“Wallowing,” I told him. “But together. Like a family.”
“Got room for me?” he asked, making his way toward the bed.
He scooted in behind me, sliding me between his legs. And I saw the smile Charlotte tried to hide.
“What? I don’t get an invite?” Liam asked from the doorway, Tuna at his feet.
He made his way toward the bed, taking up the spot at the foot, Tuna curled in at his side.
Sure, two of us were beaten and bruised.
And two of us were sick.
But curled up with them was the best I’d felt in a long time.
Judging by the look on the kids’ faces, they felt the same way.
Christopher’s lips pressed to my temple, and his arms wrapped around me.
I knew he felt it too.
Christopher - 1 week
The girls were on the mend.
Charlotte had a lingering stuffy nose but was mostly back to normal and was going back to school after the weekend.
Alara was still sleeping a lot, but it was impossible to tell if that was the flu, the aftereffects of the attack, or what.
Liam, on the other hand, was in the throes of body aches, fevers, and congestion.
So far, I’d somehow been lucky.
I figured if I got through the next day or two, I was going to avoid it completely.
Even with all the sickness and injuries, fuck, it was probably the best week of my life.
No more hiding what was going on.
I was in bed with Alara every night, sleeping with her on my chest, in my arms. Waking with her still there with me.
And getting to watch the kids fall all the more in love with her now that they knew she had no intentions of leaving.
There was a knock at the door as I slid one of the frozen lasagnas that had been dropped off into the oven.
“I got it,” I said when Charlotte and Alara looked up from their positions in the living room—Char on the couch, Alara beside it in her chair.
“Oh, hey,” I said when I saw Brio.
“Can I talk to you and Alara out here?” he asked, waving to the hall.
“Everything alright?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay. Alara, got a sec?” I asked.
Her posture stiffened, but she rolled over to the door and out of it, only managing to hit the jamb once.
