Page 130 of Peppermint Bark

Our handshake extended longer than necessary, neither of us wanting to be the first to step back … until Mallory let out a loud, judgmental scoff.

“Alright, the overbearing brother parade can wrap up now, the lovebirds need private time and we need to be far, far away when they get it,” Mallory said, making a shooing gesture at Isaac. “Go on, I promised your wife I’d have you home by 8:30.”

She started to walk by until I stopped her with a gentle hand around the back of her neck. “This was your plan all along, wasn’t it, Shrimp?”

She faked an innocent ‘who, me?’ face. “Grace was freaking out waiting, and these two would have hounded her for details. Trust me, this is better.”

She squeezed herself under Grace’s arm for a tight hug and murmured in her ear, and Grace tilted back her head with that glorious laugh. Fuck, I’d missed that laugh, maybe more than anything.

Mallory smacked my arm. “Don’t break your back tonight, old man.”

She walked backwards towards the door, ushering Grace’s brothers. “Mom stocked the fridge so you wouldn’t need to leave for a few days. We’ll all be back on Sunday morning for brunch, don’t eat the facon without me.”

“Your fake meat is safe here,” I said dryly, wrapping my arm around Grace’s shoulders and pulling her close.

Right before she closed the door, Mallory said, “Mom and I worked on one more surprise, first door at the top of the stairs.”

My sister always had to have the last word, didn’t she?

When the door shut, Grace melted into my arms and said in disbelief, “I don’t know if I can take one more surprise.”

“But aren’t they all good things?”

She nuzzled into my chest, shaking her head. “Are you really moving here?”

“I am,” I said. “Was that really Isaac, giving me the third degree?”

“He did,” she said with a soft laugh. “We're really moving into this house?”

“We are,” I said, then said definitively, “You’re really going to be a mom.”

“I am,” she said quietly, a hint of anxiety in her voice. “Are you sure you want to do it with me?”

“More sure than I’ve ever been in my life,” I said, interlacing our hands. “Let’s go see that final surprise, together.”

She pulled our joined hands to the stairs. In front of the first door on the left, she took a deep breath and pushed the door open.

Ponies. Toy ponies everywhere, and a white canopy bed with pink bedding and twinkle lights.

Grace gasped as I lifted one with a smile. “Welcome home, Rainbow Dash.”

Chapter 45

Grace

One month later

After our background checks and home visits were approved, Mariana brought Ruby to live with us. We waited on the porch, Alex’s hand on my back keeping me steady. As she walked up the stairs, a piece of my heart slid into place.

Alex and I had moved in last month, swapping out some of Carol's furniture for a more modern style — and Alex insisted on replacing all the bed sheets so he didn't accidentally have sex on something his grandfather had touched. We knew we only had a short time in the house as just the two of us, so when I suggested we christen every room but Ruby's, he agreed to start right away.

He went through the full foster parent training, treating it as seriously as if he was studying for the Bar exam all over again, even making flash cards. Mallory teased him for his nerdiness, but I could tell it was just his way to deal with his nervous excitement because I felt it too.

During our tour, Ruby asked questions about nearly everything, sliding her hand into mine as Alex calmly fielded questions about the pantry. Mallory had generously given us the boxes of ponies gathering dust in the basement — all except Queen Crysalis, who was only allowed to visit when Mallory was there to keep her in line, because in Mal’s expert opinion, Crys was a prissy bitch.

Elijah came in from his apartment above our garage for macaroni and cheese dinner. Before he left for his overnight shift at the hospital — and boy, had the social workers been excited to meet my brother, with both Megan and Brittany asking if he was single — he whispered in my ear, “Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her.”

After I did bath time, Ruby climbed into Alex’s lap for a bedtime story. As her eyelids drooped closed, she snuggled into his neck and murmured, “My new daddy has blue eyes like Santa.”

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