Finally

by R. L. Mathewson

  “He’s everything that I could ask for in a B.F.F.,” Charlie murmured sleepily, noting that the pill was finally starting to work.

  There was a pause and then, “What about Ben?”

  “Shhh, we do not speak his name,” she whispered softly.

  “I see and how long have you and he who must not be named been friends?” he asked, making her lips twitch.

  “Since we were five and we decided to run away,” Charlie mumbled around a yawn.

  “Run away from what?” Devin asked, continuing to gently caress her hand.

  “Our evil foster mom,” she said, unable to help but smile for poor Mrs. Manford, who’d had no idea what she’d gotten herself into by taking them both in.

  “You grew up in foster care?” came the curious question.

  “Sort of,” Charlie said, smiling as she explained, “We were both placed in this foster home with this woman that didn’t know what she was getting into when she agreed to take both of us in. It was Christmas time and she didn’t have a Christmas tree, so we took it upon ourselves to go find one during a blizzard.”

  “That sounds like an excellent plan,” he drawled as she felt his hand tighten around hers. “What happened?”

  “Well, we made it all the way across the street before we realized that it was too cold to find a Christmas tree in our pajamas. That was followed by deciding that it was too late to turn back and that we were going to have to live the rest of our lives in an igloo. But, thankfully, Grandma Bea spotted us trying to build an igloo in her front yard and decided that it would probably be for the best if she took us inside before we froze to death.”

  “How did your foster mom handle it when she realized that you were gone?”

  “She may have umm, had a nervous breakdown for which we apologized once the paramedics assured us that she couldn’t break out of her restraints,” Charlie explained, really thankful that the EMTs had doubled the restraints since Mrs. Manford had seemed determined to wring their necks for scaring the hell out of her.

  Not that Charlie blamed her, because she really couldn’t.

  “And Grandma Bea…”

  “Was a retired high school principal as it turned out who had a soft spot for troublemakers. After she got us cleaned up, she sat us down with some hot cocoa and some sugar cookies and explained how important it was to follow the rules. That was followed by us explaining that having a Christmas tree was a rule. After a brief glaring match, she went into her garage and started pulling out the fake Christmas tree that she hadn’t put up in years along with all the decorations that she could find before she finally gave up and dragged everything inside. That was followed by us making a huge mess decorating her living room while she made us a fresh batch of sugar cookies so that we could have something to leave for Santa Claus.”

  “And after that?”

  “She didn’t have any choice but to keep us,” Charlie said, unable to help but smile as she thought of Grandma Bea. She’d been the closest thing that Charlie had to a mother, her best friend, and there wasn’t a day that went by that she didn’t miss her.

  “What happened to your parents?” Devin asked the question that she’d been wondering about most of her life.

  “I don’t know,” she said, shrugging it off. “My mother ran away when she was fifteen and five years later, I was dropped off on my grandfather’s doorstep in the middle of the night. He took really good care of me, but it was too much for him. He ended up having a heart attack when I was three and had to put me in foster care. He tried to find my mother, hoping that she would come and take care of me, but they couldn’t find her.”

  “I’m sorry, Charlie,” Devin said, giving her hand a comforting squeeze.

  “Don’t be. I had a wonderful childhood and grew up with my best friend,” Charlie said as she found herself wondering about something, but…

  It was none of her business.

  “Their mother’s name is Heather,” Devin said, correctly guessing where her thoughts had gone. It was something that she’d been wondering about for a while now. Granted, everyone at work was wondering the same thing, but as far as she knew, nobody had asked.

  “What happened to her?” she asked, opening her eyes to find Devin watching her.

  “Nothing,” he murmured with a slight shake of his head.

  “Then where is she?” Charlie asked, wondering why the kids never mentioned her or why there weren’t any pictures of her around the house.

  “When she found out that she was pregnant, she was twenty-four years old, in her second year of law school, and wasn’t ready to have children, but I was. She knew how much I wanted them and that I would love them more than anything. I thought that she would change her mind when the twins were born, but she’d made her peace with waiting until she started her career before having a family.”

  “Are you mad at her?” Charlie asked, worrying her bottom lip as she thought about Dustin and Abbi growing up without a mother.

  “Not even a little bit,” Devin said with a warm smile.

  “Does she ever see the kids?”

  “No, they don’t see Heather as their mother. They see her as the wonderful woman that made it possible for us to be a family,” he said, shaking his head ruefully as he watched his thumb slowly move over the back of her hand as she felt her eyes starting to close again and-

  “I’m hungry,” came the softly spoken announcement that had Charlie opening her eyes and wondering what she was doing in Devin’s living room as she looked over to her right to find Dustin once again in his tighty-whities, sitting on the other part of the sectional couch, hugging the teddy bear that he’d given her in one arm while he took his time coloring the large coloring book on his lap.

  “How did I get out here?” Charlie asked, rubbing her hands down her face as she struggled to wake up and make sense out of what was going on. The last thing that she remembered was lying on her bed, waiting for the painkiller to kick in.

  “Daddy brought you out here so that we could keep an eye on you,” Abbi said, drawing her attention to find the little girl who really seemed to enjoy tormenting her father, sitting at the end of the couch on the other side of the stack of pillows where Charlie’s foot was propped up next to two large booted feet that definitely weren’t hers and neither was that hand gently caressing her stomach.

  “You were crying in your sleep,” Dustin said.

  “What?” Charlie asked as she slowly tilted her head back to find Devin watching her.

  “Daddy got really upset because you wouldn’t stop crying. We tried waking you up, but you kept crying. The only thing that helped was when Daddy held you,” Dustin explained while Charlie laid there, unable to look away as Devin watched her through blue eyes that looked green from this angle. Without a word, he continued absently caressing her stomach as she realized just how much she liked being in his arms.

  Chapter 12

  “But, Daddy-”

  “I said no,” Devin said quietly as he leaned over and kissed his baby girl’s wet forehead as she sat there, doing her best to look sad.

  “I have all this love to give and nobody to give it to,” Abbi said with a helpless shrug and a sad shake of her head as she focused her attention on the rubber ducky floating past her.

  “You have me,” he pointed out as he slowly poured water over her head, careful not to get any in her eyes as he rinsed her hair.

  “I need more, Daddy. I need fluffiness,” Abbi said, nodding solemnly as she tilted her head back.

  Chuckling, he said, “You’re not getting a dog.”

  “What about a cat?”

  “No.”

  “A horse?”

  “Yes.”

  “Really?” she asked, looking really fucking hopeful.

  “No,” Devin said, chuckling as he finished rinsing her hair while Abbi sat there, glaring at him.

  “I will not forget this moment,” his baby girl warned him as she gestured for him to finish rinsing her hair
.

  “I’m sure you won’t,” Devin murmured, unable to help but smile.

  “I won’t,” Abbi vowed with a firm nod.

  “Would it make you feel better if I told you that I loved you?” Devin asked as he reached over and pulled the drain up.

  “Only if you said it with fluffiness,” Abbi said with a long-suffering sigh as she grabbed hold of the side of the tub and stood up before gesturing towards her Mickey Mouse towel neatly folded on the small cabinet next to him with a heavily sighed, “You may dry me off.”

  “You’re too good to me,” he drawled as he grabbed her towel.

  “I know, Daddy,” Abbi said, raising her arms so that he could wrap the towel around her.

  “How about this? You finish getting ready for bed so that I can get some work done and I’ll consider taking you to the zoo this weekend. Deal?” Devin asked as he picked her up and carried her out of the bathroom.

  “Can Charlie come?” Abbi asked, sounding thoughtful as Devin carried her into her room and placed her on her bed.

  “You really like Charlie, don’t you?” he asked as he grabbed her comb off her nightstand.

  Nodding, Abbi said, “We’ve decided to keep her.”

  “And why’s that?” Devin absently asked as he carefully began working the comb through her hair.

  “She’s very nice,” Abbi said, nodding.

  “Yes, she is,” Devin easily agreed, because Charlie was incredibly sweet, kind, and had felt so damn good in his arms today.

  Too damn good…

  It had been a long time since he’d held a woman, but he couldn’t remember a woman ever feeling that good before. The last time that he’d held a woman had been when Heather agreed to have the baby. He’d taken her in his arms and promised her that everything would be okay. It had also been the last time that he’d touched her other than holding her hand when the twins were born. By some unspoken agreement, they’d decided to end things after two years.

  Once the twins were born, Heather moved to New York to finish law school and he’d decided to focus on the only thing that mattered to him, his children. He’d focused on taking care of them and making sure that they knew that they were loved and-

  “She makes you smile, Daddy,” Abbi said as he finished combing her hair.

  “You make me smile,” Devin said, leaning in to kiss the tip of her nose.

  “But you always look sad, Daddy,” Abbi said, worrying her bottom lip.

  “I’m not sad, sweetheart,” he promised her as he reached for his old Bradford Construction tee-shirt that she liked sleeping in.

  “Not when Charlie’s around,” she said with a firm nod.

  Sighing, Devin asked, “And what do I look like when Charlie’s around?”

  “Happy,” Abbi said as he pulled the tee-shirt over her head.

  “You and your brother make me happy,” he said, hating himself because that should be enough.

  “You know what would make me happy, Daddy?” Abbi asked as he picked up the Disney princess panties that he’d had to go to six different stores to find for her and helped her pull them on.

  Eyes narrowing on the devious little girl that owned half his heart, he said, “You’re not getting a puppy.”

  “I need some fluffiness in my life, Daddy,” Abbi said as she climbed under the covers.

  “You need to go to sleep. You have school in the morning,” he told her with a mock glare as he tucked her in.

  “I’d sleep better with fluffiness, Daddy,” she said, nodding solemnly as Devin began the five-minute process of checking her room for monsters.

  “Would you sleep better if I promised to let you feed the baby goats this weekend?” he asked, turning on her nightlight before he shut off her bedroom light.

  “That might help,” Abbi murmured, making him chuckle as he leaned down and kissed her cheek. “I love you.”

  “And…” she said, stretching out the word.

  “And your room is monster-free,” he promised her as he gave her one last kiss before he stood up.

  With a satisfied sigh, Abbi rolled over onto her side and said, “Goodnight, Daddy.”

  “Goodnight, baby girl,” Devin said, closing her bedroom door behind him and headed to the room next to hers to find Dustin fast asleep, curled up in his bed with the teddy bear that he bought for Charlie in his arms.

  Speaking of Charlie…

  He had no idea what he was going to do about her.

  The only thing that he knew was that he couldn’t regret letting her move in, not when she made the twins happy. When he’d put the ad online for the in-law apartment, he’d hoped to find someone nice who could help out with the twins, but what he got was so much more. Charlie was great with the kids.

  What she did for Dustin…

  He still couldn’t get the image of Charlie climbing off that chair and stepping on that glass to make sure that Dustin was okay out of his head. She was so much more than he’d thought, Devin decided as he headed downstairs and sighed when he didn’t find her where he’d left her. She was so fucking stubborn, Devin thought as he headed towards the apartment door that she’d started leaving open at night for the twins and found her slowly hobbling towards the kitchen, gasping in pain as she used the wall to help her. When she reached the corner, she took a fortifying breath, slowly exhaled, and-

  “Have you always been this much of a pain in the ass?” Devin asked as he picked her up and carried her the rest of the way into the kitchen so that he could place her on the kitchen island.

  “Yes,” Charlie said with a wince as he leaned down so that he could check her foot to make sure that she hadn’t torn her stitches.

  “What are you doing off the couch?” he asked, readjusting the gauze so that it covered her stitches.

  “Making banana bread,” Charlie said, gesturing to the sink next to her.

  “You’re supposed to be resting,” he reminded her as he obediently washed his hands.

  “I’m supposed to be making banana bread,” she said, gesturing towards the bananas on the counter.

  “Why’s that?” Devin asked as he grabbed the bananas and placed them next to her.

  “Because I promised the kids that I would make them banana bread for breakfast,” Charlie said, reaching over to the grab two large mixing bowls out of the strainer before gesturing to the bread on the counter behind him.

  Frowning, Devin grabbed the bread and-

  “I need milk, sour cream, eggs, cheese, ham, mayonnaise, and mustard,” she said, only to add, “I’m starving,” at his questioning look.

  Narrowing his eyes on her, Devin grabbed everything she wanted and placed it on the counter next to her. “I made you dinner,” he reminded her.

  “And it was delicious,” the woman that had barely touched her dinner said, nodding solemnly as she reached over and grabbed a plate out of the dish rack and started making a sandwich.

  “Is that why you didn’t eat it?” Devin asked, narrowing his eyes on the woman that he’d suspected had fallen asleep on purpose to avoid eating the dinner he’d made.

  “That’s exactly it. I was intimidated by its deliciousness,” Charlie said, nodding as she plucked a butter knife out of the strainer.

  “It was healthy,” he pointed out defensively as she spread mayonnaise on a slice of bread.

  “Yes, it definitely was,” she murmured, her lips twitching with amusement as she finished making her sandwich and cut it in half.

  “What was wrong with what I made?” he demanded with a glare, because there was nothing wrong with what he’d made for dinner. It had been fucking delicious.

  “Besides the fact that you really made a casserole out of lima beans?” Charlie asked as she handed him half of her sandwich.

  “Yes,” he bit out as he took a bite.

  She shrugged with a mumbled, “You try too hard,” as she took a bite of her sandwich and before he could ask what she was talking about, she added, “I’ve decided that we’re going to b
e best friends.”

  “And why’s that?”

  “Because you need me,” Charlie said and he couldn’t help but wonder if she had any idea just how much.

  Chapter 13

  “Pleeeaase!”

  “No,” came the firm answer that had Charlie wondering why he was being so difficult about this.

  “If you do this for me, I swear that I will never ask you for another thing,” she promised him as she shifted to get more comfortable on her front step only to rethink the move when the back of her foot accidentally brushed against the unforgiving walkway.

  “Not fucking happening,” her newest best friend said, making her sigh.

  Why must he be so difficult?

  “Aw, come on, don’t be like that,” Charlie said as she absently reached down to adjust the gauze and debated trying to do this on her own, but…

  She didn’t think it was a good idea, especially not after the incident this morning when she’d tried to use her crutches to get to the bathroom.

  “You’re supposed to be resting.”

  “And I fully plan on doing that, but first we need to decorate,” Charlie said with a hopeful smile as she reached over and picked up the giant spider that would look really good hanging from the tree by the driveway.

  Narrowing his eyes on her, Devin folded his arms over his chest and shook his head, once.

  “Think about how happy the kids will be when they see that we decorated the house,” Charlie said, gesturing towards the bins filled with Halloween decorations that she’d been hoarding since she was eighteen.

  She loved holidays.

  Every. Single. One. Of. Them.

  She loved traditions, decorations, family gatherings, parties, and everything that they entailed. When she was little, she used to have to wait exactly twenty-five days before any given holiday before she was allowed to discuss her plans for the sake of Grandma Bea’s sanity. It was a rule that Ben demanded that they continue following after Grandma Bea passed away. Not that she could blame him, Charlie thought even as she couldn’t help but notice that the inflatable gingerbread house that she’d been eyeing for the past few years would look great in this yard.