Rage follows me around the store, telling me about the hearing yesterday.
“So, you can’t adopt her until notice has been given to her biological father?”
“Yeah, it’s standard procedure.”
“How long do you have to wait?”
“Since Cheyenne is his last known location, we have to post it in the newspaper once a week for three weeks. The final notification has to be at least twenty days before the final adoption hearing.”
“Are you worried he’ll come forward?”
His jaw clenches tight. “No.”
But I can tell there is a small part of him that is concerned. I stop what I’m doing and turn to face him. I curl my finger, beckoning him to come closer. “If he becomes a problem, we do whatever it takes,” I whisper. I back away a few inches so I can look him in the eye.
He nods, and I see the relief in his expression. The younger version of himself is worried we’ll have to run, and he’s comforted knowing I’ll go with him. The adult version is prepared for a fight. Mine too.
“I have a backup plan, but I don’t want to use it unless I have to.” He watches Mila duck under one of the clothing racks, hiding from us. “We’ll talk about it later,” he says, sneaking around the rows of dresses to play with his sister.
My heart squeals in delight at the fact he’s letting me in on his plans. It shows me he trusts me. I watch him chase a delighted Mila from her hiding spot. She’s trusting him more and more too. The three of us are slowly healing bit by bit.
“Can I help you find something?” the clerk asks me.
Reluctantly, I pull my eyes away from them to look at her. “No. Thank you, though. I’m just looking.”
She looks at Rage and then me, blushing. “Tell me word for word what you said to manifest your life,” she jokes, bumping her shoulder into mine.
I look back at Rage and Mila.
My life?
For the first time, I realize just how much it’s changed.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Rage
Itake my girls out to a nice dinner, and then we end the night out by the lake, sipping champagne and looking at the stars. Of course Mila and I aren’t drinking the bubbly. She has sparkling grape juice, and I have beer in my glass.
And before anyone judges my lack of masculinity for drinking out of a flute, just know I would do anything to make my girls happy.
Mila rubs her eyes sleepily and rolls against Serenity, hugging her. Peanut sits less than a foot away from them, his ears up, always on watch.
The girls stare up at the inky night sky, lost in its vastness. The dog and I are stuck here on planet Earth, but that’s okay becausewe get a front row seat to view two of the prettiest stars in the universe.
Serenity’s fingers run absentmindedly through Mila’s hair, and slowly Mila succumbs to the magic of a mother’s touch.
“Did you want children?” I ask quietly, curious about it because she’s so natural with Mila.
“I never really thought about it much.”
I like that she’s honest with me and doesn’t say what she thinks I want to hear.
Her head falls to the side. “It was hard for me to see it ever happening, but when I met Mila,” she bites her bottom lip, “I don’t know how to explain it …”
I don’t rush her. I don’t even expect an answer. She might not know, and that’s okay. I can’t explain what’s been happening between the three of us myself.
“This is going to sound strange, but it feels like the universe glitched and dropped my baby off at the wrong address. So, it had to take drastic means to course correct and reunite us.”