A short sequel to Where There Is Need. Has potential to turn into a full-length story. Enjoy and please review!
Disclaimer: Not mine!
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"Mama!"
Juliet sighed as she struggled with her giggling toddlers who were trying to evade her attempts to dress them. "What is it, Lexie?"
Her daughter barreled into the room a moment later, her shoes on the wrong feet and her messy brunette hair still mussed from sleep. "I can't find my bear shirt!"
"Did you check your toybox?" One of the twins finally escaped and darted past his sister, giggling wildly. "Thomas, get back here!"
"No, Mama." Lexie skipped back out of the room and Juliet finally gave up on her attempt to finish dressing James, who quickly followed after his siblings, laughing all the way. With a sigh, she sat down in the rocking chair that rested between the boys' toddler beds. Was it possible for things to change so much in just four short years?
Four years ago, Marlowe had died while delivering a perfectly healthy baby girl. Carlton was completely lost without his wife, and the responsibility of raising a baby on his own… A small, sad smile touched her lips. She had started staying with him and Alexandra to help out, just for a few days. Days turned into weeks, and weeks turned to months. Shawn eventually left her, not that she could blame him. He couldn't handle being second to her partner and a child who wasn't hers. With little effort, she stepped into the role of Lexie's mother, and one particularly rough night when Lexie was cutting her first tooth, Carlton kissed her.
Now, four years and three more children later, Juliet could not believe how much and how easily things had changed. Her hand settled gently over her swollen abdomen as Carlton's laughter reached her ears.
Maybe she hadn't expected things to turn out like this, but she couldn't imagine her life any other way.
The End.