70

Bella tells me her body feels like a bowl full of Jell-O when I get back to bed after cleaning myself up.

She pulls another heating blanket over us and snuggles into my side, her finger drawing random patterns on my skin.

"I know you want to wait until we've talked to the girls, but I'm serious." I press my lips into her soft hair. "When the time is right, I'll visit the fourth floor. Fifty years is a small price to pay if it means I get you forever."

Bella lifts her head and smiles.

"There are a few perks to being the President's daughter and best friends with the woman behind V.C." She pecks my lips. "Jane owes me a favor or two hundred and thirty-six. After you and the girls, if they choose to be changed, go through the three-day burn, you spend your first fifty years of your second lives with me. No contracts. No payments. No worrying."

"Isn't that unethical?"

She shrugs. "Probably, but I don't care." Her eyes grow sad. "I've spent decades living a half-life, and I deserve to be happy. You and the girls make me happy."

It's getting late, but I'd love nothing more than to continue talking to her. My speech starts to slur, and I'm yawning more than actually talking when she tells me to go to sleep.

"I'm not tired."

She chuckles. "Sure you aren't, sweetheart."

"You'll stay?"

"Wild horses couldn't drag me away," she echoes my words from the other night.

Bella's pajamas consist of multiple layers of fabric so I won't get cold, but I slide my hand under the back of her shirt and smile when she starts purring in my ear like a happy kitten.

I fall asleep to her soft humming, and my dreams are filled with what I hope is our future. School functions and date nights. Movie marathons with the kids. Letting Angela take us to the cleaners in poker games just to see her smile, and attending Alice's school plays. Eventually, watching the girls receive their diplomas and waiting for the acceptance letters from their colleges of choice to start rolling in.

Weddings and I'm not just talking about ours.

Making memories with her right by my side through it all.