Chapter Forty-One #2
I winced internally.
Dad grabbed my shoulder, squeezing, and left his hand there. “I know, Oak, and I’m so sorry you had to go through that.”
I shrugged. “Nothing we can do about it now.”
He squeezed my shoulder again. “I know. But that wasn’t what I meant.
Isidore said that even though you refused to talk to anyone else, you always came by their yurt and checked on them.
And that you brought them food and books and toys and things, especially when you were able to leave the community. You always helped take care of them.”
“I… I wish I could’ve done more.”
Dad grabbed my other shoulder and made sure I was looking right at him. “You did more than enough. You did more than anyone else in that place. You had to take care of yourself too, but you still took care of them. You did good, so much good, and Isidore and Reef both love you for it.”
My eyes watered, and I sniffled. Good grief, I was sick of crying. “I… I tried.”
He pulled me into a hug. “You did more than try, sweetheart. You did it. You helped them.”
I hugged him back for a long moment.
When we let go, Dad asked again, “Are you sure you’re good with us adopting them?”
A shaky smile spread over my face. “Definitely.” I stared up at his golden eyes and took a breath. “Plus, I know… I know you’ve always wanted more kids, and you didn’t exactly get to raise me, so this… this is something you’ve always wanted.”
“It is, but I would never do something that would make you uncomfortable or—”
“I know, Dad. I know.” I smiled. “I seriously love those kids, and if you weren’t going to adopt them… well, I think I would have to even though I’m really not that much older than Izzy or Reef.”
He smiled at me and pulled me into a huge dad hug. “I love you, kid. So damn much.”
“I love you too. And I… I’m really happy you’re making our family, our den, bigger.”
He was practically radiating joy. “Me too, kiddo, me too.”
By the time we came out, I was practically bouncing off the walls in excitement. Dad took one look at me, huffed, and called out to Daddo, “We’d better do it now before our oldest gives it away.”
Daddo laughed as he came out of the kitchen, and he came over for a quick hug and a whispered, “Thank you,” before joining Dad at the edge of the living room where all three kids were playing with building blocks, Izzy and Reef entertaining Blossom while they built castles she could knock over.
“Isidore, Reef, and Blossom, can we talk to you for a few minutes?” Dad asked them.
Isidore tensed up immediately, and my heart broke knowing she thought something bad was coming. That bad things were her only experience.
I sent her a smile and a thumbs-up so she’d know everything was okay. I wasn’t sure it helped.
Dad took a deep breath and said, “Tan and I have a serious question we want to ask you, and we want to make sure you really think about it before answering, okay?”
The three little ones gave nods, even Blossom after she saw the other two do it, which was cute.
“We were wondering if we could be your new parents? Officially?” No one moved or said a thing, all three kids looking like deer in headlights.
Tan added, “We want to adopt you—all three of you. We want you to be a part of our family forever.”
It took about two seconds for that to sink in, and then Isidore and Reef jumped to their feet. Reef ran for my dad—our dad—already hugging his legs, and dad reached down to hug him back.
But Isidore held Blossom in her arms and asked, “Are you sure? Are you… this isn’t… you’re not… you’re not going to change your minds?”
“No, sweetheart,” Daddo said. “We’re never going to change our minds. We already consider you ours.”
Isidore looked at me, and I smiled and nodded my head. “They mean it, little sis. We all want you to be a part of our family.”
Her eyes welled up with tears, and then Tan rushed forward, pulling her into his arms. I heard her little voice whisper, “We’d love to… we… thank you. Thank you so much.”
The second she said it, I swore I felt some kind of magic ripple through the air. It wrapped around and through each of us in the condo, and all I could do was suck in a breath.
It was warmth and sunshine and hope and love, and I sucked in another breath as I saw it hit each of my family members.
Where in the world did that come from?
And then the ground below my feet began to rumble.
At first, I thought there was an earthquake or something, but then I saw Dad’s face, and I knew.
It wasn’t the earth shaking.
It was the tower.
The tower’s magic surged around us, almost hugging us in its embrace as it rumbled and moved around.
As quickly as it started, it stopped, and all of us stood there, frozen. And I, for one, was questioning what the fuck just happened.
Roman whispered, as if afraid the tower would hear—even though it definitely could no matter how quiet we were. “Gar, what was that? Why did the tower move like that?”
To my surprise, I saw my dad smiling again. He looked down at the three kids and said, “It looks like we’re not the only ones excited to have you here. Go look down the hallway.”
The kids looked curious, but when Daddo led the way, all three of them followed.
Isidore’s, “Holy crapola!” made Dad laugh, and he looked over at me.
“The tower made each of them a bedroom.”
I blinked at that. “But… how? The living room isn’t any smaller.”
Dad shrugged. “That’s the magic of the tower. It can create anything it wants… including little pocket dimensions so the kids can have really big bedrooms. I’m pretty sure it even built Blossom a bunkbed with a slide.”
“Holy shit.”
Roman’s eyebrows were raised. “It’s never done that before.”
Dad met his best friend’s gaze. “The tower’s happy to have a den again.”
“So am I.”
The two shared a look before Roman gave Dad a hug and a whispered, “I love you, brother.”
Dad said, “Love you too, Rome.”
When they parted, Roman tugged me under his arm and kissed my temple, and the three of us listened to the rest of our little family explore the new rooms, the kids’ giggles and exclamations filling the air.