Page 47 of Room One Hundred and Nineteen: Watching Her

“We love your mom,” Miles added. Patience had never been his strong suit. “And we love you guys, too. We know this is a lot, but we want to make sure you guys know how we feel. Our situation is a little different than other families but––“

“Mommy says families come in all shapes, sizes, and colors,” Betsy shared adorably. I had to drop my gaze to the ground so they wouldn’t see me smiling. Elena would teach her kids that.

“I mean…. Tia has three guys. They’re getting married, too.”

“They are.” I cleared my throat, ready to chime in.

“And my friend Jordan from soccer has two mommies. That’s different, but they love him just the same.” Betsy shrugged like it was no big deal, and fuck me, it was pretty damn good to see.

“Mom says love is love,” Mike added.

“Does that mean you two would be okay with this?” I asked gently. “No matter what you say, there is never a wrong answer.”

“You guys really love our mom?” Mike asked, looking at each one of us. His tone was much more mature than any just turned five-year-old’s I had ever met. And maybe that was because for the last year or so, he had been the little man of the house.

“We do,” the three of us answered simultaneously, and Betsy’s smile broadened.

“She loves you guys, too.” she shared. Rick’s eyes widened.

Not that we didn’t know how Elena felt. We did. Her love was very present in every touch and kiss. But where we might have said the words to her, our tough girl hadn’t shared them with us just yet. We got it. We weren’t in any rush whatsoever. We knew she would tell us the moment she was ready. But it was one of the things that made the next step we wanted to take a little trickier.

“How do you know?” I asked, and Betsy giggled. The sound sounded so much like her mom’s laugh.

“She gets all heart eye emoji when you guys are here.”Heart eyed emoji. Damn kid was cute!

“Yeah. All moony faced.”

“Moony faced?” Miles asked, and Mike nodded before giving us an example of what that looked like, making everyone laugh.

“I think this is a good idea,” Betsy said, giving us the green light.

“I do, too,” Mike added. “You guys live closer to the park where we play soccer, so we won’t have to wake up as early if we live with you,” he noted. Rick had to cough away a laugh.

“Well, I’m glad to hear that.” I smiled. “If your mom agrees to all this, we will set up the room however you guys want and––

“We don’t need a lot,” Mike cut me off.

“We just want you guys to love our mom. She’s happy. Like, really happy, not just pretend happy like she was before you started coming over.”

“Yeah,” Mike agreed. The emotions the kids evoked made me clear my throat and nod.

“We feel the same way,” I promised. “All the three of us want is for the three of you to be happy.”

“So, we have one more favor to ask you...” Rick said, and the kids rested their elbows on their knees as they scooted to the edge of their seats while we told them our plan.

19

ELENA

Trying to sneak into the triage area wasn’t easy. I thought I almost got away with it, setting my water bottle onto my desk when I felt her before I heard her.

“Elena?” my boss called my name, and I winced.Shit! So close.With my back to her, I took a moment to keep my composure.

I was late.

Again.

Yesterday morning, my car had decided it didn’t want to start. Thankfully, my sexy doctors saved the day when they insisted I take one of theirs. They had been bugging me about it for the last two months, but yesterday, I wasn’t able to turn them down. I was thankful for them, but when I was loading the kids into the huge brand-new SUV after my shift, Tabitha was walking to her car, and I knew she saw me. I knew she knew whose car it was.

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