“I didn’t realize that you all grew up here.”

  “Most people don’t.” Norma smiled. “We don’t usually tell people that. Addison usually claims that we first met when I hired her.”

  Pausing, Norma took a deep breath to calm herself further.

  “I think she’d like it if you were with her.”

  “What’s that mean?”

  “It means that you did exactly what you thought you weren’t capable of. You used your gift, and there was no harm done. You found the memory, took it, gave it back without asking, and left. You are in control, and Addison is not. She needs you right now more than you need her.”

  Norma grinned when James nodded and stood.

  James drew in a deep breath and let it out with a huff. A large smile graced her features when she turned abruptly to Norma and pointed to the door.

  “I’m think I’m going to shower first, though.”

  “Probably a good idea, I believe those on the plane will be happier.”

  Norma followed suit, but moved back to the table where her book was laid out.

  “Oh, I’ll make the arrangements for you.”

  “Thank you.”

  #

  Seven hours later, James pulled into her drive, the sun already set, and Max sitting next to her in his truck. “You nervous?”

  “Of course, I’m nervous.” She smiled back at him. “It’s so good to see you. I wish you could stay longer tonight.”

  “You two need to talk.”

  James sighed, knowing that he was right. “Yup.”

  She leaned over, kissed his cheek, and made for the front door of her house with a small duffle in tow.

  “I can do this,” she whispered to herself before slipping her key in the lock.

  The house was eerily silent, the fridge buzzed, and the air was on, but those were the only sounds. Dropping her bag next to the door, James slipped her shoes off and padded into the room where she knew Lily would be sleeping.

  Checking in on the child was easy enough as the nightlight was shining in the corner and she could see the sleeping girl’s face. She stole inside, pressed a quick kiss to Lily’s head, and tucked the blanket up further around her body before exiting and making for her own room. Addison was sprawled across the bed. She was flat on her stomach, her legs on the far corner from her head, one hand was hanging off the edge of the mattress and the other was curved up under the pillow.

  Chuckling, James stripped down and shoved Addison’s legs to get her moving. The woman was a hard sleeper when she didn’t have to be a light one. Her body started to slide to one half of the bed, and James climbed in, taking a position on her side. She stared at Addison. It wouldn’t be long until she figured out that she was there. Sure enough, Addison flipped over and stared up with wide eyes at James.

  “Hey.”

  “Hi.”

  James smiled before leaning over and pressing her lips fully to Addison’s, lingering for as long as the other woman let her.

  “I’m sorry. I was being stupid. I wasn’t there for you. I’m here now.”

  “Good.”

  Addison pulled James down for another long embrace, her body slowly scooting closer until she was rested fully against her lover.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Morning came and Lily was snuggled between them in the bed. James was the second to wake up, and she smiled when she saw Lily’s dark eyes staring back at her with the huge grin on her face.

  “Jamsey, you came!”

  James pressed a finger to her lips before glancing at Addison who was still asleep. Sneaking out of the bed was quite a feat as the blankets were twisted in all sorts of ways. Untangling the child and herself took far longer than James would have liked, but eventually they made their way to the kitchen, and James started breakfast.

  Lily was talking animatedly about the past week. She mentioned how Max had taken her to the state fair that was in town and let her ride the big kid rides.

  Listening intently, James worked on scrambling the eggs and made toast. She was scooping the food onto the plate and stepping back to set the skillet on the stove top when she saw the cracked slate tile near her bare foot. Her toe had slipped over it and felt the uneven flooring. Licking her lips, she looked down and stared. There wasn’t any blood there, she was sure that there should have been with the gash she received at the back of her head. Glancing at Lily who was happily eating, she slipped the skillet on the stove and bent down to trace her fingers over the broken tile.

  She saw herself falling to the ground, felt the panic as it welled up from her stomach into her chest and her throat as she tried to get to her. Then she felt the effects of whatever the drug was in her own system. Taking a deep breath, James cleared her vision and stood. It was Addison’s memory that she’d seen. She was sure of it and even though the woman was safely asleep in her bed, she didn’t want to think about any of that. She should replace the tile and rid the house of any actual memory.

  She would do that today.

  Lily finished her breakfast quickly and went to watch the television. There were crayons and paper laid out on the coffee table, and she started to color in the pictures from a picture book that someone had bought her. James cleaned up their meal and straightened the house a bit before she decided to take Lily to the park. She needed to do something other than watch TV, and James really needed to get out of the house. Her fingers were itching to fix the tile, but there was no way she was going to do that before Addison woke. They left a quick note on the counter in case Addison roused from sleep, both signing their names, Lily’s with a smiley face.

  The note was still on the counter when they returned two hours later, completely untouched. James wrinkled her nose when she realized that Lily needed a bath. There had been water at the park, which James had been unaware of. It was a part of the playground that was only there in the summer, and there were many toys that made children wet and soaked through. Lily had made fast friends with three boys at the park and had proceeded to roll through the baseball field in a race of which roly-poly could go faster. Lily was completely drenched and muddy.

  Eating a quick lunch, James gave Lily what the child so fondly referred to as a “tubbie” before they moved back to the living room to draw. It was after one in the afternoon before Addison finally emerged from the bedroom. Her hair was tousled, her eyes were puffed, and her cheeks were red with sleep. She dropped onto the couch and pressed her face into James’ neck, leaning most of her weight on her lover before letting out a long sigh.

  “Morning.” James dropped a kiss on the warm head and waited for a reply. When she got none, she continued.

  “Want some coffee?”

  There was a nod.

  “You do realize that I’m going to have to move to make you coffee right?”

  Again another nod, but this time Addison looked up and smiled.

  “Good morning.”

  Addison gripped the front of James’ t-shirt and pulled her close so she could take her lips. James was caught unaware, but fell into the kiss as the warm body pressed against her relentlessly. The moment turned into seconds, which then turned into minutes, only to be broken by the sound of high pitched laughter, squealing, and clapping.

  Addison slipped away with a brilliant smile on her face while James blushed furiously. The red cheeked woman wiped her lips with a thumb and forefinger before breaking out in a full bodied laugh.

  “Well, I’m glad to see you enjoyed that.” She aimed her statement at Addison, but turned to the girl who still stared at them with glee written all over her face. “Want to help make Addy some coffee?”

  Lily nodded, and they found their way into the kitchen. James pulled over a chair so Lily could stand at the counter and be useful. She gave the girl the prefilled carafe and told her where to dump the water into the coffee maker. James used one hand to help guide and prevent spills. She also told Lily how many scoops of the grounds to dump into the filter before they could press the “on” button—which according to the child was the most exciting part about making coffee. As soon as the red light was on though, Lily became bored with the task and moved back to curl up in Addison’s lap.

  James was still puttering around the kitchen, putting away the chair, and making some toast for Addison who obviously needed to eat something, when she heard the sweet and quiet voice ask, “Addy, you and Jamsey are happy now, right?”

  “Yeah, honey bee, we’re happy.”

  James leaned over the island so she could see what was happening.

  Lily had the back of her head pressed against Addison’s chest and the woman was blindly threading her fingers through the still very wet hair.

  “Addy? You goin’ back to the big house, right?”

  “Yeah, I’m going back to the big house.”

  Finally, Addison looked down at Lily. She wasn’t one for hiding the truth from children and she certainly wasn’t one for placating them. Pressing a kiss into her hair, Addison waited for next question while Lily played with the thin metal chain of her necklace.

  “Are me and Jamsey goin’ too?”

  The child’s voice was apprehensive and tense as she waited for an answer. James could tell that Lily wanted to know, but she was fairly sure she wasn’t going to like the answer she received.

  “I don’t know.”

  Lily didn’t wait a beat before she asked her next question. “Are we a family?”

  The dark eyes whipped up to Addison’s face expectantly, this time knowing exactly what she was going to hear.

  “Of course we’re family. Even though it’s not by blood, we’re family of the heart.”

  Pursing her lips, Lily gave a slight tug on the chain around Addison’s neck before she questioned, “What’s blood?”

  Addison hummed before answering.

  “Even though I’m not your mommy and James isn’t your mommy, we are still family. Because we love each other.”

  Lily nodded. “Oh, okay! I get it.”

  James took the opportunity to slip around the counter and sit next to them on the couch, ignoring the toast that popped up behind her. She’d make new pieces later, this was far more important. Her move didn’t deter Lily from her persistent questioning, and before James could speak another one had already been issued.

  “Do you want to be my mommy?”

  Tears welled up in Addison’s eyes, and she looked to James begging to be rescued from having to answer that particular question.

  James’ quiet voice finally spoke up. “Do you want Addy to be your mommy?”

  Her heart was in her throat: what if she had made the wrong decision before she left? What if the girl didn’t want to be hers? She would be devastated, but if Lily wanted to be Addison’s, she wouldn’t deny her.

  Lily nodded vigorously before she stopped, her brows furrowed, and her eyes narrowed in contemplation. “Does that mean you can’t be my mommy, too?”

  “No, baby, we can both be your moms. If that’s what you want, that can be the way it is.”

  “That’s wha’ I want,” Lily still had a tone of trepidation in her voice, and she spoke slowly.

  Both women caught the hitch and waited to see if another question would be thrown at them.

  Addison was the one who asked first. “What is it, baby?” She cooed the words softly, hoping her tone did more work than her words.

  “How we be together if Addy goes to the big house and you don’?”

  The child’s mind was a wonder. James had been curious to see how long it would take her to get back to the first topic, and she was quite impressed with the circle that had been created.

  “Well, Lily,” James smiled and paused for a moment purposely building the tension. “We’re all going back to the big house.”

  Lily’s response was to scream and jump up and down gleefully while running around the house like a wild child. James laughed and grinned until she turned to look at Addison who was staring oddly at her. She probably should have told Addison before telling Lily, but this was the easiest way, and she succeeded in telling them simultaneously.

  Addison didn’t move. Her heart was in her throat, and her chest constricted with each breath she tried to take. Tears welled in her eyes, and she held them back as long as possible.

  “Are you serious?”

  James started out looking at Addison, but quickly averted her eyes to her hands, twisting in her lap.

  “Yeah. I’m going back. Norma not only put the adoption papers through before I left, but she offered me a position. Your old one, actually. And since you wanted to be there and not here, it was kind of a no brainer. So, I came here to get you and to sell my house.”

  James finally looked up from her speech to see Addison.

  “I hope you don’t mind that I didn’t talk to you first.”

  Anything else that she was going to say was cut off by Addison’s mouth.

  “I don’t mind at all.” Addison was smiling and kissed her lover once again before pulling away.

  “Great.” James gave a wry grin. “Now we just have to tell my parents.”

  They were interrupted by Lily who was holding herself and smiling, still bouncing her in her shoes.

  “I gotta potty.”

  “Then go potty.”

  Addison smiled and flapped her hands at the girl, shooing her away. Lily ran for the bathroom and Addison turned back to James just as the door slammed shut.

  They smiled at each other before James’ eyes took on a devilish glint. “Addison, where are my fish?”

  Addison grimaced, her green eyes closed, and she held air in her lungs. “They died.”

  “Oh, well, easier than finding someone to take them.”

  James shrugged it off before standing to get her coffee.

  “I should invite Max to dinner tonight. My mother loves him and it’ll be easier to tell them all at once that I’m moving.”

  “You are going to move into my room when we get back, right?” Addison hoped that framing it as a statement would make her sound more decisive.

  “I’ve already been in your room, for the past week.”

  “Oh.”

  James quirked a smile at her before handing the mug of coffee to Addison and leaning over the back of the couch while the second batch of toast cooked.

  “You do realize that with the adoption finalized we’re going to need to go shopping for kid stuff.”

  Nodding while she sipped at her coffee, Addison drank down the elixir of life. “You might have to do that. I’ve been exhausted lately.”

  “As you should be.”

  James bent farther over the cushions and pressed a sweet kiss to Addison’s lips. “I was thinking we could head back in a few days.”

  “You think you can have the house ready to go by then?”

  James hissed as she thought about how much work she had to do.

  “Maybe not, doesn’t mean I can’t try though.”

  James pushed back up after hearing the pop of the toaster; she glanced down the hallway for the child who she was beginning to think might have fallen in the toilet if she didn’t emerge soon.

  “You ready for yet another wonderful dinner at the Matthew’s House of Horrors?”

  #

  They were all seated around the large table in the Matthew’s dining room. Cameron had fussed, and fussed some more, over finally seeing James and then chided her for not telling them that she was back in town. It had been the first time she’d seen her daughter since before the kidnapping and the apologies that fell from the woman’s lips were grating on James’ nerves.

  “Mama, stop it.” The meal was mostly over, but James had enough. She was done.

  “But potato bug, I just wanted you to know that I didn’t mean any of what I said before. After thinking about what happened, before and then what happened after, you mean more to me than that. You mean more to me than anything. I should never have been so mad with you about dating Addison.”

  Cameron stuffed a forkful of mash potatoes into her mouth.

  James gritted her teeth and mumbled under her breath, “I would hope I meant more.”

  “And we have so much to learn about Addison now.”

  Cameron reached over and patted Addison’s hand before she retracted it to her own plate again. The brunette smiled, but James could see the tension in her neck and shoulders which made her smile. Her mother always did have a way with people and figuring the quickest method to unnerve them.

  Dinner passed by with many questions being thrown in Addison’s direction; luckily both James and Max had been able to thwart some of them. They were sitting outside on the back deck, drinking beer and wine when James felt a hand in hers and a gentle squeeze.

  Lily was in the yard playing croquet by herself. The tiny metal hoops had already been set up, and Lily balanced precariously on one foot as she wacked at the ball like a pro-golfer or baseball player trying to hit a low, curve ball. James shook her head when Lily missed and took out a tuft of grass; she turned her eyes to her mother’s.

  “I’m moving.”

  All conversation stopped. All excess noise ceased. Cameron set her wine glass onto the table between them and rested back in her chair. The moment stretched for a long time as every eye moved between Cameron and James and the stare-down going on across the table.

  Max was just about to speak, to ask for clarification when Cameron cut him off. Her voice was angry and firm. “No, you’re not.”

  “I don’t really think you get much of a say in this decision. So, yes, I am moving. And not only am I moving, but I’ll be gone by the end of next week.”

  “What on earth for? Why would you do something like this?”

  Cameron’s voice was raised, tears started in her eyes, and she sniffled back the wave of emotions that burst forth.

  Addison glanced out at Lily to make sure that she couldn’t hear, and James muttered under her breath, “Oh dear lord, here we go.” Taking a deep breath, she spoke louder. “Addison has cancer mom. She wants to be at home and with family for the duration of her treatment. I would very much like to be with her.”