The Poison Morality (40 page)

Oliver sat next to Sophie on the garden chair and then reaching over to let his daughter drowsily grip his
pinkie with her tiny hand.  Sophie stopped plucking the dead leaves off the plant between them and looked at him and smiled.

She had picked up Sydney’s green thumb and love of plants but when her stomach grew too large, the plants had been abandoned and she had not had a chance to continue with the gardening.  Looking between the baby in her arms softly sleeping and Oliver kissing her, Sophie knew for the first time what true contentment was.

“I was thinking,” Oliver announced, pausing to take the baby from her and cradling her in his arms, lovingly pressing his lips to the soft skin of his daughter’s forehead.

Sophie sat beside him so that she could feel the warmth of both of them, placing her head on his shoulder, running her finger along Ava’s dark hair.

“What were you thinking,” Sophie encouraged him to continue after too long of a silence.

“I thought instead of helping people leave this world, I could help bring them in.”  Sophie’s head shot up and one eyebrow rose questioningly.

“Around all those women all the time,” the tone of her voice changing, surprised by her own question.

“Will you be jealous,” he chuckled.

“No,” she lied, knowing he knew she was.

Kissing the top of her head, he could tell she was hesitant about the idea.  “I’ve got my girls here at home, that’s all I can handle.  I’ll just help bring more of these into the world,” bouncing Ava in his arm.  Ava, named after his mother, she was the most beautiful girl in the world because she was his and Sophie’s.  “She looks like mum even.  I wish you could have met her and she could be here for her granddaughter.” He was sad and happy at the same time.  Sophie knew every time he talked about his mother he got emotional.  She put an arm around him, resting her head on his shoulder.

The statement lingered heavy between them, his decision not definitive.  “Will it be enough for you?”

He knew what she was asking, the understanding between them about what they did as far as ending lives a secret.  As Sydney said, Declan was the last, for both of them, both pasts dying with him.

“Admittedly, it will be hard but it will be just as satisfying to be there at the beginning as it is at the end and just as important if not more so.”

Sophie placed her cheek on Ava’s head and looked up at him.  He was proud that he could make them feel happy and loved but she still had not actually consented and while he would probably do it anyway he wanted her to be ok with it.

“What about education?  Do you have to do more of that first?”  She rubbed her cheek on the softness of the baby’s head.

“Yes, but I won’t be away, just a lot of studying, that’s all.”

A deep inhale signified the end of her questioning, “If it’s what you’re sure you want its fine with me.” She reached up and traced the smile lines of his face with her thumb and said the sweetest words she ever said to him, “If it makes you happy, it makes me happy.”

It was the same for him but he didn’t have to say it and she knew it.  The baby stirred and tried to awaken, her tiny thumb finding its way to her mouth, she fell back asleep and he realized that he not only loved them but they were his responsibility, every decision he made had to be what was best for his girls…all three of them, if need be.