After arranging for Carisi to take the Lewises to the morgue, and Alex left to go to her office building, Olivia found Harper in her office. She was holding Serena, and they were snuggling together. They looked very content.
"How are you?" Harper asked her sister when she joined her.
"I'm alright, Harp." Olivia told her. "Thanks."
"Do you have anything left to do here?"
Olivia shook her head and then arched an eyebrow. "What are you asking?"
"There's time yet before the mobile hospital comes to my building. Do you want to come see where I live?"
"I would love to, and I have two weeks off right now; meeting the Lewises was just the last thing that I had to take care of." Olivia pointed to Harper's bag of inheritance items. "Maybe we should return all that to the bank first, though."
"Definitely." Harper agreed. "I have a safe at home, but I would feel much better if everything was put away in the bank again."
"Alright." Olivia stood and lifted Serena out of Harper's arms. "We just have to get the little miss ready, and then we can go."
Serena was not at all keen on being away from her aunt (she found her very calm, and she smelled nice), but Harper worked together with Olivia to dress her for the cold, and to put her into her new carseat. Then she entertained her while Olivia got herself ready. The. baby's mood was very sunny again after that.
After piling into Olivia's Audi, they stopped by the bank, and after that, they drove out to the Upper East Side, where Harper lived.
TREETOP ARMS
562 EAST 76th STREET
LENOX HILL, UPPER EAST SIDE
As it turned out, the shelter that Harper lived in was in a building that used to be a housing project. It was old, and a tad rundown, and as they approached, it was clear to see that Harper didn't have much love for the place.
"It's not much," she said as she, Olivia, and Serena crossed the parking lot and entered the lobby. "But this is home. We were only meant to be here for awhile, but now that Xander's gone, I don't know how or when I'll get out. We lived in Hell's Kitchen before this."
They trekked across the lobby and entered the first available elevator. Harper pressed the button for the fifth floor, and when the door closed, the lift began to move.
"Why did you leave?"
"We lived in a flat above a Korean dry cleaner, but then they were sued for something, and eventually driven out of business."
Olivia connected the dots. "Meaning that the flat was repossessed?"
"Mhm. We had to leave, posthaste, and number E5, on the fifth floor at Treetop Arms was all we could afford."
They stepped off the lift, and into a brick hallway. Like the rest of the building, it was rundown, but still not as bad as other building projects Olivia had seen before. Olivia wondered for a moment if Harper would object to help getting out of this neighborhood. She clearly wanted better, but didn't seem to know how to go about it.
Olivia was brought out of her thoughts when she heard someone cat-calling her sister. A young Hispanic man, dressed in jeans, a t-shirt, and hiking boots had stopped her at her door.
"Hola, chica!" he said to Harper. "Where you been lately?"
Harper turned, and big belly and all, but her hands on her hips. Vexed, she fixed the cat-caller with a look of exasperation that Olivia had previously seen on her mother, herself, Sophia, and Melissa, too. Harper had the look down pat without even knowing it.
"It's none of your business where I've been, Ramon." Harper sneered. "Why do you do this to me, every time I come home? Do you wait for me?"
Unabashed, Ramon ignored her question and caught sight of Olivia. He saw that she carrying a baby in her carseat, but that didn't stop him.
"Who's your friend?" Ramon asked Harper.
"She's my sister, and she's a cop."
Ramon sobered up immediately, and took a step back, towards his own front door.
Harper continued to sneer. "That's what I thought, you stupid horny toad. Now shoo, before your mom shows up, huh?"
Ramon swore, and took another step back, only to walk into his mother. She had opened the door to see what was going on, but when she saw what her son was up to, she scolded him and dragged him into their apartment. When Ramon was out of sight, the woman returned, and smiled kindly at Harper.
"Is everything okay, niña?" she asked her. "He isn't being stupid, is he?"
Harper laughed and then shook her head. "Not more than usual, Missus Cruz."
"Very good." she continued to look at her compassionately. "Come around for tea tomorrow, and we'll talk, okay?"
"Okay, Missus Cruz. Thank you."
"You're welcome, niña. Have a good day."
"You, too."
Missus Cruz nodded politely to Olivia, and then went back into her own place, closing the door behind her. Harper turned to her sister.
"Ramon used to run with hoodlums, or something, awhile ago. After he came back from getting busted for joyriding, his parents told him that he had to get a job, work on getting his GED, and show them his grades. If he doesn't, they'll put him out and change the locks."
"That's one way to do it." Olivia quipped.
"Thin walls, and," she tapped her right temple. "I understand the dialect of Spanish that they speak."
"Ah. Is Ramon Cruz always like that?"
"Yeah, but his parents both scare the fear of God into him, and they've looking after me, ever since I told them that Xander was ill. Mister Cruz also helps me with housework, because I'm hopeless in that department. Xander was very good with a hammer and nails."
Harper pointed to a keyboard with a keypad with numbered buttons on it beside her front door.
"Mister Cruz installed that for me because all the doors in the building are so old, and sometimes, they get stuck." she keyed the code in, and when they heard the clicking of the lock, Harper entered her apartment and held the door opened for Olivia. "Do come in."
Unlike the rest of Harper's building, her home was very cozy.
As Harper turned the lights on and put away hers and Olivia's things, Olivia spotted a full washer and dryer, tucked into a nook beside the front door. There was also a nice kitchen, and a decent-sized sitting room with nice furniture and entertainment system. On the far end of the room, there was even a neatly-made bed. What looked like a folded-up silk screen was propped up against the wall, and beside it was a dresser.
Olivia also noticed two doors against one wall, and through the process of elimination, she realized that one had to lead to a closet, and the other, a bathroom. The whole apartment was tidy, compact, and had a modern feel, although on a budget. What really stood out to Olivia was that there seemed to be plants just about everywhere, all of them looking very healthy.
There were also books piled three-deep on the kitchen table, the breakfast bar, and on top of the already-full bookshelf. To go with the books, there was a big pile of folded blankets at the far end of the couch, perfect for warming up with on a cold day like the one they were having. Beside the couch was an end table, and a tall standing lamp. When Harper turned it on, the light proved to be very bright.
"What do you think?" Harper asked shyly. "Do you like it?"
Olivia smiled at her sister. "Harper, I love it. And I see that you like to read?"
"I do." she said. "When I wasn't at work while Xander was deployed, I would read a lot. Now I read to Junior all the time, and he seems to like it."
Harper shifted her weight from one foot to the other, like a nervous child.
"C-can you stay?" she asked. "Would you like to?"
"I would love to." Olivia motioned to Serena, still in her carseat. "It's also time for Stardust to have her bottle."
"Oh! Here, let me help you!"
While Olivia got Serena out of her carseat, and they got comfortable on the couch, Harper used supplies from her niece's diaper bag to make up a bottle of milk formula for her.
"Here you go. One full bottle, all for Stardust."
A few minutes later, Harper was handing Olivia a fully made milk bottle. The moment Olivia helped Serena to use it, the little one latched on and focused on her task (literally) at hand. This left Olivia free to talk to Harper.
"Your home is very cozy." Olivia told her. "Whose idea was it for all the plants? They're so pretty."
Now, Harper was moving around the room with a watering can shaped like a flamingo, watering her many plants.
"It was all Xander, and the books were all me. I taught him to read because I learned faster, and then at the group home, he volunteered us to look after the garden, because it got us away from everyone." Harper explained. "We became so good at it, that it just became our thing. When we moved here, he knew I wasn't all that excited, so he surprised me over the course of a month by bringing all these beauties for me—he wanted to cheer me up."
"That's really sweet."
Harper grinned. "He was always giving me surprises."
"Alex does that for me, too. The other week, she brought me flowers, just because." Olivia watched Harper water a hanging planter of rhododendrons before checking an orchid. "Are there any plants that you're allergic to?"
"Roses." Harper set the watering can down after checking on one last plant. "I'll sneeze, or get hives. We found out the hard way, on our first wedding anniversary."
Olivia winced. "Sorry, Harp—rose allergies are a family thing."
Harper sat with her. "Is it, now?"
"Yep. I'm allergic to roses, and so are Melissa and Sophia."
Harper laughed. "But isn't Sophia a florist?"
"She is, but she powers through it. Apparently, she only sneezes if roses are next her." Olivia said. "Hives happen if she gets to close to a dog. Noah and I have canine allergies, too."
"And so do I." Harper pinched the bridge of her nose. "What about mom?"
"She was really allergic to strawberries."
"I'm not." Harper breathed a sighed of relief and lowered her hand. "Thank goodness, because I love strawberries, and I've been craving them. Is anyone in the family allergic to peanuts, or is that just me?"
"That's just you, but good to know."
Harper sat back and raked her nails over her big belly, smiling when baby Xander pressed a hand up to feel her. When Harper laid her hand flat, her son responded by turning over and pressing his back to her. He was more comfortable that way.
"Olivia," she said when Xander had readjusted. "I know mom wasn't always good to you, but she always tried her best with me. She saw me once a week, and apologized when she couldn't make it. She also never missed my birthday."
"Wow." Olivia said softly.
"Do you have good memories of her?"
"I do, actually. Would you like to hear?"
"Oh, yes, please."
Olivia told her sister as many fond memories of their mother as she could recall.
In the process of this, Serena finished her bottle, and was burped and cleaned up. However, when all had been said and done, she was completely energized, and just wanted to play. Harper was quick to remedy this. Using the softest blanket she had from the stack on the couch, and a support pillow on her bed, she made a play area for her niece on the floor. Serena was very happy.
Olivia's and Harper's talk turned to other things, but after awhile, Harper fell silent.
"What's wrong?" Olivia asked her.
Harper was now on the floor, opposite Olivia. Serena sat in between them.
"How have you done it? Raising Noah by yourself, and everything, until Alex showed up in your life again? From what Sophia told me, both Alex and Casey were absent for years, right?"
"Right." Olivia nodded. "They came back because Sophia was looking for me, the same day I officially decided to look for her. She just found Alex and Casey first, and then the rest is history. As for how I got by, I had a lot of hope for the future."
"With a lot of hope for the future."
"Hope is always a good thing to have." Harper said approvingly. "Xander would always tell me, especially when we first met, that hope would lead us on. He was right, because it did."
"In what ways?"
"We put behind us the life of group home drama, and we stayed out of trouble, when so many kids who grow up in the system just keep spiraling down. We even started a life together, in more ways than one." she blew out a breath as she felt Xander shift slightly. "It gets better, doesn't it?"
Olivia reached over and gave Harper's ankle a gentle squeeze. "It does, Harper. I promise you, it does. Just promise me that you won't rush yourself into any major decisions without thinking it all the way through, alright?"
"I promise." Harper said sincerely. "May I ask you something else, Olivia?"
"Sure."
"Did you ever think that you'd have a family of your own?"
"Honestly, no." Olivia said after a moment of reflection. "I've been a mother twice, between Sophia and Noah, but one child passed away, and another was returned to the last members of his biological family, because it was the law. I always had hope that I'd see Sophia again some day, because the periods of time I had with my other children were just too short, but I never dreamed that we'd become as close as we are now."
"Hey, did something happen to Sophia?"
"Quite a lot of somethings, but that's her story to tell. I'm just a cog in the wheel."
"Alright." Harper said when she realized that she wouldn't be getting anything else on that particular matter. "If you weren't banking on such a close relationship with your daughter, you probably weren't banking on so many kids or grandkids, either, huh?"
"Correct, but I'm so glad they're all in my life now, because I couldn't imagine things any other way."
"Now you've got Sophia, Noah, Serena," she motioned to the baby, who was relaxing in Olivia's arms again—she hadn't liked laying on her stomach, as she had been, a few moments prior. "As well as the baby that Alex is carrying."
Olivia smiled. "That little girl's name is Diana Pearl."
"That's adorable."
"Thank you." Olivia returned. "Did Sophia tell you anything about her kids?"
"No. She just said that she's a mom."
"Well, you're very much an auntie, because she is pregnant, but she also has a three-year-old daughter named Melissa, and in April, Sophia is going to have twin girls named Agnes and Esme."
Harper's eyes widened in surprise. "Three daughters?"
Olivia chuckled. "Yes, and they're also getting a brother named Henry."
"What? How?"
"Sophia is engaged to Casey, and she's pregnant with Henry."
"Amazing. So then the lineup is now Sophia, Melissa, Noah, Serena, Agnes, Esme, Henry, and Diana?"
Olivia moved so that she was beside Harper, and so she could look her in the eyes.
"You're in that lineup now, Harper. Xander, too." she spoke gently, but firmly, to get the message across. "In mom's letter to me, she asked me to take care of you."
"Really?"
Olivia bobbed her head. "Really, but even if she hadn't asked, I still would have, because you're my sister, and I care about you."
"Already?"
"Sweetheart, I've cared about you since the moment I first heard your name." Olivia pressed a light kiss to Harper's temple. "You and Xander, and anyone else who joins your family in the future, are my family, too. I will always take care of you."
Harper's bottom lip wobbled as she felt emotion bubble up inside her. "I thought we were going to be alone. That's why I've been asking all these questions."
"Which I totally don't mind—getting a new family has been an adjustment for me, too, and I guess this makes me the matriarch by default, doesn't it? You and your son are not going to be alone. Do you understand?"
"Yes, I do. Thanks."
She was crying a little, so Olivia reached over and wiped her tears.
"Do you have any pictures of your husband?"
Harper brightened immediately. "I do!"
"Fantastic."
Olivia stood and pulled Harper up, steadying her.
"Go freshen up, and show me those pictures of Xander. I want to hear all about the man who stole my baby sister's heart."
Harper was very happy to oblige.
