The Way of Fate (Book 1)

21. Past, Present, Future

He shook his head slowly. "I don't deserve you."

"You're right." I said it so confidently that Mika gave me a weird look. "You deserve so much better."

Mika rolled his eyes. "Shut up. Can we just go home?"

Chuckling, I put the car in reverse and pulled out of the parking space. I waited a minute before starting a new conversation. "So, your sister," I stated, only slightly awkwardly. "How are you feeling about all that?"

"Like shit," he said, a new air of defensiveness to his voice. "How did I not know? How could I have just left her like that?"

I reached over and grabbed his hand. Maybe this wasn't the best conversation to have while I was driving, but it was too late now. "You didn't know. That's not your fault. At least you know now."

"It still took two years. And now she's with people who seem like grade A assholes. How could I let that happen? She's my little sister, Allen. I should have been there for her."

I didn't answer right away. There was an idea floating around my head, but I didn't want to say it out loud, at least not yet. I'd have to do some research on my own before I brought the idea to Mika, just in case it couldn't work out.

"But it's probably a good thing she's with a family, instead of with me," Mika continued. "She's probably actually going to school. She's obviously healthy. Last time I saw her she could barely get out of bed on her own. I just want to know if she's happy."

I hated agreeing with him right now. Amy was just a kid, a kid who shouldn't have been raised on the streets the way she was. But Mika protected her as much as he could, but he couldn't give her anything a normal kid needs. This was probably her best offer for the moment.

Instead, I asked, "You gave Amy your number, right?" I think I saw him write that down on the napkin, but it did it so quickly, I couldn't tell for sure.

"I didn't even think of giving her my number. I put down your - our - address."

Glancing at him, I smiled when I saw him looking out the window. I don't think there's ever a time when he doesn't look absolutely beautiful. I meant what I said before. He deserves so much more than me. It didn't matter how much money I had, because that didn't mean anything to him. That's why I'm planning on paying for his entire education and why I now want to do this for him.

I want to figure out how we could adopt Amy.

Mika and I haven't exactly been together for too long, but I feel like he's the one for me. I feel even stronger about him than I ever did for Sarah, which is a feeling I never thought was possible. I thought I had wanted to marry her, but I waited too long to ask and missed my chance. Now I knew I wanted to be with Mika for the rest of my life. I wanted to marry him. I wanted a life with him, and I wouldn't miss this chance for anything. It's one of the reasons why I knew adopting Amy would work out. 

Even though I may not know her personally, I trust Mika, and if he cares so much about Amy, I want to give her the best home I can. There was plenty of space in the house for an extra person, and I had more than enough money to afford another kid. Doing this feels like the right thing to do.

The only thing is, if I tell Mika my idea now, he might get his hopes up too high in case something prevents this from happening. At least, I hoped he would want this. I wouldn't put it past him to end up shooting down the idea immediately, with some reasoning that makes sense to him. It's why I needed to do research first, so I can prove to him just how possible this is.

When we got home, after the rest of the drive was spent in relative silence, Mika immediately went into the house, not waiting for me. I didn't mind; he had a lot going through his head. He needed time to sort everything out on his own. I followed behind and, once I was inside, was instantly questioned by my mother.

"Is everything alright?" she asked. "How was your date night?"

"It was fine, Ma," I said, trying to move around her. "Where's Sammy? Did you put him to sleep yet?"

Ma shrugged. "I think your father has him in the other room. I tried telling him the boy needs to sleep, but he wasn't listening to me. Then you boys came back. Mika didn't seem to happy. Didn't even say anything to me, just walked right upstairs. Are you sure everything's fine?"

I sighed. "We ran into someone from his past. Don't bring it up with him, please." With that, I finally managed to get around my mother and head to the living room, where I could hear the TV playing and Sam's giggling.

"Dad," I said, walking into the room. "Do you realize how late it is?"

"But he's having fun," Dad answered. He was sitting on the floor next to his grandson. "Let him stay up a little longer." It sounded like my father was the one who didn't want to stop playing yet, considering Sam was still too young to really have an opinion like that.

I shook my head, bending over to pick up my son. "No. It's well past his bedtime." As harsh as I sounded, I knew that he needed a strict routine, especially at this age. If I started letting him stay up this late, he'd get used to it and expect it night after night.

As soon as he was in my arms, Sam put his head on my shoulder and let out a large yawn. See? Past his bedtime. But I didn't say anything like that to my dad, just left him there so I could get Sam ready for bed.

I didn't see Mika again until I went to bed, nearly an hour later. He was curled up under the covers, fast asleep. Judging by his damp hair that I pushed to the side so that I could kiss his forehead, he had taken a shower before going to sleep. I slipped under the blanket next to him, trying my hardest not to wake him up. I froze when he shifted, but relaxed when he only curled into my chest, still asleep.

I wanted to fall asleep too, knowing that I had a busy day at work tomorrow, but my mind kept running. Eventually, I gave up. I climbed out of bed, once again making sure not to wake up Mika, and moved to the kitchen with my laptop.

The next couple hours were spent doing as much research as I possibly could on the adoption process. For some reason, the more time I spent thinking about it, the more I wanted Amy to join our family. I just hoped that she wasn't already adopted by that couple, otherwise this would never work.