Author's Note
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Caleb 48 - Eleanor
We'd had quite a late night the previous night.
After dinner, which Ness and I had eaten together by the pool, we were joined by the rest of the family and our guests. We sat talking late into the evening.
Eventually Emma and Claire said that they had to go since they were flying home the next day. They insisted on taking my number so they could keep in touch and told me that if I were to ever go back to the UK, and was in the area, I should look them up.
Reggie and Donna also left at the same time, Reggie saying that he would walk the two girls back to their apartment and make sure they got back safe. Since he and Donna were staying until the following weekend I was sure that we would see them again, especially since Dean had given them permission to use our beach while we were there.
After they all left it was time for me to go to bed. I had been thinking about our sleeping situation, and I decided to simplify everything by taking the two double mattresses off the beds in the room where we had entertained the girls, stacking the bed frames against the wall, and placing the mattresses on the floor. It didn't feel much different there than when they were on the frames, so that would do. It was a far better solution than sleeping separately, although I did end up on the seam between the two mattresses for most of the night. The sacrifices I make...
I chose to run on the road the next morning, rather than the beach, and made it all the way into a small town, about five miles away, before turning back and returning to the villa, just as the rest of the family were getting up.
We ate a lazy breakfast around the pool.
"What are we doing today?" asked Mary.
"Maria Gonzales is supposed to be coming to see me," I said. "She said something about needing help with some Healing. I need to stay near the villa, but don't let me stop you from doing whatever you want to do. There is a little town about five miles in that direction," I indicated the direction I had run that morning, "although there didn't seem to be much there."
"I want to sunbathe," said Amanda. "I've walked my legs off for the last two weeks. I just want to work on my tan."
I looked at Mary, and she was looking at her sister and smiling fondly. "Beach then?" she asked, Amanda nodded.
"Jules?" I asked.
"Fine by me," she said. "I've got my book, I'm happy to chill with that, and maybe swim a bit later."
"Ness?"
"Boring," she said. "There has to be something else to do around here."
"Your daddy and I were going to go and have a walk around the city. Apparently, there's a bus you can catch just up the road that takes you into Barcelona in about thirty minutes. You could come with us?"
Ness smiled. "Sure," she said. "That sounds nice. Let's leave all the old folks to vegetate."
Jules snorted, "Brat," she said smiling at her sister.
"You mind if we tag along?" asked Josh, "We could look and see what else is going on too. I hear that there's a water park, a marina, and possibly a zoo. We could scout around and find stuff to do for the rest of the week."
Amanda looked horrified.
"I thought we were chillaxing on the beach," she complained. "Now you want us to do more walking?"
"It's your vacation," said Dean as he walked past the back of her chair. "You do what you want."
He leaned down and placed a kiss on the top of Amanda's head, as I'd seen him do so many times to both his girls.
Amanda squirmed in pleasure and looked up at him.
"Thanks Pops," she said, a suggestion of tears in her eyes.
Dean smiled at her fondly and then went and took a seat by Cheryl.
Once again, I felt a shift in their relationship. Somehow, I knew that the days of the twins sharing with Cheryl and Dean were over. They, it seems, had now achieved the status of adopted daughters. I felt that they, Amanda especially, would be both thrilled and disappointed by this change.
I looked at the Steadman daughters and gauge their reaction.
Both Ness and Jules were smiling. They both knew the hole that had been left in the twins' lives by the death of their parents. Dianna had done her best, and done well, but she could never fully replace what they had lost.
I had, on more than one occasion, seen both Mary and Amanda looking at Jules and Ness a little wistfully as they interacted with their parents. Now, it seemed, that they were being included in that family, and they liked the idea.
Ness went over to Amanda and, for the first time ever, climbed into her lap and hugged her. Amanda, a little surprised at the attention, looked down at the younger girl and then put her arms around her and pulled her into a tighter hug.
Mary, who was sitting on the other side of Amanda from me, was watching her sister and Ness, a tear in her eye, so she didn't notice Cheryl approach until she was enfolded from behind in a hug. She turned her head in time for Cheryl to whisper something in her ear. I saw unshed tears finally roll down her cheeks as well, as she turned around to be drawn into Cheryl's embrace.
"Well," said Jules, climbing into my lap, "it looks like we are true sister-wives now." She smiled at me.
I looked down at her. "Does it bother you?" I asked.
"No," she said. "I'm happy for them. My parents are awesome. I loved the fact that you seemed to have adopted them, and I love that the girls and they seemed to have now adopted each other. It couldn't be more perfect."
I pulled her to me, my face against the top of her head. I agreed, it couldn't be more perfect. If only I could have a similar relationship with my own parents, then things would be even better.