36. He Was Upfront
HE WAS UPFRONT
“Thanks for meeting us on the island for this,” Luca said, shaking his new attorney’s hand.
Adriana Beltron came highly recommended for family court and adoption from Bond Law. He needed the best and took Gabriela’s recommendation to reach out to her cousin’s firm.
The fact that they had a satellite office on the island and were willing to come over with a representative from the adoption agency Adriana worked closely with was only icing on the cake.
He needed to make this as easy as possible for Taylor and Cora, and taking the teen with him to the agency alone wasn’t going to work. Cora couldn’t get the day off, but she could spare a few hours this morning.
“Not a problem,” Adriana said. “And this is Colette.”
“Hi,” he said, reaching for her hand. “Taylor and Cora aren’t here yet.”
He hoped to hell they didn’t change their minds, but it’d be their right to do so.
“I have to say,” Adriana said, “this is a first for me.”
“The private adoption being set up this way?” he asked. Hoping it was that and not the fact that he was Taylor’s doctor. A single man on top of it.
Yeah, it might seem unorthodox to many. He got it.
But that didn’t mean he couldn’t give this child a great home full of love.
“No,” Colette said, “We do a lot of private adoptions. That’s not a big deal. Even single parent ones, though it’s rarely a newborn.”
“Then it’s because I’m her pediatrician?”
“Yes,” Adriana said. “There shouldn’t be a problem. I’ve looked into you some myself. Just the basics of your career. I informed Colette that you’re a widower and why you wanted to adopt. That it’d always been an option for you.”
He felt that would only help him if he was upfront with it all.
“Yes. It’s not something my late wife wanted to consider. To be honest, it’s not even something I was looking for right now, but that doesn’t mean it can’t work.”
“We’ll meet with Taylor and her aunt first,” Colette said. “We need her to fill out paperwork, then we’ll meet with you and Adriana on what to expect before this can be finalized. It’s a complicated process, but we try to make it as painless as possible.”
He nodded. He had a basic idea of it already.
Had spent the past few weeks reading everything he could and driving his attorney nuts in the process on the best way to proceed.
Should he try to buy a house? Should he have daycare in place now?
Have a solid plan knowing that it might not hold strong?
Then he remembered to dial it back.
There was still so much that could change and this was the first step.
Home visits. Character check references.
Nothing he was too concerned about there.
“I’m ready,” he said. “Here comes Taylor now.”
His shoulders relaxed, a short breath escaped with it.
They’d shown up.
Gabriela had wanted to be here with him, but she was working and it wasn’t worth last minute coverage for it. He was positive he might want her by his side the further they got.
“Sorry we’re late,” Cora said. “Someone didn’t want to get up.”
“Everything okay?” he asked, looking at Taylor. She was yawning and rubbing her eyes.
“Yeah. I’m tired. Last night I had really bad heartburn again.”
He wanted to ask more but knew it wasn’t the time. Or he didn’t think it was.
“I told her not to eat that much ice cream,” Cora said. “But she doesn’t listen.”
He smiled. “Cravings are normal.”
She was still on the thin side for how far along she was in her pregnancy. He might rather see her eat ice cream than other choices.
There were definitely worse things.
“Hi, I’m Colette with the adoption agency.” She moved forward and put her hand out to Taylor and Cora. “Do you have the documentation showing legal guardianship?”
“Right here,” Cora said, handing them over.
“Why don’t we go into another room and talk first. Then we’ll come out and all meet together with Luca and his attorney.”
“Do we need an attorney?” Cora asked.
“No. We’ll take care of everything at the agency.”
He watched when the three ladies went into another room, then took a seat with Adriana.
“I know you’re nervous about this,” his attorney said, “but relax. I’m sure there won’t be any issues with the agency approving this or your background. I did some looking myself. You’ve got a plan in place you said? Why don’t you run it through with me?”
“As you know, I work five days and get ten off. I only need childcare for those five days. My plan is a nanny at some point. Either one on the island or someone in Boston who can just stay there full time. I’ve got the first four months covered.
I’ll take a rotation off, it gives me twenty-five days.
My girlfriend is also a pediatrician, opposite rotation as me, so she’ll take a few of them, and my mother is coming for a week. ”
“That’s a good plan. No one is going to dispute two pediatricians caring for a newborn. Can I ask who she is? It will most likely come up.”
“Gabriela Mills.”
Adriana stopped typing and looked up. “Ah. Well, that will work in your favor for sure.”
“Being part of the Bond family?” he asked. He could tell by the look in her eyes.
Hell, her paycheck was signed by Hailey Bond, so she’d know.
“Yes. And I understand it’s just your girlfriend, correct? Or is it more? Do you live together?”
“No. We don’t live together.”
Not yet, at least not in his mind.
Those five days they were off, they spent most of it together, even the nights. But obviously not as much time the other ten days.
“Not a big deal,” Adriana said. “You’ll be asked if you’re fully committed. Even if the child has special needs.”
He wouldn’t be insulted. “I’d think if anyone could handle that it’d be me.”
Her hand moved across the table toward his. “I mean no disrespect, but this is a teen pregnancy and for six months she wasn’t taking care of herself.”
The underlying words of if Taylor was now didn’t need to be spoken either.
“I understand. Once we get things in place, I’ll have more contact with her and her aunt, if it’s allowed. I’ll make sure she’s doing what she is supposed to, but that doesn’t mean I’m backing out.”
“I didn’t think you would.”
“But it will come up?”
“You would be surprised how many people change their minds when the child isn’t perfect,” Adriana said dryly.
“No, I wouldn’t. I see it all the time when parents don’t understand why their own children aren’t.”
Hours later, he was at the gym working off his frustration.
Or maybe it was just anxiety.
He stayed longer than normal, burned more calories, sweated more than he had in a long time, then left to shower and run errands.
When he was watching TV that night, his phone rang. He reached over and saw it was Gabriela.
“In the hospital?” he asked.
“On my way over there now. Got held up in the office and thought I’d call you before I started to see patients. How did it go?”
“About as I expected it to.”
He stretched his neck some, but it didn’t relieve the tightness.
“That doesn’t sound good.”
“It wasn’t bad. Actually, Adriana said it went really well. It helps I’ve got a girlfriend.”
“I hear the humor in your voice. Be honest, it helps who your girlfriend is.”
“Right on the first try.”
She laughed and the sound wiped away all the stress of the day.
He never realized how much he needed that joyful noise in his life.
Someone to find humor in the toughest of situations but keep him grounded at the same time.
“Don’t be that way,” she said, tongue in cheek. “I like knowing I’m good for more than warming up your bed.”
He snorted. “You’re good for a lot more than that and you know it. Does it really bother you though? I know that is one reason you struggled in finding a partner before. I hope you don’t think I’m using that to my advantage?”
“Oh good Lord, Luca. I’m busting your butt. I know you’re not. The fact that Adriana found out today means that you didn’t say it before. Not even when you called just trying to be paired up with someone. I thought you would have said who recommended you.”
He almost did, but decided he needed to do this on his own.
He couldn’t rely on someone else, not even knowing what the future held for any of them.
“Nope. I didn’t want that to make a difference.”
“And it’s not going to,” she said. “You know it. But it will just give it a bigger boost. That isn’t a bad thing.”
“I suppose not.”
“How is Taylor doing?”
He heard the door open to the hospital, and the noise level increase, telling him she wasn’t that far away from the ward now. She’d probably take the stairs rather than lose him in the elevator.
“They were a little late. She didn’t want to get up. Said she had heartburn last night from eating almost half a gallon of peanut butter fudge ice cream.”
“Yum. One of my favorites when I’m feeling sorry for myself.”
“How long ago did you have some?”
“Long before a sexy doctor entered my life,” she said cheerfully.
“Hi. Yeah, I’ll catch up with you later.
” He didn’t say anything knowing that she was talking to people she passed.
“Sorry. You know, the news is traveling fast about us and then someone just heard me make that comment and wanted to chat.”
“You’re loving it, aren’t you?”
“It is fun. More fun when I’ve got someone I love who is a good person and so many know. Do you know how long it’s been since that has happened?”
“Never?” he asked. Hoping.
“Ding, ding, ding. You win the prize.”
He laughed again. “I can tell you’re getting close now. You’re in the stairs because you’re echoing.”
“I am. I just wanted to check in with you. If I get a minute later, I’ll text; otherwise, we’ll touch base tonight.”
“Bye,” he said, hanging up.
It was on the tip of his tongue to say he loved her before he did.
But she never said it and he didn’t want to be the one who always felt like it was a reflex rather than an emotion.
He wanted the words to mean more when they were said, not expected as a greeting or end of a call.
The way it was before with Zoe.
Did he love her?
Hell yeah.
Did he know she loved him?
Absolutely.
But it wasn’t the same as what he had with Gabriela, and oddly enough, he was coming to easily accept that more than anything else.