Page 89 of Only and Forever

Reminding her what she said in return.I wanted you, too.

Tallulah’s blush deepens. She tears her gaze away. “How about that snack, Linnie?”

“I’m hungry now. Let’s go, Lula Blue!” Linnea yells, clasping her hand and dragging Tallulah toward the kitchen. “Snack time! Then we gotta name the cats!”

—

“Good night, Percival!” Linnea whispers, though her whisper is other people’s natural speaking volume. She blows a kiss to the gray cat, which sits on the sofa’s edge, watching her, its head cocked. The rest of the kittens hop along the sofa’s back and cushions, chasing each other around. She blows them kisses, too. “Good night, Penelope! Good night, Pascal! Good night, Pearl! Good night, Paisley!”

Aiden grins, clasping her hand and drawing her toward the door. “All right, Linnie. Time to go home, sweetheart.”

“But the kitty cats!” she whines. “They need me. I’m their mama now. I can’t just name andleavethem.”

Freya laughs softly. “Those are quite the names. I see we’re putting our study of the baby-name book to good use.”

“Oh, did we ever,” I tell her, shifting sleeping Theo in my arms. “Want me to bring him out to the car?”

My sister waves me off. “Nah, I’ve got him.”

I frown. Theo’s a big two-year-old. And Freya’s well into pregnancy. “You sure?”

“I’m sure.” She lifts him effortlessly from me and settles him in her arms, straddling her belly, his cheek smooshed against her shoulder.

“I don’t want to leeeeeave,” Linnea cries.

Freya grimaces. “And that’s our cue to go home and get this sleepyhead to bed.”

“I’m not sleepy!” Linnea howls.

“Thank you, you two,” Aiden says, scooping Linnea up into his arms. “They were both very excited to come over.”

“We had a lot of fun,” Tallulah says, smiling as she rubs Linnea’s back. “See you soon, Linnie Loo. We’ll do this again, okay?”

Linnea picks her head up from where she buried it in her dad’s neck while crying. She wipes her eyes, her bottom lip trembling. “Promise, Lula Blue? Again and again?”

Tallulah nods solemnly. “Promise.”

Linnea smiles. I’m smiling, too.

Again and again.

I like the sound of that. More than I should. But God, is it easy to draw out this picture, months into years, Tallulah and I coaching soccer, Tallulah and I playing with my nieces and nephew. Tallulah and I cuddling, watching movies, putzing around the bookstore, walking the dogs. Tallulah and I...

That’s a complete statement. That’s what I picture. Tallulah and I.

Taking a slow, calming breath, I will the panic away.

We stand, she and I, on the threshold, waving, watching them pull out.

As soon as I close the door, the contrasting silence, after hours of Linnea and Theo’s delightful noisiness, is almost shocking.

Tallulah peers up at me, smiling softly. “They’re adorable.”

I nod. “They are.”

“You’re good with them,” she says.

I swallow, heart racing. “You are, too.”