Isidore looked at me, and I smiled and nodded my head. “They mean it, little sis. We all want you to be a part of our family.”
Her eyes welled up with tears, and then Tan rushed forward, pulling her into his arms. I heard her little voice whisper, “We’d love to… we… thank you. Thank you so much.”
The second she said it, I swore I felt some kind of magic ripple through the air. It wrapped around and through each of us in the condo, and all I could do was suck in a breath.
It was warmth and sunshine and hope and love, and I sucked in another breath as I saw it hit each of my family members.
Where in the world did that come from?
And then the ground below my feet began to rumble.
At first, I thought there was an earthquake or something, but then I saw Dad’s face, and I knew.
It wasn’t the earth shaking.
It was the tower.
The tower’s magic surged around us, almost hugging us in its embrace as it rumbled and moved around.
As quickly as it started, it stopped, and all of us stood there, frozen. And I, for one, was questioning what the fuck just happened.
Roman whispered, as if afraid the tower would hear—even though it definitely could no matter how quiet we were. “Gar, what was that? Why did the tower move like that?”
To my surprise, I saw my dad smiling again. He looked down at the three kids and said, “It looks like we’re not the only ones excited to have you here. Go look down the hallway.”
The kids looked curious, but when Daddo led the way, all three of them followed.
Isidore’s, “Holy crapola!” made Dad laugh, and he looked over at me.
“The tower made each of them a bedroom.”
I blinked at that. “But… how? The living room isn’t any smaller.”
Dad shrugged. “That’s the magic of the tower. It can create anything it wants… including little pocket dimensions so the kids can have really big bedrooms. I’m pretty sure it even built Blossom a bunkbed with a slide.”
“Holy shit.”
Roman’s eyebrows were raised. “It’s never done that before.”
Dad met his best friend’s gaze. “The tower’s happy to have a den again.”
“So am I.”
The two shared a look before Roman gave Dad a hug and a whispered, “I love you, brother.”
Dad said, “Love you too, Rome.”
When they parted, Roman tugged me under his arm and kissed my temple, and the three of us listened to the rest of our little family explore the new rooms, the kids’ giggles and exclamations filling the air.
Chapter Forty-Two
Roman
It had been over a week since Garrick and Tan had officially adopted Oak’s new little siblings, and Oakley was so happy. They were so good with the kids, and I’d loved watching their relationships bloom.
I also loved just how much lighter Oakley seemed to feel. Knowing that the kids they cared so much about were safe and happy had done wonders for them.
“Ha!” Oakley laughed at the TV. “Take that, Kyle. You never deserved her!”
