Page 102 of Six of Hearts
"Especially with all that," Noah said.
I felt tears prick my eyes, the good kind. "I love you. All of you. I know I don't say it enough, but—"
"You show us every day," Ronan said. "The way you are with the kids, the way you've embraced this crazy life we've built. We know, Aria. We know."
Eventually, the dads started heading home—Liam and Mila, Julian and the twins, Ethan and Leo, Gabriel and Caleb. Each one stopped to kiss me goodbye, to welcome me home one more time.
"See you tomorrow," they said, one after another.
"See you tomorrow," I echoed.
Ronan was the last to leave, Finn asleep in his arms.
"Thank you," he said at the door. "For giving us another chance. For trusting me."
"Thank you for being worth trusting," I replied.
He kissed me, soft and sweet, before carrying Finn out to the car.
And then it was just me and Noah and the twins sleeping upstairs.
"Come here," Noah said, pulling me back into the living room. We settled on the couch, my back against his chest, his arms around my waist.
"How does it feel?" he asked. "Your first day living here?"
"Perfect," I said. "Exhausting and chaotic and absolutely perfect."
"It's only going to get more chaotic," he warned. "Seven kids, five men, one woman, and a puppy. We're basically a sitcom."
I laughed. "I wouldn't have it any other way."
We sat there for a long time, watching the lights from the Christmas tree (which we still hadn't taken down) twinkle in the darkness. I twisted the engagement ring on my finger, still getting used to the weight of it.
"I never thought I'd have this," I said quietly. "A family. A home. People who loved me not because they had to, but because they chose to."
"We did choose you," Noah said. "Every day, we choose you. And we'll keep choosing you, for the rest of our lives."
"Even when I'm difficult?"
"Especially when you're difficult." I could hear the smile in his voice. "That's when you're most yourself."
I turned in his arms so I could see his face. "I'm home," I said. "Really, truly home."
"Yes," he agreed, pressing his forehead to mine. "You are."
Later, as I lay in my new bed in my new room in my new home, I heard the house settling around me. The creak of floorboards, the hum of the heater, the soft sound of Buddy's snoring from his bed in the corner.
And upstairs, the gentle breathing of two little boys who trusted me to be there in the morning.
I smiled in the darkness, pulling the covers up to my chin.
I was home.
Finally, impossibly, perfectly home.
Twenty-Nine
Beach House Weekend
