Always and Forever

by Linda Poitevin

  “Lilli!” Josh hissed.

  Grace almost choked, and Sean pulled his hand back to grip the steering wheel, clamping the back of his other hand against his mouth to stifle his laughter. Ignoring Josh’s admonitions to hush, Lilli continued.

  “That’s how babies happen, right? Katie told me. So if you do it again, does that mean you’ll have two babies?”

  Sean’s shoulders shook and his face slowly turned purple. Grace sent him a withering glare. He refused to look her way.

  “Wimp,” she muttered.

  His shoulders shook harder. Grace turned in her seat in time to see Lilli fend off Josh’s hand as he tried to cover her mouth.

  “Well?” her niece asked. “Will you?”

  “That’s not quite how it works, Lilli.” With Sean all but collapsed in the seat beside her, Grace had no idea how she managed to keep her voice level. “But now isn’t a very good time to talk about it, so how about we wait until we get home?” A thought occurred to her, and her mouth curved. “Sean will be happy to explain it to you while I get Annabelle ready for bed. Will that do?”

  Lilli nodded agreement even as Sean gave a wheeze of shock, his expression more than a little panicky as he finally met Grace’s gaze. She smiled. He narrowed his eyes.

  “You,” he growled, “are going to pay for that.”

  Grace sat back in her seat again and dropped her voice to a murmur only Sean could hear. “With the sex thing?” she asked hopefully.

  The van gave a wobble in response.

  Chapter 14

  “So that’s it.” Carol met Grace’s gaze over the top of her clipboard. “We’re done. You have a wedding happening a week from tomorrow.”

  “You’re sure we haven’t forgotten anything?” Grace lifted Annabelle down from the counter where she’d been washing the preschooler’s hands and face after a spaghetti lunch. The little girl raced off to join her sisters and cousins in the backyard wading pool, and Grace dropped the washcloth into the sink. “I feel like we’re forgetting something.”

  “Only our sanity.” Sean’s voice wafted out of the tiny walk-in pantry on the other side of the fridge. He poked his head out to roll his eyes. “Who in their right mind plans a move the week after they get married?”

  Grace had no answer. Or at least, no answer suitable for voicing in front of their wedding planner—or the troop of kids tracking water and grass clippings across the kitchen floor as they poured back into the house. She held up a hand to halt their progress, reminding, “Feet!”

  Then she sighed. Who was she kidding? With boxes piled everywhere and the remains of last night’s fast food dinner and their spaghetti lunch still on the table, she was worried about a bit of grass and water on the floor? She waved the kids in. “Never mind. I give up.”

  “Good call,” Sean agreed. He opened the freezer door beside him. “Let me guess. Popsicles?”

  “Yes please, Uncle Sean!” Unsurprisingly, Lilliane spoke for the group clustered behind her, but Grace was gratified to see that her niece waited until everyone else had their popsicles before she accepted her own. Their little chat with her about the responsibility that came with leadership had obviously had an impact. She placed a hand atop Lilli’s head as the girl followed the others toward the back yard again, and Lilli paused to look up at her.

  “Well done,” Grace said.

  Lilli beamed. “Thanks, Aunt Grace. I’m trying.” She headed for the door, then hesitated in the opening, shooting a hesitant look toward Carol, who was packing her notebook into her bag on a tiny sliver of clean table. Relatively speaking. “Can I ask a question about the wedding?”

  Carol stopped, giving the little girl her full attention and an indulgent smile. “Of course.”

  “Will it make us a real family like it did for Uncle Gareth and Aunt Gwyn?”

  “I’m not sure I understand.”

  “Will we be allowed to say Mommy and Daddy instead of Aunt Grace and Uncle Sean if we want?”

  Utter silence descended over the three adults in the room, broken only by the high-pitched chatter drifting into the house from the rest of the kids in the back yard. Carol looked at Grace. Grace looked at Sean. Sean looked at Lilli. Carol cleared her throat.

  “Well. I think that’s my cue to leave and let you guys talk,” she said, her voice husky. She swung the oversized bag over her shoulder and reached to give Grace’s arm a light squeeze. “And to answer your question from before, we’re not forgetting anything. I promise. Everything is in place, and I’ll be at Gwyn and Gareth’s next Saturday morning at eight sharp to get things rolling. All you have to do is show up and be your own beautiful self. Okay?”

  Still bereft of a voice, Grace nodded. Impulsively, she leaned in to give the wedding planner a hug. “Thank you,” she whispered. “For everything.”

  Carol returned her squeeze and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. “My friend, you are more than welcome,” she replied. She stepped back and gave Sean a wave, and a few seconds later, the soft closing of the front door marked her departure.

  “Did I say something wrong?” Lilli asked, her brow crinkled in perplexity.

  “Not at all,” Sean assured her. He settled into a chair at the table and patted the seat of another in invitation. Lilli slid onto it and licked at the grape popsicle that had begun dripping onto her hand. “We were just a little surprised by the question, is all. How long have you been thinking about it?”

  “Ever since you asked Aunt Grace to marry you. Katie said that when her mom married Uncle Gareth, it made them a real family so they could call him Daddy. She wasn’t sure if it would work the same for us, though. Because Aunt Grace is...well, Aunt Grace.”

  Said Aunt Grace sagged against the kitchen counter, then took two steps to her left when she realized she stood on the exact spot where she’d found her sister, beaten unconscious and laying in her own blood. Her sister, whose children she now cared for. Her heart twisted in her chest. What the hell would Juli think if she could hear this conversation? Grace pressed the fingertips of one hand to her lips.

  At the table, Sean nodded in solemn agreement with Lilli. “I can see where that could make things different,” he said. “I suppose it comes down to how you and Josh and Sage feel about the idea. Is it something you’d like to do?”

  Lilli studied her popsicle for a moment. “Josh isn’t sure,” she said at last. “But Sage and me...” She looked up, first at Sean, then at Grace. “They’re not ever coming back, right?”

  A breath Grace hadn’t known she held hissed from her lungs. For the life of her, she couldn’t respond. Didn’t trust her voice enough to do so. Not around the tangled lump of sorrow burrowed into her throat.

  Sean, bless his heart, rescued her yet again.

  “Your mom and dad?” he clarified, and Lilli nodded. “No, Lilli. They’re not.”

  “Then yes. We want to be a real family.” Solemn brown eyes met Grace’s. “Josh said he didn’t think you’d want us to call you Mommy because it wouldn’t feel right, so Sage and I decided we’d call you Mama instead. Like Annabelle does. Would that be all right?”

  It was all Grace could do to nod, but that seemed to satisfy her niece, who smiled happily and slid off the chair. “I’ll tell the others,” she said. “Thank you, Uncle Sean! Thank you, Aunt Grace!”

  Long silence followed her departure, with Grace and Sean both staring after her. Out on the lawn, six small bodies danced a dance of excitement as Josh looked on without visible reaction, his expression stoic, his popsicle forgotten in his grasp. Grace caught her bottom lip between her teeth. Oh, Josh.

  “She’s right, you know,” Sean said quietly. He came to stand beside Grace, leaning against the counter, his shoulder warm against hers as they both stared at the yard beyond the glass doors. “We need to be a real family.”

  “I thought that’s what we were.”

  “Apparently not in their eyes. And I’m not sure a wedding is enough.”

  Grace frowned. “What els
e is there?”

  “I’ve been thinking about something for a while now. About maybe taking this family of ours to the next level.” Sean looked sideways and down at her. “How do you feel about adopting them? Both of us. I know you’re already their guardian, so it’s not something you have to do legally, but it might be what we need to do, if that makes sense. Just to solidify things, especially for them.” He nodded toward the backyard, where the girls had piled into the pool again, and Nicholas wavered halfway between them and his idol, Josh.

  Grace blinked. “You would do that? Adopt them? Make them...”

  “Officially mine? In a heartbeat, if you’re willing.”

  She returned to watching the kids.

  “Hey, Sean McKittrick,” she said at last, in an echo of their first declaration a lifetime ago. “You know I love you, right?”

  Sean chuckled beside her. “I suspected as much,” he said. “But it’s nice to know.”

  Chapter 15

  Grace pulled her head out of the kitchen cupboard and groped for the cell phone ringing on the counter above her, cursing the interruption. She was already running way behind schedule—Gareth would be here to collect her any minute now, and she still needed to shower, but she was determined to get the last of the kitchen packed and—she glanced at the display and frowned at the name of her obstetrician. Calling on a Saturday? A flutter went through her belly. Sitting back on her heels, she jabbed with her thumb at the answer icon.

  “Dr. Jeffries,” she said. “Is everything okay?”

  “Everything is fine, Grace,” her obstetrician’s voice soothed across the line. “And I know it’s the weekend, but I thought you’d like to know that I found a little something unexpected when I went over your ultrasound from the other day.”

  “Unex—?” Grace couldn’t finish the word. Her stomach hit the floor. Her rear end followed. She crossed her legs and pressed a protective hand to her belly.

  “Not unexpected bad,” Dr. Jeffries hastened to assure her. “Just...well, there’s really no easy way to say this, I suppose. Grace, you’re having twins.”

  “I—no.” Grace shook her head. She did a frantic, mental head count. That would be six children. Six. Plus two adults, it made a family of—no. Absolutely not. “There must be a mistake,” she informed her obstetrician. “The technician didn’t say anything about twins.”

  “It’s an easy thing to miss at this stage. The babies are lying parallel to one another, and one is almost entirely behind the other. If you look at the picture the technician gave you, you’ll see what looks like a shadow behind the one baby—that’s the twin. I almost didn’t see it myself, but I’ve had another colleague double-check it for me, and there’s definitely two. Congratulations!”

  Grace’s gaze darted to the photo stuck to the fridge above her. “But...twins don’t run in my family.”

  “They don’t have to, especially if they’re identical.”

  “Ident—” Another unfinished word. Grace closed her eyes. From down the hall came the sound of the doorbell, followed by the thunder of small feet and cries of “I’ll get it!”

  Lord, that would be Gareth, here to pick up her and the girls to take them to their house to get ready for the wedding. Grace raked a hand through her unwashed hair, remembering the shower she had yet to take. She made a monumental effort to pull her wits together.

  “You’re sure,” she whispered. “You’re absolutely sure.”

  “I’m positive.”

  An explosion of children burst into the kitchen, and small hands began tugging at her. “Aunt Grace, Aunt Grace! Uncle Gareth is here! It’s time to get married!”

  Allowing herself to be pulled to her feet, Grace mumbled a thank you of some sort to Dr. Jeffries—though she really wasn’t feeling particularly grateful to the woman at the moment—and ended the call as Gareth followed the troops in. His keen gaze narrowed.

  “Are you okay? You look pale.”

  “I’m fine.” Grace managed a smile of sorts. “Wedding day jitters.”

  Gareth raised a dark eyebrow, looking unconvinced, but to her relief he didn’t pursue the matter. Instead, he took charge of the entire procession for her, assigning fetch-and-carry tasks to the kids to make sure nothing was forgotten, and hustling Grace toward the doorway over her protests that she still needed a shower.

  “I’m pretty sure we have water at our house,” he told her, “and I am under strict orders from Gwyn to take you straight home, no delays.”

  “But—”

  “Nope. No arguments.” Gareth opened the van door and nudged her into the front seat. “You may be the bride but make no mistake about who’s actually in charge of this affair.”

  ***

  “All right,” Gwyn’s muffled but determined voice reached through the voluminous folds of dress into which Grace struggled, “we’re alone now. What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing is wrong.” Grace poked her head through the neckline and plucked away the tissue covering her face for makeup protection. She held her arms high for Gwyn to tug the dress down and into place. Her about-to-be cousin-in-law crossed her arms instead and fixed her with a stare.

  “I know you better than that, Grace Alexa Daniels. Spill.”

  Grace rolled her eyes. “Just because you learned my middle name from the wedding license doesn’t mean you can treat me like one of your children.”

  “No, but you being family does,” Gwyn retorted.

  Grace’s resolve to stay silent about the call from Dr. Jeffries crumbled under Gwyn’s scowl. “Fine,” she huffed. “If you must know, you jinxed me, Gwyn Connor.”

  Gwyn blinked. “I—what the heck did I do?”

  “Twins. You gave me twins.”

  Her friend’s mouth dropped open. She snapped it shut again and shook her head. “Oh, sweetie...no wonder you look shell-shocked. When did you find out?”

  “Just before Gareth got to the house.”

  “So Sean...?”

  Grace shook her head. “He doesn’t know yet.”

  “Do you—does he—when—?”

  “I don’t know.” Grace wiggled her hands over her head. “My arms are going numb. Do you mind?”

  “Oh, lord. Of course!” Gwyn sprang forward and tugged the snug-fitting dress into place and then zipped it up, struggling with where the fabric strained across Grace’s belly, even though the final fitting had been less than a week ago. She lifted her gaze to Grace’s.

  Grace felt her face crumple. “Dear God, Gwyn. Twins?”

  “Hush! No tears!” Gwyn shoved a fresh tissue into her hand and flapped her hands, fan-like, in front of Grace’s nose. “You’ll ruin your makeup, and we don’t have time to redo it. The ceremony starts in fifteen minutes.”

  “But twins. What in hell am I supposed to do with two babies?”

  “Be grateful they’re not triplets?”

  Grace snort-laughed through the threatening tears of panic. “Be serious.”

  “I am. That’s how I got through many times with Maggie and Nicholas, believe me.”

  “But you already knew how to be a mother. You had Katie, and—”

  “I don’t know whether to hug you or smack you upside the head sometimes, Grace Daniels.” Gwyn moved in to wrap her arms around Grace, touching her forehead to hers. “What do you think you’ve been doing for the last eight months, you silly nit? Playing house? You’re every inch as much a mother as I am, and anyone who wants to argue that can answer to me. You included.” She tightened her hold and rested her chin on Grace’s shoulder, rocking her back and forth. “You are the most amazing woman I’ve ever met, bar none, and you and Sean are wonderful parents. You will raise two babies the same way you would have raised one, by making mistakes and being messy and loving them with all your hearts just the way you do the others. Are we clear?”

  Grace heaved a shuddering sigh and dabbed at her eyes with the crumpled tissue. “Thank you,” she whispered, drawing back far enough to kiss Gwyn’s cheek. “I don�
��t know how I’d manage without you.”

  Gwyn blinked back tears of her own and returned the cheek peck. “You’ll never have to find out because you’ll be living next door,” she said briskly. “And if that isn’t serendipity, I don’t know what is.”

  Grace smiled as they stepped back from their hug. “Agreed.”

  “And now” —Gwyn picked up the circle of flowers that was Grace’s headpiece— “it’s time to quit dithering and get you married.”

  Grace obediently bent her knees so Gwyn could reach her head. “What about Sean? When do I tell him?”

  “No idea, but please let me be there to see his face when you do?”

  “Gwynneth Connor, you can be truly awful sometimes,” Grace accused, but her giggle took the sting from her words, and Gwyn gave her a wicked grin in return.

  “I really can be, can’t I?” She secured the flower crown in place, gave Grace’s hair a final pat, and stepped back. Her expression softened and her eyes shimmered. “Oh, sweetie...you look so beautiful!”

  She placed her hands on Grace’s shoulders and turned her to face the full-length mirror on the back of the bedroom door. Grace’s breath hitched as she stared at her reflection. From the neckline that plunged between her breasts to meet a beaded appliqué, to the cascade of satin that fell from there to the floor around her ankles, the sleeveless white gown was simplicity itself. And it was perfect. As was the crown of tiny flowers that matched her bouquet, in all the colors the girls had wanted.

  Gentle fingers swept her long, dark hair over her shoulders to rest against her back. “Beautiful,” Gwyn said again. “Now...are you ready to get married?”

  “I am,” Grace responded, her heart swelling with sheer joy. Oblivious to dress, crown, and hair alike, she whipped around and gave her matron—no, maid—of honor a hug that squeezed the air from Gwyn’s lungs in a whoosh. “I really am.”

  Chapter 16

  “Sean?” Josh’s quiet voice cut across the strains of Pachelbel’s Canon in D that drifted in through the open French doors leading into Gwyn and Gareth’s back yard. Sean glanced up from pinning the pink rose boutonniere to the lapel of the boy’s gray suit. Serious brown eyes regarded him from behind the wire-framed glasses.