Katie gasps. Bodie went ahead and pulled out the trundle bed. Thankfully, I keep it made up. “I get my own bed with covers?” she asks in shock.
Odin kneels in front of her. “Sweet girl, you will never have to sleep on the floor, go hungry, or be hurt again. We promise you.” She throws her arms around his neck and starts crying. Silas ushers the others out of the room to give her a minute.
I never would have expected to end up with another little girl at my son’s birthday, but I hope we can keep our promise and keep her safe.
Isla
The last couple months have flown by, and we were able to finalize everything for Katie. We went on a massive shopping trip and let her buy anything she wanted. I’ve never seen a child so happy about getting her own stuff. Victoria’s case is looking a lot worse than we thought as new information keeps coming to light. It’s been almost eight weeks, and Katie has been doing wonderfully.
We have her in therapy, and it’s helped her come out of her shell a lot. Unfortunately, the abuse was a lot worse than we originally thought. I took her for a checkup the same day we signed court papers, and it showed years of improperly healed breaks and fractures. Her awful eczema is due to a really severe dairy allergy that has gone ignored for god knows how long. Poor thing took a good couple of weeks to get used to being around my grandmother and me. Since her mother was her abuser, she was warry of us.
She did amazing with the guys, and with their help and therapy multiple times a week, she has made substantial progress. We haven’t told her, or reminded the other kids, about the Disney World trip, so I’m currently working on packing their bags and getting everything ready to fly out first thing in the morning.
It’s Friday, and next week is the kids' spring break so we will be in Florida from Saturday to Friday. We plan on trying to spread everything out to make it easier on not only the kids but me as well since I’m twenty-seven weeks pregnant. Luckily, my doctor signed off on me being able to travel. Plus, I’m no longer seeing the maternal-fetal medicine since he felt no need for it anymore. The girls and I have been perfectly healthy the whole time.
All of the guys and my grandmother are out and about either finishing up at their jobs or getting last minute things we need for the trip. Vivian wanted to go with Maw-Maw, so I have the house to myself, which is wonderful while trying to make sure we have everything for all the kids.
Flying with four kids is going to be a lot, even for all the adults. I found a harness type seat that works just like a carseat, but is approved for planes and also car seat technician approved, so that makes things easier. It helps that my grandmother hired a Hummer limo to pick us up from the airport and bought the car seats for each kid, making sure they would be delivered to the car service company.
To surprise the kids with the fact we are leaving in the morning. When the older three get home from school, I have their suitcases packed and waiting on them. We had custom shirts made with their favorite Disney characters that say, ‘See you tomorrow!’ as well as stuffed animals and Mickey ears to match the shirts and the magic bands for everyone. I, of course, got shirts for all eight adults since Will is also coming on the trip. I am so freaking excited since I’ve never been to Disney, and I know this will be so much fun for the kids and something they will always remember.
We want to make as many good memories with Katie as we can since they are still looking for her biological father. They haven’t had any luck yet, and we truly hope he doesn’t turn up. We have all fallen in love with her sweet self, and she fits in so perfectly with our family.
I hear my phone start ringing under the pile of shit I was packing into Arden’s suitcase. When I finally find it and get it answered, I’m out of breath and I have to pee for the billionth time today.
“Hello?” I huff, doing my waddle-run to the bathroom.
“Hey, Babygirl, we are about to pick the kids up and grab dinner. We’ll be home in about forty-five minutes. Were you still wanting teriyaki chicken and a california roll?” Odin asks.
“Yeah, that’s—”Achoo. “Aw, fuck. That’s fine. I gotta go.” I try to end the call.
“What’s wrong? Are you okay?” he asks worriedly.
“Uh, I’m fine. I was trying to hurry to the bathroom when I sneezed. Let’s just say three full term births, six total pregnancies, and having twins on my bladder means I don’t have the best control. I need to change,” I grumble, pulling my leggings off when I make it to my bathroom.
I hear a strangled chuckle. “You peed yourself?” he asks, and I can hear the smile in his voice.
“Nope, I sneezed and shot the twins out,” I deadpan. “Yes, I peed myself. Now, bye, I need to jump in the shower and clean off,” I snap and hang up the phone.
By the time I get cleaned up, dressed, and mop up my mess from the floor, I barely have enough time to get the rest of the kids' stuff packed when they come walking through the door.
Everything is set up to surprise them in the dining room so they will see it before dinner. Odin walks in with a half smirk on his face, and I roll my eyes, trying to force the smile from my lips
He comes over, pulling me into a hug, “I love you even when you pee on yourself.”
“Oh? Not especially when I pee myself?” I pout, which makes him burst into a fit of laughter and the others look at me like I’ve completely lost my marbles.
When I catch Callum’s eye, there’s a glimmer there and I know the cogs are spinning, realizing he’s missing something and trying to figure out what.
I turn to face the kids who are busy taking their shoes off so they can walk on the carpet.
“Hey, kiddos, we have a big surprise for y’all. I want all of you to cover your eyes, and we will walk you to where it is, alright?” I let out a small laugh at the excited squeals.
After they put their hands over their eyes and we make sure none of them are peeking, we each take one of the kids by their shoulders and lead them into the dinning room. “So, we are going to count down from five. When we get to one, you can open your eyes.”
“Yes, ma’am!” Arden all but yells, and the others follow suit.
The guys, Maw-Maw, and I go to stand behind the suitcases so we can see their faces. Odin is also recording so we have this memory on camera.
