Life

Epilogue: 365 days with Olivia

Epilogue: Did I intend for this chapter to be this long? No. Do I regret it? No. Buckle up kids, this is 18.000+ words... Take a bathroom break, get some snacks and drinks before you start reading, it's gonna take ya a while.

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Day 1

Olivia came on a Wednesday, at 3 o'clock. The whole family was home waiting for her, Jennie having picked up Hanna, Lea, and Ava early from kindergarten while Rosie got their house ready.

"She's here!" Jennie called out as she saw a familiar car pull into their driveway. Olivia had never been to their house before, they'd always met in public, or at the caseworker's office, and Jennie was really anxious about whether or not Olivia would like it.

"I'll get the door," Rosie hurried over, removing invisible dust off her skirt before opening the door just as Olivia and their caseworker came to the door. "Hi Olivia, welcome to your new home."

"Hi." Even though she'd met her new family many times, and they'd gotten along well, she was still shy. Suddenly she was at their house, and it was a lot bigger than any house she'd ever visited before, which scared her a little bit.

"Come on in, we've been waiting for you."

"Thank you again for doing this, I know she's going to love it here," their caseworker entered their house, Olivia's suitcase in tow.

"I really hope so, we're going to try our hardest."

"Olivia, sweetie, I'm going to go now, is that ok?" she sat down in front of Olivia, taking her hand as she stroked her hair.

Olivia looked at her with big, blue eyes, slowly nodding. "Okay. When will you come pick me up again?"

The thought of ever losing Olivia was heartbreaking to both Jennie and Rosie, so Rosie crouched down in front of Olivia as well, trying to reassure her that this was her forever home.

"I won't come to pick you up ever again, I will only come to visit you. This is your home now; Jennie and Rosie are going to take care of you from now on."

"We're going to take care of you, and we're going to love you so much, cutie. I promise you won't have to go live with anyone else ever again, is that ok?"

"Really?"

"Really. You like the sound of that?"

Olivia nodded slowly once again, her big eyes staring at Rosie now. "Do I have my own bedroom?"

"You sure do. We decorated it just for you. Do you wanna go see it?" Rosie asked, holding her hand out for Olivia to take.

"Okay." It took her a heartbeat, but then Olivia took Rosie's hand, the two parents sharing a huge smile at the small victory. They'd taken the classes; they knew fostering to adopt could be rough. Olivia was young, but that didn't mean she hadn't gone through something major that was bound to affect her life. She'd lost her mom, and was receiving therapy for that, and it wasn't unusual for any foster kids to act out.

"Say bye bye, then we can go have a look."

"Bye 'Cia," she gave her a hug, Patricia had been her caseworker since her mother had died, and Olivia had gotten along really well with her.

Once the door was closed again, and they were suddenly alone, Hanna watching Olivia closely. She was excited to have a little sister she could actually play with. She loved the twins, but they still weren't that much fun to play with.

"I know you've met us before, but we're gonna introduce everyone anyways." Jennie smiled her mom smile, that comforting, warm smile that made you feel at home, made you feel loved. "I'm Jennie, and you can call me that, or mom, mommy, auntie, Nini, or anything else you want. This is my wife, Roseanne. I call her Rosie, but she also likes to be called mom or mommy."