Happily Ever Addendum (26 page)

Tears flowed freely down my face as I
listened to the words spoken by other people on their behalf. I had wanted to
speak on Loreley’s behalf but I just couldn’t compose myself. Feeling
disappointed with myself, I hadn’t even noticed that Aidan wasn’t sitting next
to me any longer. It wasn’t until I heard his voice that I realized that he had
gone up to speak. I raised my head.

"Loreley wasn’t necessarily raised
to be ‘friends’ with my family. None the less, my wife took Loreley in when no
one else would, without question. Loreley was truly a great friend to my wife
and loved her very much. For that, I am thankful to her and proud to say that
my wife was her best friend."

Aidan sat back down next to me. I
immediately kissed him.

"Thank you." I whispered
against his lips. For the remainder of the service he wrapped his arm over my
shoulders and placed his hand on the active bundle of baby inside of me.

Another two weeks had passed and we
still had yet to hear anything about Loreley’s son. We had sent investigators
back to her aunt’s house, but there was no one there and, by the looks of it,
hadn’t been there for a while. I felt defeated, only find solace in the fact
that Gideon couldn’t get his hands on him anymore.

During a small family gathering, a
celebration for Elora and James who were were expecting their second child, Jay
interrupted an active conversation.

"Dixon will not be in there this
time." James chuckled. "Been there and done that, not
happening." Elora laughed and patted his leg.

"Excuse me, Mr. Iverson?"
Everyone turned to see Jay standing in the doorway.

"Come on in, Jay." Liam was
inviting him to sit with us.

"Thank you, sir, but I’m afraid we
have a visitor." Jay’s eyes shifted to me and then back to Aidan.

I stood up and headed toward the door,
Aidan quick on my heels.

"Who is it, Jay?" Aidan asked.

Stopping in the foyer in front of a
small plump gray haired woman, I smiled. Less than a second later, I noticed
the baby that she was holding. Taking a sharp intake of breath, I felt
realization consume me.

"Mrs. Iverson?" I nodded.
"I’m Beth. Loreley’s aunt." I nodded and felt the tears slip over my
cheeks. She turned to Aidan. "Mr. Iverson, I presume?" She nodded to
him.

"Y-yes…" I knew that he was as
focused as I was on the little boy in her arms.

"May I?" I breathed out and
motioned toward the boy. She nodded and handed him to me. Once he was in my
arms, I sunk to the floor, cradling him and crying. Aidan wrapped his arms
around us as he sat behind me.

"Oh, Aidan! It’s him…it’s Cole."
I cried out, relieved and happy.

I looked up to Loreley’s aunt.

"Thank you for letting us know that
he was okay." I sobbed out. "I was terrified that something
happened…" she cut me off with a couple of large envelopes.

Aidan reached up and took them. He stood
up and then helped me to stand while still holding Cole.

"She left these for you both. There
is also a letter for Cole…" she looked nervous, "I’ve been reading it
to him every night before bed." I watched tears slip down her face.

"You must be exhausted from
traveling. I’m so sorry!" I exclaimed. "Please come." I grabbed
her hand and pulled her with me to the living room.

Everyone turned when we walked in and
Aidan helped Beth to a seat.

Viola was on her feet and in front of me
immediately.

"Is this him?" She breathed
out. I nodded and heard Elora and Anne both gasp.

"But…how..?"

"Loreley left instructions for me,
if something were to happen to her." Beth said in a thick German accent
and wiped her face. Liam immediately handed her a white handkerchief from his
pocket. "Thank you." She whispered.

Viola took Cole into her arms and
snuggled him while Aidan and I sat with Beth. She told us about the first
moment that a very pregnant Loreley arrived home and then the last night she
saw her. She had woken up to a note and a lot of envelopes. Cole was in the
large bed next to her but Loreley was gone.

She had wanted to be at the funeral, but
was afraid that someone may try to take Cole. So she opted to go on vacation
for a while before coming here.

Aidan started to pull out the documents within
the envelopes. All of the documentation necessary for Cole was enclosed, along
with an envelope addressed to me. I opened it, finding Lorely’s perfect script.

Dearest friend,

If you are receiving this letter then it
means that things went the way I feared they would. Please, never let him
forget how much I loved and still love him. He will forever be the best thing
that ever happened to me.

I want you to take care of my beautiful boy,
Lilli. I am sorry to ask so much of you, but I know that you will love him as
if he were your own. You are the kindest and most caring person that I have
ever had in my life. For that, I thank you!

Loreley

Included with the letter was legal
documentation giving Aidan and I custody of Cole. Loreley’s death meant that we
were legally Cole’s parents. I sat open mouthed, words a thing of the past.

"It’s what she wanted." I felt
Beth’s hand lightly touch mine.

I looked up at her. "What about
you? Won’t you miss him?"

She nodded and sniffed.

"Of course, but he belongs
here." She half smiled. "Look…" she motioned her head and we
looked over to where Cole was sitting on Viola’s lap and grabbing Liam’s
fingers, "this is his family and he needs it. I’m honored that you will be
a part of his life and clearly Loreley believes that you should be his
mother."

We immediately set up a playpen in the
twin’s room for Cole. Once he was fast asleep, we placed him in there with
them. We made Beth comfortable in a guest room after we convinced her to stay
the night. I had intentions of convincing her to stay with us, but one step at
a time.

Aidan and I stood in the doorway of the
twin’s room, which now also held our newest son, Cole. Aidan’s arms were around
me and his hands were resting on my round bump. My hands were on his.

"Are you sure you are okay with all
of this?" He sounded worried.

I nodded. "The only thing that
could make this better is if Loreley were still alive."

He kissed me between my neck and
shoulder. "I love you, Lillian Iverson."

Beth wouldn’t accept my offer to stay
with us, insisting that she had a house she need to get back to and take care
of. I was able to convince her to stay for a week, however, to help Cole get adjusted
to living in our home.

The twins were fascinated with Cole. He
would sit on the floor in their large room playing and they would watch him
carefully. Cole was only crawling, so when he would crawl around the twins
would follow behind him and hand him things that he was reaching for. With a
large smile he would accept the toy from them.

Livy was already very mothering to him. If
he would cry she was right there to hug him or hand him his pacifier. If
neither of those worked, she would yell for ‘Imbly’, the twin’s version of Kimberly’s
name, or for me.

Just as he had for Livy, Walsh became Cole’s
protector. He guarded both of them like he was in charge of keeping them safe. When
Cole would reach for something that wasn’t allowed, he would look at him sharply
but kindly and say ‘no, no’.

The three of them were quite a little
trio to watch. Now, I had to start thinking about the fourth child that would
be arriving in a couple of months. I struggled on deciding whether or not we
should keep Cole in the same room with the twins, separate him with the new
baby, or put him in a room by himself. I wasn’t sure which option would be best.

The new baby would be waking up during
the night and the other children no longer did. Since Cole was already familiar
with his new crib, room, and the twins being there, perhaps the best option
would be to separate the new baby into its own room and leave the three in the
nursery together.

Then there was the discussion that I
needed to have with Kimberly. I wanted to hire a second person to help her with
the children, even if it were just a part time position. I knew she would try
to argue that she could handle it, but we had not planned on four children
under the age of five in the house at one time.

"Kimberly, you have been our savior
with the twins and Cole. I just…I don’t want you to become overwhelmed. That
being said, I feel that we should hire another person to assist you with the
children." I looked at her nervously.

"Lilli, I can handle those babies.
Don’t worry about me." She waved off my concern.

"I have to worry about it, you will
have four young children to deal with." I sighed. "I can’t expect you
to take care of them all daily without any assistance. I’ve already placed a
call to the agency and would like for you to meet the applicants with me.
Please?"

She nodded and smiled. "I would
gladly meet with them, but I still think that…"

I cut her off. "You have your own
child to worry about, as well. I really think that some help is
necessary." I patted her knee.

We concluded our conversation and headed
to check on the children, who should have been waking from their naps.

Hours later, I was resting in bed. Being
almost eight months pregnant had me exhausted by three o’clock each day. I lay
in bed thinking about Aidan, the twins, Loreley, Gideon, Cole, and the new
little one that had yet to make his or her appearance into our world.

Rubbing my stomach, I thought back on
the day that I found out that I was pregnant. I knew that I had felt tired and
nauseated, but my birth control shot was only a month passed its renewal
appointment. I was sure that it would take a couple of months to conceive like
the doctor had said it would. We had expected months of ‘practicing’, my body
decided differently.

I was about two months late when I
realized all of my symptoms. Since my doctor had told me that my periods would
become slightly erratic until it found a natural rhythm, I didn’t think
anything of it, at first. Once I started putting two and two together, I called
the office and made an appointment for blood work.

Of course I had kept Aidan in the loop
about it all, but that didn’t mean I was any less surprised when he showed up
in late afternoon from work with a plastic white bag.

"Hey." I smiled as I put my
book down.

Aidan walked to me quickly and kissed me
passionately. When he pulled back there was a large smile on his face.

"I missed you, too." I
giggled.

"Here." He handed me a large
bottle of water.

"Um…thanks?" I said, confused.

Then he shoved the white plastic bag
into my lap. "What in the world is in..?" I opened the bag and
couldn’t finish my sentence.

"I couldn’t wait." I looked up
to his bright white teeth gleaming from behind his lips as he opened the bottle
of water.

"Aidan, my appointment is in two
days. You couldn’t wait—?"

He was already shaking his head.
"No, so get to the bathroom." He reached into the bag and pulled out
one pregnancy test box.

"How many did you buy?" I
laughed.

"There were so many." He
chuckled. "I just grabbed the five most expensive." He shrugged.

"Okay, well this one." I held
up the box, "is an ovulation test kit, so we don’t need that one." I
laughed.

"You have four tests now, get to
it." He pulled me to stand up off the lounge chair.

"These are all double packs" I
looked at him like he was insane. "I am not taking eight tests." I
headed toward the bathroom.

"You’ll take as many as you can pee
on!" He laughed out as he caught up to me.

"Are you going to watch?" I
asked sarcastically.

"If you’d let me—"

"Ewww! No!" I shut bathroom
door in his face and heard him laugh.

"Hurry up!"

"Quit pressuring me or I won’t be
able to!" I shouted back as I began the first test.

After opening the door, he shoved in
three more opened tests and the bottle of water. I laughed at him. "You’re
such a loser."

"But you love this loser!" He
shouted back as I finished the other three tests. "And…"

I opened the bathroom door and looked at
him, waiting for him to finish. "And, what?"

"And, you are having my baby!"
He practically shouted and jumped with his fist in the air.

"Seriously, did you just fist pump
the air?" I laughed and leaned against the doorframe for support.

He grabbed me around my waist and lifted
me up off my feet, spinning us in a circle.

"I love you, Lillian Iverson, so
fucking much!"

"Aidan, I’m going to puke if you
don’t stop spinning." I covered my mouth.