It had been several months since they had taken Voya in. She had settled well and they had spent time making sure she was happy in the house and decorated her room how she wanted it. Mrs Green had come back to inform them that they were unable to locate blood relatives for Voya and to ask they wanted to adopt her properly. It had been a long few months going through the process but they had now finalised the adoption. It was an added bonus that everything was done in time for the wedding.
It was the night before and Sukara couldn't sleep. She was up in the kitchen finishing off a cup of tea when small footsteps came into the room.
"Hi," Voya said as her feet patted across the tiled floor.
"What are you doing up?" Sukara asked, crouching down so that they were at the same height.
"I hear-ed you," Voya explained, walking up to Sukara, "I ask you something?"
"Of course you can," Sukara smiled, rubbing Voya's shoulders as it was a little cold in the kitchen, "what's on your mind."
"-an I call you Momma?" she asked, twiddling the ends of Sukara's hair, "you said, I choose my family. I choose this one."
"Absolutely," Sukara smiled, trying not to let her happy tears fall from her eyes, "I'd be honoured to be your Momma."
Sukara hugged Voya tight, wiping the tears from underneath her eyes as she tried to re-compose herself without the little girl seeing and getting confused by her reaction. Voya stretched her arms up and clung round Sukara's neck.
"Are you s-ared?" Voya asked as she pulled back, "for tomorrow."
"A little, but I'm really excited too," Sukara smiled, lifting Voya up into her arms as she stood up, "are you excited too?"
Voya nodded enthusiastically, clearly not tired anymore. Sukara sighed and turned to the fridge to grab the milk bottle.
"You wanna sit with me for a bit?" Sukara asked, pouring two cups the best she could with one hand.
Voya nodded and Sukara put her down again. She needed both hands to heat up the milk for the two of them. Once she'd finished, she held one of them out to Voya.
"Is that too hot for you?" she asked as the little girl put her hands on the outside and shook her head, "we can put the fire on in the living room until you get sleepy again."
Sukara lifted the cup back up and gestured out of the room, allowing Voya to walk in front of her towards the living room. The two of them made their way out to the soft carpet, Voya climbing up onto the cushions of the sofa as Sukara set the cups down and lit the fire. She joined her daughter and let her cuddle up to her as Sukara calmed her own nerves about the wedding. She wasn't worried as such but the excitement and happiness was hard to differentiate from the nervousness. It made the strange tickling sensation in her chest all the more prominent as she sat thinking about it.