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Evie thought a moment before she asked, “Is he your boyfriend now?”
“Yup.”
“Why wasn’t he before? When I was a baby?”
“Well…I guess we grew apart for a while. He lived far away.”
“Now he lives with us?”
“Not quite. He’s been stayin’ with us for a few days, yes—but he doesn’t live with us.”
“It would be okay if he did,” said Evie with a shrug.
Nora raised her eyebrows in awe. “It would?”
“Yeah, ‘cause he makes pancakes, and he plays with me, and I like that. He also snuggles you.”
“You’re right. He does.”
“That’s good. ‘Cause you always snuggle and kiss me, and I think you should have someone to snuggle and kiss you, too, mommy.”
Nora-Jean’s nose began to tingle as her eyes grew wet with tears. She took hold of her daughter’s face and kissed her lips before touching their foreheads together. “I love you so much, you know that?”
“Yeah. I love you so much, too.”
A knock sounded at the door, interrupting their exchange, and Evie gasped with excitement.
“I want to get it!”
Nora kissed her daughter’s cheek before helping her down to the floor. As Evie charged for the door, Nora called out, “Only open it if it’s Lawson!”
She lifted her eyes to catch her reflection, and she sniffled as she blinked away her tears. Still in awe of the perfect little human she claimed as hers, she stared beyond her reflection as she played back their conversation. It was uncanny how intuitive a child could be.
“Hey.”
Lawson’s voice cleared away the fog of her thoughts and she refocused her eyes on the mirror. This time, it wasn’t merely her reflection she saw, but that of Lawson holding Evie in his arms as they both looked at her.
“Hi.”
“You almost ready? We should get goin’. It’s about an hour drive.”
“Uh, two minutes.”
“If you tell me where your keys are, I’ll go get Evelyn’s booster seat in the truck.”
“They’re in my purse. Purse is on the kitchen table.” As Lawson turned to go, still holding Evie, she instructed, “Evie, gograb your backpack and put your colorin’ books inside. I’ll grab your crayons as soon as I’m done.”
She replied in the affirmative, and then they all went about their designated tasks. Nora raked her fingers through her hair, softening the effect of her curls before going to gather jackets and crayons. Ten minutes later, they were piled into Lawson’s truck, Christmas tunes playing at Evie’s request as they sped down the road.
Just as Lawson said, it took them a little over an hour to get there—therebeing what appeared to be a beautiful country estate. There were a handful of other vehicles parked in the gravel drive, and the light pouring from the inside of the large, single-story home was inviting.
“Looks like we’re the last to arrive,” said Lawson as he cut the engine.
“Are we late?”
“It’s a party, not a meetin’,” he teased with a smirk. “Come on.”
Lawson helped Evie out of the backseat. She was quick to run to Nora-Jean’s side and take hold of her hand. With Evie’s backpack in one hand, Lawson took hold of Nora’s other hand, and the trio made their way to the door. Before Lawson could even reach for the knob, a tall, incredibly muscled and intimidating man with beautiful blue-green eyes stepped out onto the porch.
