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He couldn’t find the right words after that.
That was it. Just ...Bella-mine.
Her lips parted as he lowered his head and took her mouth slowly, sweetly.
Their first kiss as they stepped into this life they’d waited too long to start.
The small group of friends and family they’d invited broke into applause, but neither the bride or groom took much notice.
Not until an impatient hand grabbed hold of Travis’s pant leg and pulled.
“Do we get cake now?”
They broke apart, laughing, and Isabel looked at Brooklyn. “Yes, baby. We can have cake now.”
Sometime near the endof the simple wedding ceremony, a stranger had slid in, along with a woman in her forties. The woman looked like a school teacher—one kids would love, but also the one they knew would take no shit. She actually had spent a few years teaching but had moved into social work. That had been nearly twenty years earlier.
LeAnn had planned on being here for the entire ceremony but an unexpected work call had delayed her. She’d spent most of the past twenty-four hours hustling her ass off, save for a short bit of downtime overnight.
That call was also the reason for her unexpected plus one.
The lanky Black man next to her rubbed his hands down the sides of his pants as he studied the pretty teen with her dyed white hair and wide, excited grin. “She looks good. Looks happy.”
“Isabel’s taken very good care of her. But Storm’s never stopped talking about you.”
“Storm, huh?” He grinned.
“She’s ... very fond of comics,” LeAnn said. “Especially the X-Men.”
“I used to buy those comics for her.” His face tightened and he looked away. “Damn her mama, disappearing like that ... ”
They were quiet a moment, then LeAnn said, “Storm’s never given up on you. She insisted you’d find her. The way she talks, you’d think she just saw you a couple of months ago.”
“It’s beenfive years.” Javon Russell’s mouth drew flat and he looked away. “Five years, I missed out on. How somebody recognized her from one of those flyers in the mail ... Hell, I can’t even believe she remembers me.” He rubbed a hand over his eyes and shook his head. “Man, when I got that phone call ... ”
LeAnn nodded and gave him a minute. “You want to go see her?”
“Do they know I’m coming?”
“No. I didn’t want to interrupt when they had so much going on and I had to verify your identity.” She saw the nerves on his face, the frustration and she reached out to touch his arm. “You don’t need to worry. Bella’s never wanted anything for the kids she takes in except what’s best. You’ll see for yourself, though.”
Javon nodded, but LeAnn knew he didn’t believe her. She didn’t blame him. Too many had been abused by the very system set up to protect them.
Tucking her hand into his arm, she led him through the crush as they made their way to the table where the kids sat with Travis and Isabel.
She wanted to get there before they got too far into the party because LeAnn knew about the ‘present’ Travis and LeAnn had planned for the other kids.
Storm looked up at just that moment and glanced over.
She saw LeAnn and wariness flickered over her pretty face, the wariness LeAnn had come to expect.
But then her eyes saw the man at LeAnn’s side.
Storm’s eyes widened.
Her face froze.
One by one, everybody around the table, then the men hanging around near Travis and Bella noticed. Travis was instantly on his feet and when Javon tensed, LeAnn said, “It’s okay.”
