sum up Polly’s personality with one word: drama. Or, issues. Or, get me the hell out of here, please!