Page 165 of Shattered Souls

“Mommy! Look!” Aurora is standing in the doorway of one of the bedrooms, and Riley gasps when she steps up behind her. She peers into the perfect princess bedroom we have spent weeks setting up.

In fact, we’ve spent the better part of the last two months getting the house ready—upgrading it, painting, and making it a home fit for the five of us… and hopefully more one day.

“Look, Mommy, there’s a princess bed!”

The princess bed is a large, pink four-poster bed with gauzy drapes hanging above it. On the wall opposite, a castle resembling something from a Disney movie has been painted, along with unicorns and other girly things I recall from Aurora’s room at Lydia’s.

Mouth agape, Riley whirls toward us as Aurora moves to explore the room. “How?”

Crowding around the doorway, the three of us surround her.

“The townhouse is too tiny,” Grayson tells her. “Aurora needs her own proper room, and we need a bed big enough for the four of us.”

“Five for the mornings Aurora wakes early and climbs in with us,” Logan adds teasingly.

Tucking my finger beneath her chin, I direct her focus my way. “What do you think about making this place home, Ry?”

“Live out the rest of our days here,” Logan murmurs, ducking his head to run his nose up the column of her neck. “Watch Aurora grow up.”

“Give her a couple of siblings,” Grayson adds, stepping up behind her and wrapping his arms around her waist.

“So what do you say?” I encourage, when it seems all she’s capable of is gaping at us. “Wanna spend forever here with us?”

“I—” Gaze filled with love and shining with unshed emotion, she looks at each of us before her eyes fall on Aurora, who is playing peacefully with her new toys in her new room. “Yes.”