I pull her into another deep kiss. I can feel her smile in the kiss as I do.
I’m the luckiest girl in the world.
Twenty
Lucille
I shuffle the stack of papers in front of me, trying to find the particular document I need. I’m trying to apply for planning permission to extend the boundaries of the building I bought in order to run my new charity for LGBT youths who are homeless or in need of support, but I’ve misplaced the paperwork from the planning office.
I sigh as I cast my eye over the messy desk. I wonder idly if Sara would have more luck finding it. She’s always been a lot more organized than I am.
I consider calling her to beg her to give me ideas on where to search and am slightly amused as I imagine Sara smirking as she inevitably directs me immediately to the documents I need. They’re bound to be in a place I’ve alread
y looked too.
My finger hovers over the call button when I remember she’ll be in class now. She started back at school to study library science a couple of weeks ago, and every evening she comes home brimming with excitement as she retells every detail of her day to me. I often get lost in her eyes, admiring her passion and the way they sparkle when she’s excited.
I shift a few more papers fruitlessly before giving up and heading to the kitchen to make some coffee. I glance at the clock in the hall as I walk past, noting it’s almost time to pick the boys up from school.
I make my coffee to go and head to the car, letting the caterers in on my way out. It’s good timing. They’re here to make dinner for all of our friends tonight, when they’ll be coming around to see our new apartment for the first time after we got married.
I sit in the car for a few minutes, sipping my coffee and looking up at the front of the apartment block. Ours is on the 10th floor, with a huge balcony and beautiful wood flooring. The boys love running around at top speed, chasing each other and the gray kitten we adopted from the shelter last weekend for them.
When I get to the school the kids are waiting for me alongside their teacher. She smiles as she releases them to me, and we make some small talk about how well they’re getting on. It’s a good school with huge playing fields and pony trekking once a week, perfect for them to burn off their excess energy through the day.
They happily hold my hands as we walk back to the car. I can’t believe how much my life has changed in such a short amount of time, and yet now I can’t imagine what I would do if I didn’t have Sara and the boys. They have lit up my life more than I could ever have imagined.
I’ve bathed and fed them by the time Sara gets home, but as always they clamor for her to do the bedtime story. I watch smiling from the doorway as she puts on voices that get them more excited than ready to sleep.
We get ready once the boys are asleep, and only just finish when the doorbell rings. I open the door and am immediately enveloped in Heather’s arms. I grin over her shoulder at the rest of the bookstore crew, and they join in the group hug. We’ve barely poured everyone drinks when the doorbell rings again.
Sara gets it this time and comes back with Aunt Adelaide draped over her arm. She kisses all of us three times on the cheeks, much the amusement of Cody and Heather, and presents me and Sara with a rather peculiar housewarming gift of an enormous china shire horse.
Sara slips her hand into mine as we sit down to eat, and I squeeze it hard. As I glance at her I’m overwhelmed by the depth of my feelings for her. I lean over and press my lips to hers, and then grin as she blushes at the catcalls and whistles from around the table.
“How are the kids?” Heather asks through a mouthful of chicken.
“They’re doing so well!” Sara gushes, lighting up when she talks about them. “Lucille found this really good children’s therapist downtown and they go every week now, which I think really helps them with their mom’s death you know?”
“They’re doing really well at school too,” I add. “And they love the house, and I take them to the park every day when I pick them up.”
“Oh, so that’s why they suddenly love you more than me,” Sara says teasingly, nudging me with her shoulder. I wink at her as the others laugh loudly.
After dinner we sit around the living room, chatting and mixing strong margaritas. Cody has just promised to show Aunt Adelaide the wonders of Facebook in the hopes of finding her old girlfriend when we hear a noise from the stairs and look up to see Liam standing in his pajamas at the foot of the stairs.
“Aren’t you supposed to be asleep?” Heather says to him, and he smiles shyly.
“I can’t sleep when everyone’s talking!” Lucas’ voice floats down from the top of the stairs as he follows his brother.
Sara smiles indulgently and holds out her arms. The boys come running to her and she kisses both of them on their fluffy heads. “Why don’t you tell the girls what you did today?”
“Luci took me to the park and we played on the swings and then I went down the slide five whole times and then Lily and Rafael who go to my school were there so we played in the pond!” Liam reels off the details of our trip to the park without even taking a breath.
Lucas impatiently pushes him aside and thrusts his new books at the girls. “Yeah but after the park we went to the bookstore and Luci bought me 7 new books!”
The girls laugh. “A whole 7? She’s never bought me that many books,” Tasha says, grinning at me.
“Play nice, boys,” Sara chastises as they jostle for prime position in front of Rachel and Abbie now.