All of the Tears I Shed For You

Chapter 22

"Ever since I fell in love with Katy, I've always wanted to have children with her. I was luckily blessed with my beautiful teenager daughter, but she wasn't fully mine. I always felt the greatest connection with her, even before I knew her mother. Maya Hart was a strong, restless fighter and I wanted more than anything to be apart of her world. My dreams and wishes came true when I asked her mother to marry me and I adopted Maya shortly after. Something was still missing from our one-more-step-to-perfect family. Maya was almost to graduate from high school and soon she'd be moving out in a blink of an eye. What each of us needed was children. Something to keep us occupied on a lazy Sunday, or someone to talk to about the silliest dreams you had last week. Katy and I tried to have children ever since we had gotten married but we were unlucky. Since we already went through the adoptive process with Maya, we were prepared and we knew the ins and outs of the system. We were ready. When Katy came to me in the morning after a restless night, she told be of a spiritual feeling she had received the night before. She felt that she had to raise the children of her long lost high school best friend. It was a blessing for me to know that we would be gaining children in our life. It was like Carmen came down to Earth from Heaven like an Angel to bring us the miracle we've waited so patiently for."

~Shawn Hunter

Maya's POV

"Where are we going?" I painted as Riley sped through the narrow hallway of my complex to the stairs. "Why aren't we taking the elevator?" I asked and she pulled me down the green carpeted steps. All she did was shush me and continue leading me down. Soon, we were out the door and across the street, now climbing her cold metal stairs, through the window we grew up admiring and worshipping.

"What are we doing?" I asked again. She pushed through her bedroom door to the hallway with her stubborn determination. It all felt like it was in slow motion. She stormed her way to the living room and stopped in her tracks, moving the attention of her family to her standing tall and to me, awkwardly trailing behind.

"Maya nice to see you here!" Topanga brightly greeted me. I nodded quietly and Riley had that same look of anger in her eyes, curving her cheeks and causing her smile to disappear. "What's wrong, Riley?" Corey asked, closing his laptop and setting it aside.

Riley bluntly and vaguely blurted, "We can't adopt the Hart kids." Auggie's attention was snatched and Topanga stood with her smile deteriorating. "Maya's family is adopting them and we can't stop them," Riley continued. Corey jumped up from his seat and put a hand to his wife's shoulder. "What do you mean? We already put in the papers and they're looking forward to a second appointment with us. All of us, which means you're coming to this one this time," Topanga pointed a finger at her daughter.

"No.. there can't be a "this time", mom. Katy and Shawn are the other family that wanted to adopt the kids. We can't take them away from them!" She defended and tightened her grip on my hand. She stepped closer to her parents, pulling me along with her. "No, Riley. I have to do this for Katy. Katy is my best friend and her high school sweetheart and high school best friends children are scared and alone. This is my duty," Riley's mother pressured on. Riley stomped her foot out of no where and let go of my hand, inching closer to her mom. She has never acted this way before. Why would she do all this for me? She never would have stood up to her parents like this before, especially for me.

She stood tall and unstoppable. "No. Katy has been waiting for this. Shawn has been waiting for this. They need their children. They've prepared. They have everything ready for the kids. You have to withdrawal..." Riley trailed off of her short speech. Both of her parents blankly stared ahead and then nodded slowly after a second. I couldn't believe Riley came out of her cute little shell like that for me. She always liked to think that she was unstoppable and stronger than life's problems, but she always knew that she needed help to fix her small problems. But this time she was different, she was like a new Riley. I dig this Riley.

"Okay, um..." Corey turned to Topanga, looking for the words to say as if they were in her eyes.

"Um... I guess we can try but it might be too late.." Topanga linked her fingers together. Riley nodded and turned with a different stride than her usual peppy step. She swung her arms hard and powerful, her eyes freezing over, creating a cold layer over her once warm brown irises. What was it that got into her? She turned to into her room and folded her arms over her chest dropping onto the soft purple seat of our bay window.

"What's gotten into you, Riles?" I followed her and stood watching her from the doorway. Slowly her harsh frown curved up into a smirk and she whispered, "I learned from the best to become determined, didn't I?" I scoffed and sat next to her. "Thank you. You have no idea how much this means to me.. to my family. We really needed this. Thank you so much!" I watched her icy eyes melt over and her warm glow return to her dimpled face. "This will be hard for my parents but they'll get over it. Who knows.. they might find some other kids in need of a home that would fit right in perfectly," She spoke to the ground, then smiled at me. I slid my hand into hers and held our arms up. "Even if we do adopt these kids, you'll still forever be my most favorite family member. My favorite sister, Riley Matthews." She smiled and hugged my side and we both giggled through our eased minds.

Katy's POV-three weeks later

"Thank you both so much. I know this has been very hard for you. I know that you'll find your true calling soon. We owe you the possession of our miracle," I held Topanga's hands in mine as we readied to step into the court room. Corey patted Shawn's arm and smiled "Are you ready for this, bud? It'll be the greatest blessing of your life." Shawn scoffed and nodded, "I already and Maya and Katy, the greatest blessings. I don't think I'll prepared for the most amazing miracle of my life. We needed these kids more than they ever needed us. We've waited for them for so long and now I'm scared I wont be up-to-par with the dad skills needed for this.." He wiped his forehead and Maya took one of his hands and smiled up to him. "You're the greatest dad I could ever ask for. I was fatherless for most of my life and you were all that I needed. I needed you more than anything and you gave me even more than what I had begged for my entire life. Trust me, Dad, you will be the perfect father for them. I love you and I know they already love you more than anything," She whispered through incoming tears that she tried to choke back. I couldn't stop myself from wiping away the warm tears that shed down my face. She turned to me and wiped my wet cheek with her empty hand. We held her close and quietly said a prayer together. After we broke our huddle, Riley came to Maya and hugged her tight, "We're so excited for you all, but we have to hurry the session's gonna start!" We were all pushed into the court room, meeting our new family at the pews. I waved to each of the kids, admiring their big grins and their excited fidgets. I couldn't wait till I had them in my arms to embrace, to give them what they needed and wanted. To be there for them; help them with their homework, remind them to brush their teeth every night, give them their breakfast every morning. I couldn't wait to be their mom.

a/n:

that youtube video made me cry