“It’s nothing to get overly excited about. I promise.” Erin’s face turned red as she pulled herself away from Blair’s embrace and picked up a small bag sitting on the coffee table. She looked toward the ground as she handed the bag to Blair. “Now, I’m kind of wondering what I was thinking. If this doesn’t scare you away, nothing will.”

Erin laughed softly, and the sound was music to Blair’s ears. She took the bag in one hand, then used the other to push the bottom of Erin’s chin to force her to look at her. “Nothing in this world could ever scare me away from you.”

When Blair took the tissue paper out of the bag and saw what was inside, the tears she had done so well holding back fell freely from her eyes. She picked up the black frame that said “Family” across the top and studied the picture. It was a picture of her, Erin, and Nolan at the beach. Nolan was sitting on her shoulders blowing bubbles and Erin was watching the two of them with all the adoration in the world. Blair had seen the version of this picture where they were all smiling at the camera, but this one was so much better.

“Erin, I—” Her voice cracked, and the words refused to come out.

Erin also had tears in her eyes, but instead of wiping her own, she used her thumbs to remove the tears from Blair’s cheeks. “When I had my talk with Bianca, I realized something I probably should’ve a long time ago. Bianca was meant to be in my life to give me Nolan, but you, me, and Nolan… we  were meant to be a family.”

“Are you trying to kill me?” Blair laughed through her tears. “This is absolutely perfect. I’m literally speechless.”

Erin ran her fingers over the picture. “I love this one. When I first saw it, it freaked me out because of the way I’m looking at you. That’s why I never showed it to you. But now, I’m pretty sure it’s my favorite picture of all time. It’s very us .” She laughed as she pointed to Nolan. “He was so annoying with those freaking bubbles.”

Blair laughed along with her. “He really was.” Blair ran her fingers along the picture as well. “He’s cute though. I think I might love that kid even more than I love you.” Blair snapped her mouth shut. This certainly wasn’t how or when she planned on telling Erin that she loved her, but now that she said the words, she couldn’t take them back. Especially since she had never spoken anything truer in her life.

Erin’s eyes went wide. “You love me?” she asked, sounding truly surprised.