I'm Yours (Sequel to "You're mine")

Chapter 72: For the future

- 2 months later

Talia's POV

I parked the car in the parking lot of the school. Normally, I'd get out and go to the teachers' lounge to have a chat with my colleagues and friends. But today, I didn't feel like it. What was I supposed to say after a long absence? People would look at me. They'd wonder where I had been. They'd ask me how I'm doing... And I didn't know what to answer.

I sat there in my car, probably for a lot longer than I thought. I tried to calm myself down, I tried to appear confident. I tried to be... normal...

At some point, I finally gathered the courage to get out of the car. I took my bag and closed the car. I then slowly walked towards the school building.

From afar, I could see some students looking at me. Probably talking about the fact I'm finally back.

I then entered the school building. I gulped as I saw my colleagues further down the hallway. I decided to just walk towards my class and face my colleagues on my way there.

"Hey Talia," One of them said. "How are you?"

Before I could say anything, another one came and said: "We're so sorry to hear about what happened."

I slowly nodded as I didn't know how to respond to that. I didn't know whether to thank them or hate them for bringing it back up.

I continued my walk towards my classroom and, when I finally reached it, let out a sigh of relief. I entered and closed the door behind me. I sighed once more before walking to the desk and putting my bag down next to it. I walked to the chair behind the desk and sat down on it. Finally, I thought, some peace.

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Around lunch, there was a knock on my classroom door. When it opened, I saw my friends enter. "Hey, Talia."

They stopped and looked at us before Heather quickly closed the door. "What are you doing here?"

Leah smiled at them. "I'm visiting T."

My friends walked closer to us before looking at me. "We came by because we hadn't seen you all day," Mary started. "We were wondering if you were ok."

I looked down a bit.

Leah immediately caressed my face. "It's ok, baby," She whispered before kissing my cheek. "You take all the time you need."

I smiled a bit at her.

Heather was the first one to take a seat. She kept looking at us together, as if she had never seen us together. "What are you doing here, at school? I thought you two agreed that this would be weird for Talia to explain."

Leah and I nodded. "But they all already know about us," Leah replied. "There's no point in hiding it anymore."

Heather seemed surprised to hear this and looked at me. "Is that how you feel as well?"

I slowly nodded. "When I arrived this morning, the principal paid me a visit," I started, gaining everyone's attention. "He made it clear he knew about the relationship Leah and I have but he can't legally do anything as she's no minor."

"And he didn't question when the relationship started?" Charlotte asked.

I shook my head. "Technically it's none of his business."

"When T called me around 10 to tell me this, I asked her if I could visit her for lunch. And she said yes," Leah looked at me then. "So here I am." She smiled at me.

I smiled back. "I'm happy you're here."

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My friends stayed for a while. We had a great time, talking and laughing. At times like these, I realize how happy I am that my friends accepted my wife. I was really grateful for that.

"T," Leah started as we were alone again. "I want to have a serious talk with you."

I gulped as the sound of that worried me. "Ok."

She looked away a bit, as if she wasn't sure what to tell me. "I've been thinking a lot about what we went through," She started. "I realize now the many mistakes we made."

I raised my eyebrows. "Mistakes?"

She nodded and looked back at me. "For the future, we have to communicate better, especially about serious things for our future, like getting a child or - "

"It's not like we'll ever get a child anyway."

She gave me a look. "We will get children, there are many ways."

I looked away, I just didn't feel like hearing this. I know she wanted to help me make me feel better but this didn't help. It made me feel upset. 

"Anyway," She said, clearly changing the topic, she must've felt my mood. "I'm just saying, for our future, we have to be and work together to overcome challenges together."

I looked at her.

"The main reason why you thought you were alone with your grief is that you made the decision to get pregnant on your own."

I gulped and looked away, letting that news sink in. Did I? I always thought we chose it together. But Leah was smart when it came to reflecting back, and what she was saying... It made sense to me.

"I want to be by your side for everything, but you have to let me, baby."

I slowly nodded. "I know," I said, barely above a whisper. "I'm sorry for not including you in my decisions."

She smiled a bit. "I understand your desire to get children," She reached for my face and caressed it. She made me look at her. "So why don't we talk about other ways?"

I quickly looked away as I didn't want to hear that. It felt wrong to me.

Leah, however, reached for my face again and made me look at her again. "Why don't we try to adopt a child?"

I didn't really respond to that. I didn't know what to say either.

"Wait," Leah got up and took her bag. She took papers out of it before sitting back on my lap. "I got these brochures from a place not that far away," She put them on the table so I could look at them too. "We can always go by for a meet and a talk."

I gulped.

She looked at me and seemed to notice my mood again. "T," She caressed my face again. "What's wrong?"

"I don't know about this," I shrugged. "I don't think this will work."

She raised her eyebrows. "Many people adopt children, baby, it can work."

I looked away then. "I don't think the child will really be ours though."

She made me look at her again and looked me deeply in the eyes. "Can you tell me what's really on your mind?"

I gulped and looked down. "I've looked into other ways too," I said softly. "Adoption is indeed a good way to get a child but," I paused a bit. "I worry about the children."

"Why?"

I looked at her again. "What if those children will never see us as their real parents?"

She frowned a bit. "Why wouldn't they, baby? If we raise them..."

"I know," I looked away again. "But you hear these stories of adopted children who want to find their biological parents," I looked at her again. "I don't know if I will be able to deal with that."

Suddenly I saw Leah's face change, as if she really understood me now. "I understand, baby," She showed me a small smile. "Why don't we go by just to check it out, and we can always decide afterward what we'll do."

I smiled a bit too. "Ok."