𝙍𝙚𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙣 𝙩𝙤 𝘿𝙚𝙧𝙫𝙞𝙙𝙞𝙭

|2| Finding a Family

EMARA

I wake up with a soft pressure on my arm. My eyes adjust to the room, and I look down at Jace. He is pressed up against my side, his head resting on my arm. He looks like a perfect little angel. I lift his head and try to scoot my body off the bed, pulling my arm from under him as I wriggled my way across the mattress.

Jace shifts in his sleep just as I slide the last bit of my hand from under his head. He sits up, wide awake. His eyes search the bed, looking around desperately.

"MOMMY?!" He catches me at the side of the bed and scrambles over to me quicker than I thought was possible, throwing his arms around my neck.

I run my hand down his back. "What do you mean? You want your mommy?" My thoughts turned sour as I imagined this child without his mother, knowing how much I miss my own. How will I even be able to find his parents? Thoughts race through my mind as I imagine how I could help him, but they come up short. I know nothing about him.

My hand runs down his back and pulls him away from my body so that I can look at him. "You want me to find your family?"

He shakes his head, staring attentively at me. "Mommy..."

My eyes widen, and I felt my heart grow soft. "You- You're calling me Mommy?" My throat tightens with emotion. I would take care of Jace till the end of my days, but this child deserves his mother and father.

He nods his head and leans in, grabbing my neck for another tight hug. My eyes watered a bit, letting myself imagine taking care of him.

This child doesn't know any better. If I were his mother, I would be terrified searching for my child. I rub his back soothingly, vowing to find his parents, or at least try.

But I was also secretly promising that I would take care of him if I couldn't.

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I walk to the girl's room. Jace grips my hand as he glances around like he is trying to take in every small detail. Bear let out a yawn, his jaws opening wide, displaying his teeth and tongue. The little boy squeezes my hand tighter as Bear comes up to him. The grip Jace has around my fingers relaxes as the big dog rubs his snout against his boy's belly. I smile and move to Lilly's side of the bed as Jace stays beside Bear, timidly reaching out to touch his fur.

Her eyes open slowly, and she smiles at me. "Morning," she yawns with a stretch of her arms.

"Morning!" I greet before I run my hand across Evey's forehead. "Hey, Ev." My voice is soft. "Time to wake up."

Evey pulls the blanket up to her eyes, groaning as she shakes her head. I chuckle a bit at the difference between the two girls' reactions to being woken up. They were both cheerful and sweet, but Evey is not a morning person.

I run my hand along the edge of the blanket deliberately. My hand comes to the middle, and I yank it, laughing at the small yelp she makes as she hides her head beneath the pillow. "Come on, silly! I'm going to make eggs!" She loves eggs, and I knew I won her over as she lifted the pillow up, peeking at me.

"Eggs..." she considers out loud. "And toast? With jelly!"

"Of course!"

Evey crawls out of her bed with a bit more energy than before. She walks to the closet and pulls out one of the little dresses she adored. She got dressed lazily, with a bit of grumbling, but soon she was ready to go.

Lilly stood by the door, waiting to walk downstairs, already dressed in a pair of her favorite jeans and an old shirt of mine.

I walk to the kitchen, set Jace on the counter next to me, and get breakfast ready. Lilly and Evey start their morning chores as well, beginning with opening the blinds and letting Bear outside so he can do his business. I toast the bread and then scramble the eggs. Lilly puts food for Bear in one bowl, and Evey pours some water in the other. The girls set the table just as I am finishing up. I pick Jace up off the counter, who had been watching me intently as I cooked, and put him in the chair next to mine.

I walk back over to the stove and grab the eggs and toast. Evey skips into the kitchen, snatching the jam next to the spices off the counter. We all ate; the girls munched on their toast as I tried to feed Jace some of the breakfast. "Did you get good sleep?"

"Mhmm!" Lilly says.

Evey nods to me with a small smile as she shoves the rest of the toast into her mouth, jam smearing the corners of her lips. Then she starts telling us all about her dream between bites of her eggs.

Lilly moves to grab her and Evey's empty plates once they are done while I finish feeding Jace. He likes the eggs; I notice with satisfaction.

"Hey, can you girls go get the dirty laundry? I am going to wash it soon."

"Yeppers!" Evey grabs Lilly's hand as she skips up the stairs, her energy bubbling in stark contrast to her groggy attitude from this morning.

I chuckle and moved to clean the dishes. A loud knock at the door interrupts me. My breath catches in my throat, and my stomach drops. I cautiously move to peek out the window by the front door. Fur brushes my leg, and I look down to see Bear, his sharp teeth on display as a deep rumble comes from his throat.