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“You do realize that if you get married without your parents being there, they’ll be very upset with you; especially with what is going on with your mom.”

“We won’t tell them.” Cheryl moved her arms to wrap around Diana’s neck. “No matter how displeased they might feel about it, they’ve already accepted the fact that I’m not marrying anyone. I know they’ve figured it out. They might not want to admit it to themselves or talk to me about it, but they know that I love you and you love me. They have to know thatyouare my wife, the love of my life, and that Simon isn’t really George’s. He’s still their grandson, and they love him as much as they would if I’d given birth to him myself. I truly believe that. I don’t want to tell them that George and I got married because they might think it was for real when it’s not.”

“Okay. You’re right. We should do this.” Diana’s arms wrapped around Cheryl’s waist. “I’ll look at you and make my vows. We’ll go home, make Simon’s favorite meal, share it together, and after he’s asleep, we’ll make love, and I’ll tellyou over and over again how much I love you, how you have my whole heart, and how I will always,alwaysfind you.”

Cheryl smiled at her and asked, “Want to start a little early on the making love part? We still have about an hour before Lily is going to bring Simon back.”

Diana kissed her slowly then, cupping both of Cheryl’s cheeks as she moved them both back to the bed with the scratchy blanket.

An hour later, they were already dressed, and Cheryl was in the bathroom, putting on her earrings. Diana was reading the paper in the chair when there was a knock at the door.

“Mommy!” Simon rushed to Cheryl’s legs, wrapping his arms around them and nearly knocking her over.

“Well, hello there.”

“I might have given him a chocolate bar,” Lily said with an apologetic expression.

“Mommy!” Simon said loudly again before he moved from Cheryl to Diana, jumped into her lap, and wrapped his arms around Diana’s neck. “We saw all the animals. Aunt Lily took me around the whole zoo,” he shared excitedly.

“She did?” Diana wrapped her arms around their son.

Cheryl watched as her wife kissed their son’s forehead before she looked at Cheryl and gave her a smile. Yes, they’d take this step that they’d avoided for a while. It would protect all of them, and that was what mattered.

“Would you like to have dinner with us tonight? It’s our last night here. You should bring Sandy,” Cheryl said to Lily.

“I think… I’d rather let him have dinner with his moms,” Lily replied. “I had a great time with him today, though. Thank you both for this, letting me see him.”

“Of course,” she replied. “Anytime. You know that.” She reached for and squeezed Lily’s forearm.

“Maybe Sandy and I could come for a visit next year?”

“We’d love that.”

“Simon, say goodbye to your Aunt Lily,” Diana said.

“Goodbye, Aunt Lily. Thank you for taking me to the zoo.”

Lily smiled at him and replied, “You’re very welcome, sweet boy.”

“I’ll send you his next school photos,” Cheryl promised.

“Thank you. I’d love that. Now, I should go. Sandy is waiting for me to cry on her shoulder.” Lily sniffled. “It’s still hard to see him, but… you two are amazing parents. I’ll never be able to repay you.”

“You gave us the best gift in the world, Lily. You never have to repay us. We have to repayyou.”

“She’s right,” Diana echoed.

“Well, safe trip home,” Lily said.

Cheryl nodded, and Lily turned and walked down the hallway.

“Mom, can I have another chocolate bar?” Simon asked Cheryl.

“You can have a tickle,” Diana replied instead and began tickling their son, who giggled wildly.

CHAPTER 31

1975