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Maya looked at Shianne, and her brows furrowed slightly. Shianne swallowed. "There's a white fabric pen in the box. Hang it on the wall. Oh, if you want. And you can mark the date and how tall he is at intervals. When he gets his first tooth. When he crawls and walks. It'll be a running scribe of his life. If he gets too tall for it, well, you'll likely not keep writing on it by then anyway."
Maya's eyes watered. She swallowed several times then held her arms out to Shianne. Shianne went to her and received a hug, which had both of them crying more than Richard did.
"It's just beautiful. Thank you so much."
Shianne whispered, "You're so welcome. Congratulations."
"Thank you."
Myles choked back a sob when he hugged his sister goodbye. He bent down and kissed Richard on the forehead, shook Jasiah's hand. "Congratulations, bro. He's perfect."
Jasiah nodded. "I think so too."
He hugged his parents; so did Shianne.
He took her hand and walked them to the door. He stopped before exiting. "When will you be coming home?" He asked Maya.
"Tomorrow. We'll stop by the HOG for a bit to introduce Richard. But it'll be a short visit."
"Perfect. See you then."
He opened the door, and as he and Shianne stepped into the corridor, he wrapped his arm around her shoulders, and they walked silently to the truck.
Once they were driving toward home, he asked, “You were very quiet tonight. Is everything all right?”
Shianne looked toward him with a soft smile on her beautiful face. “Yes. It was just surreal, you know? I’ve known your family for a couple of years, but always as an outsider, sort of. Being brought in tonight, felt so…” She swallowed and hesitated, and he held his breath for the rest of her answer. “It was like a dream come true, to be honest.”
A giant lump formed in his throat. He swallowed several times to dislodge it, then took a deep breath. “I felt like that too.”
31
Shianne twisted and reached, but no matter how much she did, she could not get her dress zipped up. She wanted to be fully dressed when Myles saw her in her New Year's Ball gown, but she needed his help zipping it up.
Stepping from their bedroom, she swished down the hallway. Myles was in the kitchen, working on his computer. He looked up when she entered and froze.
"I need help zipping up my dress please."
"I'm better at unzipping it."
She giggled. "You are, but I need it zipped up for the ball."
He moved slowly toward her. "You are stunning."
"Just wait. Zip first, then you can get the full effect."
He stepped around her full skirt and zipped up the back of her dress. It was a strapless dress, and he took advantage of that by slowly kissing her shoulders, up her neck, and behind her ear.
Her dark hair was piled high on her head, she had her makeup done this afternoon at the salon and basically, she felt like a fairy princess. Her gown was a full white chiffon gown with heavy gold appliqué over the top and lighter appliqué below the waist.
As Myles kissed her shoulders he whispered, "You. Look. Fantastic."
She smiled and closed her eyes. Exactly the reaction she was hoping for.
He moved back and she turned to face him. "You look incredibly handsome, Myles."
"I have you to thank. You picked out my clothes."
She giggled. "Sort of. You helped."
