The Adoption - Until I Find You Again // Book Three

Part Two

Emily never really did answer me.  I didn't know if that was because she was purposely avoiding the subject or she didn't know that I'd actually asked her a question.  My confusion was answered when I saw her face the next morning.  I had left her in bed to get Lucy to school, when I returned she was wrangling Noah from his booster seat after he'd finished breakfast.  She looked at me, let out a deep sigh and then diverted her eyes downward.

Not the greeting I was hoping for.  I lifted one of my legs as Noah ran between them headed towards the living room and his iPad.  She shook her head,

"How's Lucy?"

"Fine.  Dropped her off at school.  Said hello to her teacher."  She nodded but didn't answer me as she turned to finish loading the dishwasher, "Em-"  I stopped, not entirely sure what I wanted to say, "We should talk."

She finished loading the dishwasher and leaned down to pull the door up.  She turned to look at me,

"Harry, I don't know what to say."

I leaned against the counter behind me,

"Say whatever you wanna say."

Emily awkwardly played with a dish towel on the counter.  I could tell she was wrestling with something I just didn't know what.  She nervously met my gaze,

"That's a big ask."

I nodded,

"I know it is."

She gestured to the room where Noah had just run off to,

"I don't even know if I want more kids.  I haven't had time to think about it between Noah tearing things up and Lucy needing help with homework.  Two kids is a lot...three could break us."

I laughed slightly.  Emily was always so concerned she wasn't giving enough time to our kids.  Always so worried that she wasn't doing enough for them.  If she saw what I saw she'd know, without question, that she was the best mother around.  My kids were kind, well-behaved, articulate, and intelligent.  I stepped forward to take her hands in mine,

"Baby, three kids isn't going to break us-"

"How can you be so sure?"  She interrupted, taking her hands away.  She turned away, shaking her head before she finally turned back to look at me, "You get this grandiose idea that we could adopt this little boy and save him from the cold, cruel world...and I love that about you.  I do.  The dreamer inside you is alive and well and that makes me so happy but-"  She stopped abruptly.

"But what, Em?"  I prodded.

Her eyes met mine, apprehension dulling their usual sparkle and shine,

"Have you stopped to think what this will mean for us?  For them?"  She said, gesturing to the other room where Noah was quietly tapping on his iPad.

I pulled my eyebrows together.  I had to admit, I hadn't thought about anything past putting Kesse on a plane and bringing him home.  Cautiously, I asked her.

"What do you think this will mean for us?  Or for them?"

She slid her hands onto her hips,

"He's a little boy.  He's been in an African orphanage for the past two years.  He's had nothing.  He's going to be thrust into this world where you are a Rockstar and our kids grew up very differently from the way he did."  She threw her hand out and let it drop to her thigh, "Do you know anything about him past the fact that he's in this orphanage?  He hasn't spoken a word in two years since he was brought into this place.  But the moment he sees you suddenly he's speaking."  She shook her head, "It just seems like maybe you got caught up in the romanticism of it all."