Chapter 15
It was the day of the hearing, and Ava’s stomach was a ball of nerves.
She tried her hardest to keep a smile on her face, so Ruby wouldn’t sense how stressed out she was.
But Cole knew. Probably because he was also stressed.
She could see it in the worry lines on his face despite his attempts to hide it.
They drove over to the courthouse in silence. Even Ruby was quiet. Ava had been very honest with her about everything that would happen today. If Ava were to lose, she didn’t want Ruby to be blindsided.
After they parked, the three of them got out and held hands with Ruby between them. They stared up at the courthouse. This was it. This would decide their fate.
“Ready?” Cole asked.
Ava nodded her head and looked down at Ruby, who was looking up at her.
“Let’s do this,” Ava said.
“Let’s do this,” Ruby repeated.
Ava stepped out of the courthouse with Ruby, Cole, and Jameson.
She couldn’t believe it. She was awarded guardianship of Ruby.
Tonya and Frank had failed to show up at the hearing, proving they weren’t suitable to remain Ruby’s guardians.
Things had already been working against them with the public intoxication fines they had already gotten on multiple occasions and the less than suitable living conditions where Ruby rarely had food to eat.
The kicker was when the judge asked Ruby how she felt about all of it and Ruby said she wanted to stay with Ava—that she was happier with Ava.
Ruby swung Ava’s hand back and forth with a smile plastered on her face. Ava was still in shock and looked at Jameson.
“Thank you so much for all your help. Please send me a bill. I’ll pay whatever is owed immediately.”
He shook his head. “No. Don’t worry about it. It was my pleasure.” And with that, he gave them a final wave and congratulations before walking away.
Ava stared after him in shock before looking over at Cole, who had a bright smile on his face. He picked up Ruby’s other hand and squatted down to her level.
“Now, how about we celebrate with some ice cream?”
Ruby cheered, and the three of them walked down the courthouse steps like a new family who had just won their greatest battle.
A family. Of course, she now had a child she was in charge of, which wasn’t any different from what she had already been doing, but thinking of Cole as her partner through all of it was different.
She had guardianship of Ruby, and now she could focus on what she wanted.
On whom she wanted.
And she wanted Cole. He had been there throughout the entire process. He never walked away, and he helped with everything along the way.
They pulled up to the ice cream shop and went inside. While Ruby looked at all the flavors, Ava took Cole’s hand and gave it a squeeze. He looked down at her with a small smile on his face.
“Hey,” she said.
“Hey.”
“Thank you for everything. You’ve been my rock through it all, and I don’t know how I’ll ever thank you.”
He gave her hand a squeeze back. “You don’t have to thank me. I’d do it all over again if it meant seeing that smile on your and Ruby’s faces.”
Her eyes bounced between his, and she wanted to tell him she loved him. It was on the tip of her tongue, but Ruby’s voice pulled her out of the moment.
“What flavor are you getting, Cole?”
He smiled at Ava and gave her hand one last squeeze before turning toward the ice cream case. “Hmm. I’m thinking about chocolate. What about you?”
Her eyes lit up. “Me too!”
“Twinsies!” he said.
Ruby looked at him thoughtfully. “But not like your actual twin, right? Only Kelly can be that.”
Cole laughed and put an arm around her. “Right. Kelly is my actual twin. But I think she would be okay with you being my twin for today.”
Ruby looked at Ava. “We should call Kelly and tell her the bedroom is mine now! She won’t have anywhere to sleep when she comes to visit.” She covered her mouth with her hand and giggled.
Ava laughed. “Yeah, we can do that.”
They gave the person behind the counter their orders and sat at one of the little shop tables with their cones.
Ruby looked like the happiest person on earth, and tears sprang to Ava’s eyes.
If only she could have been taken out of her parents’ household at Ruby’s age as well, her life would have been much better. Then her eyes drifted to Cole.
His family gave her the family she always wanted. They showed her what it was like to have people to rely on and treated her like their own. And now Ruby would have that as well.
Cole tapped her foot under the table, and she looked at him just as ice cream dripped onto her hand. “You okay?” he mouthed.
Ava smiled at him and knew she probably looked like a lunatic with a melting ice cream cone as she stared off with tears in her eyes. “Perfect.”
“This is the best day ever,” Ruby whispered, devouring her cone.
Ava met Cole’s eyes over the table, and she knew she had the dopiest grin on her face. Ruby was right. It was the best day ever.