AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Max looked like he was pondering her question. “All families are weird.”
“That’s true.” She chuckled. This kid surprised her every time.
She felt Finn’s eyes on them and looked over at him.
He closed his lids for a moment and smiled with an expression that told her that his heart was full.
She didn’t spend the night that time.
When Finn walked her to her car, he hugged her and leaned her against the car’s closed door. “Am I two things, too?” he rasped against her skin.
“Let’s see. You’re the love of my life but also my cousin’s ex. Oh, and a swim coach and my red-hot sex?”
He laughed. “You better believe it,” he then graveled before kissing her in a way that was bound to leave them both all worked up.
For too long, they had been two separate things to each other. Now they were one with each other and, in time, she hoped everything else would merge.
After another joint dinner, and another, she stayed the night. The hardest part was keeping it quiet and inside the bedroom.
It was late February, and they had decided on a late April wedding. A small one, just close family and friends. They were well aware that the term close family was still undefined in her case. All they needed was each other and Max, anyway.
“How about if we make a baby now?” Finn whispered that night. She was still straddling him as he leaned against the headboard, their breaths were not even fully regained yet. “Let’s add fuel to this family fire. Show up pregnant at our wedding.”
“Marrying a pregnant woman once wasn’t enough for you?” she teased, brushing her lips over his. She had told him about the IUI before, to which he had responded, “All we need now is I, you, and I.”
“I want to do everything for the first time with you. And I never have enough of you.”
She had her IUD removed a few days after, agreeing to let nature take its course, which she hoped would be a quick one.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“I went over to talk to my sister, to invite her to the wedding. She said she came to accept this, but they didn’t know if they’d attend,” Linda said over Sunday lunch with Anne and Finn.
“Which is basically saying that they won’t,” Anne said. “I’m sorry, Mom, I know it saddens you, but there’s nothing I can do about it. I don’t want anyone there who isn’t genuinely happy for us. And I understand Darian, to some extent.”
“Linda,” Bert put his fork down and turned toward his wife. “Let’s face it. Things won’t be the same. They will be different—holidays, birthdays, everything. Your niece will never voluntarily be in the same room with Anne and Finn as a couple. And she’ll make it hard for her parents to do so, too. So, unless they tell her to stick it, this is how it’s going to be. It’s their choice. They’re the ones who lose, not us. And Avery will have to face this—when Max graduates, when he gets married. Right, Finn?” He turned to Finn, who sat opposite him, next to Anne.
“Pretty much,” Finn said. “Even his middle school graduation.”
“Hopefully, by then, she’ll find other things to be mad at the world about.” Bert chuckled at his own joke. Then, with a serious expression, he turned to his wife again. “So, instead of the whole family gathering—which, by the way, didn’t happen regardless because Avery fought with her brother—you and your sister will each have the holidays with your own kids. She with hers; you with yours. And we’ll have Finn, and we’ll have Max and they’ll have Max. And I’m sure these two will bring us more Maxes. Right, kids?” He winked at them. “You’ll still see your sister and spend time with her, Linda. And me and Fernando, we’ll make sure all four of us get together. To be honest, it’s even better like that.”
“It’s not all or nothing, Mom. I have come to realize that.” Anne reached over the table and put her palm over Linda’s.
“Your dad is wonderful,” Finn said when they walked back to her house after lunch. “The kind I always wished I had.”
“He already adopted you a long time ago.” She smiled and leaned her head on his shoulder.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
She spent at least two nights a week in Blueshore, letting Max adjust to the idea that she’d be moving in with them after the wedding. Max visited her house and even asked that she’d bring an easel and supplies to his house, which she did. He watched her finish a painting, and she let him take the picture that they uploaded together to her Etsy shop.
“You painted all these?” Max asked, looking around her living room.
“Yes.”
“You also painted the one in my dad’s room. It’s the same style.”
She smiled and nodded. “It’s called Impressionism.”
