“This feels good.”
“It looks fucking good as well.” I loved being able to see her like this, feel her like this. “Have I told you how much I love your tits.”
“Only every day. I have text messages as evidence.” She shifted a hand to rub her clit, tipping her head back, her angle changed.
Her rhythm slowed, her orgasm coming closer which made her movements less regular.
I switched us over, moving her on to her back, lifting her legs and plundering into her, feeling her come on my cock as the rhythm changed, her nipples hardening more as my movements became harder, faster.
She came again before I spilled into her, her second orgasm tipping me over, sapping everything from my body and leaving me half-collapsed over her.
We clung together there for a moment, revelling in not having to get up to do anything, or put clothes on in case we were disturbed by the girls.
“I love you.” She kissed my jaw. “Just in case you don’t know that.”
“I know it.” I kissed her back. “I feel the same about you.”
She laughed, lightly smacking my back. “Say it.”
I grinned. “I love you. I’ll say it every day forever if you let me.”
“I might just do that.”
It was midway through the last week of the holidays when Romy got some news from the social worker. I looked after Mia and Heidi while she attended a meeting with the various professionals involved, looking at permanence given that Cara was unlikely to be out of prison before Mia was eighteen, and there were no other relatives who either wanted to, or could, look after her.
We were in the garden at Romy’s when she arrived home, hair swept up in a messy ponytail, arriving via the cakery laden with one of Amelie’s summer specials. She was smiling, her shoulders relaxed and the movements fluid. This morning she’d been tense and jittery, waiting for this meeting, wanting some certainty and confirmation that she could plan further afield to have Mia in their lives.
“Mummy, we’ve been making friendship bracelets!” Heidi was overjoyed with her creations, especially because some of the bracelets involved shells, which she was still obsessed with. I managed to find a way to drill a small hole in some of the thicker shells for the girls to use, which was apparently the best thing since sliced bread.
That, along with how I was now modelling a dozen friendship bracelets.
Romy took one look at me and laughed. “You look ridiculous.”
I shrugged. “Primary school teacher – it’s been worse.” It had, but I wasn’t about to share details with her how. “How was the meeting.”
She glowed. “Amazing. Mia, I’ve got something to tell you.”
Mia looked up from the bracelet that had been keeping her busy for a good twenty minutes. Her efforts were well planned and careful. Heidi’s were fast and furious, then she could move onto the next one. The two of them were so different, which was probably why they got on so well.
Mia slipped off the chair and walked over to Romy, no smile there yet. “Am I staying here?”
We exchanged a look. Everyone had been careful to not make Mia nervous about what was happening. The house where she’d lived with Cara had been cleared out, the landlord having served notice on Cara’s tenancy as Cara was in arrears and those arrears weren’t going to be paid, or any future rent.
Mia knew she wasn’t going back there. She knew her mum wasn’t going to be coming back for her for a long time, and we knew her dad was unlikely to play much of a part in her life, even after he was released. The school however, had received an anonymous donation for a significant amount for the purpose of supporting female pupils, with a suggestion we brought in self-defence classes for them. I suspected that somehow it’d come from Stan and I wasn’t sure how to feel about it.
Romy crouched down onto her knees and opened her arms to hug Mia. Heidi walked in closer, apprehension in her movements, looking so much like her mother.
“Everyone’s agreed that you can live here with me and Heidi, so this is your permanent home.” The words were a relief, even though we hadn’t doubted there’d be any other decision.
Mia threw herself around Romy like a baby monkey, turning her head towards me. “And Cassian. Him too.”
Romy kissed her cheek, standing up holding her still and looked at me, lounging back in the chair, covered with friendship bracelets. “Well, we’ve not scared him off yet, and you’ve definitely had a good go at that this morning. Come here, Heidi.”
She bent again to put Mia down and then the three of them could hug. A team. A family.
One I wanted to include me, length of time we’d been together be damned. I got off my seat and joined in, Mia wrapping her arms around me.
“So Mia’s like my sister now?” Heidi tore herself away, looking pleased. “I have a sister. I always wanted a sister.”
