Chapter fifty-six
MICHAEL
Three months later...
We were just over a month away from our wedding, but I could tell that this was an equally special day for us, for two reasons.
The first was where we were. Again, at a 'company party', only this time the company belonged to my fiancée's family and not mine, although I also had a modest share of participation in that.
I became an investor in the bookstore, which accelerated the construction, and, in a few months, the new space was delivered fully finished.
The place had more than doubled in size, gained a more modern look, an area for events and a coffee shop, which had everything it needed to become the new hotspot in the neighborhood.
Jenna was beaming, and I was moved by her happiness. I already loved that lady so much...
I already loved everything about Camila's life, in fact. I think even her cat, even though he forced me to always have a pack of anti-allergy pills in my wallet for when I went to her apartment.
The second reason was that, in the middle of the party, Camila and I were alert, waiting for news. Janet would be late for the party because she had several jobs to do that day. One of them was to receive the most important court decision of our lives, regarding Alice's final custody.
The Harrises were being investigated for crimes committed against us.
But it was incredible how, when you find something dirty about someone, it's like stirring up a hornet's nest and more fraud starts to come to light.
Now, the business couple was also facing other charges such as money laundering, not to mention the number of former employees of their companies who, after hearing the news, felt safer to report them because they had also been coerced or threatened into doing dirty work.
Among them was the man who tried to attack me with an iron bar on the street next to the bar on the night of Camila and Alice's birthday.
With so many lawsuits and investigations behind them, who would have thought, the perfect couple was now clearly a bad influence on a child?
And I, who would have thought, was the ideal model of a father. I didn't even believe I had reached that point.
A respected businessman, about to get married and return to college to finish his degree. Camila and I were even planning to do a master's degree together.
Alice had been living with me under temporary custody since the day of the hearing and Camila was practically living with us, she already spent most of her nights at my house – which would soon be officially ours – and, not by chance, a little over a month ago she had been, for the first time, called ‘ mamma ' by Alice.
She would know about Leah, I would tell her every little detail I knew about her. Alice would always know that she was loved dearly by her birth mother, who was now in heaven. Here on Earth, she would have another mother, who bore her in her heart.
“ Mamma !” my little girl repeated, on my lap, every time she saw her mother passing by.
As the organizer of the opening party, Camila practically didn't stop.
The place was full, but she could still hear Alice's calls.
This time, she was carrying a package of bookmarks that had just arrived to be distributed and as soon as she heard Alice's voice, she looked at us, smiled, and ran from where she was standing to us.
“Mommy is very busy, my love!” she said to Alice, kissing her on the cheek. “Be good and obey Daddy. Tonight, we’re going to sleep at Grandma’s house, and you can play with Waffle.”
“ Affle !” she repeated, breaking into a huge smile.
Camila kissed her again and looked at me.
“Janet hasn't arrived yet?”
“No,” I replied, distressed. “And she's not answering her damn cell phone, she must be driving.”
“ Amn ...” Alice repeated. She was in the phase of learning new words, but she didn't always focus on the most important ones.
“Michael!” Camila scolded me. “Stop saying bad words in front of her. See? She learns!”
“'Damn' is not a 'bad word',” I replied.
“ Amn !” Alice spoke again, seeming excited about the contribution to her vocabulary.
“Of course it is!” She looked back at Alice. “You can't say that again, okay, my love?”
Camila kissed Alice again and also placed a kiss on my lips, running back to take the bookmarks to the gift counter.
I walked over to the table where my mother was, sitting next to Leon, her new boyfriend.
The courthouse security guard.
It was only after the hearing that I discovered how Camila had managed to get into the room. Apparently, my mother had distracted the security guard by pretending to have sprained her ankle and asking him for help.
And also 'using her charm', as she herself stated.
“Sebastian isn't coming?” I asked, missing my brother.
“Oh, honey, he was coming. But he said Bonnie woke up feeling unwell today.” Again, I hoped it was just an excuse not to go, although that was becoming more and more common. “Oh, but Logan assured me he'd come.”
“Oh, sure...” I said ironically. I could bet any high amount that he wouldn't.
I hoped that at least my middle brother would do the favor of attending my wedding. I had found it incredible that he had managed to clear his surgery schedule to attend the courthouse on the day of Alice's custody hearing.
That was the last time I saw him, in fact.
“Oh, honey, listen to this!” my mother said, catching my attention. “You know Leon has a motorcycle, right? He and I decided that we're going to take a trip across the country.”
“On a motorcycle?” I asked, wondering if I had heard wrong.
“Yes, isn’t it wonderful?” Ignoring my look of disbelief, she reached out her arms to pick Alice up from my lap. “Did you hear that, my little love? Your uncles are going to travel across the country on their motorcycles. When you’re older, we’ll do it again and take you with us.”
“You're not taking my daughter on a motorcycle trip,” I replied, being duly ignored by her, who continued making plans.
“My late husband would never have agreed to that kind of thing,” she said. “He was an old man!” My father was only two years older than her. “That’s why it’s good to associate with people who are similar in age to you.”
Leon was forty-five years old. Fifteen years younger than her.
But I wouldn't remind her of that.
While she kept talking, poor Leon could barely open his mouth. Alice looked at her intently, as if interested in everything that was being said. Until she spoke, finally managing to make my mother shut up:
“ Nana !”
My mom's mouth fell open in surprise, and I had to fight back a laugh at the irony of it. She had insisted over and over that she wanted Alice to call her “auntie,” but that word just hadn’t made it into my little girl’s vocabulary yet.
Alice already said “dadda” and “mamma,” and even said “Gigi” when referring to her great-grandmother — not because anyone taught her, but simply because it was easier to say than ‘great-grandma’.
Plus she’d learned to say “Affle” and “Popolo” for her furry friends Waffle and Apollo.
My mom was always complaining that her turn never came — and when it finally did, it wasn’t in the way she had imagined.
However, after a few seconds of astonishment, the expression that dominated her face was one of joy.
“My love, you called me grandma! How beautiful! Say it again: grandma!”
“ Nana !”
“My God, it's the most beautiful thing in the world!” She started rummaging through her bag, looking for her cell phone. “I need to film this, I'm going to send it to all my friends.”
“Aren't you upset that it’s not the 'aunt' you planned?” I teased.
“Despite my young age, I'm not her aunt, I'm her grandmother, for heaven's sake! And the entire press knows that I became a mother at a very young age, and now my son is too, that's the least of it.”
She took out her cell phone and started filming, trying to get Alice to repeat the word.
Laughing at the scene, I turned my head for a moment towards the entrance of the bookstore and saw Janet arriving at that moment.
I immediately stood up and looked around the place, looking for Camila.
As soon as I saw her, I saw that she had also noticed the arrival of our lawyer and was also looking for me.
Our eyes met at the same moment in a mixture of anguish, fear and hope.
We both ran, reaching Janet almost at the same time. She was startled by our sudden stop in front of her.
“My God, where did you come from?” she asked, putting her hand to her chest.
“Please, Janet, tell me what the final decision was,” I asked.
She looked at me for a moment, in silence, and then did the same to Camila. Finally, she sighed and opened her folder, taking out a printed sheet of paper, which she handed to us, as she communicated.
“Read and draw your own conclusions. Is there anything to eat at this party? I'm starving!”
With that said, she simply walked away from us. Camila and I looked at each other, as we both held the paper, each with one hand.
“Do you read, or shall I read?” I asked.
“We'd better read it together.”
I took her suggestion. I put one of my arms around her shoulders, and she did the same with hers around my back. So, holding each other in silence, we turned our eyes to the paper, reading the court decision.
As I interpreted those words written there, I felt hot tears quickly flood my eyes and my heart race at a speed I didn't even know it could beat. Hugging Camila, I could feel that her heartbeat had also changed.
“Did I understand correctly?” she asked, uncertain. “Is that really it?”
“That's really it. Alice is ours.”
She came in front of me and wrapped her other arm around me as well, hugging me tightly.
I took her in my arms, and it was as if there was no one else around us. And it was just the two of us there, protected by a bubble, wrapped in our own happiness.
Amidst the disparate sounds of dozens of voices around us, one stood out, reaching our ears and our hearts.
“ Dadda ! Mamma !” Alice shouted, from her grandmother's lap, a few meters away from us.
Camila and I looked at her and she gave me that most beautiful toothless smile in the world.
“She's ours...” Camila said, her voice mixed with laughter and tears.
“ Ours, ” I repeated, feeling that it would be impossible to live any happier moment than that.
I still had no idea how many incredible moments still awaited me in our new life.