Wildflowers |h.s|

forty seven

Devon

Living in the house with Harry and the girls has definitely been an adjustment, but not in a bad way. I was basically living here before the official move, so they were all used to having me in their space. Now it was just us getting used to my stuff being around, plus I have to constantly remind myself that I don't have the apartment anymore. But we're all just so happy to be under one roof.

The girls have been calling me mom a lot more often now that Harry and I are married and I'm around more. Hearing my name has become a rare occurrence among them, and I've even caught Harry calling me mom to the girls. Only he says mum.

Being around them so much, I've noticed that Annika sounds more American than Oakley does, which is really cute. Anni says mom and Oakley says mum or mumma, which is totally because of Harry. Oakley is the biggest daddy's girl in the world. She's also obsessed with me, but I don't even compare to her daddy.

Harry had to go into the shop for the day, even though it's a Saturday and he tries not to work full days on Saturdays. I told him to go, since I would be home with the girls and I could handle them. We're married now and the adoption is set in motion, so there was really no reason for him to say no.

We all had breakfast together as a family before Harry had to go, and we've just had a slow day since. I haven't bothered to change out of our pajamas, which the girls love since they get to be cozy all day long. We played in the playroom for most of the morning until Oakley had to go down for her nap.

Once Oak was asleep, Annika and I sat at the table to do a school project for her Kindergarten class. "Okay, petal, what is this assignment?" I ask. She specifically asked me to help her,but she didn't say what it was for.

"My teacher said we have to make leaves and put them on the tree, but that it has to have pictures of our family."

My heart sinks a bit. A family tree. She asked me to help her because she knows Jamie's still a sore spot for Harry. I do my best to not seem phased, and nod. "Okay, well why don't we work on making leaves out of construction paper, and we could talk about who goes on a family tree." I smile at her.

She nods and I go to get the construction paper from the playroom and some markers and scissors. Sitting down at the table with her again, I get started cutting out the leaves for her to decorate, "So, did you learn about families in school this week?" I ask, smiling.

She nods, "Yeah. We learned all about families."

"So who do you think goes on a family tree then, Annika?" I ask gently, smiling.

She thinks for a second before smiling. "Daddy!"

I nod, "Of course! Daddy goes on the family tree, who else?"

"Oakley! And Grandma! And Grandpa Des!"

We continue to talk about who goes on the family tree, and she names quite a lot of people. Aunt Gemma, Uncle Matt, their dog, all of Anne's cats, Mitch, her godmother Cristina. But notably, Jamie and her parents aren't named at all. I look over at her, smiling softly, "Anyone else you could think of? Or do we have everyone?"

She's quiet, looking at the leaf she's coloring in. "Can you go on the family tree?"

Maybe I'm just the ultimate baby when it comes to these kids, but everytime they include me into their family it just starts the waterworks. I nod slightly, "Yeah, I could go into the family tree if you'd like. Anyone else?"

She's quiet again, this time knowing what I'm asking. I keep cutting out leaves for her to glue onto the little tree trunk that's on the paper. "You know, even though she's not here, your mommy is still your mommy. You just can't see when she takes care of you." I don't look at her, since I know these conversations are hard to have and I don't want her to feel put on the spot.