Hop, Skip, Wed

Adoption

If not now, when?

-Anonymous

*

I woke up early this morning because I had a lot of chores to do today. I had virtual meetings with four of the couples that had wanted to adopt kids from our orphanage. I had to take Mia to the pediatrician for her vaccine shot. I had to go to the salon to get my hair cut, then I had to go get my nails done. By the end of the day I felt super tired, I was returning home from getting my nails done when I remembered I had dropped my brush this morning and had to get a new one.

"Why does today have to be so hard?" I said to myself.

I parked in the grocery store parking lot and quickly made my way inside. I wanted to get home as soon as I could. I was making my way to the aisle with the toothbrushes when someone blocked my way. By the smell of his perfume I could tell who he was.

"Hey Sophie," Carter said.

It had been so long since we had crossed paths, the last time we had bumped into each other I was still madly in love with him. My heart had skipped a beat and I had butterflies. But I had realized that I couldn't be with him. My heart had hurt and I cried myself to sleep for the next few weeks. Seeing him now the only thing I felt was hatred, I was in love with him once but I didn't feel a single ounce of that love anymore.

I ignored him and tried to pass him but he blocked my way again.

"It's been so long. You're prettier than I remember." He said.

"Of course I am. Breaking up with a toxic partner does that."

"I heard you're dating someone, is that true?"

"How is that any of your business?"

"Because you are my soulmate."

At this I laughed and said, "Keep telling yourself that."

"Where is your boy-?"

"Why are you here Carter?" I interrupted him.

"Sam told me you were getting married. I just wanted to check if that was true."

"It is."

Rage filled his eyes, the same way they had the day I broke up with him. His jaw clenched, his hands formed into fists, his eyes narrowed and his face turned into a sneer. But I knew he could hurt me again.

"Who is it?"

"None of your fucking business. Now get the fuck out of my way before I start screaming for help."

"You have changed. You're not the same person. Your new boy toy is a bad influence on you. You would never have spoken to me like this before. I don't like it."

"Do I look like I give a fuck if you like me or not? Your opinion means nothing to me. You are dead to me." I passed him and began to walk further into the aisle before turning around and saying, "Oh and my 'boy toy' is going to be my husband soon. I'll make sure to send you an invite."

With that I picked out my toothbrush, paid for it and drove back home.

The next day, I woke up to the sound of my phone ringing. I reached for it and picked it up without checking the caller ID.

"Hello?" I said.

"Did I wake you?" My sister-in-law asked.

"Yes."

"Oh, sorry. Go back to sleep, I'll call you later."

There was no point, the ringing had woken Mia up and I knew she would not go back to sleep, "No, it's fine. Why did you call?"

"I have to talk to you about something, do you mind coming over for lunch today?"

I checked the time and it was 11:00 o'clock. I didn't really have anything to do today, "Sure. I'll be there at 2."

"That's perfect and bring Mia with you!"

I got up, gave Mia a shower, fed her and played with her for a while before I started getting ready for lunch. I took a shower, put on a yellow summer dress, did my make up and put on a pair of sandals. I put Mia in her child seat and drove to my brother's house.

"Hey!" I greeted Tracy, my sister-in-law.

"Hi! Come on in!" She said, ushering us inside.

Once I was seated and had a glass of water I asked Tracy, "What did you want to talk to me about?"

She began chuckling and then laughing hysterically. I looked at my brother and he too began laughing like crazy. Alex and I looked at each other and we both let out an awkward chuckle. The first half of the lunch was super awkward. I'm not sure why but both my brother and my sister in law were acting super weird. The only one acting normally was my nephew Alex. He was playing with Mia, both of them had grown very attached.

After lunch Tracy let Alex go out to hang out with his friend. Mia had fallen asleep a few minutes ago after crying for no reason.

"I- I mean we wanted to talk to you." Said my brother.

"I know, I'm very curious you guys have been acting weird all morning."

"Yeah about that.....Both Tracy and I wanted kids and as you know Tracy barely survived giving birth to Alex. We want more kids and we've looked into adoption."

"Oh! I didn't know you guys were looking to adopt."

"We have but the problem is we couldn't bond with any of the kids, especially Alex."

"Oh no! It's probably because he's super young and doesn't understand the concept yet."

"We know, we talked to him and he said he wanted a sister. Both Tracy and I want a daughter too."

"That's great! What does this have to do with me though? Do you want me to talk to him?"

"We thought about that but then you came back and brought Mia back with you. All three of us have bonded with her and we love her dearly. I hope you understand what I'm saying...."

It was true, all three of them had been visiting Mia constantly since I had come back. I didn't know that they were planning on adopting her. I hadn't told anyone in my family that I was planning on adopting Mia myself. But listening to their story about how Alex couldn't bond with any of the other kids, and I didn't want to hurt their feelings by saying no. I knew it was the right decision.

"That's great news, I'll get the paperwork started." I said, with a smile.