We had a good time with Lindsay and Angus and shared a lot of laughs, but by the time that they were about to leave, I was getting pretty tired. With only sleeping eight hours the night before, mixed with still recovering from the pneumonia, I was exceedingly fatigued, and I thought everyone could likely see it.

Just as Lindsay and Angus were leaving , my sister called again. I sighed and put it on speakerphone primarily so that Ranger could hear. "Steph, Mom said your friend died last night."

"Yes."

"That means that you can come home."

"No, I can't. As I explained to both you and Mom last night, I promised Colin that I would help with his company."

"What do you know about international law?"

"Absolutely nothing, which is why I'm not working in the legal department."

"What on earth can you do then?"

"What is my job, Val?"

"You're a researcher."

"Yes. I am here to settle things and run his research department."

"I don't know how you can run a department. It's not like you are smart." Angus and Lindsay looked at me, their mouths hanging open in shock.

"Not everyone feels that way", I said.

"I need to get that hearing over with."

"You will. Look at it this way. This delay is giving you more time to get your life in order, and that will only look good in front of the judge."

"My life is in order."

I smiled. "That's great! You didn't tell me that you got a job!"

"I didn't get a job. I started going to classes again."

"Are you going to pass them this time?"

"Bitch. They're hard. You couldn't pass them either."

"I'm sure I couldn't. Accounting isn't my schtick."

"I'm going to pass and get a job with Rangeman and work my way up to a Vice-Presidency. Unlike you, I will have earned it. Ranger is going to see how good I am in the role, and he is going to demote you."

"Uh-hunh. Val, you don't have the personality to work at Rangeman."

"If I don't have the personality, then neither do you."

I sighed. "Whatever you say. Look, I have to go. I need a nap."

"You are always sleeping. Do they have tsetse flies in Scotland?" She laughed. "I don't believe that's where you are. I think you are hiding from me in your apartment."

"You can believe what you want, Val. I'm still getting over the pneumonia that I had in the hospital."

"You should have died."

"So you've said. Sorry Val, gotta go now."

"If you die, Ranger will fund me again."

I snorted. "Ranger wouldn't have funded you in the first place if it wasn't for me. That's why he said that your attacks on me were just biting the hand that fed you, and he wasn't going to stand for it any longer."

"You're a bitch. He has just stopped funding me because you asked him to."

Ranger was furious, and I could see it in his eyes as he sat down beside me. "Val, let's get one thing clear. I wasn't funding you and I never would fund you. Steph was funding you out of her own money. She has a job and works hard, and she spent her salary funding you. Your response to that was to avoid doing what you were supposed to do and ask for more. Steph will not work to pay for your expenses while you sit on your ass. That's the first thing. The second thing is that Steph and I knew that you weren't meeting any of the requirements for the funding at all, yet we were planning on giving you a second chance. We were going to require you to prove that you were stopping drinking, but it was important to Steph that we give you a second chance. If it was up to me, we wouldn't have.

"Then you threw that second chance out the window when you told Steph that she deserved to die. Death wishes are not a good way to endear yourself to your family, and Steph finally had enough of you after that. Hell, even our young children have had enough of you. Quite frankly, I don't want to see you ever again. I don't want you around Steph and I don't want you around my children. You are a toxic woman, and I am happy to wash my hands of you. We were trying to help you, but now you're on your own. Good luck." He picked up my phone and hung up on her. He looked at me, at the tears in my eyes, and sighed. "I'm sorry, babe. I couldn't take it any longer."

I smiled tremulously. "You stuck up for me. No one else in my family would have stuck up for me. My dad tries to stay out of it, my mom believes I should do whatever I can to keep the peace, and my grandmother lives on the drama and not-so-quietly fans the flames."

"Your real family, babe? The one that you adopted? They back you all the way." He pulled me into his chest and kissed me on the top of my head.

"I don't like Aunt Val", said Tia. "I'm not calling her 'Aunt' any longer."

"Yeah", said Grace and Alix at the same time.

I tearfully laughed. "That sounds like a very good idea", I said. "Maybe she'd get the hint then and leave us alone."

Alix smiled. "Yeah!" The adults all chuckled.

"You had to deal with that when you were in the hospital?" said Angus.

Ranger sighed. "It was even worse. Steph had an emergency hysterectomy. She was pregnant with twins and both were ectopic. She almost died. Then the next day, when they realized that she had developed a severe case of pneumonia from the anesthetic, they gave her an antibiotic that they didn't realize that she was allergic to. Her throat was closing up and they had to do emergency treatment. And through those days, her sister came into her hospital room and told her repeatedly that God was going to kill her."

Alix and Grace cuddled into me with their thumbs in their mouths, and Tia looked concerned. "Guys, I'm okay. I'm still healing, which means that I still need more sleep than the norm, but I am going to be okay. Do you know why?" The three little girls shook their heads. "Because you three are the best huggers in the world, and your love made me better." The girls smiled. I looked up at Lindsay. "It was bad. Val came in again when the girls were there, and she was mean again. I was too sick to protect myself, so the three little ones crawled up so that they could physically protect me, Tia told her off and told her she was a bully, and at one point, when Val said something about us needing to be nice to her, the little ones all turned and put their backs to her. They are very good protectors."

Lindsay smiled. "You three are just like your older sister and your mum and your dad. You are highly protective and filled with love. I can see why Colin adopted you as his grandchildren."

"Can we see Colin? I made him a picture", said Alix.

"I'm sorry, sweetie. Colin died last night", I said.

The little ones looked at me solemnly. "Did you see him, Mommy?" said Tia.

"Yes, I did. I gave him your love and talked to him for a few minutes."

"Did you hug him?" said Grace.

"Yes, sweetie, I did. And when he died, I was holding his hand and kissing the back of it."

Grace thought about that for a moment. "Good", she said. "He wasn't alone."

"No, sweetie. He wasn't alone and he died happy."

Grace smiled. "Good."

The three little ones looked tired. "Do you know what I need?" I said. "I need a hug in bed from my three favorite girls."

"Me!" said Alix.

I smiled. "Absolutely. I need hugs from Tia and Alix and Grace, because you three are amazing huggers."

"In that case", said Lindsay, "Angus and I will let you rest. I was wondering whether you would like to come to my place for dinner tomorrow? Also, I was wondering whether you would mind if Colin's ashes were spread in the gardens here. He loved this castle. He and Cami had bought it for their family, and Cami was spread in the gardens as well." She paused and smiled. "And now his family is living in it."

"I would like that. I know that you said Colin didn't want a funeral, but would you mind if our families spread the ashes together? Or would that be something you'd prefer to do alone?"

Lindsay smiled with tears in her eyes. "Steph? You are family. Angus and I have adopted you into our family just as much as you adopted Colin. It would be lovely if we could do it together."