First

Chapter 62

"Are you sure you want to do this?" he asked, looking me deep in the eyes. "Once I hit that button we're committed."

I nodded and pressed my lips to his before looking out at the water.

It was a cool grey summer day. Rain clouds were slowly rolling in and the wind was gusting over the beach, creating white caps in the bay. The weather seemed oddly fitting for what we were about to do.

"I'm ready. I'm nervous," I admitted. "But I'm sure. We can do this."

Jace smiled and hit the call button, setting his phone in between us on the blanket, set to speaker. I took a deep breath and braced myself for what we were about to start. We waited as the phone rang, both of us silent and nervous. Finally someone picked up. "Aubrey Harper, International Children Services."

I paused and looked at Jace, not even sure how to start.

"Um, hi Aubrey. I don't know if you remember me or not but this is Lieutenant Jason Fields," Jace said, introducing himself. "And this is my fiancée, Kadence."

"Hello," I managed to squeak out.

There was a brief moment of silence before she said, "Oh, of course. Yes, I remember you. It's nice to hear from you. And it's lovely to finally meet you, Kadence; I've heard lots about you." I blushed and shook my head at Jace. Before I could reprimand him, Aubrey asked, "How have you been, Lieutenant?"

"Jace, please," he corrected, instantly uncomfortable and embarrassed. "I'm fine. I'm... We're," Jace grabbed my hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "We are calling about Cameron..."

"Ah, I thought you might be calling. I take it you've come to a decision, then?" Aubrey asked in a knowing voice. I could hear the smile and hopefulness in her voice. I don't know how I could ever have thought Jace was fooling around with her, even for a moment. She was so nice and didn't seem the type to do that. I could tell she had the best interests of Cameron at heart.

"Yes, we have actually."

Jace looked at me once again and raised his eyebrows, silently asking are you sure? one last time. Instead of answering him, I spoke into the phone. "We're interested in adopting Cameron."

Jace looked at me in surprise but I just smiled at him. His eyes lit up as it was at that point that he finally realized that I was sure; I was as invested in this as he was. No matter what obstacles we might face, we were going to bring Cameron home to us, as our son... together.

"That's fantastic, I'm so glad to hear that." I could hear the smile in her voice. "He's been so lonely here; he misses you, Jace. You know he was only recently released from the hospital. I just can't believe it; Cameron is finally going to have a family," Aubrey gushed.

I tuned her out as I watched Jace beam and wipe away a stray tear. I smiled along with him. We were finally starting our family. Just not in the traditional way we thought we would but we were starting it .

Jace laughed and pulled me into his chest. I laughed too and returned his embrace. Who would have thought that after everything that we had been through that we would be sitting here telling a case worker that we wanted to adopt a baby?

We were pulled out of our embrace by Aubrey spouting off information excitedly. Jace continued to laugh as he tried to get it all down. Eventually we had a solid starting point for where we should start the adoption process.

After we hung up with Aubrey, who promised to call back in a few days with more information and the name of an actual adoption agent, we sat on the beach in awe, holding hands and looking out over the water.