Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 94624 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94624 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
Instantly, both Sam and I rushed her, wrapping her in our arms.
“This is what I was worried about,” she told us, but sighed deeply, clearly content to let us both love on her.
“I’m sure you wanted the biological parents that Kola has, and it must have been––”
“No,” she affirmed, stepping back, taking hold of our hands. “That’s not what I wanted, and though I don’t think I manifested this outcome into existence, I do think that I was utterly prepared for disappointment.”
“Why?”
“Because you guys, you two, are so perfect for me,” she said, and instantly her eyes filled. “I mean, I couldn’t have more loving, supportive people in my life. You are not only relationship goals, but you have both always been models of what to do.”
I couldn’t have said anything if my life depended on it.
“You, Pa, you’re my role model of how to treat people. I mean, you’re always so kind, and you always look for the best in everyone,” she murmured, smiling at me, and then turned to her father. “And you, Dad, you’re my role model of how to be strong and good no matter what. If people think I’m awesome, it’s because I’ve had the two of you to show me how to be that.”
Sam turned his head, something out in the yard he had to check, while my vision blurred and my daughter leaned in and kissed my cheek.
I heard the door open behind me.
“I need Kleenex, stat.”
The door closed, and Sam sniffled a bit, coughed to cover, and then took the box of tissues from Jake when he brought it out.
“Listen, people are asking me questions, and Mrs. Harcourt just took over and booted me out of the kitchen. You have to tell her that there’s supposed to be flour on top of the crepes.”
I blew my nose as Hannah turned to him. “What?”
“What?” he repeated.
“Powdered sugar,” she told him. “Not flour.”
“But you used the cup thing that you squeeze—the sifter thingy.”
“No. Absolutely not. I use the little strainer, and I hold it over and tap it with my hand.”
He squinted at her.
“Yes,” she said and nodded at the same time.
He thought a moment and then suddenly turned and bolted for the door. Shaking her head, she looked back to us. “So you know, I’m going to marry that infuriating creature one of these days, but I’m going to start by moving in with him.”
“Oh,” I said, and I wasn’t upset, just surprised.
“That’s the other thing I wanted to tell you, and actually the more important one.” Her smile that had faltered a bit had brightened. “We’re renting a house together.”
“That will be nice.”
“I mean, there’s no way around it.” She shrugged. “The place they’re renting now doesn’t have enough closet space, and Wick has a ton of clothes, and so do I.”
“What?” Sam looked confused, and I was right there with him.
“I thought Wick had a great condo near Hyde Park,” I commented.
She squinted at me. “He does, but what does that have to do with anything? It’s way too small for all of us.”
“All of us?”
“Wait,” Sam rumbled. “You lost me.”
“How?” She sounded confused.
“You and Jake are renting a place?”
“I see what happened,” she replied with a grin. “No. Me and Jake, Harper and Wick, and Kola and Finn, we’re all going to live together.”
And just like that, everything made sense and the sun came out.
“I mean, hopefully Kola and Finn if Kola can pull his head all the way out of his ass. He’s being so ridiculous right now.”
“He thinks you’re disappointed with him because you can’t do the food crawl for your birthday like usual,” I threw out.
“Uhm no, he’s in medical school. Did he get the memo? Does he know what’s happening or just think he’s working harder than ever for no good reason?”
I nodded. “You’re going to help take care of him.”
“Well, we’ll all take care of each other. I mean, I’m a good cook, and so is Wick. Harper bakes like a dream, and he’s very neat, just like me. Jake is fantastic with schedules and sticking to them, and he is now great about making sure there is always food in the fridge, toilet paper in the closet, and that bills are paid on time.”
“It sounds good,” Sam told her.
“Kola told me that Finn inspects things like locks, alarms, gas in cars, AC filters in the house, and checks the stove every night to make sure the gas is off. He’s also very good at general maintenance stuff.”
“Very helpful,” I acknowledged.
“And normally Kola does everything, but now he’s going to focus on school, and we’ll all be around to keep him going forward,” she informed us. “And I mean, we all need help sometime, and we can offer that to each other.”
“And you like being in charge, queen bee,” I told her.