Page 62 of Steadfast

“But maybe that’ll beyourlife,” I said, bumping him with my shoulder. “College and grad school and some job that you barely have to do, and you still get paid loads of money.”

“Sounds boring,” he said with a grin. “Except the money part. That sounds sweet.”

“Come on, let’s finish this so we can get back. I don’t like the way Ronan’s been eyeballing those llamas.”

“They’re alpacas,” Cian corrected.

“What’s the difference?”

“No fucking clue.”

Later that evening,the kids were watching a movie while I baked. I’d never had a chance to make Cian’s cake for him, and I’d grabbed all the ingredients while we were shopping so I could remedy the situation. After the way he’d been my right hand for the last week, he deserved a little treat.

“Smells good in here,” Aunt Ashley said, wandering into the kitchen. “Carrot cake?”

“It’s Cian’s favorite,” I said, bringing dishes to the sink.

“I can’t believe he’s fourteen,” she said, leaning against the counter. “I remember when he was brand new.”

“Me too.”

“We haven’t had much time to talk,” she said quietly. “I talked to the attorney again yesterday.”

“What did she say?” I asked, keeping my voice low, too. Between losing my mom and the rest of the upheaval, we’d decided that the kids had enough to deal with. They didn’t needto know the minutiae that went into figuring out what happened with the house and Mom’s bank accounts and which funeral home had the best rates but didn’t seem shady.

“She said that we have a good chance of getting you permanent guardianship of your siblings.”

“But—”

“You’ve already been successfully raising them while attending high school,” she said, cutting me off. “Now you’re legally an adult, with a job—”

“Maybe,” I interrupted. “They weren’t happy about giving me time off.”

She waved that away. “If your mom owned the house, then you guys have a permanent residence already. You’re in a good position to ask for custody.”

“What if they say no?” I asked nervously.

“Then you have me,” she said, lifting her hands palms up. “If you can’t get guardianship, then I do. I know your parents have a will somewhere. When we find it, I’m positive they’ll give guardianship to me. There’s no way to lose. Either way, you’ll all stay together.”

“So, we need to go back home,” I said, glancing toward the living room. “We need to go through their paperwork.”

“Yeah, we do.”

“Okay.” I took a deep breath. “When?”

“Give me a couple days?” she asked, like I was the one in charge. “I need to ask my house sitter if she’ll come even though I canceled on her a week ago.”

“Sorry about that.”

She waved me off. “I can take the motorhome, so I have someplace to stay, and the littles can ride with me if they want. Give them a little space to stretch out.”

I nodded. I wasn’t looking forward to another long road trip crammed into my car like sardines.

“Leave Monday?” Aunt Ashley asked.

“Thank you so much for doing all this,” I whispered, tears filling my eyes.

When we’d gone in search of our aunt, she’d been an almost abstract idea. We hadn’t seen her in so long, all we’d had were memories to assure us that we were doing the right thing. Desperation had thankfully led us to exactly the right person, and I couldn’t adequately express what a huge relief it was that I’d made the right decision. She’d gone above and beyond to figure everything out and make us feel safe while she did it.

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