Made

Seeing that Blair was slowly recovering, Riley scooted up and resumed her position under the covers next to him. Allie's head peeked over the foot of the bed and asked, "Are you done now?"

Riley grinned and said, "si."

Crawling back to sit on the foot of the bed, Allie said, "I don't know why I ever thought that it would be a good idea for my brother to marry such an evil woman, and one who would bring an immigrant into this country illegally no less."

"I'll report to the immigration department on Monday," Riley teased. "Little Lorenzo will have his green card before he is born."

Finally getting his voice back, Blair said, "Okay, knock it off. I ain't raising no dago kid."

The pillow hitting him in the face prevented Blair from hearing the thud from his sister falling onto the floor again in laughter. It was several minutes before calm returned to their bedroom with all the parties once more breathing normally and in their previous positions on the bed.

Allie smiled as she watched her brother and his wife cuddling together. Even before she had met this woman, she had feared her. Not Riley, she corrected, she feared what Blair's obvious love for a married woman would mean for his future. Allie knew her brother would languish in unrequited love for an eternity before he would infringe on someone else's relationship. He would not attempt to take what wasn't his.

There had been many times over the past few years when Blair would swear that he loved Riley, but he wasn't in love with her, but Allie knew that he was just trying to convince himself. Blair had never dated much before he met Riley, but he became a virtual monk once she had entered his life, and he seemed genuinely happy that way. Allie had done all that she could think of to convince her brother that he was in love with a lost cause. Then she had met Riley and seen the two of them together.

Riley's marriage may have made her legally and morally unavailable to Blair, but he owned her soul, and she his. The connection that the two of them shared was palpable to anyone who saw them together. It was clear to Allie that they were destined to be a couple. All it would take was time.

As Riley became a friend of hers as well, Allie became a confidant that Riley would share things with which she said Blair wouldn't allow her to. Allie respected Blair's request that she not meddle in Riley's marriage, but that didn't stop her from listening to the challenges that Riley faced in trying to have a happy marriage. From the descriptions that Riley provided of her efforts to get closer to her husband and the failed results, Allie knew that the marriage would eventually end. She just hoped that it would happen sooner rather than later.

Noticing that the conversation between Blair and Riley had paused, Allie glanced over at them, "I was going to ask if you two love birds wanted to go out for breakfast."

"Sure," Riley said. "Where can we go where I can get spaghetti for breakfast? I'm having a real craving for some reason."

Blair groaned and said, "This is going to be the longest pregnancy in history." To his sister, he said. "We'll meet you downstairs in thirty minutes. How's that sound?"

Allie stood but didn't leave right away. She smiled once more and said, "I really hope to find my soulmate one day like you two have. I am so in awe of your love."

"By choosing each other every day," Blair said, "We have made ourselves soulmates."

"It wasn't instantaneous," Riley explained, "but there came a time shortly after we met when every day I started choosing to find a way to connect with Blair in some fashion. I know for me it was subconscious, but it was still purposeful."

Blair nodded his agreement and said, "For years, I despised the term 'soulmate'. It wasn't until Riley insisted that we fight for our friendship that I accepted the premise that soulmates are forged from the same fire, a fire that I wanted and needed to keep burning at any cost...

Riley interrupted, "We needed to find common ground where we could remain emotionally connected, working together to grow as friends even as our love for each other remained unspoken yet smoldering."

"My hands-off rules concerning Riley's marriage got bent several times," Blair added, "but they were never broken."

"His 'hands-off' rule that you had to keep your hands off him was the toughest one," Allie said with a laugh. "You were one extremely frustrated lady, especially while waiting for your divorce to become final."

"Don't I know it," Riley sighed. "I couldn't understand your brother's reluctance once the divorce was granted and we only had to wait six months for it to become final. There were some slamming doors and hurt feelings, but we worked it out, even when we were tired. In hindsight, I see now that it made us stronger together."

Riley and Blair glanced at each other before they said, almost in unison, "Soulmates aren't found, Allie, they're made."