Page 122 of Forever Mine
But I have two awesome role models to look up to and emulate. Dad and Mr. Barnes.
Liz pulls back slightly, her verdant eyes shiny and tear-glossed. “Any child you adopt will be damn lucky to have you and Elijah as parents. Oh! I get to be an aunt!” she squeals, nearly deafening me with her enthusiasm.
An enthusiasm Elijah and I share about starting the family we always wanted and dreamed about.
Eight months later, we brought Nicholas home. Two years after that, we were gifted with Grant.
“Mama, I’m hungry,” a sun-weary Charlotte says, dropping down beside Liz.
With a huge yawn, she rests her head in Liz’s lap. We’ve been out here for hours. Time for a mid-day siesta and some food.
Charlotte sleepily blinks up at me when I brush her long ponytail off her shoulder. “What do you want on your hoagie?”
“Ham.”
“Swiss or cheddar cheese?”
“Both.”
“Mustard or mayo?”
She makes a disgusted face. “Mayo is gross.”
I tap her button nose with my forefinger. “Smart girl. What about you?” I ask Liz.
“You know what I like.”
“Smother it in spicy brown mustard. Got it.” Standing up, I grab one of the extra towels and brush off the sand from my legs. “I’ll get the food started. You round up the fam.”
“Dad! Dad! Dad!”
I’m tackled from behind by a Grant-sized wrecking ball.
“Come play with me!”
Getting up, Liz takes Charlotte’s hand. “You go play. Charlie and I will get lunch ready.”
“You heard the lady. Climb aboard,” I say, squatting down.
Grant eagerly clambers onto my back for a piggyback ride.
“Hold on tight.” I rise to my feet and start trotting down the beach.
His exuberant, happy laughter has a smile exploding across my face.
As we make our way toward the water, I catch Elijah’s eye as he watches us with that same adoring smile, the one that had first captured my heart in seventh grade.
When we reach the ocean’s edge, Grant slides down off my back and immediately runs into the breakers to join his brother in the waves. I stand ankle-deep in the warm surf, feeling the sand shift beneath my feet as I watch Grant and Nicholas play in the swells.
Elijah’s hand slips into mine, and I turn to look into his beautiful hazel eyes. Our fingers intertwine, a familiar touch that carries over two decades of love, trials, triumphs, and dreams.
“Almost twenty years,” I murmur.
We’re going to celebrate our anniversary here at the beach with all our friends and family.
Elijah squeezes my hand, his thumb brushing gently over my fingers. “I still remember our wedding day like it was yesterday. And now… look at us.”
The years have passed so quickly, each one deepening the enormity of love I feel for the man beside me. It’s an unbreakable love that has weathered storms, celebrated victories, and grown stronger with every passing day.
