Norman

"Norman, this is my mom and dad, Emma and Harold Miller," Sasha said.

The two people were a lot older than Norman imagined, but he saw that they were loving, caring people. The kindness in their eyes showed through. While he'd been participating in this yearly event of torture, "taste the food", he'd noticed her parents arrive. The care they gave to each child was something he admired.

"Hello, it's great to meet you," he said.

"It's about damn time we met you. Been married for what? A month or so, and we're only getting to meet you now. It's a disgrace."

"Dad, stop it," Sasha said, chuckling. "We've been busy, and we both know you'd have needed to calm down before you could even accept him into your life."

"Yeah, well, a father is still allowed to be ... annoyed."

Norman smiled as he noticed Harold hesitated before saying something, making sure kids didn't hear any cussing words.

According to Shannon, the event was a roaring success. Norman would double, maybe even triple, his donation this year. Every now and then, he noticed that Logan would go off, and sit on a bench.

His mother leaving him had really cut him deep.

Several of the kids had asked if he would be willing to foster Logan. It was insane. Most of the time kids were desperate to get noticed, to get the attention from willing parents. These kids, they saw how broken Logan was, and they had banded together like a brotherhood, hoping that Logan got picked first. When Norman said it wasn't fair for him to take Logan, the kids had thought it was stupid of him.

None of them expected him to take them all on. Logan was special. He needed this chance, and Norman agreed with all of them. It was breaking the little guy. The other kids were more than happy with him, desperate for him to take Logan.

He'd spoken with Shannon, and she said she'd get the papers ready for him. Now, he just had to speak with Sasha about it. In theory, this took away his need for an heir, which took away his need for her.

But it didn't. Damn, he couldn't lose her. Not now that he had her in his life. The last four years had been torture when it came to Sasha. The employer and employee relationship stopped him from crossing that line that was always drawn in these situations. He had hated watching her go out on dates with random guys, getting pissed that they could touch her when he couldn't. All the time, he'd tried to brush off his concern.

Since having her in his life, with her beneath him, he'd seen how wrong he'd been to keep her at a distance. She was beautiful, loving, caring, and everything he'd ever wanted in a woman.

When he was in foster care growing up, he would imagine being with someone when he was older, someone who loved and cared about him. Someone who meant something to him. The more he looked at Sasha, the more he saw that she was the woman he'd always imagined.

The woman he'd always wanted.

"Here, eat this," she said, handing him a hot dog covered in lots of chili. "It may take the rancid taste away."

The food tasting event had been one of the worst he'd endured.

"There were a few times I thought you were going to vomit," Harold said.

"There were. It wasn't exactly the best decision I had to let them do this."

"You clearly upset a lot of people this year," Sasha said. "I didn't vote for this though."

"What did you vote for?"

"The waterslide. What else? Raising money should be fun. The whole tasting food that had a risk of being vile never appealed."

He kissed her head. "I love you."

Emma tapped Harold's shoulder, and smiled. "See, honey, it is love."

For him it was love.

Wrapping his arms around Sasha, he pulled her against his side, and inhaled the floral scent that he'd come to associate with his woman. She was perfect in every single way for him.

He loved her, and it was damn hard at times having feelings for someone he

didn't know if she even loved him back.

"We're following you home tonight, right?" Norman asked.

"You sure are," Emma said. "You'll be staying in the spare bedroom."

"Dad!"

"No, my house, my rules, and no naughty business in my house. It has never happened."

Sasha rolled her eyes. "How did I come along?"

"Not in the house."

Sasha's face went bright red.

"We were wiid once as well," Emma said.

"I don't need to hear this. Children do not need to know what their parents get up to behind closed doors."

"Oh, sweetie, it wasn't always behind closed doors."

Norman adored her parents.

They clearly loved their daughter, and he'd seen so many parents who really didn't care.

There was a darkness that came with fostering that not many spoke about.

"The event is winding down." Most of the kids had already started to board certain buses that would take them back to their homes.

"Do you need to stay 'til the end?" Sasha asked.

"No. I'll be in touch on Monday, and settle everything."

He'd make a further donation, and then he'd start planning for the next event.

Taking hold of Sasha's hand, he made his way toward the car, and helped her inside. He liked securing her in, before he went toward his side of the car.

"Thank you," she said. Starting the car, he pulled in behind her parents, and waved back at them.

"I love taking care of you."

There, he told her the word again. A simple four letter word that was so hard to say, and yet he was telling her how he felt. If he kept on saying it, maybe she would get the hint that for him, it was starting to mean a hell of a lot more.

"I love you taking care of me, too."

"There's something I want to talk to you about," he said.

"There is?"

"Yeah. Logan."

"I adore him, Norman. Is there anything we can do to put a smile on his face? It breaks my heart seeing him like that."

"There is something we can do." This was the best time to talk about it. "We can adopt him. The kids that live with him, they asked for me to take care of him, and I want to. I want to look after him. Give him a home, love him."

"We can do that?"

"Yes. I'm getting Shannon to draw up the paperwork. I have to work from home, and take plenty of time with him. I'd want you there, by my side."

They came to a set of traffic lights, and he turned toward her. Taking hold of her hand, he kissed her knuckles. "This changes nothing to me."

"What do you mean?"

"I want us to have a baby. I want us to be married, Sasha."

"Why wouldn't we be?"

"I'd have a son."

"Oh, you'd have an heir." She smiled. "I didn't even think of that."

"I want you, Sasha. I want us to have a family. I saw the way Logan leaned on you today. We could make this work, together, as a team."

"Norman, I get it. I'm not running away." She patted his hand, releasing him long enough for himn to follow her parents. "I always wanted a family. My parents, as you can see, started late in life, and they always regretted that." She blew some hair out of her face. "I want kids."

"When I asked you, you seemed shocked."

"I was shocked of course. I mean, Norman Rockwell wanted to have kids. He wanted an heir, and I was there, and it was just surreal. If I didn't want kids, I wouldn't have said yes. I do love kids. Did I mention they eat a hell of a lot, and I love to cook?"

"You do love to cook."

"I do, and Logan ate a lot of pancakes. I could do some really wicked experiments."

Norman couldn't keep the smile off his face. He was in love with a woman with a kind heart, a beautiful soul. Now he just needed to tell her exactly how he felt.

"I just want to warn you that I don't see a divorce in my future," he said, and winced. How the fuck was that telling her how he felt?

"Don't worry. I'm not going to divorce you. Besides, I wouldn't leave Logan either. How long do you think we'll have before he's ours?" she asked.

"Providing nothing goes wrong, a couple of weeks."

"That's good. I like that."

They were starting a family. He only hoped Sasha realized exactly how much he loved her.

It didn't matter if she realized it. He was going to show her.