49. Forty-nine
Forty-nine
“I wonder if Huck’s nervous,” I whisper, looking down at him before pushing open the heavy doors of the courthouse.
He shakes his head. “Huck can’t wait to live with you and George Strait,” he shouts. Even though I’m nervous as hell, I laugh as I squeeze his hand.
With Huck in his red bow tie and me in a pair of navy dress pants and a bright red shirt, with my hair pinned back, hand in hand, we step into the courtroom at 8:50 A.M. .
When the doors open, I freeze.
The room is full. Grabbing the handle of the door, I crane my neck to double-check the number on the outside. This is it, but it can’t be right. The only people we’re expecting are my dad and Sharon. Do strangers sit in on these things? Seems, well, strange.
“Birdie, look at all the people!” Huck shouts, turning all the heads to face us .
And that’s when I see—they aren’t strangers. The courtroom is filled with people I know.
Monica— Monica? —sees me first and jumps from her seat. “Today is your day, girl!” She hugs me. “This is my husband, Roger, and our three kids, Natalia, Indigo, and Raven.”
I shake their hands, staring at her, stunned. “How did you even know about this?”
She chuckles with a playful slap on my arm. “Birdie, how do you think?” Her eyes drop to Huck. “And you must be Huck!”
His eyes widen as he steps behind me, gripping my hand tight.
She smiles at him, gives me a wink, then takes her seat next to her family.
I keep walking.
Then Sam— with one of his sons ? “Sam?” I ask, shaking his son’s hand whom I haven’t seen since I started working for him.
“Bah.” He swats a hand through the air. “Don’t get full of yourself, you still ain’t got no tits, Bonnie.” When I laugh, he smiles, and I don’t miss the fact that he has his hearing aids in.
Next, Mabel appears, with a wink and a red-toothed grin, giving Huck a high five. “Something book-worthy is happening,” she sings, pulling her notepad out of her waistband—giraffe print today—and taps the cover with her pen.
I snort a laugh, glancing over her shoulder at a white-haired gentleman in a grey suit.
“Who’s this?” I ask.
“My current muse, Birdie dear,” she says with a shimmy of her hips and coy smile before taking her seat .
I keep walking. Is that Buddy the cook from Mountain Farm ? When he smiles and waves, I realize it is. Next to him—my yoga teacher?
What on earth…
There’s Libby, John, and both their boys. Libby gives me a boa constrictor hug and John hooks his arm around my neck with a gruff, “What would George Strait have to say on a day like this, Birdie?”
I hug him back, but over his shoulder, I only see the familiar shades of brown looking back at me. Bo.
“‘It Just Comes Natural,’” I say, not pulling my eyes off Bo even as John laughs loudly in my ear.
Huck tugs my hand as we approach the front of the courtroom.
On one side, it’s my dad and Sharon. On the other, Bo and Lucy.
“Hi, Huck!” Lucy squeaks. “I wonder what you think about Birdie being your mom today.”
“Huck can’t wait,” Huck shouts. “Hi, Bo! I wanted you to be here. Birdie said you’d probably have to work.”
He kneels down next to him. “Sometimes I keep secrets like this from Birdie,” he says with a grin. “I wouldn’t miss this for the world.”
Then, like I’m not on the brink of bursting from the overwhelming beauty of what’s happening, Huck hugs Bo, and the first tear slides down my cheek.
“Huck,” I pat his back. “We have to take our spot. The judge will be in soon.”
Grabbing his hand again, I pause, eyes on Bo. “Did you do this?” I ask, knowing the answer he’ll never say.
He shrugs, looks around the full room, then says, “These people aren’t here for me, Birdie, they’re here for you. For someone who wants to figure it out alone, you have a lot of people by your side. Who love you.” With a click of his tongue, he takes a seat.
This whole scene I’ve walked into is barely registering in my brain. I’m adopting a kid, and a room full of people showed up for me to do it—because Bo invited them. When Huck tugs my hand, I force the enormity of that out of my mind.
Before taking our spots, I give my dad a hug, who gives me a knowing smile, then shake Sharon’s hand.
“You made it,” she says.
I smile. “That we did.”
When the judge walks in, an older woman with greyish-black hair pulled back, Huck and I stand in front of the court. She smiles as she takes a seat. “Hello there, Huck. That’s a sharp looking bow tie, young man.”
He looks at her and shrinks behind me, which makes her chuckle. “You have a room full of people here for you today too. You’re a lucky kid.”
When she gives her attention to the papers stacked in front of her, I glance over my shoulder to Bo. He’s a lucky kid because Bo did this.
A question from the judge pulls my attention away from him .
After signing too many papers and reciting the required legal statements, the judge looks at Huck and gives him another warm smile.
“You’re getting a family today, young man,” she says. “Judging by the number of people here, a big one.” A few chuckles come from behind us.
“Birdie’s going to be my mom!” he shouts at her.
I look down at him, stunned. I knew that’s what was happening, but to hear my name linked to the word mom holds a power I wasn’t prepared for. Then he adds, “Huck wonders what it’s going to be like!”
She laughs, eyes lifting to mine with the same warm expression on her face. “It’s going to be wonderful.”
Huck moves his legs in place next to me like there’s too much energy in them, and I don’t hide my laugh or the watery line that fills my eyes.
I can’t change that Veda died or how Bo and I couldn’t make it work, but standing here, next to a little boy who can’t wait to come home with me, with a room full of people that want to see that happen, things feel less grim. Like life, a constant changing of seasons, knows just how to give what needs to come next.
“Sometimes, kids like to bang the gavel to make it official,” she says to Huck, holding the wooden hammer in the air toward him.
He looks up at me and I nod, which is all he needs to run to where she’s sitting. He takes the gavel from her and bangs it down loudly.
“I’m going to call Birdie Mom now!” he yells .
She laughs while everyone else claps, not a dry eye in the room, as he runs back to me.
“I love you, Huck,” I tell him, crouching down to hug him.
“I love you, Mom!” he shouts back, nearly making me collapse with the breathtaking beauty of the sound.
Then we’re outside, the usually elusive November sun shining brightly, warming us in the cool air.
It’s another round of hugs and thank yous to everyone that showed up for us. Happy tears never stop falling down my cheeks for the people I didn’t know to dream of wanting to be here for me.
At the very end, Bo’s waiting, leaning against a column—looking way too good in a button-down white shirt, blue jeans, and blazer with his hair pushed back—and Huck instantly runs over to him, giving him a high five.
“Birdie’s my mom,” he says loudly. “We’ve been watching you build your cabin. It’s almost done!”
Bo laughs. “Close, but there’s still that pipe that needs a toilet,” he says, tapping his chin, making Huck bark out one of his laughs.
My eyes are glued to Bo. Once again, He’s here ! clashes with He’s. Here.
My dad walks up, extending his hand out toward him. “Good to see you again, Bo.”
“Greg,” Bo says, shaking his hand. “Big day for this guy.” He tilts his head toward Huck.
My dad smiles, looking at the beaming eight-year-old. “It is.” He looks at me, then, “Huck, Lucy’s at the fountain over there and you can make wishes with pennies. I think we should try that out. Maybe wish for Birdie to take us to get some ice cream.”
That’s all it takes, and they’re both gone, Huck running at full speed.
Then it’s staring: me at Bo, Bo at me.
“Thank you for coming,” I finally manage to say. “And for whatever source of wizardry this was.” I gesture to the people around us.
He laughs under his breath. “No wizardry. Turns out, people want to show up if you let them.”
I look around, all the people that I know and love that I never considered as feeling the same about me. Here. Loving me right back.
And Bo.
As much as I don’t want it to be true, as much as I want to protect him from all the ugly that my life might contain, I love him. Endlessly. Looking at him look at me, I know it. Regardless of my genes and what that may or may not mean for the rest of my life.
I love him the way Veda hoped I would.
“B—”
“Daddy! I’m starving! Can we go eat?” Lucy’s voice makes my own vanish as she runs up to us.
Bo’s gaze drops to hers before lifting to mine. “Lunch sounds great, Lucy Goosey. Tell Huck and Birdie bye.”
It’s hugs, high-fives, and my unspoken words a whisper in the wind.
“Mabel,” I call across the parking lot as my dad helps Huck settle in his seat in the minivan. She looks at me, smiles, and waves. I hold up one finger to her jogging to the car where she and her muse are standing.
“I’m thinking maybe I made a mistake or something,” I tell her, shoving my hands in my coat pockets.
She raises her eyebrows, curious look on her face. “Really? How so?”
“With Bo…” I shake my head, not sure what I’m trying to say. “When I said maybe my story is one that doesn’t end with love, I’m wondering if I got that wrong.”
“Of course you got it wrong!” she says, both hands in the air.
“So now what? What should I do? Go tell him?” My eyes scan the parking lot until they land on the cherry-red Jeep and him helping Lucy into the back seat.
She chuckles. “Show, Birdie dear, don’t tell.”
I close my eyes, trying to understand what she means. How do I show Bo anything like what he just did for me in this courthouse? In the last six months of my life?
My eyes fly open. “Mabel, I have an idea.”