Epilogue #2
And looking around as everyone mingles and helps get ready for Thanksgiving, I can’t help but think that moving back to Chicago was the best move I ever made. In fact, I know it.
Denver
One year later
Time flies, or so they say. The past year has gone by in the blink of an eye, but I’ve loved every moment of it.
I’ve been able to cut back a little at work and get onto a more family-friendly schedule, but still do the job I love.
Adi and I are closer than ever and we’ve secured a new, bigger place together on the edge of Old Town and Lincoln Park.
I’m not too far from work and Adi is walking distance to her new little studio that she’s been operating out of for the past six months.
Her first gig with Ellie’s parents led to way more work; turns out Ellie’s mom is a realtor and knows everyone in town.
She does at least one house staging a week, and offers her own interior design consultations to new purchasers looking to do improvements.
She calls it the best of both worlds and loves being able to work her own hours.
The space we found for her studio was small, but just what she needed when she’s not out and about with clients in their homes.
Working from home is something she might look at in the future, as it was the original plan, but the spare bedroom we now have has been dedicated to Hope. Yes, she stayed with us and we couldn’t be happier.
Things have been up and down with Hope settling in with us after no other family came forward. We found out that Hope’s mom was single and the father was never on the scene.
Fuck, life is sad at times. She still has nightmares, but she’s safe with us and I’ll do everything to make sure she always feels it. So will Adi.
I guess not too many people go into a new relationship fostering a child together, but maybe it makes us unique.
For us, not knowing where Hope would potentially end up was something neither Adi nor I could handle.
We’ve become instant parents in many ways, though we’d never try to take the place of Hope’s mom or her family, but she needs stability to move forwards.
So we did our due diligence and completed our training and home study, making it clear to Elaine that we wanted the first option to adopt Hope if we could.
At first my parents were worried we were jumping into this too fast, but they love and adore Hope and understand that if anything happened between me and Adelaide—not that it’s going to—we would still both love Hope no matter what and continue to care for her.
Today was the day of the court hearing and Hope is officially ours. To celebrate we went to Hope and Adelaide’s favorite bistro for our little family gathering just around the corner.
“You know the city asked about doing a story on our family,” I say to my girls when Hope is halfway through her stack of pancakes. Hope stops mid-bite as her eyes pop wide. I haven’t even gotten around to telling Adelaide about it yet.
“We’re gonna be on TV?” Hope cries, tugging at my sleeve.
I shrug like I can afford to be so casual with news like this. “Maybe.”
“Wait, what is this all about?” Adi is just as surprised as Hope.
“Well, I guess people heard about our story and they’re interested in it.
How this all unfolded, and how we’re all doing now,” I say.
I glance at Adi and give her a wink. “But you don’t have to do anything, Hope.
” I don’t want to bring up the accident, but it has captured attention on social media because I rescued Hope, later became her foster carer, and now we’re adopting her.
“I’ll be on TV if Duckie, Mr. Pickles, and Una can come!” Hope declares. She took to calling her purple unicorn Una the first chance she got. Since last Thanksgiving, her unicorn has been everywhere with us, along with Duckie and Mr. Pickles of course.
“Well, sure they can come. Remember how they loved coming to the fire station those times?” Oh, how she loved seeing the fire engines and the fireman’s pole.
JJ even let her wear his hat when we took her on a little journey around the neighbourhood on her birthday a few months back.
That was equally sweet for her, and also tough.
Her first birthday without her family. She surprises me every day though with her strength and her ability to live in the moment and enjoy simple things.
I think she’s taught me more than I have her at this point. But now having an adopted daughter that I can open my heart and my life to just means we have many more adventures to go on.
“Oh, they really loved the fire engine.” She beams.
“Mr. Pickles had the time of his life.” Adi smiles. Fuck, I’m proud of her. She’s worked tirelessly to get her business off the ground, as well as co-parent Hope with me and make sure she has a safe, happy environment for the next stages of her life.
The more I learn about Adi, the more I love and cherish her. “That sounds pretty cool.”
“Well, I’ll get some more details and we can all discuss it before we give them an answer, okay?”
Hope nods and Adi leans in to give me a quick peck.
“What about the other surprise?” Hope says when she’s uncovered her eyes from us kissing each other. It makes me smile every time she does it. I lean over and ruffle her hair.
“Ah, yes, that,” I reply, tapping my nose as we both look over at Adi. “Remember, Hope, it’s a big secret until we get home.” I glance at Adi and raise my eyebrows suggestively.
“What are you two up to?” Adelaide asks, narrowing her eyes.
Hope’s eyes shine bright as she giddily jumps up and down in her seat giggling. “It’s a secret!” She taps her nose, just like I did.
“Well, I better hurry and eat my meal so we can get home for my surprise.” Adi pretends to shovel food into her mouth, which only makes Hope giggle all the more.
“I’ll hurry, too!” Hope actually stuffs a larger-than life-sized piece of pancake in her mouth and I can’t help but laugh. It’s times like these when I really appreciate everything I have in my life. My girls mean the world to me. The sound of their laughter is really the best thing in the world.
We thankfully never heard anything from Hannah ever again. That was put to bed after her last unceremonious visit and we got past that unwelcome hiccup. My life looks so different to how it did when I was with her, a stark contrast really. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.
My heart is beating hard in my chest on the walk home. Hope is in the middle of us, holding our hands as she swings her legs as we walk. I’m carrying Duckie, since Mr. Pickles stayed home, and Adi has Una under her arm. Life couldn’t be more sweet… but tonight, maybe just maybe it could…