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“What are we doing today?” Justin asked as he sat down on the edge of the bed. Sierra stepped out of the bathroom, with a towel wrapped around her, and he watched her walk over to her dresser.
“We are going to look at places for the wedding,” Sierra answered and pulled out clothes to wear for the day.
“Ugh,” he flopped back on the bed. “That’s no fun.”
“Well you’re going,” she walked back into the bathroom to get dressed.
“What about the kids?”
“Halley’s coming.”
“Halley?” He sounded confused.
“You met her the other night, Justin.” Sierra didn’t say anything else while she finished getting ready for the day. When she came back out of the bathroom, Justin was still lying on the bed. “Quit pouting. You are going to go and you’re going to have fun.”
“I don’t want to go. Why can’t Halley go with you and I can stay home with the kids.”
“Justin,” Sierra put her hands on her hips and stared down at him. “I want you to help me with this, not Halley, not your mother, not anyone else.”
“I don’t care,” he whined.
“Fine,” Sierra huffed, “we’ll get married behind the McDonald’s down the street.” She said and walked out of the room.
“Oh, come on, Sierra,” Justin yelled as he stood up. “Don’t be like that.” He followed her down the hallway and into the kitchen. “I didn’t mean it like that.” He watched her slam a cabinet door and walk over to the pantry.
“How can you not care, Justin?” Sierra slammed a box of cereal and a plastic bowl on the counter. “It’s our wedding day …”
“I didn’t mean it that way, and you know that,” he leaned against the counter.
“Sissy?” Cora stuck her head in the room.
“What?” Sierra turned around.
“Cameron’s crying,” Cora answered and disappeared out of the doorway.
“I want your help with things Justin. It’s like you moved me in here, just to take care of you, Olivia, and the house. You don’t do anything Justin,” Sierra started for the door, “and the one time I ask you for your help you whine about it.” She left the kitchen to go get Cameron.
Justin shook his head and walked over to the pantry to get out a different box of cereal. He fixed himself a bowl, and put out an extra bowl for when Olivia came into the kitchen. He sat down at the counter, and smiled at Olivia when she climbed up on the stool next to him.
“Morning sweetheart,” Justin said and put another spoonful of cereal in his mouth.
“Is Sierra gonna leave us?” Olivia asked quietly as she fixed a bowl of cereal for herself.
“What kind of question is that?” Justin asked surprised. “She’s not going anywhere honey, she’s just in a grouchy mood today.” He rubbed her back and left his hand there while they ate their cereal.
Sierra came back into the kitchen several minutes later, with Cameron resting on her hip and Cora following behind her. The five of them ate breakfast, with only the kids talking. Justin disappeared into the bedroom to get dressed, and Sierra picked up the kitchen.
The doorbell rang when Sierra was turning the TV on so Cameron could watch cartoons. She got him settled on the couch, and walked into the foyer to answer the door.
“Come on in,” Sierra smiled and pulled the door open farther for Halley to come in. “Thanks for coming.”
“Not a problem,” Halley smiled and took in her surroundings.
“Did you find it okay?”
“Uh-huh,” Halley nodded and set her purse down on the table in the entry.
“Let me show you around real quick,” Sierra said and then pointed to a door under the stairs. “There’s a bathroom there.”
“Morning Halley,” Justin said as he walked past the two and sat down on the couch next to Cameron.
“Hi,” Halley smiled at him and then looked at Sierra as she followed her into the kitchen. “Is everything okay?” She asked her quietly noticing the tension in the air.
“Nothing that we won’t work out,” Sierra flashed a tight smile. “There is juice and water in the fridge if they need something to drink. Glasses are in here, and there are crackers in the pantry for a snack. Cameron’s sippy cup is right here.” She picked up the plastic cup and set it back on the counter. “And there is stuff to make sandwiches for lunch and some chips in the pantry too.”
“Okay,” Halley nodded.
“Let’s go upstairs real fast,” Sierra took her up the stairs in the kitchen and showed her around there real fast. The girls were upstairs and Sierra introduced Halley to Olivia and Cora again, and then they went back downstairs. “Let’s go Justin.”
“Cameron,” Sierra picked up the little boy, disrupting him from his TV watching. “This is Halley, she was here the other day do you remember her?” Cameron nodded and smiled at Halley. “She’s going to stay with you while Justin and I go out. Okay?”
“K,” Cameron responded. Sierra kissed his head and set him back down on the couch.
“We should be back around 3:30 or 4,” Sierra said to Halley.
“Alright. You guys have a good time,” Halley smiled and followed Justin and Sierra into the kitchen. Sierra picked up her purse from the counter, and Justin grabbed his wallet and keys. They said ‘bye’ to the girls, who had come back downstairs, and then headed out into the garage.
“Can we talk about earlier?” Justin asked several minutes down the road. He looked over at her quickly, and reached to turn the radio down.
“Yeah,” Sierra nodded and looked over at him. “Sorry for getting so mad. I just want you to help me with it Justin. It’s your day too, and I want to know what you like and don’t like. Can you just do that for me?”
“Uh-huh,” Justin nodded and glanced over at her again. “I want you to be happy too, and I didn’t ask you to move in to do everything for me. And I’m sorry I made you feel that way.”
“I’m sorry I yelled at you,” Sierra smiled sincerely.
“Friends?” Justin asked with a grin. Sierra rolled her eyes, and leaned over to kiss his cheek while the car was stopped at a stop light.
“Justin …” Sierra’s eyes lit up when they walked inside a bed and breakfast later that day. It was their last stop, on Sierra’s list of places to visit. She was already holding onto his right hand, and reached over to grab onto his arm with the other.
“What?” He grinned at the look on her face.
“I love this,” Sierra looked around the entry.
“Hi,” an older woman walked into the room. “You must be Sierra and Justin, I’m Erin.”
“Yeah. Thanks for seeing us. This place is beautiful,” Sierra said.
“Let me show you around,” Erin said. “You had mentioned October 3rd, and you’re lucky because that date just opened up. We had someone cancel. All right the main spaces are downstairs, and upstairs we have five guestrooms.” She showed them upstairs and downstairs and then took them outside.
“Most of the ceremonies are done outside,” she said, “and some people will do it indoors too. Whatever the bride and groom want, we try to accommodate. How many people were you planning on inviting?”
“We haven’t even talked about that. I was thinking no more than 75, because I don’t know a whole lot of people.” Sierra answered and looked over at Justin who just shrugged. “And he’s no help.” Sierra smiled at Justin when she said this.
“I can keep it under that number,” he answered. His eyes traveled around the yard of the Bed and Breakfast, and then looked down at Sierra again.
“Well if you guys are interested at all, I am going to need you to put down a deposit to reserve the date.” Erin said.
“Okay,” Sierra said and looked at Justin. “What do you think?”
“How much?” Justin asked Erin. He could tell that Sierra really liked the place.
“One-thousand.,” Erin answered. “Let’s go inside and I’ll get the papers.” She led them back inside and left them at the dining room table, while she went into another room.
“Thank you,” Sierra said to Justin.
“I know you like it. So is this where you want to have the wedding?” He asked her and sat down at the table.
“Yeah,” Sierra nodded and sat down next to him. “It’s so pretty, and imagine it in the fall. The yard will be gorgeous.”
“Okay,” Erin came back into the room and set a piece of paper in front of them and a pen. “If you want to book it, I’ll need to know by the end of the month.”
“And if I know now, that I want to have it here?” Sierra asked.
“That’s fine too,” She smiled. “So we’ll have lots of things to talk about in the coming months.”
“Well what do we need to do?” Justin asked. Erin explained everything they needed them to do, and her standard procedures regarding weddings. They chatted with her for another hour, Justin wrote a check, and they headed home.
“Thank you for coming today,” Sierra said when they were in the car on their way home.
“Thank you for making me come,” Justin grinned and reached over and took her hand in his.
“Are you happy with the bed and breakfast?” Sierra asked.
“If you’re happy, I’m happy,” he smiled. “But you know what? I liked that place the best too.”
Sierra sat up and looked around the dark bedroom when she heard the ear piercing scream from upstairs. Justin didn’t even flinch when he jumped out of their bed and ran out of the room. He yelled “Olivia” as he went up the stairs.
She climbed out of bed when she heard Cameron crying from his room. Sierra headed up the stairs and checked on Cora first, who was still asleep, and then went into Cameron’s room. He was sitting up in his bed crying.
“Its okay baby,” Sierra picked him up and got him to calm down, before putting him back to bed.
When she went into Olivia’s room, Justin was sitting on her bed with Olivia curled up on his lap. Justin was rubbing her back and talking to her quietly.
“She okay?” She asked quietly.
“Yeah,” Justin nodded, “go back to bed. I’m going to stay up here a little longer.” Sierra smiled softly and then turned to leave. She went back downstairs and fell asleep before Justin came down.
When Sierra woke up the next morning, Justin wasn’t sleeping next to her. She went back up to Olivia’s room where Justin and Olivia were sound asleep in her bed. The little girl was still holding onto him tightly in her sleep, and Justin looked just as comfortable as she did. Sierra let them sleep, and went back downstairs to eat breakfast.
“What was her dream about?” Sierra asked Justin later that morning. The two of them were in their bedroom getting ready for the day. She was standing in the bathroom doorway and Justin sat on the bed.
“I don’t know,” Justin shrugged, “she doesn’t like to talk about them. Come here.” He patted the bed next to him. Sierra sat down next to him. “I never told you why she was put up for adoption, did I?”
Sierra shook her head no.
“Both of her parents were abusive, and I think in her dreams she remembers. I know she was really young, but I truly believe that.” He looked over at her and wiped his eyes. Sierra put an arm around his back and rubbed her hand up and down. “Olivia had an older brother and sister, and she wasn’t the one that was hit. But I can just see her, watching it with her little eyes.
“I don’t think she remembers exactly everything that happened, but it’s in the back of her mind. I think it causes her to have nightmares.” Justin explained.
“How often does she have them, since this is the first time I’ve been here for one,” Sierra asked.
“Maybe two or three times a year,” he shrugged.
She nodded, “do you ever wonder about her brother and sister?”
“Yeah, if I remember correctly he’d be … nineteen now and she would be seventeen.” Justin calculated it in his head.
“Does Olivia know that she has a brother and sister?”
“Yeah,” he nodded. “And she knows that if she ever wanted to meet them, I’d help her out with that. I’m sure they would like to know about their baby sister too, and if they ever wanted to meet her, I wouldn’t stop them, but it would be her decision.”
“You are a good Dad, Justin.” Sierra grabbed his hand and squeezed it.
“Am I?” He sounded unsure of himself as he asked this and looked over at her.
“Don’t doubt yourself sweetie,” Sierra bumped his shoulder with his. “You’ve done a wonderful job for seven years, and you have many more to go.”
“You know what?” He smiled.
“What?” She smiled too.
“I’m glad I have you with me for the rest of those years.” Justin turned his head so he could kiss her.
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