The Foster Girls #4: Willow

Epilogue: Willow

Ten years later, Christmas Eve...

My eyes tried to follow all of the pandemonium and chaos in front of me as Christmas carols played softly in counterpoint to the noise and happy shrieking. Dante and Decker went blasting past me, Nerf guns firing at the eight or so children running after them and firing their Nerf guns, screaming in delight. In another corner of the common room, Rig and Dominic were the opposing goalies for the two teams armed with soft sticks and pucks. In the baby-safe portion of the room, Finland and Harper entertained the babies with the help of a couple of the older boys and girls.

Over in the kitchen, Finland's mother -- Mummu Leena to all twenty-seven of her grandchildren -- was in the process of making Joulutorttu, a Finnish pastry in the shape of a star and topped with some plum jam. Every year at Christmas, she made these with the children and since they all wanted to help make some, she had to make them in groups. Cries of Mummu, I need help were common and she had nothing but patience and laughter and kisses for the children. She is the only grandparent all of our children have, and I tend to get a bit choked up when I see how much she loves all of the children, not just Finland's.

Where Mummu was, Elizabeth wasn't too far away. Harper had her parents for many years; I remembered my mother clearly, and now Finland had her mother, but Bet never had a mother to love her for even a minute of her life. So, in her shy way, she started shadowing Leena, and it didn't take that wonderful woman long to figure out why, sensitive soul that she is. Every kiss on the cheek, every hug, every time she ran a hand over Elizabeth's head, you could see something unfurl and blossom in Bet. They also bonded over their love of cooking and baking and they kept the four industrial ovens going all the time when all of us were here.

And we're here as often as we can make it. This overgrown, crazy, busy extended family is what the four of us girls always craved, and our husbands made sure we had whatever we wanted. Long weekends, every major holiday, summer vacations -- we were together here. 

And here is the lake house we own. After we all started reproducing like fucking rabbits, as Decker said, he, Rig, Dante and Dominic bought three side-by-side plots of land on a private lake to make one enormous plot and proceeded to build a monster house with four wings and a humongous common room and kitchen. The men also had what seemed like the world's longest table commissioned that would hold up to forty people.

In the last ten years, we'd seen a lot of changes. Rig had retired from hockey and prospected for the Dragon's Inferno MC and once he became a full-fledged member, he led them in creating a foundation that brought hockey to foster children, boys and girls alike. My husband's corporation heavily funded the effort. The other three men had pressed Decker to join the Dragons, and after a few months, he couldn't resist and began prospecting. Of course, Decker being Decker, he negotiated the terms of his prospecting and wore them down from the usual year to seven months.

I still edited, but only for Finland's books. She wrote the occasional Cree Foster erotica book, but a few years ago, she'd launched a series about four foster girls and they'd turned the books into a TV series. The books were wildly popular and  were based on the stories Finnie used to spin for us all those years ago when we were four young girls who made our own family.

Elizabeth had quit coding and Harper had quit teaching, but together they collaborated on the coolest electronic learning games for children and they employed twenty people. Since they were consultants only, they had others to run the company for them.

One of our most important endeavors was a foundation underwritten by the Dragon's Inferno and Decker's corporation. We remembered what a struggle Harper had when she'd aged out of foster care, and we'd created Foster Futures, a non-profit to help 18-year-olds who have aged out of the system. Our foundation assisted them in setting up apartments, applying for scholarships for school, acquiring funding for job training and finding jobs.