Chapter Eight (pt.2)

"Does Syd make better make better pork chops than me?" Rick asked Cori.

Cori had even eaten the carrots on her plate, her dad guessed the trick was they were glazed with honey. He would have to try that.

"And better than daddy, too," she said.

Drew would have argued if it wasn't true.

Syd teased him she would give him the recipe but that involved directions and that men didn't mix.

Rick's parents had come over for dinner as well. They liked the army major and her daughter. Why the six were such a close-knit group at home in Texas was easy to see. The older couple knew all the details about Riley's dad. Despite being from a different generation Trent wanted to snap that man's neck but not before he cut the guy's testicles off so he couldn't sire another child to be so icy towards. Riley was a wonderful young girl. If he had been given a daughter, certainly one like her she would be treated like a princess. He was proud his son and son-in-law had connected with Riley and showed her a man could love her and all she had to do was be herself.

Olivia and Syd were going to collaborate on making Thanksgiving dinner that Sunday. The teens were enjoying every moment together and talking about what they would do at Christmastime, Syd's dilemma of how to get Riley's Christmas presents to Vermont and hidden until Christmas Day was solved. She was going to have everything sent by courier to Rick's parents and they would bring it by the Lincoln-Alister house in the early morning.

Both Brianna and Cori had anxiety and abandonment issues from their difficult pasts. But Brianna was more able to talk about hers because she was older. Syd and the girls' grandparents wished Cori didn't get so upset when one of her dads was away from home longer than or when he weren't supposed to.

Drew and Rick hadn't a night alone since Cori came to live with them. It didn't appear to bother the men, and the grandparents and mother of one agreed that was parenthood but it was so sad that a young child could be so frightened by something so simple.

Not that either didn't see why. Before Rick and Drew, when someone didn't come back when they were supposed to, Cori didn't see them again. She was never told why or that it wasn't her fault. She had come to believe it was. Brianna, after much professional help didn't think this about her own past. Her little sister was too young to understand this for herself.

Then there was the four-year-old's anxiety, that was almost the height of fear of children her age. It was a puzzle for all the adults in Cori's life. Maybe she experienced bullying in one of her placements and couldn't explain it. Olivia wanted to have a grandma's guilty pleasure so bad, a sleep-over with the little girl at her home. So far Cori was having none of that even though she could spend all day with her grandparents. The therapist told Cori's parents that the only thing that would help these issues was time and patience.


Rick and Drew started their Christmas shopping, house decorations and all, that Saturday. Mostly it was decorations and lights tonight but they found the sled their youngest wanted for Christmas and the Nintendo Mini Brianna wanted. Both girls wanted to make Christmas cookies so they also set of cookies cutters and two large pans that was apparently called "baking sheets." Since this simple thing was new information to them, they were going to leave the baking and decorations to nana Olivia. Before going home the couple stopped at storefront bakery where Drew tried hot chocolate infused with cinnamon, something every female currently at their house raved about.

It was pretty good but it wasn't coffee.

"That's because you're a caffeine junkie," Rick teased. His beverage was chocolate peppermint. The shortbread cookies they shared were tasty but Rick said they didn't beat his grandmother's recipe, the one their little bakers would be using. They dropped their purchases off in Rick's father's garage workshop and headed home.

The girls were munching on tater tots and hotdogs when they got home. Brianna and Riley had not long ago got back from the skating rink. Syd had taken Cori down the street to the dollar store where the girl bought a new coloring book and box of Crayons–she went through many-and a toy for Rex.

"That's a lot of lights!" Cori said.

"Sure it is," Rick said. "We're decorating the outside of the house with lights, too."

Are we? Drew thought.