Page 76 of Shared By Her Brother's Best Friends

“We’re the lucky ones,” they reply, echoing each other and making me smile that for once they seem to agree on something.

First thing tomorrow I resolve to go and find out about Jessica’s kids. I know Max will be overjoyed by the possibility of Lucy and Ben living with us. He loves them like they’re his siblings already. I hope that they will help him to heal and have a normal childhood too, despite the horrors he’s already experienced in his short life. Our unique and chaotic family might be getting even more vibrant and big. But honestly, I wouldn’t want it any other way.

Epilogue

Emma

Six Months Later

“Mommy! Santa’s been!” Max’s excited voice wakes me at the crack of dawn as he comes rushing into the bedroom with his stocking.

“Shh, Sweetheart, you’ll wake the whole house,” I chastise gently.

“Ben’s awake already, he’s waiting in our room while I wake you up,” Max informs me, proud to have thought of it but missing the fact that the rule ‘knock and wait for mommy to tell you that you can come inside before entering’ also applies to him.

I roll my eyes and smile at him indulgently, it is Christmas day after all. “Well go and get him then, but do it quietly!”

Max races off and I turn on my bedside light and sit up in bed. I slept alone last night, fully aware that this exact situation was not only likely but almost inevitable and not wanting to give the CPS people a reason to deny our claims to Ben and Lucy.

After lots of meetings, legal jargon, string-pulling, and favors being asked, we have finally gotten somewhere with the adoption of Ben and Lucy. As predicted, Lucy’s dad didn’t want to take on his estranged teenage daughter and denied ever having slept with Jessica again, let alone fathered a child. Wethen ran a paternity test which confirmed Ben is indeed Adam’s biological son as we suspected. Both of these facts have helped to move the process along in our favor as, since Max and Ben are half-siblings, we have a claim to Ben, and with no one else wanting to take on Lucy, they’re almost grateful that we do.

It will take time, but we’re hopeful that the children will join our family officially soon. For now, they have been staying with us under supervision and have been allowed to spend Christmas here too, something I fought tooth and nail for.

I smile as the boys return looking adorable in their matching pajamas, dragging along a half-asleep Lucy with them.

“Max, I told you not to wake anyone,” I chastise gently.

“It’s okay,” Lucy concedes with a yawn.

Throughout all of this, Lucy has amazed me with her strength and resilience, she’s a smart, mature young girl who loves her brother dearly and while she misses her mother, she seems happy with the plan to live with us.

“Well, hop onto the bed, and let’s see what Santa brought you all shall we?” I say, reveling in their joy. I wink at Lucy who smiles and mimes zipping her lips to show she won’t reveal to the boys the truth about Santa.

As the children begin taking turns to open the small gifts in their stockings, a familiar handsome face pokes around my door.

“I thought I heard you were up,” Jax says with a smile, his hair tousled from sleep.

As much as I love seeing him shirtless, his usual preference for wandering around early morning, I’m grateful that he remembered to pop on a t-shirt, it’s a silly Christmas one that makes him look almost boyish.

“Jax!” the boys exclaim happily while Lucy’s cheeks turn red.

The boys love the men who never tire of roughhousing and playing games with them. Lucy has a slightly more tentative and complex relationship with them. She’s understandably wary and also hyper-conscious of their masculinity, but they’re working on building her trust every day. Each of them patiently asks about her day, listening carefully when she responds, or helping her with homework.

Jax perches on the bed, giving me a chaste peck on the cheek and wishing me a merry Christmas before happily making all of the right noises as the children show him their gifts. We soon head downstairs for breakfast, making pancakes and having fun letting the kids help. Mason soon comes to join us and gets stuck into the festivities with gusto, giving me a quick kiss.

“Merry Christmas beautiful,” he murmurs.

Not long after, Ty joins us. He hovers in the doorway watching us for a moment with an unreadable expression on his face and I worry that this will be too much too soon for him. I move to stand next to him, taking his hand in mine and giving it a gentle squeeze. He pulls his hand away and I worry he’s about to go but instead, he wipes away a tear that’s rolled down his handsome face.

Alarmed, I quickly ask, “Is everything okay? Is this too much? Do you need to go?”

I’ve never seen him cry before and I fear we’ve asked too much of him.

“No… no, I’m okay. It’s just… I really wish Danielle could be here, she would have loved our family,” he says gently.

“I wish she could too,” I reply gently, moving away to allow him to take his time before joining us.

Jacob and Bess arrive later on, joining us for the Christmas dinner. Bess brings her new girlfriend, a beautiful and funky rock chick with heavy kohl eyeliner and punk clothing that is almost a juxtaposition to her sweet personality. Jacob is healing well and has a great time with his nephew and new niece and nephew, treating them as his own. He turned up dressed as Santa, much to the delight of the boys who believed that he was the real deal—with his beer belly and big beard sprayed white he made a convincing St. Nick for sure—so much so he eventually had to ‘leave’ and come back as Uncle Jacob, listening and feigning annoyance when he discovered he’d just missed Santa Claus.

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