I laugh. She and Dom used to bicker back and forth constantly. Sometimes I forget that she had a special friendship with Dom and Jaxon. She even used to mother the crap out of Jasper.
“Thank you!” I say, giving him a real, deep feeling hug, letting him know I understand just how much he misses her.
“Congratulations.”
Jaxon sketched the outline of a house with Dragonfly Books and Cafe and Ink Me inside.
“To remind you that you are surrounded by family.” Jaxon says.
“I don’t think you will ever let me forget.”
He gives me a hug. “No, never!”
“She loved you too, you know.”
He kisses the top of my head, “Yeah, I know, kid.”
Finally, in the top right corner are two hands cupped together with a book, open, resting on top and a dragonfly sitting in the center. But it’s the half broken heart on each wrist, fitting together, that heals the ache of loss in my chest.
Even though we both have been hurt by loss, I wonder if together we could heal each other. Almost like, in order for me to heal, I needed to find the matching other half of my broken heart.
I turn and look at Finn.Please let him be real!
My body moves on its own as he stands frozen in place and I stalk towards him. Once I reach him, I wrap my arm around his neck and pull him down for a kiss. He stills for a moment before he deepens the kiss, his tongue licking into my mouth with the patience of a saint.
“Damn, that was sexy!” Jasper hollers. And fuck, I couldn’t agree more!
“Thank you,” I say, resting our foreheads together before turning to everyone.
“This is so beautiful. I will cherish it forever… But how did you get mom’s drawing?” I ask, knowing I keep it in a photo album on my bookshelf.
Alex and Jules give each other a knowing glance before Jules speaks up. “Alex and I may have run recon on this mission. Don’t worry, we have safely returned the original.”
“I had it framed,” Mira says. “If you don’t like it, I can change it out for a different one.”
“No, it’s absolutely perfect. Thank you, all of you!”
Finn hands me a tissue from the kitchen counter and I can’t tear my eyes away from the man who has come into my life and flipped it upside down. Or maybe it’s more that he turned it right side up.
I attempt to dry my red-rimmed eyes, but it’s no use.
I look across the table at Jules and Alex. “My biggest fear has always been that I was going to end up alone. And then it actually happened… I was alone. I will always remember just how lucky I am, in that I had some of the best friends who helped me back up every time I hit the ground.”
I lean in to Finn, needing to feel the warmth of his solid body. Every time our skin touches, a spark races through my veins, making me feel grounded in this life. The one that is surrounding me.
“It still didn’t change the fact that I was an orphan. No parents, no family.”
I link my arm through Finn’s. “A couple weeks ago, I remember hoping Finn had found his forever family in all of you… He deserves to know what real family feels like.” I can still remember what family felt like, and he has never known that.
I will lose it if I look at him, so I settle for squeezing his hand.
It may have taken me a minute to see, but family feels an awful lot like what’s in this room.
“What I didn’t realize was that somewhere along the way I also had found my forever family. I understand now why my mother was such a big believer in found family. You get to pick your family. You are choosing them, and they are choosing you…. You are all my family. I’m so sorry I did not realize it sooner.”
“Your mother was a smart woman,” Dom says.
“Yeah, she really was.”
