True Love Forms

Twenty-Two

Emily's POV

That Nick guy keeps telling me not to tell mommy. I can't talk! And what are we not telling her? Adults are so confusing. And why is he carrying a colorful box. That would be fun to play with. I know the string on it is. But he doesn't want me to. Why?

Soon the Nick guy picks me up and walks me to a room he's been telling mommy to stay out of. There are a lot of pretty things. He set me on the chair and I try and reach the triangle thingies that are on the top of the room (I think mommy calls it a ceiling) but I can't reach! It's so annoying.

He picks me up and asks if I want to touch the banner and I look at him like he's crazy. I don't want to touch the banner, what ever that is. I want to touch the bright triangles.

"Here you go sweetie." He tells me letting my touch the triangle thingies. I guess there called a banner or maybe he said badder. I'm not sure.

He laughs and sits down on the floor, tickling me. I start giggling and he grins at me in a silly way.

I like Nick. Where's daddy though? And Nickol? Or whatever her name is. Mommy says she daddy's girlfriend, whatever that is.

Eventually Nick sets me down and I start playing with the thingy around my neck. Mommy says it protects me, whatever that means.

I watch as Nick puts up big round things with strings and smile. Then daddy and Nickol come in with Nick's mommy.

Nick's mommy left and daddy comes over, tickling my cheek. "Hey honey." He said before helping Nick and telling Nickol if she can watch me.

The girl is playing with me but Nick and daddy are talking. Is something wrong? What's going on? I want mommy. Or Nick. This girl doesn't know how to play. It's sad really.

So I started crying. Nick & daddy came over and I reached for Nick. He picked me up and I calmed down, grabbing his shirt.

"Shh Emily. Shh." He cooed and I slowly got tired. I yawned after a minute and closed my eyes. They were getting heavy.

Nick's POV

Emily closed her eyes and I continued to cradle her. "What did I do?" Nicole asks me.

Over the past couple weeks, tomorrow's Christmas Eve & Olivia's birthday, I've become friends with Nicole and Michael and so has Olivia. We all hang out a lot too. With Emily of course.

"What game we're you playing?" I ask. "Peek-a-boo." She said. "That's it. Emily doesn't like that game. She cries at it." I say and Nicole nodded.

"My bad." She said. "It's alright Nicole. You didn't know. I didn't either." Michael said.

"Where's Olivia anyways?" Nicole asked. "My aunt took her, Gracie, and Lorelei shopping. And let me tell you, Olivia did not look happy, but she went along with it for the girls." I chuckle.

I realize that Emily's fallen asleep and go to put her down for a nap. When I come back, I stop to look at everything that's been done.

A banner, presents on a table, balloons, streamers, and even a mini Christmas tree. I remember when Olivia told me what caused her to love Christmas so I thought that she'd like that.

I went over to the only other table in the room and help Michael put a table cloth on it.

This is where the cake, cookies, and hot chocolate is going. The party had a bit of a Christmas theme, since that's her favorite holiday and her birthday is on Christmas Eve.

"So what time do you need us here tomorrow?" Nicole asked as Michael & I adjusted the banner.

"How does eight work for you? 'Cause Olivia always wakes up at eight thirty so she'd know if it was any later and I'm sure you still want to spend a few hours of Christmas Eve with your families. And I'm sure Michael is looking forward to showing you off to his relatives at that party his family's party." I say and she scowled at me.

"Eight works." They chorus. "Great." I say as I get off the stepladder and Michael off a chair before he moved it back to where it had been.

My phone vibrates in my pocket and I pull it out to see that Aunt Alana had texted me.

We're on our way from the mall.

"Olivia's coming back!" I say. Luckily we had just finished decorating. "Okay." They said and I let them see Emily one last time before they had to leave.

It's good that Michael's getting involved with Emily's life.

They left and I went in to check on Emily. She was sleeping soundly.

I watch Emily sleep for a little while longer before her mom comes in the room.

"How was the mall?" I ask. She glared at me with a scowl and in one swift movement, I had pulled her into my arms and brought my face only inches from hers.

"No need to glare at me darling. It was just a question." I say before kissing her passionately. She kissed me back and I pulled her closer.

I brought my hand up and pulled her hair out of the ponytail. I pull away from her lips to see her hair fall around her face to frame it perfectly and enhance her natural beauty.

She looked at me confusedly and I lean towards her peonie pink lips. "I don't like your hair up. It makes you look way too strict." I whisper as I trace my thumb across her lips.

I stare at her beautiful eyes and her smile reaches her eyes, making them shine brightly. "I love you." She whispers. "I love you too." I whisper back before kissing her.

"So is Olivia a permanent guest or temporary?" Someone said and we broke apart to look. It was Carlo.

"I don't know. What do you say Olivia? Would you become a permanent guest here?" I say, holding her securely.

"It depends. If your family is okay with it, I'd love to be a permanent guest." She said and I mentally shouted with excitement.

"I'm sure they'd love for you to be a permanent guest, but I'll ask in a bit." I say before shoving a laughing Carlo out the room.

"He is so darn annoying." I grumble before walking back over to Olivia. I pulled her into my arms and kissed her. She kissed me back.

When Emily started crying, we both walked over to her. Olivia picked her up and started to sing a lullaby to her, swaying as she did.

I put my hand on Olivia's waist and the other hand on the back of Emily's little head. This right here feels so right. I know it's right.

Olivia and Emily. They're my family.