Elijah

I could tell that Ava had had a bad day as soon as she walked through the front door. I was in the process of laying out the last of our dinner on a plate as she dropped her purse, kicked off her shoes, and joined me in the kitchen. Before she even kissed me, she went straight to the cupboard for a glass, but I held up the wine bottle and pointed at the already-waiting-for-her glass on the table.
“Thank you,” she said, stopping momentarily on her way back across the kitchen to kiss me. The contact didn’t linger, and I felt a hint of worry tug at me as I watched Ava sit down wearily at the table, coddling the glass between two hands.
“Baby,” I said, grabbing up both of the plates and following her into the dining area. I set hers down and sat down next to her with my own. “Is everything alright?”
Ava smiled a forced smile and began to pick at her plate, not seeming interested in whatever wasn’t on her mind.
“Thank you for dinner,” she murmured. “It’s beautiful.”
“It’s shrimp Alfredo,” I told her. “It wasn’t hard. I had Malcolm find me a recipe.”
She chuckled and focused once more on her glass of wine instead, swirling it around absentmindedly. I pushed my dinner plate to the side and took her hands in mine, squeezing them.
“Did your first day back at work not go as well as you hoped?”
She chuckled dryly but kept a hold of me. “It’s just Katie,” she said, and I scoffed. I barely knew the woman, but it wasn’t a secret how she was. “She’s being a bitch, as usual.”
“Jealousy?” I asked, and Ava shrugged one shoulder.
“Dunno. Don’t care. But I feel like she resents me to the point of making sure Sara is sent away.”
“Sent away?” I repeated. “What do you mean, sweetheart?”
“She wants to be adopted.” Ava rose to her feet and went back into the kitchen, emerging with the wine bottle a moment later. She topped off her glass and plopped back down in the chair.
“Adopted? That sounds wonderful,” I said earnestly. Why would a child not want to be adopted by a loving family before turning eighteen?
“Is it wonderful,” Ava said.
“Then what’s the problem?”
She sighed and leaned back in the chair, rubbing her temples. “When our teens choose to find a family, their parents must sign over their rights, at which point the kids are kicked out and into foster care.”
“Oh.” She didn’t have to explain anything more to me. Sara being tossed into the system could easily put her back into the same, if not a similar position as the one we’d just rescued her from.
“It’s the rules, and I know that’s what has to happen,” she said with a sigh. “I just wish—” she hesitated, and I wasn’t sure she would actually say it.
“What do you wish?”
“I wish that I owned the company and made the rules. I would make it so that any child without a home could be there however long they wanted, just to stay safe. They wouldn’t have to worry about being adopted because their parents wouldn’t have to terminate their rights. It could just be a place for them to go, somewhere to live while taking care of themselves, or need a break.”
“A safe have,” I said, and Ava nodded.
“A safe haven.”
She seemed to feel better after a glass of wine, and I took her hand and led Ava to the living room, where I had candles lit and roses decorating the room. Ava stopped to look and smiled, pressing her beautiful body into mine.
“Thank you for everything,” she whispered, teasing my neck with her lips. “Thank you for listening. Thank you for spoiling me. Thank you for being you.”
“Baby girl, I don’t think you have any idea just what you’ve done for me,” I said, catching her lips on mine. “In such little time, you have made me into the person I know I was always meant to be. My heart has opened entirely for you, Ava. So please—be cautious of where you step.”
For the reason that I couldn’t fathom, she looked relieved to hear this, and her body melted against mine as I ran my hand up and down the small of her back. I could stand there forever, holding her against me, whispering sweet nothings in her ear as we planned our future together, the rest of our god damn lives. I was so serious about this woman that I wanted no one else. No one could hold a candle to Ava, and I desperately needed her to know and understand that.
“What would you like to do tonight?” I asked, leading her to the sofa where we sat down, still holding hands. “We can go out. Anywhere you’d like. We can even fly somewhere. Tell Katie that your vacation isn’t over and that we’re leaving the country again.”
Ava sighed and rested her head back against the cushion closing her eyes. She smiled a bit, but it was fatigued. “Would you mind if we just stayed here?” she asked. “Maybe we can stream a horror movie and cuddle.” She opened her eyes and looked at me with pleading eyes as if I wasn’t ready to do anything and everything she asked of me at any waking moment.
“Sweetheart,” I said, resting my lips against her forehead. “That sounds like the best plan I’ve ever heard.”
Ava fell asleep halfway through the movie, which left me staring at her beautiful face as she slept soundly on my shoulder, dainty feet tucked beneath her on the couch, a throw blanket wrapped warmly around her shoulders. I could have stared at her all night long and not even blinked once.
As the credits rolled, I clicked off the power on the TV and gently stood up, careful not to wake Ava as I did so. I scooped her up in my arms, carrying her to the bedroom. She barely stirred as I laid her on the bed and pulled the covers to her chin, resting my lips briefly on her temple before pulling out my cell phone and going back to the living room so I wouldn’t wake her. I glanced at my phone and texted my right-hand man.
**Malcolm, please have the house contractor reach out to me tomorrow. It’s time to get started on the cabin.**