Chapter 28 #2
"Growing boys," Ethan said, watching Caleb demolish his fourth slice.
"Growing everyone," Liam corrected, eyeing Mila, who was keeping pace with her older cousins.
We ate in Noah's dining room, the big table extended to its full length and still barely fitting everyone.
I sat between Finn and Hazel, with the dads scattered around and the other kids filling in the gaps.
It was loud and chaotic, with everyone talking over each other and reaching across the table and laughing at jokes I only half-heard.
It was perfect.
"Aria," Wyatt said, tugging on my sleeve. "You forgot to name the dog."
I looked down at the golden retriever puppy sleeping under the table, his head on my foot. We'd been calling him "the dog" or "puppy" for the past week, unable to agree on a name.
"You're right," I said. "I did forget. What should we name him?"
"Rocket!" Mason suggested.
"Mr. Fluffy-bottom!" Theo called out.
"That's not a real name," Oliver argued.
“It is!"
"How about something simple?" I said before the argument could escalate. I looked down at the puppy, at his sweet face and gentle eyes. He'd been so patient with all the kids, so calm despite the chaos. "What about Buddy?"
"Buddy," Mila repeated, testing it out. "I like it."
"Me too," Hazel agreed.
One by one, the kids nodded their approval. Even Theo, who'd been campaigning hard for Mr. Fluffybottom, seemed satisfied.
"Buddy it is," Noah declared. "Welcome to the family, Buddy."
The puppy's tail thumped against the floor, as if he understood.
After dinner, it was time for the bedtime routine—the organised chaos of baths and teeth-brushing and pajamas and stories. I'd helped before, but this time felt different. This time, I wasn't a guest or an employee. I was family.
I helped Mila pick out pyjamas and braided her hair so it wouldn't tangle overnight.
I read to Wyatt and Mason, doing all the voices until they giggled themselves silly.
I sat with Leo while he told me about the Lego set he was building, listening with genuine interest as he explained the engineering.
But it was Theo and Oliver who got to me.
When I came to say goodnight, they were both in Theo's bed, curled up together like they used to do when they were smaller.
"Can you stay?" Theo asked, his voice small. "Just until we fall asleep?"
"Of course," I said, sitting on the edge of the bed.
Oliver reached for my hand. "You're really not leaving?"
"I'm really not leaving," I promised. "I live here now. This is my home too."
"But what if you get scared again?" Theo asked. "What if something bad happens?"
My throat tightened. These sweet boys, who'd lost their mother, who'd watched me leave once already—of course they were worried.
"I might get scared sometimes," I said honestly. "Everyone gets scared. But the difference is, now I know that when I'm scared, I don't have to run away. I can stay and talk to your dad, and to all the other dads, and we can figure it out together. That's what families do."
"Promise?" Oliver whispered.
"I promise." I squeezed his hand. "I love you guys. Both of you. And I'm not going anywhere."
They seemed satisfied with that, their eyes already drooping. I stayed until their breathing evened out, until I was sure they were asleep. When I finally stood to leave, Noah was in the doorway, watching.
"Thank you," he said quietly as we walked down the hall. "For understanding what they needed to hear."
"They're scared," I said. "I don't blame them."
"They love you." He stopped, turning to face me. "We all do. But those two... you're the first person since Rachel who they've let in like this. The first person they've trusted."
"I won't let them down," I said.
"I know." He cupped my face in his hands. "That's why I love you."
We checked on the other kids—all asleep or close to it—before heading back downstairs. The other dads were in the living room, sprawled across the furniture in various states of exhaustion.
"She lives!" Gabriel announced when he saw me. "We were beginning to think the kids had kidnapped you."
"Close," I said, collapsing onto the couch next to him. "But I escaped."
"Barely," Ronan added. He was on the floor, Buddy's head in his lap. "Finn made me promise you'd be there when he wakes up."
"I will be," I said. "I'm not going anywhere."
"Good," Ethan said. He was in the armchair, his long legs stretched out. "Because I'm too tired to move you back."
We sat in comfortable silence for a while, the kind that only comes when you're completely at ease with the people around you. I looked around at these men—these incredible, complicated, wonderful men who'd somehow become mine—and felt a wave of gratitude so strong it almost hurt.
"Thank you," I said quietly. "For this. For all of it. For not giving up on me when I ran, for fighting to bring me back, for making space in your lives for me. I know it's not conventional, and I know it's complicated, but—"
"But it's ours," Liam interrupted. "And it's perfect."
"It really is," Julian agreed.
"Even with seven kids and a puppy and enough chaos to drive a normal person insane," Gabriel added.
"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.