Vivian

by Marie, Bernadette

  Vivian poked her head in the door. “Hey, I have some people here to see you.”

  His eyes widened and a smile formed on his lips as if he knew who was beyond the door.

  “Bring them in.”

  The four girls walked into the room slowly. Emma and Ava stood close to their mother. Stephanie stared at her father, but Charlotte moved right to his bed.

  “You fall?” she asked as she looked at the marks on his face.

  “I did. I fell down the attic stairs,” he said and Vivian knew that was still the truth and he was okay telling her that. “Do I scare you?”

  Charlotte shook her head, but Stephanie stood pressing her body into Dorothy.

  “It’s okay. I’m going to get to come home tonight and I’ll be better soon. So will Vivian.”

  “I have some essential oils that’ll help all that bruising you both have,” Dorothy said and then raised an eyebrow. “I’m sure you’ll explain that fall as soon as we get home.”

  Clayton smiled. “Of course we will.” He looked at all of the girls and then to Vivian.

  She smiled at him, genuinely happy about what they were about to tell the girls. “Clayton and I want to tell you something.” She looked up at Dorothy. “All of you.”

  He reached for her hand and she moved closer to him, both girls still clinging tightly to her.

  “Yesterday I took your mommy on a long date,” he said to her girls as he gave her hand a squeeze. “I asked her to marry me.”

  Emma and Ava exchanged looks. “Is she going to marry you?” Emma asked.

  “She said she would.”

  They exchanged looks again and then looked toward the other two. “So we will be sisters?”

  “Is that okay with you?”

  Charlotte began to jump up and down. “Sisters.”

  “Well, here’s the deal.” He gazed up at Vivian. “You are all sisters now. We got married yesterday.”

  The girls jumped up and down and squealed in delight. But when Vivian looked toward Dorothy she was batting back tears with her hand over her mouth.

  Vivian went to her. “I’m sorry. This wasn’t meant to upset you.”

  She waved off the apology. “I’m not upset. I look at him and I know he loves you. Oh, I’ll never let her go. But I’ll never let him go either and I want him happy.”

  “I do too,” Vivian added as Dorothy pulled her into an embrace.

  There was a tapping at the door and Amelia stuck her head in. “She’s here,” she said with a soft voice and a wide smile.

  “She?”

  “She.”

  Vivian wanted to hate this moment, but she couldn’t. She was absolutely giddy at the thought of seeing Penelope’s baby—Adam’s baby.

  “I’ll be right down.” She looked at Clayton and then at Emma and Ava. “It’s a busy day for you. In one day you each went from having one sister to having four.”

  Emma scrunched up her face. “Four?”

  Vivian crouched down and held them both at arm’s length. “Penelope just had a baby girl. You have a new sister.”

  Their eyes went wide and this time Ava jumped up and down, but Emma looked at her, her face pinched in thought.

  “So I got my sister from Penelope. When do I get my brother?”

  Vivian pulled her in tightly. “We will talk about that, okay?”

  Emma nodded. “Can we see her?”

  “I’m sure you’ll be able to in a little bit. You stay here with Dorothy and…”

  “Grandma Dorothy,” she said looking at Ava and Emma and then up at Vivian. “It’s Grandma.”

  Vivian’s lip began to tremble. “Grandma Dorothy.” She let out a sigh. How could she be so thankful at that moment to her late husband and love Clayton’s late wife and her family so much?

  She took a moment to cleanse her mind before looking at the girls again. “You stay with Grandma Dorothy and I’ll go check and see when you can visit the baby.”

  They nodded in agreement and then occupied themselves with their other sisters trying to amuse Clayton.

  As Vivian passed by Dorothy she reached out her hand and touched her arm. “Thank you. Thank you for everything.”

  Dorothy patted her hand and looked in Clayton’s direction. “You saved him and not just last night.”

  Her heart was full and her body warm. This was the kind of love she’d been searching for years.

  Chapter Twenty

  Amelia was in the hallway when Vivian stepped out of Clayton’s room.

  “Are they excited for a baby sister?” she asked.

  Vivian laughed. “Oh sure. And they want a baby brother.”

  “My baby doesn’t count. He wouldn’t be their brother.”

  Vivian wrapped her arm around Amelia. “He’d be pretty close. But I told them we’d talk about it.”

  They walked back toward Penelope’s room and tapped on the door. Brock invited them in and they stepped in just far enough to see Penelope holding her baby draped in a pink blanket.

  “Come here. Come see her,” she urged them in a hoarse, tired voice.

  Vivian and Amelia walked toward her with their arms linked and looked down at the beautiful little bundle.

  “Oh, Penelope,” Vivian’s voice cracked. “She’s beautiful.”

  “I think she looks like Ava. Don’t you?”

  Vivian nodded. “I do. Ava looks the most like Adam.”

  “I thought so too,” Penelope said softly.

  Amelia lowered her head toward her, but didn’t reach out to touch. “What’s her name?”

  Penelope looked up at Brock who moved in next to her. “Gwendolyn Monroe Romero.”

  Vivian felt the tears sting in her throat. “I like it. It’s a beautiful name.”

  Brock smoothed his hand over the top of the baby’s head. “We wanted Adam to always be part of her. Without him we wouldn’t have each other.”

  Penelope looked up at Vivian and Amelia. “And we wouldn’t have each other either.”

  Vivian let out a chuckle. “I just realized it’s Thanksgiving.”

  “You’re right,” Amelia said. “You two ruined Thanksgiving.”

  Vivian shook her head and laughed. “It’s been a long time since I was thankful for anything. I think that’s all changed.”

  Penelope looked up at the both of them, then focused on Vivian. “Did you really get married last night?”

  Brock’s head snapped up and Vivian only smiled.

  “I’ve never done anything so spur of the moment in my life.” She looked at them both. “Don’t criticize. You both ran off and married my husband. I deserve the right to run off and get married to someone I just met too. And now I’m married before both of you.”

  “You make everything into a contest don’t you?” Amelia scoffed.

  “Me? That would be you. I…”

  “Shhhh,” Penelope scolded. “She’s sleeping and you both always argue.”

  “We do not,” Amelia whispered.

  “Yeah,” Vivian added with a smile.

  Penelope kissed her daughter’s forehead before she looked back up at Amelia.

  “Are you really having a baby?”

  Amelia gave a shrug. “Yes, that’s what the stick said. And then the doctor said.”

  “I think you’ll be a good mom,” Penelope said softly and Vivian let out a cough.

  “She’s going to be extremely overwhelmed.”

  “What if I’m a perfect mother?” Amelia fisted her hands on her hips. “I might be better than you are.”

  “At least I’ll be around to see. Then I’ll laugh. And then I can save you if you need it.”

  Amelia just laughed and Vivian knew they’d all be around for when the other one needed them.

  “The girls want to see their sister. Are you ready for them or do you need a few moments?” Vivian asked, as the moment grew serious again.

  “Bring them in. I want them to see her before anyone else. Adam’s girls.”

  When sh
e said that, Vivian looked up at Brock to see his reaction, but he was gazing down at Penelope and the baby. He wasn’t worried about Gwendolyn Monroe being Adam’s girl. He was obviously confident enough to know she’d always be his little girl.

  Vivian walked back through the door a few minutes later with Emma and Ava, each holding one of her hands. She wondered if they’d sleep at all tonight. They had to be very overwhelmed. Their mother looked like she’d slammed her face into the ground. Their stepfather, which they just found out they had, looked just as bad. They’d found out their new best-friends were their sisters and their actual sister was born. Even Vivian wasn’t sure she could wrap her head around it.

  “Hi, girls,” Penelope said very softly. “Do you want to meet your sister?”

  Both girls nodded, but neither of them made a move toward her bed until Vivian gave them a little push.

  “Isn’t she beautiful?” Vivian asked and two little heads nodded in unison.

  “I thought she’d be bigger,” Emma said.

  “She will be soon,” Vivian assured her. “You can get a little closer.”

  Ava was the first to reach for her little hand. Gwendolyn quickly wrapped her hand around Ava’s little finger and she giggled.

  “She hold me.”

  “She sure did.”

  Vivian hadn’t been prepared for the feelings that would wash over her as the girls gazed at their sister. She remembered those moments, lying in a hospital bed holding her girls. There was an overwhelming sense of pride and accomplishment. There was a love that enlarged her heart.

  Watching Brock stroke Penelope’s hair and kiss Gwendolyn’s head made her heart ache. Adam hadn’t been there to share that moment with her. Sam would share it with Amelia. And she knew, without even having to ask, that Clayton had shared those moments with Linda.

  Amelia stepped in and wrapped her arm around Vivian. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m having a moment.”

  “You’ll have another chance.”

  Vivian looked up at her. “For what?”

  “You and Clayton can have more babies.”

  Vivian shook her head. “How did you know that was what I was thinking about?”

  “I’ve learned a lot about you in the past six months.”

  “I’ve learned a lot about me too.” She rested her head on Amelia’s shoulder. “But we now have four girls all about the same age. I don’t see us having any more kids. This is just going to have to be something I miss out on.”

  Amelia gave her a little squeeze.

  “I wanna howd her,” Ava turned to Vivian.

  “Oh, I don’t…”

  “I’d love to have her hold her,” Penelope said. “This is her sister. I want them to love her and of course we need some pictures of them. Gwendolyn will want pictures of this for her scrapbook.”

  Vivian smiled. “I think that’s precious.” She looked at Ava and Emma. “First things first. We need to wash our hands and then find a nice big chair to sit in.”

  Both girls’ eyes opened wide. “Why do I have to wash my hands?” Emma asked in protest.

  “I said so, mainly. But Gwendolyn is only a few minutes old. She needs you to be clean. You’ll have lots of time in your life to get her dirty.”

  That had caused Penelope to laugh and Amelia followed. Vivian realized that she missed out on a lot of special moments in her life. But it was time to start collecting them. She’d start paying attention to everything from here on out.

  ~*~

  Thanksgiving was held on Sunday, and Vivian thought it might just be the best Thanksgiving she’d ever had. The old house on Main and Pine was filled with family.

  After the run in with Darby, her parents flew in to help with the girls. They were a little more than surprised to find out she’d met a man and married him six months after her husband had died. But she was fairly confident that when they’d met him, they too had fallen in love with him.

  Charlotte and Stephanie bonded with her parents and that had filled her heart as well. Love came in so many forms. She’d fallen in love with Amelia and Penelope—which still surprised her. She loved Sam and Brock. Clayton, well she was certain that a part of her had fallen in love with him the moment he knocked on the door of the daycare center looking for care for his girls. And those girls—oh she loved them and she was thrilled that she’d get to be the one carrying on as their mother—though she’d always be clear, they had a wonderful mother. That she was sure of.

  She’d fallen in love with Dorothy—Grandma Dorothy.

  Knowing Dorothy had chosen to stay in Parson’s Gulch had her equally as happy. Clayton needed family around, even his in-laws. But Vivian knew it would be good to have her there too. Not only had she fallen in love with her, but the girls would always have that part of their mother with them. That was invaluable.

  As the families mingled and everyone took their turn to hold and love Gwendolyn, Vivian realized that she still loved the one man who’d brought them all together. Oh, it wasn’t the same as what she felt for Clayton. She was crazy in love with him. But there had been a time when Adam had made her head spin with ideas of what could come. Who would have thought that what was to come would be her there holding Adam’s daughter?

  “You look very natural with a little baby in your arms,” Clayton sat down next to her and wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

  “It feels good. And she’s so beautiful.”

  “She looks just like Ava. I’m sure they’ll hear that a lot when they get older.”

  Vivian rested her head on his shoulder. “He would have loved her,” she said, her voice cracking and a tear sliding down her cheek.

  “He’s where he can watch over her—all of them. Remember, he was a hero. That’s what she’ll know.”

  Oh, this man was a gem. Was there any situation he couldn’t fix with just words?

  Vivian looked up and spotted her mother, with Ava on her hip, looking at them smiling.

  “I think my mother loves you,” she said.

  Clayton looked up and smiled at her. “I asked them for their blessing. I told them I realized we were already married, but their blessing would mean a lot.”

  “I love how you think.” She pressed a kiss to his lips.

  The doorbell rang and Vivian noticed that Brock quickly moved through his family to answer it. A moment later a man with a white collar walked through the door, escorted by Brock.

  He pointed toward Penelope who stood slowly from her seat.

  “Father Josh, this is my Penelope,” he said and Vivian felt the words my Penelope squeeze at her heart.

  Penelope shook the minister’s hand before Brock took hold of both of her hands.

  “I know this isn’t how you’d planned for this, but Penelope, I’d like to marry you here, now, with our families surrounding us.”

  “Brock!” Her eyes were open wide as she scanned the room. “You planned this?”

  “Last minute really. I met Father Josh at the hospital. But we are starting a new life here with Gwendolyn and my entire family is here. Will you marry me today? After all, this is our Thanksgiving and there is nothing I’m more thankful for than you and our little Gwen.”

  Penelope reached her hand to his cheek. “I’d love to marry you today.”

  “I hoped that’s what you’d say.”

  Penelope, Vivian, and Amelia sat in the bedroom they’d originally designed for Penelope and the baby. Together they’d fussed with her hair and added some makeup. Vivian wasn’t sure she needed any. She still had that glow to her.

  Gwendolyn slept in her infant seat after having been fed.

  “I didn’t think this is what I’d be doing this morning,” Penelope said as she looked into the dresser mirror.

  “He’s right,” Amelia said as she looked at her in the mirror. “What better day to get married than on a day built around thanks.”

  Penelope turned and looked at them both. “I’ve been thinking about Adam a lot the pas
t few days. I suppose it’s because of Gwendolyn.” She looked down at the sleeping baby. “Am I pushing him out of my life?”

  “Adam?” Vivian moved toward her.

  “He’s only been gone six months.”

  “And you only knew him a few weeks.” She took Penelope’s hands in hers. “What good would it be to live in mourning and not going on with what he gave you?” They all looked at the baby. “Look what he gave you.”

  “Are you mad at me?”

  Vivian turned back to her. “For what?”

  “For her?”

  Vivian shook her head. “I was mad the moment I met you. I was mad the moment I found out about her. But,” she let out a sigh, “I found out I loved you both as much as I ever thought I loved Adam. And I love your baby—his baby. I’m the one who is thankful that I get to be with her.”

  They both turned when they saw Amelia’s shoulders bounce and they realized she was crying.

  “Is this normal? I’ve been crying lately. I don’t cry. I don’t like crying.”

  Penelope nodded. “I cried the whole time.”

  “I know,” Amelia sobbed.

  Vivian could feel the rise of her own tears. “Oh, you guys are sissies.” She pulled them both in and held them tight.

  Vivian stood next to Amelia and Brock’s sister Sadie. She gazed lovingly at her own husband Clayton who stood next to Sam and Brock’s brother Mason. Gwendolyn cooed in her grandmother’s arms.

  Vivian had always thought Penelope was beautiful, but watching her walk down the stairs toward Brock—well she’d never seen anyone look so amazing.

  The ceremony in the toddler room was quick, but lovely and Amelia cried the entire time.

  Sam wrapped her in his arms. “I never thought I’d see this side of you.”

  “They assure me I’ll be doing it a lot.”

  “I think the reason behind your emotional breakdowns is the best reason to be crying.”

  She gave him a shove.

  “Okay, there’s my girl.”

  That made her laugh as she rested her head on his shoulder again.

  Mason and Sadie walked into the room each with a tray of champagne flutes. “Okay, Sadie has the wussy stuff for pregnant and nursing mothers. And the yummy stuff,” he lowered his voice to be deeper, “for the four young ladies who are sisters.”