Three Years Later

Crew

"Tell your mother what happened at school today." I cross my arms over my chest and stare at my daughter.

Her lips pinch together. She looks at me before her gaze stops on Ad's face. "I told a boy that I didn't like his shoes."

"Megan." I roll my eyes. "You know that's not what I meant."

"I did tell a boy that, dad." She rolls her eyes right back at me. "He has a pair of those shoes that you had to stand in line to buy. Who needs that?"

Adley grins as she looks up from her tablet. "No one needs that."

"Exactly. Mom gets it."

"Megan." I tap my foot on the floor of our new apartment. It's a three bedroom, two blocks from where Adley's parents live. We made the move when we decided to foster a child. Megan was eight then. Now, she's a ten-year-old with an attitude.

I blame May for that. They're in the same class at school. They hang out on the weekends and one afternoon a week Nolan's folks take Megan and May to piano lessons.

Meg loves helping out with baby Emmanuel. He's two-and-a-half now and one of the cutest kids I've ever met.

We’re on the path to adoption. It's a long one, but to have this child as our daughter is worth it. After her mother died when she was three, her grandmother took over the parenting duties. Her death left Megan in the system.

She was shuffled around for two years before she landed in our lives after our home study was complete.

We're a tight trio now. Her love for us has made my wife and me a stronger couple.

I married the love of my life three months after she moved in with me. Our wedding was small. My family was still mourning the loss of my dad, but our vow ceremony started us all on a path to being a more cohesive unit.

It also started me on the road to sobriety. I haven't had a drop since I toasted my bride with a glass of champagne.

I sold the clubs to Kade and cut back on my work at Matiz. I'm in the office from nine-to-five, four days a week and never a minute more.

We spend the holidays out in Westhampton with Adley's folks and the Benton clan.

I have a family now, and a wife who is committed to making her dreams come true.

"What did you do, sweetie?" Ad smiles at Megan. "It can't be worse than all the trouble your dad used to get into."

"When he was a kid?"

Ad shrugs. "Then and last week. He'll always be a troublemaker."

A laugh bubbles out of Megan. "I told the teacher that he was wrong about how the human heart works, but I didn't get in trouble for it."

My wife puts down the tablet and walks over to where Meg and I are sitting. "Tell me more. How did he say it works?"

Meg reaches for Ad's hands. "He said that it keeps us alive."

Ad settles on the arm of the chair Meg is sitting in. "He's right about that."

"He is, but then someone asked how a baby's heart grows when it's inside its mom."

My beautiful wife pushes a strand of our daughter's red hair from her forehead. "What did the teacher say?"

"He said the baby starts as a bunch of cells and those change into all the parts, like the heart. He said the baby has to be inside its mom for the heart to grow the right way."

I fucking tear up because I know what's coming. I stare at the two most important people in my life, and I start to cry.

"What you did say to that?"

She rests her head on Adley's small baby bump. "I said that my mom is growing my brother's heart inside her belly now, but before I was born, mine grew inside of her heart, even though I was far away."

Ad nods as she tears up. Her fingers touch the middle of her chest.  "You're right. It grew right here."

"Will Pauly know I'm his sister when he's born?"

Paul Benton, my son, will arrive in a little over four months. He shares his name with my mom, who is already buying more baby clothes than he'll ever need.

"Pauly will know it," I say. "He'll look at your face, and he'll say to himself, there she is. That’s the girl who will show me the ropes."

"I'll never let anything bad happen to him." She strokes her fingers over Adley's stomach. "I'll teach him everything I know and every night before I go to sleep I'll tell him I love him."

I'll do the same. I'll make sure my son and my daughter both know that I would hang the moon in the sky for them if I could.

I got the woman of my dreams. I have the family I never thought was in my future and I'm living a life that will only get better from here.

I look over at my wife. She's on her way to being a doctor. She's a mother and a daughter. She's also the best friend I'll ever have.

I dared to dream this and now it's my reality. All I have to do now is enjoy every fucking minute of it.