Elizabeth smiled as she and Nathan pulled into their driveway. "Thanks, babe. For this weekend."
"I'm glad we could get away."
"I'm glad we saw Cam and Becki and that they are moving home."
He leaned over and gave her a kiss. "I love you, Beth."
"I love you too."
After spending a few days with Cam and Becki, they took one extra day and just spent it alone. Talking a lot, among other things. They decided that IVF was not ultimately something they wanted to pursue. She was open to adoption, but she had a strong feeling that their patience would win out and they'd have a baby the old-fashioned way.
When they walked in the house, they walked into silence which was surprising. "Hello?"
Al walked into the room. "You're home!"
"Hey, there." She walked into their arms and hugged them hard.
"I'm sorry."
"For what, hon?" Elizabeth wondered.
"I messed up."
"Well, coming clean is a good thing," Nathan told her.
"I guess I have nothing to lose since I'm already grounded," she admitted.
"Grandma and Grandpa grounded you?"
"Yeah."
"Wanna tell us what you did?"
"I went to the beach with Topher and I sorta let Grandma and Grandpa think that his parents would be there."
"You went alone?" Nathan asked her.
"No sir. His mom dropped us off and we were with a group. Just not his parents."
"Why did you let your grandparents think something that was untrue? Because we weren't here?"
"I guess. I just…I wanted him to kiss me," she admitted, her face turning red. "I wanted to know what it's like. I'm not a kid anymore."
"Sorry, Al, but you are not even fourteen. You are a kid and you are acting like a kid which means you are going to be grounded like a kid. How long until Grandma and Grandpa's punishment is up?"
"After tomorrow."
"Add on another week," Nathan told her, shaking his head and walking away.
"Okay, Dad. I'm sorry," she called after him.
Elizabeth kissed her forehead. "He loves you a lot, Al. I do too."
"I know."
"Did you get your kiss?"
"Will I get grounded for longer if I say yes?"
Elizabeth hugged her and chuckled. "Was it what you expected?"
"It was better."
"Well, there's that at least. Now where is everyone else?"
"They went to get ice cream. They wouldn't let me go."
"Did you apologize, Al?"
"Yes. I still think they are mad though."
Scoops, downtown
Evie picked at her strawberry ice cream, ignoring the laughing and talking of her siblings and grandparents. Then she heard a voice. One that she missed so very much. Kevin Warner.
She got up. This was it. She needed to talk to him. Ask forgiveness. It was killing her to be without her best friend.
"Kev?" she said quietly, much too quietly for him to hear over loud Chad. "Kevin!" she all but yelled.
He turned and the smile fell from his handsome face. "Evelyn."
She walked forward, fighting the urge to reach for him. "Kev, can we talk?"
He was a nice guy. As irritated as he seemed to be at her, he still agreed to talk. "Let's walk."
"I'm here with my family so I can't go far but okay."
He didn't say anything. He just nodded as they strolled. His hands in his pockets. She just wanted to slide her fingers between his.
"Kevin, I'm so sorry."
"For what?"
"For breaking up with you the way I did."
"Is that what happened? I recall you saying that you weren't breaking up with me. That you needed time. Then I remember that you never returned my texts after that."
"Kevin…I was jealous. Ashley is beautiful and you have so much in common."
"You know, I never gave you a reason not to trust me, Eve. For the whole five months we dated, I only ever looked at you. I only held your hand. I only kissed you."
"I know," she whispered, fighting her tears. He wasn't making it easy. "I miss you so much."
He stopped walking and stared down at her, his eyes involuntarily settling on her lips. He missed her too. "I missed you too."
"Do you think you can forgive me?"
He kissed her forehead and wrapped his arms around her. "Yeah, but….I need you to trust me. I'm not a guy who will ever cheat."
"Okay, Kev. I trust you."
"That easy?"
"It's not easy. With my Dad and all…he left us and…it's not always easy for me to think that every other guy won't do the same thing. I didn't trust Uncle Nathan at first either."
"What changed?"
"I don't know. Aunt Beth trusts him so…it just happened for me too."
He looked down into her eyes. He wanted her trust. The last few weeks without her taught him how much it meant to him to have her in his life.
"Evie!" Grace called, waving her closer. "Time to go."
"Okay, Grandma." She kissed his cheek. "I will text you later and if you text back, I promise to respond."
He squeezed her hand and watched her walk away with her family. It was good to see her again.
About a week later
Elizabeth and Nathan, along with William and Grace and all the kids drove to the beach with two large baskets of food and Evie's camera.
It was the one-year anniversary of Vi's death and so many emotions were floating around the beach that day. William and Grace stayed strong, having grieved alone the night before. Today was about making sure the kids were doing well.
Since her seizure months before and a little help from medication, Kendra was doing very well. She was going to be ten very soon, pool party the next week and then officially becoming Kendra Grant a few days later. She had started calling Nathan, Dad and Elizabeth, Mom and it felt right to her. The way it was supposed to be.
Julian Grant was also doing quite well. He was looking forward to his accelerated math course the next school year and he was still planning on being a medical doctor. At eleven and a half he was constantly growing out of his clothes, getting taller every day.
Evie had grown up a lot in the last year. At the start of fall coming up, she would turn 16 and get her driver's license, starting her sophomore year of high school. In another week, her best friend and hopefully one day boyfriend Kevin would be traveling to California for the rest of the summer, and she was really going to miss him. Especially now since they were talking again. She wished her mom was there, really missing their talks and advice but since that wasn't possible, Aunt Beth was the next best thing.
Elizabeth's emotions were filled with sadness, missing her best friend and sister and then an immense amount of love and thankfulness for everyone that was there with her.
"You okay?" Nathan asked her, squeezing her hand.
"Yep."
"It's okay if you're not, you know."
"I am. I just miss her."
They all sat around and talked and ate for the next few hours, bringing up rosy memories of Vi, all agreeing to try to remember her together on that day every year if possible.
On their drive home, Nathan squeezed her hand. "Wanna play scrabble tonight? Like old times?"
"Sure. That sounds fun."
"Strip Scrabble?" he mouthed, making her turn red and giggle.
"Absolutely not. Not if we are on the deck."
"Our room."
"Okay, then yes. I'm good with that."
Evie was a bit jealous of whatever her aunt and uncle were flirting about up front. She couldn't hear them because of everyone else talking but she could see that they were happy. Together. In love.
She wanted Kevin to be her boyfriend again. She didn't want him to be gone for almost two months, but she knew that it was what he needed to do.
"Eve?" Kendra said, leaning her head against Eve's shoulder.
"Yeah?"
"I don't remember what Mommy's voice sounded like anymore."
Eve kissed her little sister's head. "Me either, Ken. It's sad."
"I don't want to forget her."
"You won't. Not all the way. Uncle Nate says that we will always have her in our hearts, no matter who we call Mommy."
"That's why we have memory books?"
"Yep. That's why we save pictures and write about her in our journals. It will help us remember."
"I wish that she was going to be at my birthday party."
"She will be. Just in your heart."
"Its not the same."
"You're right." She held Kendra the rest of the way home, stroking her hair like their mom used to when they were upset.
Hope Valley, Ohio
"Guess what, Cammie!" Becki said after hanging up.
"What, Momma?"
"In a couple days, we are going to go see a house in Grand Haven and that means that we can go to Kendra's pool party!"
"Yay!!"
"I thought you might like that. We need to find Kendra a present."
"I know what to get her," Cam told his mom.
"What's that?"
"A really really big teddy bear!"
"Oh yeah? She doesn't have one?"
"Not really big, Momma. She needs a big bear hug because she misses her Mommy."
"Alright, sweet boy. We will go shopping for a really really big bear for Kendra."
"If we move to a new house, can I get a kitty?"
"Hmm. A kitty? Maybe."
"Maybe two kitties so that one isn't lonely."
"That might be possible."
"And when we move to our new house, can JJ come sleep over in my room? Oh! And I want a space room! With a big rocket and a moon on the walls."
"Wow, okay. Let's tell Daddy and maybe he can help paint it for you."
"And bunk beds so that JJ can have the top and I can have the bottom."
She listened to him chatter about the new house that she had no idea if they would even get yet. All she knew though was that hearing him happy made her happy too.
"Buzz! Triple word score, Mrs. Grant! You know what that means!"
"Can we just say that you won?"
"Nope. You know the rules." She wrapped the sheet around herself and nudged him with her foot.
"Why the sheet?"
"Because it feels weird being here with nothing on when you are almost fully clothed."
He took off his t-shirt and threw it in the pile. "Better?"
"Somewhat."
He grinned and took her in. "You're so beautiful."
"Thank you."
"I feel like you may have let me win."
"I guess you'll never know." She stood and let the sheet fall. "Bath, love?"
"I'll go check on the kids and then I'll join you."
"Perfect. Don't be long."