Evermore

𝑭𝒊𝒇𝒕𝒚 𝒔𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏

So, it all went quickly, both me and Natalie really dove into the kids thing but I don't regret it in the slightest. I really don't, the adoption was official eleven months ago now and Natalie cried—I did too, of course, but Natalie did. That means something—it means a lot, Connor just laughed at her while also crying. Leslie didn't really understand but she began laughing anyway.

Connor is very like Natalie, she's more on the quiet side and it takes awhile to get through to her and gain her trust. She's good, she's well behaved and she has a good sense of humour. She loves everything got to do with crime—not her doing crime herself but more like detective kind of stuff, she wants to be one and she's constantly watching documentaries and doing all this research—true crime podcasts too, she loves those. She loves horror movies too—her and Natalie keep forcing me to watch scary movies after the younger two go to sleep. I've woken up Charlotte in the past because I screamed and the both of them just laughed at me.

Connor often sits with us in the living room, on the weekends me and Natalie will have a glass or two of wine while watching a movie—Natalie keeps slipping Connor some wine and I kill her for it. They both love teaming up against me. They find my misery funny—I mean seriously, who enjoys scary movies? Why? They just make me shaky and half of the time I get nightmares after watching them.

Now Leslie, a chaotic six year old. She absolutely adores me. I'm definitely her favourite Mom, she loves Natalie too, of course but she always wants to match with me. She's very clingy to me and I don't mind it, I cut my hair again because it felt more like me and she wanted her hair cut too. She also wanted to go blonde but she has beautiful red hair so I did say no, not until she gets older.

In the past, she has taken some of Connor's makeup to cover up her freckles so she could look more like me but it lead to a family meeting...I'm not good at those because I get a little carried away and hop from different topics and end up saying unrelated things. In this case, I ended up telling Leslie it's okay to like girls—she got confused so I let Natalie take over.

Leslie loves everything girly, she's exactly like me while Connor is very much a tomboy. She never wants to match with me and Leslie. I can convince Natalie sometimes but she gets weird about it. For now, Leslie wants to grow up and become a princess.

The blanket gets lifted and the two little girls sneak beneath the blanket, Natalie shushes them quickly as they giggle.

"Sh, don't wake Mimi up." Natalie whispers to Charlotte and Leslie. The Mom thing got confusing so I'm "Mimi" and Natalie's "Mom". It was easier for everyone. Charlotte calls us both "mama" for now.

"I want Mimi cuddles." Leslie speaks and I reach for her, pulling her closer and quickly tickling her sides making her squeal loudly.

"Ahh! Mommy help!" Leslie squirms and Charlotte also begins squealing, most likely jumping to Natalie for help.

"I told you not to wake her, princess. She's not a morning person." Natalie laughs and I begin kissing Leslie's cheek.

"Yes I am! Good morning, my beautiful, beautiful girls." I push the blanket down, seeing little Charlotte cuddled up to Natalie, I laugh a little at her messy blonde pigtails.

"Can you guys keep it down? It's seven am?" The door creaks open and I look back over my shoulder to see Connor in the door frame.

"Come here." I tell her and her dark blue eyes shift from me to Natalie as she drops her shoulders, looking very sleepy.

"No thanks."