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The bath was rough, but once I had her in her favorite pajamas and read her favorite story three times, she was starting to fade and no matter what she did, sleep was going to win.

“I’m not going anywhere. I’ll be here all night, okay?”

Larison joined us and hugged Juniper before telling her “sweet dreams, sweet girl.”

I kissed Juniper’s forehead.

“Goodnight, Princess.”

“Love you,” she said sleepily.

“Love you too,” I said.

Larison and I left her room and without another word, we walked right into her bedroom and closed the door. Larison rested her back up against it and closed her eyes.

“I want to get naked with you so bad right now, but I am so tired. I refuse to fall asleep mid-coitus. Do you think we could just get in bed and hold each other?”

That sounded pretty perfect to me.

Stepping closer to her, I grabbed her waist and got up on my tiptoes to kiss her. “That is absolutely okay with me. Do you mind if I read a little bit?”

She rested her hands on my shoulders. “Not at all. Come on, let’s get ready for bed.”

We kept bumping into each other in the bathroom as we fought over the sink and brushed our teeth.

Tonight I didn’t have to wear Larison’s pajamas, but I almost wanted to pretend that I hadn’t brought them so I could wear her clothes again. They’d smelled like her. But at least I got to have her in bed, wrapped around me. I could spend all night with my nose buried in her gorgeous hair and wake up choking on it in the morning.

Had life ever been this good?

Juniper wokeus up the next morning, same as she had on Sunday. I still hadn’t been prepared and almost screamed when my eyes opened and saw those blue eyes blinking back at me.

“Good morning, Juniper,” I said once my heart had calmed down.

Larison lifted her head from the pillow and I didn’t even think before I leaned over and kissed her.

“Kiss me, kiss me!” Juniper yelled, jumping between us and almost giving both me and Larison concussions.

Larison and I stared at each other, but Juniper was just begging for kisses, so we both covered her face.

“Come here, you scamp. Let’s lay down for a minute,” Larison said and Juniper wiggled between us.

“So, you know how Jo has been staying with us,” Larison said, glancing at me. Oh. Were we doing this now? Why didn’t we ever talk about things like this beforehand?

“Uh huh,” Juniper said, playing with the edge of the blanket.

“Well, Jo and I are dating. Do you know what that means?”

“What’s dating?” Juniper asked.

“Dating means that your mama and I like each other and we want to spend a lot of time together. We’ll sleep in the same bedand share kisses. It means I’ll be here a lot more than when I’m just watching you when Mama is at work.”

Juniper looked up at me and I wanted to cry with how much I loved this kid. I really, really did.

“It means that Jo might become a part of our family,” Larison said and I gasped. We hadn’t talked aboutthat.

“You be in our family?” Juniper asked.

“Yeah, I guess I’m asking if it’s okay if I join your family?” I asked, my voice choking on a few words. I didn’t even bother to stop the tears this time.