thirty-one ── diplomas
"𝕷ook at my handsome boy! All grown up!" Luke began to laugh, catching sight of his parents as he wandered over with his diploma in one hand and his cap in the other.
"Mom, I've been this height for years." Luke laughed, leaning down to hug the smaller woman, picking her up in the process. He began to spin as the woman screeched, smacking his shoulder gently.
"Luke!" He laughed again, setting her back down and kissing her cheek as she placed a hand over her heart. "Stop trying to kill me."
"Where's the fun in that?" Luke asked, before embracing his dad, as Hermes chuckled in amusement at the pair.
"Don't give your mom anymore grey hairs, bud. She doesn't need it." Hermes teased, before pulling away and looking him up and down. "How does it feel? Now you're officially an adult with a degree."
"And a shit ton of debt." Luke added on, before grinning. "Nah, it feels great. I'm free and now, instead of calling mom to annoy her down the phone, I can do it in her office."
"Don't make me regret hiring you." Eden shook her head, smiling proudly up at her son as he grinned. "I will fire you."
"She always threatens, never carries through." Alfie appeared, smacking Luke's back a few times. "Look at you, kiddo. You actually graduated."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence." Luke rolled his eyes, shaking Alfie and his husband, James', hands before embracing Ashlee. "It's so nice to know that you all believe in me."
"You never know with our family." Eden stated. "I mean look at Jasper."
"I can feel you insulting me and I haven't even reached you yet." Jasper cried indignantly, as he and his siblings made an appearance, Luke's grandpa and grandma a little further behind them. "Congrats, Luke."
"Cheers. Didn't know that you guys were all coming." Luke thanked Cara as the woman handed him a bouquet. "Grandma."
"Look at you. All smart in your suit." Macy pouted at Eden. "Ready to follow your mom into the family business?"
"Remember, you're not allowed to make people cry." Luke laughed at Alfie's statement, before the cameras were brought out and Luke was forced into taking photographs despite his protests. Macy was very persuasive.
At twenty-two years old, Luke looked exactly like his dad in a mildly taller, and slightly blonder form. His curly hair had straightened out over the years, and was now mostly straight, and he stood a little taller than his dad's height. Hermes wrapped an arm around his shoulder, squeezing gently as Eden stood on his other side, considerably smaller than the other two men. beaming widely.
Luke hated photos, and he hated having to take them, but he obliged for his mom and grandma, who were both incredibly excited about it, everyone chatting about what was going to happen and where they were going to eat. Luke twisted, saying goodbye to a couple of his classmates and laughing. They had plans in the summer to go and travel in Europe, so Luke would be off in a few weeks.
He twisted, before catching sight of his mom's look.
"What?"
"There's something else."
"Yeah?" He cocked an eyebrow.
"A graduation gift."
"Mom!" Luke whined, rolling his eyes as she began to shake her head. "I don't want a gift."
"This is a special one." Eden hissed, smacking Luke's stomach gently as the man began to laugh. "I did some digging, baby. Well, Ashlee did, and you get the gist. That Lego spaceship of yours, that the officer gave to you?"
"Yeah, what about it?" Luke tensed a little, not truly wanting to speak about the past on a celebratory day like today.
"Well, there's someone who wants to speak to you." Eden replied, before squeezing her son's hand and pressing a kiss to his cheek. "Take as long as you need."
Luke's eyebrows furrowed, before he looked around and found someone in a police uniform walking towards him. If he was younger, he probably would have tried to run away, but he'd long since forgone the need for attempting to escape the law. It was only when the officer took his hat off that Luke recognised him.
His mouth fell open a little bit, eyes going wide as the man stepped forward with a grin.
"Hi, Luke." Luke didn't know what to say for a moment, before accepting the man's embrace. Officer John Petras was smaller than he remembered, and his hair was greying more, but he was so similar to how Luke remembered his from when he was younger. "God, you've grown a lot since I last saw you. You were about this tall."
He motioned to his waist as Luke nodded.
"Yeah, I was pretty little." Luke nodded. "How did you find me?"
"Well, I got a call and it was this woman named Ashlee, I think? She told me that your mom was trying to find me, to talk with me and I won't lie to you, I thought I was in trouble." Luke laughed. "But we talked, and I found out that it was about this little boy who I'd found and given a Lego spaceship to. She told me you were graduating, and asked if I wanted to come and I did. I wanted to make sure that you were doing alright, because once you were in the system, I couldn't find you."
"Yeah, I'm doing alright." Luke nodded, feeling kind of emotional about the whole thing. "I'm doing really good, actually."
"Did you get placed with Eden straight away?"
"No, no. I ran away quite a few times. I got placed with Eden when I was twelve." Luke shrugged, turning to smile at his mom, who was standing and chatting with the rest of their family. "She looked after me ever since."
"I'm glad and you graduated! What was your degree?"
"Business and accounting." Luke replied, before seeing that the officer was holding onto something. His eyebrows furrowed, staring at the bag.
"Oh, this?" John smiled, holding it out to the man.
Luke felt like he was nine again, sitting in his room with the officer as the social worked checked the house out. It had taken a few hours for the house to be deemed unliveable and for Luke to be removed, and in that time, he and John had built a model spaceship, connecting all the little pieces together until Luke had it. He thought he'd have to give it back, already having started to take it apart, but John had told him he could keep it.
It had been one of the few things, throughout his entire experience in the foster system, that had been his and only his. No one had it before him, and no one had taken it from him. He'd kept it. It had gone with him to Eden's house, and for a few years had been in a box that was designed to keep all of his things safe, before it had gone on a shelf. It had followed him to university, taking up residence in his dorm, and Luke had been planning to put it in his office when he started working with his mom. That Lego spaceship had been one of the few things that Luke had treasured from his childhood, one of the few things that reminded him that his childhood was good.
In the bag was another Lego kit, this one of New York City, with the Empire State Building and a couple of other buildings present on the front of the kit. Luke held it up, admiring it for a moment, before looking back at John.
"Thank you." John waved him off. "No, I mean it, for everything. I think I was pretty ungrateful when you got the social services lady to look around, but thank you for doing it."
John smiled.
"I'm glad that it all worked out for you, that you graduated and that you have a supportive family." John patted his shoulders, before grinning. "Hopefully, you can do that kit on your own this time."
☾☼☽
Luke finished putting his things on the desk in the office. His mom's office was the floor above, with Alfie and Ashlee. He was on the floor below, in the accounting office for the company, having been placed there with a new mentor on his first day in the office.
Taking a deep breath, Luke began to settle in, putting down photographs, before finally turning to the two little shelves that were available in his space. Reaching into his box, he pulled out the spaceship and the New York Lego model, setting both onto the shelves. Taking a step back, the man grinned, thinking of how shocked his younger self would have been that he had got to this point.
His nine year old self wouldn't appreciate this, but his twelve year old self would.
He'd made it.
☾☼☽
Hiya,
So loads of people asked if the officer from the first chapter would ever turn back up, and the answer is yes, he was always going to appear for Luke's graduation because I thought that was sweet. Luke being all grown up and graduated is so dear to me, and I'm so excited for him. One final chapter tomorrow for Eden and Hermes' love story epilogue and then this book is coming to a close.
Let me know what you think,
Love Li xx