Isabela looked past Kat to the house, and then the group of adults gathered in a cluster behind Kat—Lizzy with Sabrina, who was just past a year old, now, Braun beside her; Autumn with Seven, Teddy, and Zoe. Then, back up to Titus. “Who is everyone? Are they all your sisters or something?”
Titus laughed. “No, they’re…well, I guess sort of? They’re all Laurel’s friends.”
“Sisters works,” I said, looking around at everyone. “Sisters from different misters, and they’re your friends too, buster.” I looked down at Isabella. “Look at them as aunts and uncles.”
Isabela frowned thoughtfully. “I never had none of those.”
Kat booped her on the nose. “Well, honey, we’re gonna have a lot of fun.” She slung her purse around to rest it on her knee and rummaged in it, coming up with a full-size candy bar. “Let’s start by spoiling your dinner.”
Isabela looked at Titus and then me, then back to Kat. “I can have the whole thing?”
Titus just shrugged. “Go for it, kiddo. Chocolate solves a vast majority of problems, at least temporarily.”
“Let’s go pick out your room, huh?” I said, smiling my thanks at Kat.
We’d all known Kat had had a difficult childhood, but like most of us regarding our pasts, she’d been pretty sparse with the particulars. I’d known she’d grown up in the foster system, and that some of the places hadn’t been great, but I hadn’t ever gotten the story of how she’d been orphaned. Judging by the look in the eyes of everyone else, it didn’t seem like anyone else had known, either.
We all trooped in, Isabela happily devouring the candy bar and not really paying attention to much except the feet of the person in front of her.
The front door was a massive, arched piece of dark wood with black straps at the hinges, and a black wrought iron handle and lion’s head knocker—the exterior of the house was white stucco, the architecture firmly Spanish Mission style. Within, the floors were Spanish mosaic tile, blues and greens and yellows in swirling arabesque patterns. White walls and high white ceilings held up by thick dark beams. There was a study off the entrance and a full library on the opposite side, a wide staircase with dark steps and wrought iron spindles, and a handrail to match the steps; beyond the staircase, a short hallway with a powder room led to the open plan kitchen and living room. The entire back wall was glass, doors that accordioned open, to each corner creating an indoor-outdoor living space, with the outdoor being a secondary kitchen and dining room under a dark wood pergola wreathed in climbing flowers and ivy, providing shade. Beyond the outdoor living area, a rectangular infinity pool overlooking a magnificent view of the ocean, with the pool surrounded by carpet-like grass woven through with a path of round paver stones leading to a spreading oak tree with a park bench underneath it.
Isabela looked around, taking everything in with wide eyes, now holding on to the empty wrapper. “This is where I’m going to live?”
“We all will,” Titus said. “You, Laurel, and me.” He knelt in front of her. Held her gaze. “How does that sound?”
“It’s so big. And so fancy.”
Titus smiled, gentle and caring. “Does it seem like somewhere you could be at home?”
A little shrug. “I guess.”
“It’s pretty different from where you lived before, huh?”
A slow, shallow, slight nod. “That house where Ms. Mena brought me over, it was like that.”
Titus frowned. “You’d think for ten grand a month, she’d have been able to afford something nicer.” This was more to himself than to Isabela.
“Mommy told me you sent us a bunch of money every month, but she didn’t want to spend it, so she put it all in a account to save it for when I got older.” A pause, filled with sadness. “Sometimes, she would tell me she had too much month left at the end of the money, and she’d tell me she needed to borrow from me. She said it was my money, not hers.”
Titus sighed, standing up. “I’ll have to look into that. But I didn’t—”
I squeezed his hand. “Maybe we should talk to Mena about some of this. For right now, let’s go up and look at the bedrooms.”
Lizzy caught my attention. “So, we have enough stuff for, like, three houses, and I mean that very literally. So you’ll have enough to choose from so you can make this place look and feel amazing.” She looked around. “Quite a place.”
I was feeling very overwhelmed by everything, and thus emotional. “Thank you, Lizzy.”
She frowned at me playfully. “Hey now, Ice Queen. Don’t go getting all misty-eyed on me.”
I shoved at her. “I think the Ice Queen has thawed out. Or started to.” I breathed out slowly, shakily. “I’m just so thankful for you guys. I don’t know that I could do this without you.”
She pulled me into a hug—a rarity for us, since neither of us was typically affectionate with each other. “You don’t have to find out. We’re here. That little girl is going to get a lot of love.”
She gestured at Titus, who had taken Isabela by the hand and was leading her toward the staircase, asking her how she felt about rock music, and had she ever considered playing the drums. It was such an odd, touching sight—the tall, lean, tattooed, pierced rock star dressed in ripped blue jeans, and the slight little girl wearing a pink sundress and blue jelly sandals. Holding hands, her little face tilted way, way up to look at him, her little voice chattering, his deeper one growling answers.
Once they were upstairs, all the girls converged on me.
“How are you holding up?” Teddy asked. “That must have been quite a shock.”
I rolled a shoulder. “I don’t know that I’ve really processed it. It’s been a whirlwind couple of days.” I covered my face with both hands and let out a sigh, allowing myself to really feel the shock of the past couple days, now that I had a moment of safety with my girls. “I can’t believe he has a daughter. I can’t believe we’re moving. I love my house. I planned on living there forever. I was just starting to get used to the idea of being with him. And now this? It…it feels like it’s too much.”
Zoe and Autumn closed in for a double hug. “It is a lot,” Zoe said. “But you can do this.”
“You can,” Autumn agreed. “If I can get married, you can do this.”
“Am I, like, her stepmother?” I asked, to no one in particular. “What if I end up being the evil stepmother from Cinderella?”
Lizzy had Sabrina on her hip, the little girl babbling and cooing and chewing on a teething toy; I suddenly had Sabrina in my arms, the adorable little girl grinning at me and whacking me with the toy.
“Hey now,” I said, laughing as I warded off giggling blows of the teething toy, “no no, none of that.” To Lizzy, then. “Is this where you tell me that if you can get married and have a baby, I can do this?”
Lizzy nodded. “Sure is. But it looks to me like you are doing it. Nobody ever said it would be easy, because it won’t be. It’s a huge, complex, difficult, overwhelming situation. But you’re equal to the task, Laur. You have all of us as a support structure. And most importantly, you have that man up there at your side.”