Lots going on in this chapter, but it's been kind of a long time coming.
Waves of Hope
Chapter Twenty-six
Bella
"They're here!" I call over my shoulder, swaddling Rylee back up before carrying her to the foyer in the cradle of my arm. Edward meets me there, wiping his hands on his cargo shorts as he grins and flashes me a wink. "You look pretty."
Heat rushes to my cheeks even as I roll my eyes. He's talking shit and he knows it. My hair hasn't been washed in three days, Rylee just spit up on me so I still have a damp patch on my shoulder from mopping it up, and Mackenzie had what the boys are calling 'a poonami' this morning; I can't get the smell of it out of my nose. I feel like it's on me even though I've changed clothes since then—not that it did me much good, thanks to Rylee's little incident.
"Yeah, yeah. You look handsome, as usual."
Being a dad to newborns suits Edward. He has that sleep-mussed, new dad glow about him. He's up for every night feeding, every diaper change, every fussing baby, but he's still the most handsome man I've ever seen.
How's that fair, huh? I look like roadkill and he looks like something out of People's Sexiest Dad. Go figure.
As he pulls open the front door, a pint-size blonde whirlwind dashes around his legs.
"Hi, Uncle Edward! Hi, Aunt Bella!" Ivy zips right by me, waving as she goes. "Bye, Uncle Edward! Bye, Aunt Bella!"
Seconds after she skids into the kitchen, I hear Max's happy boof and her sweet, lilting giggles.
"When are you two gonna give in and get that girl a puppy?" Edward snickers as Garrett carries a bright pink diaper bag inside, waving his wife and newborn daughter ahead. As Garrett tells him 'never,' Tanya leans into my embrace, both of us cradling babies and wearing wide but exhausted smiles. I'm happy to see her hair is in a similar disarray to mine, her curves encased in jersey shorts and a tank top also like mine.
"How're you doing?" I murmur once we're all settled outside on the patio, the babies happy in the shade. We've hauled the twin bassinets out, so all three are lined up along the back wall of the house. Today they have company, although the pack-n-play beside the sixers is empty right now.
I have Garrett and Tanya's sweet baby nestled against my chest.
"She's gorgeous, guys. So cute."
Robin Cross was born two weeks ago, four weeks early. Tanya and I have joked that she was eager to meet her future bestie.
Like she knows I'm thinking about her, Rylee grunts and fusses.
I wiggle my pinky in the air as Edward sets down his drink and makes to go to her. We've been home a little over two weeks and the babies have us all wrapped around their tiny fingers, but Rylee owns every male in the house. "That's right. Run and grab your girl," I tease, laughing when he purses his lips before sticking his tongue out at me.
Before Edward can lift himself out of his chair, Tanya springs up. "I'll get her. That's Rylee, right?"
"It is," I nod, watching as she takes a moment to fuss over the boys before plucking their sister out of the bassinet.
Rejoining us at the table, she casts a quick glance over at Ivy rolling around with Max on the grass before shifting her attention back to Rylee. "Look at you, pretty girl. You're your big sister made over."
Edward's pride is a living, breathing entity as he sits back in his seat, shades tucked into his copper mane and a brilliant, crooked grin on his face.
Tanya turns to me, her surprise evident. "I mean, I've seen Rylee in pictures before today, but it really is uncanny how much she looks like Willow. In person, it's much more obvious."
"I know," I murmur. "If she'd gotten Edward's eyes, they'd be like twins."
Rylee is a Cullen through and through. She looks exactly like Willow did as a baby—well, except for her eyes. My eyes.
"I still can't believe you've got six of these," Garrett teases, leaning over his wife's shoulder to peer down at Rylee with a grin. "I feel like our house is overflowin' with baby shit and we've only got one."
Snorting, Edward tips his head toward the house. "Why d'you think we're sitting out here? Our living room is a makeshift nursery and the babies' actual nursery is so full of diapers, wipes, clothes, cribs...just stuff, that we have no hope of getting them in there before they go off to college."
Rolling my eyes, I have to admit that he's not really exaggerating. My gaze turns to our house, our beautiful home Edward lovingly restored with his own hands. It's gorgeous and in an amazing location, but building regulations and the pool being where it is means that it will be impossible to build the sort of extension we'd need to make staying here a reality. It will always hold a special place in our hearts, but it's just not enough for us now.
Garrett's amusement fades a little as he sits back, eyeing Edward. "You're gonna move, huh?"
Edward nods, just a dip of his chin, and I don't need to be able to see his face to know that his misery is probably all over it. He's looking out toward the sea, his profile lit by the midday sun. It'll be hard for me to leave this house, hard for the boys, too, but it's going to gut him.
"We'll find somewhere new and make it our home," Edward finally says. His eyes find mine and his lips shift into a small, hopeful smile. "We've seen a few potential spots online."
"Spots?" Tanya questions, looking between us. "You're gonna build a new place?"
"We're considering it," Edward admits. "We're struggling to find somewhere close by with enough room for what we'll need, but yeah. It's something we're looking at."
Garrett and Tanya share a loaded look, prompting Edward and I to glance at each other. He seems as confused as I am, so we just wait. With a small smile, Tanya nods, and Garrett turns his attention back to us. As his eyes flick between our faces, he says, "I actually might know a place. Good location, still here in Jackson Bay…"
"Sounds too good to be true," I sing teasingly even as hope blooms. "Where is it?"
~ oOo ~
Later that afternoon, after picking up the boys from school, Edward and I leave the babies in the arms of our angel volunteers. Mom, Everly, and three of the ladies from Mom's crochet club take up the task while we follow Garrett and Tanya's minivan to the outskirts of town.
"Where are we goin'?" Jaxson asks, stuffing his fruit snack pack down his throat like he hasn't eaten for days.
"Uncle Gare and Aunt Tan are showing us somewhere we might be able to build a new house," Edward says.
"Oh, cool." The boys perk up at that, their initial disappointment at not heading right home to the babies waning as they stretch to look out of the windows.
My own gaze is drawn out to the wide street we turn onto, the homes large but spread out in sprawling swaths of grass. We're on the more expensive side of town, The Bluffs just a few more minutes up the gradual hill we're at the base of. "This is such a pretty neighborhood," I whisper with almost childlike awe. The houses here are gorgeous, some older but some obviously relatively new.
Our little town is growing, new developments popping up around the edges of Jackson Bay all the time. The loft Everly and Rosalie live in is one of them. There's a gym and a bookstore underneath, run by a couple who moved into town a couple of years back.
"Looks like this is it," Edward murmurs, following Garrett and Tanya as they turn right onto a long driveway. My eyes get glassy when I see the house...well, what's left of it. More than half of the building looks like a dollhouse stamped on by a giant toddler. It's caved in, debris piled up around it where somebody had obviously started a clean-up job but never gotten around to finishing it.
I know without having to ask that this is the result of the hurricane almost three years ago. We'd already moved out to Utah, but we were in constant contact with everybody while they rode it out and rebuilt afterward. The main part of town got away relatively unscathed, but some of the older homes, particularly on the outskirts, didn't fare as well.
This house is proof of that.
Once we've unleashed the kids and warned them to stay away from the precariously balanced building, Edward and I wander over to where Garrett and Tanya are standing, baby Robin strapped to Tanya's chest. Garrett has his hands in his pockets as he stares up at the house.
"This belonged to your grandparents?"
He tips his head toward me, hazel eyes filled with memories as he nods. "Yeah. My nana and papa lived here their entire married life. They died a few years apart in '06 and '09, left me the house and the land. Follow me."
We move around the building, giving it a wide berth until we get to the back and my lips automatically curve into a smile. "Wow."
Garrett chuckles, slinging an arm around my shoulders. "Yeah, 'wow' is right."
"The view…"
"It's incredible," Edward breathes, shaking his head.
The boys run around with Irina and Ivy, who becomes almost invisible in the long grass except for her bright pink shirt and matching pom-poms holding her hair in bunches. Their laughter rings out as we gaze out at the ocean, our spot on a slight incline giving us an almost panoramic view framed by the trees that act as a border between this lot and the next.
Turning to us with a wide, nostalgic smile, Garrett shrugs. "So? What do you think?"
Edward and I glance at each other before I turn back to our friends and shake my head with an incredulous laugh. "Are you kidding? It's beautiful, Garrett, but why on earth don't you live here?"
Wrapping his arm around Tanya and their daughter in her carrier, he shrugs. Tanya beams as he kisses her cheek. "We have a great house, one we built ourselves and filled with memories and babies. We don't need a bigger house, we have plenty of room," she explains.
"The house needs some work," Garrett says with a smirk as Edward and I laugh at the gross understatement. "To be honest, it probably needs tearing down, but this is yours if you want it. It's a little over five thousand square feet, give or take a few. I don't know what you'd want to do with it, but we got a building permit to rebuild last year. We wanted to have it in our pocket just in case we sold up and the new owners wanted to do that. The guy I spoke to said he thought it'd be pretty easy to get permission to knock it down and start over, too."
My eyes swing around, soaking it all in as my feet carry me through the grass. The kids whizz past me, Ivy on Finley's back as she squeals and tells him to go faster. The back of the property gradually slopes down from a broken, faded white fence to the track that leads right onto the sand dunes. If I were to go through the rickety gate and follow the shore for twenty minutes or so, I'd wind up outside our house. The thought makes me smile.
A long, strong arm winds around my shoulders, Edward's lips landing at my temple. "What do you think?"
"It's beautiful," I admit, pulling my lip between my teeth. "It'll be expensive."
"Gare said he'd sell it to us for a fair price."
"I don't doubt that." Looking up at him, at his hopeful smile, I can't help but smile back. "Can we do it?"
We turn together, facing the remains of a house that was once home to a family.
"We'll need to crunch some numbers, get a few quotes...we know how much our place is worth and houses in our neighborhood always sell quickly."
A thousand different thoughts fly through my head, but when it comes down to it, I know we're not going to find a more perfect spot than this. We're still just a few minutes away from our family and friends, the beach is right at the bottom of our yard, and we have the option to rebuild or repurpose the left side of Garrett's grandparents' house.
"It feels right."
Edward nods, a rumbling chuckle escaping against my hair as he presses a kiss on my crown. "I think so, too."
~ oOo ~
Leaving the babies was a hundred times harder than I expected, so when Edward drops us off before heading to Burger Co. to pick up dinner, I hurry into the house like my ass is on fire. The boys and Irina—who begged to be allowed to come over and 'hang with the babies'—run ahead, and it's a good thing they do because I'm embarrassingly tearful at being back within touching distance of the sixers.
Mom, Carol, Julia, and Harriet are all sitting down with a baby each while River grunts contentedly in his bassinet and Everly rocks Caben over by the fireplace. I'm already unbuttoning the buttons straining over my chest when I take him from my sister. "Momma's here, baby," I whisper, settling into Edward's recliner as he latches on and stares up at me with his big, silvery gray eyes.
"Just in time," Mom laughs, sitting Mackenzie up on her knee as she sets his half-empty bottle on the coffee table.
"I said I'd be back in time to feed this little guy, and I meant it," I murmur with a smile, running my fingertips through Caben's curly blond hair. It's wispy and thin, so fair it's almost white-blond. "You're so cute, kiddo."
"Of course he is, he's got the same genes as me," Arlo says like duh, strolling into the room to hunt for...something.
"What have you lost, kiddo?"
"My Switch," he mumbles, lifting up pillows and looking under bassinets.
"It's on the counter in the kitchen," I tell him, putting him out of his misery.
Flashing me a grin, he heads back out of the living room, calling over his shoulder that he'll get the phone when it starts ringing.
"It's probably Demetri or Liam. We're gonna sync up."
Smiling after him, I shake my head and meet Mom's amused gaze as the ringing stops and we hear Arlo's sing-song "Cullen residence, how can I help ya?"
"You have the sweetest family, honey," Harriett grins, holding Rylee against her chest. "These little ones are miracles, and y'all are, too."
"Thank you," I breathe, a light laugh preceding a hot flush spreading over my cheeks. "I'm incredibly lucky to have," I pause, listening to the front door opening and closing, heavy footsteps on the hardwood in the hall. Smiling as Edward appears in the doorway, I add, "I'm lucky to have all of them."
With the babies all content, we spread out the food Edward just picked up and let everybody dig in. Jaxson, Finley, and Irina tear through the living room, filling up plates before asking if they can eat outside.
"Sure you can," I smile, ruffling Finley's hair as he passes me. "Where's...oh, there you are."
Arlo puts the phone down in the cradle a little harder than necessary, his brows pulled tight in a frown as he looks up at me. Still holding Caben against my chest, I drape an arm around his shoulders and duck my head to kiss his hair.
"D'you have a fight with Demetri or Liam, or something?"
"No," he grunts.
It's my turn to frown. "Hey, what's up, kiddo? Talk to me."
"Nothin's up, okay? I'm hungry."
He shrugs out from under my arm, stomping all the way into the other room.
What in the world…
Resigned to talking to him later once the house is a little less crazy and I don't have a baby attached to my boob, I grab the cutlery I came in here for and head back into the living room just in time to see Arlo stomping up the stairs with his plate.
~ oOo ~
By the time the babies have been home for a month, Edward and I are beat.
We bumble around the house in a constant state of what we've dubbed 'baby fog.' It takes seconds for thoughts to pop into and right back out of our heads. More than once, I've changed a baby's diaper, put them back in their bassinet, gone to do something else, and then come back to change that same baby's diaper all over again because I've forgotten it's already done.
One of our elderly neighbors who raised triplets fifty years ago suggests keeping a diary, which helps—particularly with keeping track of things when we have volunteers dipping in and out of the house all day, every day.
It's...an adjustment, having so many people around. Kind friends, neighbors, and family members sign up on the online sheet Sullivan keeps organized for us, keeping the shifts filled so that we're rarely outnumbered by babies and often have enough hands in the house for us to catch a quick nap here and there.
One baby is hard work, two is harder, but six…
Between feeding babies every two hours, changing diapers just as frequently, and keeping up with everything else—our bigger boys, Max, housework, making sure everything is good over at Burger Co., and figuring out the new house situation—we barely have time to breathe.
Still, when the babies flash us milk-drunk smiles, or we walk in on one of the bigger boys kneeling over a bassinet singing lullabies, or we sit amongst sleeping babies and look back at their first few days in the NICU...it's worth it. They've come so far.
When we take them to Lexi's house for a not-so-newborn photoshoot, as she calls it, and compare those images to the ones of the babies when they were actually newborns, none of us can believe how much they've changed.
The sixers are fifteen weeks old now, growing and thriving and lighting up our lives like they were always supposed to be here, and they were. We were always supposed to have these six little babies.
They were always meant to complete our family.
~ oOo ~
"What are you doing up, sweetheart?" Mom whispers as I shuffle into the kitchen late one night right at the start of October when the weather is starting to shift, the humidity down and the tourists starting to pour back out of our little slice of heaven.
"Can't sleep," I shrug, fixing a cup of coffee. Glancing at the clock, I see that I'm between feedings. "Who else is here?"
"Sully is on the couch," she says with a smile, sliding onto a stool at the bar with her glass of orange juice and a granola bar. "What's keeping you up, sweetie?"
"I don't know." As soon as the words are out of my mouth, I wish I could take them back. It's a big fat lie. "Actually, I do know, I just don't know what to do about it."
Pulling the stool out beside her, Mom pats the cushion and offers me one of my favorite smiles. It's her mom-smile, the 'come here and talk me through your problems' smile, the one she wore when I called her the day I decided to move myself and the boys to Florida.
Resistance is futile.
Taking my coffee with me, I plonk my butt beside her and sigh, leaning into her shoulder as she wraps her arm around me. In the low light of the under-cabinet lights, I find myself unloading all the things that have been on my mind the last couple of weeks, all my worries about moving, about the offer we sent Garrett today for his grandparents' lot, about the babies' upcoming four month checks, and about how the boys are coping.
Chewing my lip, I twist my coffee cup around on the counter, watching my now-cold coffee swirling around the cup. "I'm worried about Arlo. He's been acting really weird the last couple of weeks."
"Weird? How so?"
"It's little things, really. He's...distant? Sometimes it's like he wants to talk to me about whatever's bothering him but then he just stops and refuses to talk." My stomach knots. "He always talks to me about the stuff that's bothering him."
"Has he said anything to EC?"
My frown softens a little even as I shake my head. The bond those two have... "Not this time."
"Do you think it's the babies?"
I don't even need to think about that one. "No. Arlo loves the babies. They're the first thing he talks about every morning and the last thing he talks about at night. It's...something else." Shaking my head, I tip my face toward Mom. She looks just as puzzled as I am. "I don't know how to get him to open up this time."
Mom gives me a light squeeze and rests her cheek against my head. One of the babies starts fussing in the other room, so I heave in a sigh and slip away from her. "He'll open up when he's ready, sweetheart. He's a thinker, like his daddy," Mom says as I head over to the bottle machines lined up on the counter, one for each baby. Warmth rushes through me because there's no question that she's talking about Edward.
The glint of a green light flashing on the phone makes me pause.
"Did the phone ring?" I wonder aloud.
"Oh! Yes, it did. Edward silenced the ringer before he went up to bed, but I noticed the beep. Whoever it was must have left a message, so I left it for you."
"Okay, thanks." The whimpers from the living room turn into easily recognizable squawks. "Rylee, you little squawker," I laugh to myself, forgetting all about the message and the late-night call as I go to fetch my daughter before she wakes up all of her brothers and Sullivan snoring away on the couch.
It isn't until hours later, after Sullivan has dropped the boys at school and we're blessedly alone with our babies for a few hours, that I remember.
"Where are you goin'?" Edward mumbles, carefully lying our milk-drunk Oakley back in his bassinet beside River.
"I've just gotta check something, one sec."
Swiping a stray burp cloth from the floor, I add it to the laundry basket in the hall and then decide to throw the whole load into the washer. By the time I've done that, gotten it going, and pulled the clean stuff from the dryer, the baby fog has made me completely forget why I went out there in the first place.
Gazing around the kitchen, I spot the blinking light on the phone and sigh. "Right. The phone."
There are two messages on the machine. The first is from Little Grandma.
"Hello, loveys. Freddie is abandoning me to go to his poker tournament in Boca on Friday so I thought I'd offer my services as a…" Her voice gets quiet for a moment. "Not that sort of service, Fred! Good gracious, you're seventy-six years old. When are you going to get that libido under control, huh?"
Oh God. I think I just threw up a little bit.
"Anyway, I've already spoken with Charlie and Renee and I'll just fit myself into your schedule. See you soon! Give all those sweet little 'uns kisses from LG!"
There's a beep to signal the end of her vomit-inducing spiel, then the robotic voice starts reading out the phone number that left the other message.
01323 501418
That's...England.
"Uh, hi, Bella. It's Rich."
I stumble back a step, my heart taking off at a pounding sprint.
Rich? Since when does he go by 'Rich?' And since when does he call?
"If you could give me a call back as soon as you get this, that'd be great. I guess Arlo didn't tell you I spoke to him, but I...you know what, never mind, I'll just speak to you when you ring back. Bye."
"Well, fuck."
~ oOo ~
The distant ring of the bell sounding inside the school heralds the end of my snuggle session with Caben in the car. I left the other babies at home with Edward and Mom, but I knew I'd miss feeding time so I had to bring Caben with me. The big twins are going to their friend's house for a playdate today, so when I adjust Caben and clip him into the carrier against my chest, heading into the playground, I just have to look for one mop of unruly hair.
Arlo doesn't spot me first, Demetri does. He points me out with a grin, but Arlo isn't smiling when he follows his friend's gaze and spots me waiting with what I'm sure is an incredibly conflicted expression on my face.
"See ya later," he mumbles as Demetri splits to head for the bus.
"See ya. Bye, Ms. Swan!"
"Bye, Demetri," I smile, waving as he lopes off, before turning to my son.
Guilt is all over his face. "I think we need to have a little talk, huh, kiddo?"
"Okay." His shoulders slump.
He's silent all the way home, right up until he gets through the front door and Edward is there with River in his arms. "Can I hold him?"
Edward eyes Arlo, then me, mustering a faint grin when I nod and set Caben's car seat on the floor. "Sure you can. Here ya go, bud."
River coos as he's settled in Arlo's arms and carried through to the living room, Caben still fast asleep when Edward scoops him from his seat and places him in his bassinet with Rylee. We're alone with the babies again now Mom has gone back to the hotel for the evening, so I tell the guys to get comfy on the couch while I grab some drinks. Max follows me into the kitchen, happily carrying a big chew out to the patio when I fish one out of his snack basket. When I return to the living room, Arlo is rocking River side to side, but his frown ruins the adorable picture.
Sitting down next to him with a sigh, I reach over to rub his shoulder. "All right, kiddo. Are you ready to talk to us now?"
His eyes lift, flicking between me and Edward sitting forward in his recliner, elbows on his thighs and his hands clasped in front of him. "Do I have a choice?"
"Not really, bud," Edward chuckles humorlessly. "We're worried about you, Arlo."
Arlo shakes his head. "I'm fine. You don't have to worry, okay?"
"We're your mom and dad, that's what moms and dads do."
He scoffs, leaning into the sofa cushions and tipping his head back so he's looking up at the ceiling. "Not all of 'em."
I feel a pang in my chest. "Arlo…"
"Well it's true, ain't it? Not all dads give a shit."
"Arlo Maxwell Swan, what are you—" I snap, cutting myself off when Edward gives a barely discernible shake of his head.
"We're gonna circle back to that," Edward murmurs firmly as Arlo huffs through his nose and nods. "But first, why didn't you tell us you spoke to—"
"Richard?" Arlo spits his name like a curse. "Because he made me a promise and I didn't want you to get your hopes up like me, Jax, and Finn always used to."
Fucking ouch.
Arlo can't look at me, but he sits forward and stares at Edward's neutral expression as his chest heaves in a big breath. "He never keeps his promises, never ever. He always used to say he was gonna teach us how to play soccer and ride our bikes. Every time we saw him, he said he'd make time to see us more 'cause it was so much fun. But he didn't. He didn't do any of it."
Edward did.
The day Arlo took off on his bike without training wheels, I cried all over Edward's shirt and looked up to apologize only to find a tear rolling down toward his proud, crooked grin.
"What did he promise you, buddy?" Edward asks with obvious trepidation.
Arlo's eyes dart over to me for a split second. There are so many emotions there, I can't begin to name them all.
The overriding one is guilt.
"I...can show you."
After handing River to me, he trudges off up the stairs. My brain buzzes with a thousand thoughts. When I look across the room at Edward, I know his is the same.
Reappearing, Arlo lingers in the doorway, a big envelope clutched tight in his hands. He toys with the ragged seal at the top.
"What is it, bud?" Edward asks softly, reaching out toward him.
For a moment, I think Arlo's going to bolt. Then his fight seeps out of him and he takes the few steps that bring him to Edward. "I didn't think he'd actually do it…" he admits, his voice catching on the last word.
Carefully setting River in his bassinet, I round the coffee table and stand in front of my boy. "Hey, it's okay. Whatever it is, it's okay, Arlo. I promise."
His tear-filled eyes break my heart, his fear tangible as Edward asks if he can look inside the envelope. Nodding jerkily, Arlo whispers, "Don't hate me."
"Oh, sweet boy," I breathe, pulling him into my arms. "We could never hate you. Never."
He doesn't hug me back, not right away, but as I listen to the rustle of paper followed by Edward's sharp intake of breath, his arms wind around my waist and he hangs on tight.
"Oh, hell."
Twisting my neck, I bite my lip and wipe my damp cheek on my shoulder. I can only see half of his stunned-silent expression. It's enough to send a spear of fear through me. "What is it?"
Edward slowly raises his head, shaking it a little as his fingers tremble around the paper in his hand. "I don't...Arlo, how did you…"
"I heard you guys talking about it once," my boy admits, his voice muffled by my shoulder. "It was in Utah."
What was in Utah? Talking about what?
"When he called the other day about the babies, I got really mad." Arlo pulls back, wiping his eyes with the back of his arm. His tear-stained cheeks and red eyes hit me like a sledgehammer to the gut. "He said he saw us on the news and couldn't believe it. I hung up on him because I was so angry, but I called him back the next day. He was acting like he cared but I think he just wanted to find out about you, Mom. He kept saying that he didn't even know you had a boyfriend."
That lying sack of shit.
"That's not true, baby," I tell him, running my fingers through the wispy, curly blond bits of hair tumbling into his face. "He's known for years about me and your dad."
"I figured. He just lies a lot. I don't think he can even help it." Shaking his head, Arlo looks at Edward, at the paper he's white-knuckling. "I told him if he really cared, he should prove it. I told him what he could do, and he promised he would. I didn't believe him, but…"
"He did it…" Edward breathes.
"Yeah." Arlo's gaze returns to me as he pulls his lip between his teeth. "Mom, don't be mad, okay? I think...this is for the best."
"Listen to you, you little adult," I laugh softly despite my worry, cupping his face in my hands. "When did you get so big, huh?"
He shrugs, bashful.
"Bella, I...you need to see this."
Wrapping one arm around Arlo's shoulders, I turn and take the stack of papers from Edward. I saw them once, months ago, when I put them in the mail. I honestly never expected to see them again. It takes a moment for my eyes to register what's in front of them, for the words to jump off the page.
When they do, my knees almost buckle.
Petition to Terminate Parental Rights
"I had to get Lakely to check the mailbox for me 'cause we've been at Nana and Papa's a lot, but she plays in their front yard sometimes." He gnaws his lip. "And, uh, he put a note in the envelope for you. I didn't read it." My gaze flies back up to Arlo's nervous face. "I mean, I don't know what this is supposed to look like, but..." He gently flips over the top page, pointing to the line at the bottom of the text.
At Richard's swooping, ridiculously elaborate signature.
Eep!
So, there she blows. No more Dick Holder. It was about time we didn't have the threat of him hanging over their heads, right? And they found a spot for their new house thanks to Garrett and Tanya. Exciting stuff!
Huge thanks to annaharding and maplestyle for being their awesome selves and working hard with me to make my writing the best it can be! And of course hugs to all of you for taking the time to read and review. It's hard to explain just how lovely it is to get those review alerts and know that, in a time when social interaction is hard and emotions are high, there are people out there.
I'm sending everybody big hugs and lots of love. Stay safe and take care of yourselves xo