Page 41 of The Next Chapters

Gianna merely shook her head. Because she knew the truth.

She could remember, clear as day, when her life had changed. The first place she’d been able to solidly call home, and it was that small dorm room. Walking in the door, seeing and approving of the décor choices her mysterious roommate had made. Riley the Roommate had changed her.

And Gianna would always hold that close to her heart.

The Happily Ever After

AGE: 40

Home had been a very elusive concept to Gianna for most of her life.

When she’d been very little, in her earliest memories, she had flashes of being with her parents. Little snippets here and there; her first – and vaguest – memory was of toddling after her mother backstage at a fashion show. Before her nanny had scooped her up, anyway.

The idea of home had become a bit clearer in the next stage of her life. When her parents finally reached the decision that she’d become too old to have them trotting after them as they followed their ambitions, they arranged for her to move in with Mummo.

She’d struggled a bit, though, even then. Though she spoke Suomi, courtesy of her father, she’d been far more familiar with Italian, having been born there. Though she’d known, conceptually, who her grandmother was, she hadn’t spent very much time with her. But it was there, with her mummo, that she’d been given the first glimpses of what home should feel like. Like warm hugs, sweet cuddles, and a person who loved you – really loved you – looking over your shoulder.

By the time she’d acclimated to that life, she’d had it taken from her. Sent to live in America, to a place she’d never been. A sad and angry twelve-year-old, desperately lonely, largely surrounded by other lonely adolescents. Home there hadn’t been a comfort so much as a survival instinct.

The sharpest, brightest, prettiest rose to the front of the pack, and she’d become responsible for watching her own back.

When she’d met Riley… things changed. Though her physical home had been in a dorm, that loneliness that had nestled inside Gianna, demanding a residence inside her, started to fade.

It was after she and Riley had no longer lived together, after Gianna had purchased the house that she and Riley were currently standing in, she’d realized what home really was.

“I’m going to miss this place,” Riley sighed, planting her hands on her hips as she looked around the empty living room.

Gianna pushed herself off from the doorway she’d been leaning against, watching as her wife paced through their soon-to-be ex-house. “Oh yeah? The part where we only have three bedrooms, and Anya complains constantly that Emmi is stealing her toys and won’t stay on her side? Or the part where we don’t have enough room at the dining table for all the girls to sit, now that Pippa and Annabelle aren’t in highchairs?”

Riley turned to her, sharply raising an eyebrow. “You forgot the part where the entryway is too small for a bench big enough for all of the girls to sit on, so we have to watch them like hawks to make sure there’s no shoving when they’re running to get a seat, and put their shoes on every time we leave the house.”

Gianna snapped her fingers in mock disappointment as she slowly walked toward Riley. “Damn, babe, you’re right. I can’t believe I forgot that one.”

“I know, it’s one of your favorite times of the day,” Riley shot back, that teasing glint in her hazel eyes.

Gianna hummed under her breath. “Yes, it’s tied for the part of the day when we come home from school, and the girls all crowd into the hallway in an effort to be first.”

She let out a soft sigh as she finally reached Riley, languidly wrapping her arms over Riley’s shoulders and pulling her closer through the embrace. Close enough so their breasts brushed, and she could feel Riley’s stomach press into her own as she took a deep, settling breath.

Riley wrapped her own arms around Gianna’s waist before slowly sliding her hands down to tuck them in the back pockets of Gianna’s jeans. “I know we’ve outgrown this place; I’m not arguing with that.” Riley’s eyebrows lifted on her forehead as she glanced around the room. “I just… I love it. That’s all.”

Riley was right about her phrasing – as she so often was. They had well and truly outgrown this house.

Now that Anya was eight, Emmi was six, and the twins were nearly four, this house that Gianna had purchased over ten years ago as a single woman no longer fit the needs of their family.

“I know, carina,” she murmured, carding her finger through Riley’s thick hair. “But with how cramped we’re getting here already, where would we put Mummo?”

“Pippa and Annabelle have already offered their room,” Riley promptly answered, returning her gaze to Gianna’s. There was laughter, bright and beautiful, written across her expression. “Multiple times.”

Gianna couldn’t hold in her scoffed laughter if she tried. “I’m sure my ninety-two-year-old grandmother would love to share a bedroom with the girls.”

Riley merely arched a look at her, which had Gianna chuckling all over again. This time in concession, as she nodded.

“All right, yes. She probably wouldn’t mind.”

The fact was that her mummo lived for Riley and Gianna’s kids. Quite literally, her grandmother had made the comment that she kept kicking because she needed to see her great-grandbabies grow up many times.

She was so enamored with the girls that she’d finally acquiesced to move from Finland to the States! A request Gianna had made so many times over the years, wanting to be able to support her increasingly aging mummo without uprooting her family’s life here.

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