Just as much as they were Rip’s.
And we were going to be the constant that they needed.
One Rip and Monica had never had growing up so fast after their parents died.
I cracked open the door to Rip’s room and said, “I got scared, so Uncle Rip said I could sleep in his room.”
“Cool!” Ben shoved his way in. “I wanna sleep in Uncle Rip’s room.”
He sped past me. Thank God Rip was fast, and he intercepted little Ben before he could jump onto the bed of fornication.
“Let’s find your sister and we can go into the big bed together, sound good?” He winked at me, then sauntered sexily by.
I fanned my face and followed after him. Viera was still in the hallway, Bugsy tucked under her arm. She seemed to be staring into the shadows.
“What are you looking at, honey?” I asked, kneeling down next to her.
“Mom and Dad.” She sighed. “They’re angels now.”
“Oh, are they?”
“Yeah, Dad said so.”
I tried to keep my expression impassive when really I wanted to burst into tears. Was she really praying to her mom? Talking to her like I encouraged them to? It was almost too much to see the emotion on Viera’s face and the pure confidence that what she said was reality. “Then it must be true.”
“Ben don’t believe me.” Her lower lip trembled.
Ben let out a dramatic sigh. “I didn’t say that!”
“Why don’t we all try getting back to sleep and we can talk about it in the morning?” Rip intervened, and I released a relieved sigh.
Viera yawned while Ben just nodded as we all stumbled to the master bedroom and crawled into bed.
Rip flicked the lights off.
Within minutes the air was full of the kids’ heavy breathing, but I was wide awake still—staring up at the ceiling.
Missing them. Monica and Brooks.
Wishing I could thank them for knowing me and Rip better than we knew ourselves and hoping to God they were looking down and giving each other a high five for being so wise and bossy.
Rip grabbed my hand and held it against his chest as we moved to cuddle, but the real kind, not the sex kind—we’re not monsters.
“New normal,” he whispered.
“New normal,” I agreed.