Prevailing Love

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"Kelly, do you have homework that you need to do?" I ask. "Don't tell me that you don't if you really do have homework, because I'll know if you are telling me a phony story."

"How would you know?" Kelly quickly asks back with a smile.

"Daddy knows everything is how."

"No, Mommy knows everything," Cooper argues, throwing his two cents into the conversation.

I smile while maneuvering the key for the cliff house into the lock, along with two pizzas in my hand. "You are right on that one bud."

The door flies open and the kids go bouncing in, leaving their backpacks and sweatshirts at the door.

"Guys, don't get too comfortable we are having dinner in a few minutes. And Kelly, you never answered me, do you have any homework?"

"Yes," she finally relents from the other room. "I just have to do some reading and study my new spelling words for my test on Friday. Mrs. Kush was out sick today."

I open her backpack to just verify what Kelly claims before replying to her. "Okay, we can do it before bed, after Beth gets here."

I shake my head at the words that just came out of my mouth realizing my error, because I know once Beth gets here for the night, there will be no hope in practicing her spelling words. I might be able to get her to read if I make it a family project, but I think the ship might have sailed.

"Are we going to wait for Beth to get here to eat?" Kelly asks. "I want to wait for Beth to eat."

"I'll text Hope and find out when she is bringing Beth over to see if we should wait to eat. I don't want the pizza to get cold."

Just as I start typing out a text message to Hope, I hear a car door slam outside.

"I think Beth is here," Kelly says almost jumping up and down.

Kelly and Beth are very close to each other, especially since they are so close in age. They aren't only sisters, but they are each other's best friends. When they are together, they are joined at the hip. If you see one, the other one is close by. It warms my heart a great deal that despite the family dynamics and all that has happened since the both of them were born that they are such great friends. Kelly has asked both Steffy and I numerous amount of times why Beth doesn't live with us and when will she get to live with us.

Kelly and Beth do not know the history between all of us, and I hope that they never find out, but I know that it will be wishful thinking on my part for them to never find out the torrid history. For now, when Beth is here we shield them all from anything that might even relate to the history between Steffy, Hope and myself.

Steffy once again has always blown me away, with her compassion, understanding, and support when it comes to Beth and my relationship with Hope. To Steffy it's never been my family with Hope it's always been 'our family'. She's never treated Beth any different than then she's treated Kelly and Cooper. She's welcomed Beth and even Hope to some extent into our lives.

Steffy has impressed me with her ability to bend, accept, and even open our home to Hope. Steffy knows how Hope feels about me, even after all this time, and the subtle hints even to this day that Hope drops, but Steffy never wavers her feelings towards Hope. She lets Hope do and say whatever, because Steffy is confident in my love her and she knows and trusts me, finally after all these years that I won't leave her or change my mind and go back to Hope. She knows where my heart lies.