AllFreeNovel
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I probably never would have.
Because it made me feel too raw, too vulnerable. But Eva knew me better, knew that this was a part of my life that was missing, that was aching and ready to be filled.
Knew it was beyond time to fill that void.
“I hadn’t,” I told her, pressing my lips to her forehead. “But”—Pooch wriggled between us, head coming up as he licked at the bottom of my chin and we both laughed—“I already can’t imagine our life without him.”
“Honey,” she whispered.
“I love you,” I whispered back.
“I—”
“I know this scene is sweet and all,” Rose said, making us jerk apart and whirl around to face the audience I’d forgotten we had, “but when are we going to get to cuddle the puppy?”
Eva snorted.
I slanted a look her way. “You wanted the audience.”
“Iwanted”—she stepped close, snagged Pooch from me—“our family to have this moment with us too.”
Our family.
Mishmashed and not related solely by blood, ties that ran along DNA but also deeper, tying us tightly together.
Forever.
Which was why I didn’t protest when everyone swooped in…
And Pooch got all of the attention.
Twinkly lights.
Sugar cookies.
Laughter and cuddles. Jeans coated in dog hair.
And a pup with a bright red bow for a collar.
The best Christmas ever.
ELEVEN
Dommie
I gently squeezedthe piping bag, spinning the turntable which the perfectly iced cake sat on, sending a thin thread of icing out of the metal tip, draping it carefully.
Decorating the top edge of the wedding cake that would be the biggest I’d ever made.
Six tiers.
Coated in fluffy white buttercream.
Each tier decorated differently with royal icing in an elegant white-on-white pattern that had my hands aching.
And my neck.
And my shoulders.
