My head was still spinning out of sheer excitement and euphoria as we walked off the ride. You would think that I had just been on the fastest roller coaster in the world, not just a casual ride on a Ferris wheel. Allie ran toward me. “So, how are you feeling, now that you and your mom are back together?" Allie asked me with a smile. I smiled giddily in response. “Wonderful,” I replied. Meredith looked at Molly and the girls and then looked at me. “So, do you want to tell them the big news?” I looked back at Meredith and smiled. “I’m going to be a big sister!” I exclaimed. The girls gave off deafening shrieks of joy as the three of them mobbed me in excitement. “What?!” Molly said in complete shock. “Your husband, is he the father?” Molly asked. Meredith nodded yes. “Wow, after all you told me about how you have been trying for years, this is amazing!” Molly’s expression turned from joyous to somber. “It’s really sad that your child will never get to meet her father, though. But still, I’m so happy for you and Olivia! Do you have a due date?” she asked. “April 21st, next year,” Meredith replied. “Wow, just like that, you’re going to have two kids, how wonderful,” Molly said. Allie gave me a big hug and whispered in my ear, “I really wish I could see your little brother or sister sometime.” I looked at Allie. “You will,” I replied. “But how? We’ll be several hundred miles apart,” she said. “Don’t worry, we’ll find a way. Plus, we can call each other. We can video call!” I replied hopefully. Meredith, overhearing our conversation, chimed in. “Allie, wherever you end up, we’ll find some time to come and visit, we promise,” Meredith said. “Thank you,” Allie said to Meredith. Allie turned to me. “Your mom’s the best,” she said to me. “She is, isn’t she?” I replied. Meredith looked at us and smiled. Molly looked at her watch. “I don’t know about all of you, but I’m getting hungry. Should we leave and go get some dinner? Meredith is our guest, I say we let her choose,” she said. “Oh, I don’t really know too many places around here. Are there any good Italian places around here?” Meredith asked. The girls both looked at each other and said in unison, “Mama Cosetti’s!” Molly laughed. “Yeah, that’s one of our favorites around here. They’ve got mean brick oven pizzas. Plus, their lasagna is the best in town, in my opinion,” Molly said. “That sounds great, let’s go,” Meredith said as we started to make our way to the parking lot. “Did you rent a car, Mom?” I said as we walked to the parking lot. “Yeah, it’s right over here.” Meredith replied. Meredith hollered at the others, “I’ll follow you guys there!” As Meredith started the car, I began to think about what we would be doing next. I was anxious about going home, though I wasn’t certain when we would be going home. I would be going home to some sort of familiarity; however, everything was still uncharted territory. “Hey Mom, where……do we go from here?” I asked. “Huh? I honestly don’t know, I’m just following Molly,” Meredith replied. I laughed at her misunderstanding. “No, I meant where do we go after tonight?” I reiterated. “Oh, well I must meet with Susan with the county and Tonya at the adoption agency and finalize things first. I’ve got an appointment with them at the house tomorrow morning. After that, and miles and miles of paperwork, I think we’re free to go home!” she said. “I can’t wait!” I said jubilantly. Then I thought again about Allie. I felt bad about leaving her behind. I wanted to take her with me, wherever I went. “Hey Mom, can I ask you something?” I spoke. “Yes?” Meredith replied. “I know this is a lot to ask, but can you……please adopt Allie, too?” I asked. Meredith sighed. “That’s……kind of a big thing to ask, Olivia…” she said hesitantly. I looked at her with waning hope. “I’m sorry, Olivia……I mean, I know she’s your best friend and all, but I……I just can’t….” she said sadly. I hung my head low. “It’s okay Mom, I understand it’s a lot to ask,” I said. We sat in silence for about a minute. A very long minute. “Look, Olivia….I said earlier that wherever Allie goes, we will go see her from time to time. I promise that to you,” Meredith said to me. “Right, I’m never going to lose touch with her,” I said, somewhat reassured. Meredith pulled into the parking lot at Mama Cosetti’s and stopped the car. “Allie’s your best friend, right? I’ll make sure you don’t lose touch with her. Which reminds me….” She began to dig in her purse, and she handed me a phone. “Here, a gift from me, since you tossed your last one in the ocean,” she said. “Thanks, mom! But for now, let’s go have a nice dinner,” I said. “Right,” she said as we walked into the restaurant. “Welcome to Mama Cosetti’s,” a friendly hostess greeted us as we walked in. “Are you with that party over there?” she continued. “Yes, that’s ours,” I replied. “Okay, we’ll get you seated over there,” she said, as we walked over to sit down at the table with Molly and the others. I sat between Meredith and Allie. Allie looked at me and gave me a nervous, somewhat forced smile. Lauren clanked her glass to get our attention. “All, before we dig into this delicious pizza, courtesy of Mama Cosetti herself, I just want to say a few words about our dear friend, Olivia. Olivia, you have been awesome. I just want to let you know that I’ve really enjoyed spending time with you. I’ve really appreciated our talks together, and I hope that I’ve made a good impression on you. I’m really going to miss you Olivia, and I’m glad you found your happy home,” Lauren said sincerely. “Thank you, Lauren,” I replied graciously. “I’m gonna miss you too, Olivia! You’re so fun and nice!” Amaya exclaimed. “Thank you, Amaya. You’re really nice and sweet as well,” I replied as Amaya gave me a cute little smile. “Allie, you’re next,” Lauren said. I looked over at Allie and she was looking down at her lap speechless. I knew that she was taking this really hard. I wanted to do whatever I could to help her feel better, but I didn’t know how I could help. I held her hand under the table. She looked at me, gave me a hint of a smile, then proceeded to look down at her lap in silence. “I’ll go next,” Molly chimed in. “Olivia, ever since you walked into our house for the first time, I knew that you were going to fit in with the girls nicely. All the love, the positivity, and the smiles you brought into our house have been wonderful. You have truly been a joy to be around, and I’m really going to miss having you around. That being said, Olivia, you have a bright future ahead of you. You’re going to make a lot of friends, and most importantly, you’ve got Meredith, who loves you very much,” Molly said with a smile. “Thank you Molly, that was beautiful,” I replied. Meredith looked down and took a deep breath, then looked at me. “Olivia, when I lost Chris, there was a huge void in my heart, and while I miss my husband dearly, and realize that nothing in the world can replace him, you have filled my heart with so much love, at a time that I need it the most. I want to return the favor, but loving you with everything I have, and being the best mother that I can for you. I love you, Olivia,” she said, wiping tears from her eyes. “I love you too, Mom,” I said as I embraced her tightly. I looked next to me at Allie, who had gotten up from the table. “I have to go use the bathroom,” she said as she walked away from the table. I got up and followed her into the bathroom. As soon as I got to the bathroom, she launched herself at me. I embraced her tightly. “It’s going to be okay, Allie,” I said, tears starting to slowly leak from my eyes. “I know it is, Olivia. I’m happy for you, and I’m going to be strong for you. I just want to let you know……you’re the best friend I’ve ever had, and that I love you,” she said to my heartfeltly. “I love you too, Allie,” I said warmly as I held her tight. “Let’s go back out there and eat,” she said to me. We both went back out and ate a hearty Italian dinner as we talked and reminisced about all our time together. We must have been there for almost two hours. When we were done, we walked back out to our cars. I met up with Meredith outside her rental car. “Olivia, I’m going to go back to the hotel for the night. I’m going to stop over at the house early tomorrow morning. Susan and Tonya are going to come over so we can finish up on the adoption paperwork,” she said. “And then?” I inquired. “And then, we can go home,” she said with a smile. “I can’t wait,” I said excitedly. “Neither can I. I love you sweetie,” she said to me as we hugged each other and kissed each other on the cheek. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning,” she said as she got into the car. I got into the car with Molly and the girls as we started back to the house. The car ride was mostly silent, as we were all stuffed from that big dinner. Not only that, but we had also talked for so long, it kind of felt like we were fresh out of topics to talk about. When we got back to the house, we all retired almost immediately upon arrival. Allie and I both got ready for bed, and when we were all dressed in our pajamas I crawled into her bed and snuggled up together with her. “Do you mind if I sleep in your bed for the night?” I asked. “Absolutely, if you wouldn’t have beat me to it, I would have asked you the same question,” she said, giggling. As I lay there snug in her arms, I thought to myself the melancholy I felt knowing that this was going to be the last night we would spend together. I was happy that I was finally going to be going home, but the night was very bittersweet. Being as close as I was to Allie, I could tell that she was thinking the same thing as I was.