“No nap,” Clementine declared. “I no nap.”
“Yes, we know,” Adelaide said dryly.
“Hey, Clemmy!” Gabi grinned at her. “Look at your pretty dress.”
Clementine beamed at her. “Look, I help tidy!” she said right as she threw an entire packet of biscuits in the bin.
Yes.
Very helpful.
Thank you, Clementine.
“I missed a seat that didn’t make my back feel like a slab of granite.” Gabriella turned to hug Adelaide. “Where is everyone?”
Adelaide gave her a quick rundown of everyone’s location. “Honey, why don’t you go and lie down for half an hour?”
“No, no, I’m fine,” she replied.
“Go,” I told her. “Zac doesn’t nap anymore, so as soon as the twins are settled, Thomas can play with him and Clementine in the playroom.”
“Done,” Matthew said, walking back in. “Zac and Olympia went to play.”
Adelaide frowned. “Oly went to play?”
He held his hands up. “She insisted, and I wasn’t going to turn her down. If she wants to babysit, I’ll pay her.”
That wasn’t a bad idea.
“Hey, Clemmy, do you want to go and play?” Matt asked, bending down.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah! Let’s go, Uncy Matty!” She ran past us, holding onto a packet of biscuits, completely unbothered by the fact those were my biscuits.
“She really is your daughter,” Gabriella said to Adelaide. “Custard creams and all.”
Addy laughed and pushed a stool in her direction. “Sit down. I’ll make some tea.”
I caught Christopher’s eye in the doorway and smiled, nodding for him to go. He inclined his head in understanding and motioned that I should call him if I needed anything, and although I gave him a thumbs up, I wouldn’t call him.
I didn’t need anything, after all.
I had my husband, my boys, my nieces and nephews, my sisters—sister by blood and sister by choice—and their husbands.
I had my family. I had the smiles, the hugs, the screams, and the sighs. Laughter and tantrums. Jokes and pranks and messes and fights.
No, I had no need to call him today.
“I missed you guys,” I said, wrapping one arm around Gabi’s shoulders and using my free hand to squeeze Adelaide’s. “I’m so glad you’re here.”
Everything I could ever need was right here with me.
And I had it all because I took a risk on a crazy earl who proposed marriage way before we’d ever fallen in love.
I might have found myself here by accident, but I stayed on purpose.
And I wouldn’t change a single second of it.
THE END