Epilogue
Two years later…
“Daddy!” I heard Liza’s giggles all the way from the kitchen.
When I stepped into the living room, I found Aaron tickling Liza, who was pouring out uncontrollable giggles.
I smiled at the pair, but pulled Aaron away.
“Leave her alone,” I told him, so that Liza would catch a break.
“What? She likes it,” Aaron said, with a goofy grin planted on his face.
I leaned down towards him and pecked his cheek, before taking a seat on a different couch. Aaron tried to sit me on his lap, but I swerved his arms because he could catch me.
“Aww… Lizzy, mommy doesn’t want to sit with daddy,” Aaron told Liza. He was pouting his lower lip, and crossing his arms.
“Mommy, sit with daddy!” Liza said, looking at me with a small frown, probably confused because I didn’t want to sit with Aaron.
She was still out of breath and her chubby little cheeks were tinted in a nice shade of pink. Even with that, she was looking at Aaron and me expectantly.
“Then I’ll just tickle you some more,” Aaron told Liza.
“More tickles!” Liza yelled excitedly.
“See, she likes it,” Aaron told me, before going back to tickling her.
“Come on, quit it you two. Lizzy, you have to go get ready. You’re going over to grandma’s house tonight,” I reminded her.
“Grandma’s!” Liza cheered, actually sounding enthusiastic.
Sometimes I wished I was as excited as she was whenever we went to visit Sofia. I had to admit that ever since Lizzy came along, the visits to Aaron’s house were so much better.
Sofia and Michael had really warmed up to Lizzy. It was already two years since Liza had moved in with Aaron and me, and things were going better than I’d been expecting.
“Oh, right, grandma’s,” Aaron said, nodding his head and looking at me suggestively.
“That sounded so wrong,” I told him, and laughed when Aaron went all red.
“I was talking about what we’re going to do when Lizzy’s out with grandma!” Aaron said, throwing a pillow at me.
Liza looked between Aaron and me, probably not understanding what we were going on about.
“Go change,” I told her, nodding towards her room, which used to be Aaron’s game room.
We were still in Aaron’s apartment, but just a few months shy from moving to a house, which Liza had been crazy about. She wanted a puppy for some reason. I wasn’t thrilled with the idea, but Aaron was trying to warm me up in agreeing to it.
Liza was almost four when I was finally able to adopt her. Those had been hard and hectic times for Aaron and me. Liza’s social worker had been reluctant with letting me take her.
I was only eighteen at the time, I didn’t have a job, and I was enrolled full time in University. Lizzy’s social worker thought I wouldn’t make a good candidate for adoption.
Nothing had changed from two years ago. I was still a student now, and I was still jobless. The only reason I had been granted custody of Liza was thanks to Aaron.
