“Is he here?” Dylan excitedly asked.
“He is. Mama’s with him in the living room.”
Following behind Dylan, Cameron watched as she hurried to the living room only to stop short when she saw Luca in Melanie’s arms. Dylan covered her mouth with her hand as tears welled in her eyes. Melanie held her arm out to her as Dylan carefully sat beside her on the couch and snuggled up with her. Cameron carefully sat on the coffee table as she watched Dylan and Luca meet for the first time.
“Dylan, this is Luca.”
“Hi, Luca.” Dylan cooed as she gently rested her hand on his stomach. “He’s so tiny.”
“He’s a whole six pounds, eleven ounces,” Melanie beamed with pride. “Do you want to hold him?”
Dylan excitedly nodded and Melanie carefully handed Luca to her. They had changed him out of the hospital donated onesie into one with the wordslittle browritten on them. Cameron knew they still had some hoops to jump through before Luca could officially be theirs, but she believed it in her heart that he was meant to be their son. Watching Dylan with him only confirmed that.
Later that day, Jonah arrived home and met Luca as well. He was just as smitten as Dylan was and Cameron’s heart melted seeing her babies hold Luca. They fought over who got to feed him or hold him and Cameron had such a peace that everythingwas going to work out exactly as it should. As she looked across the dining room table to Melanie, she knew she felt it, too.
The heaviness Melanie had carried around with her the days before had dissipated for the most part. Cameron knew she was still sad about Leah leaving Luca, just like Cameron was. It wasn’t going to be something they suddenly understood, but it was something they’d have to learn to live with not having the answers to.
In her arms, Luca stirred slightly as Cameron readjusted his position. She knew they were probably spoiling him by having nearly every nap be a contact nap, but Cameron didn’t care. Cameron had done the same thing with Jonah and Dylan and they had turned out amazing.
“So,” Cameron cleared her throat as she sat her fork down, “I know we kinda sprang all of this on you two. Is there anything you want to talk about?”
Dylan shrugged as she looked at Jonah. It was clear that the kids had talked about the topic among themselves and Jonah had been deemed the one to ask the question.
“What happens if Leah comes back? Does Luca have to go with her?”
It was a valid question. Cameron and Melanie had asked the very same ones. They explained it to them the same way it had been explained by the caseworker. Since Leah left her baby at a safe haven, she had forfeited her parental rights. That was how Melanie and Cameron were able to foster him. There was a waiting period to make sure that no family members showed up to claim Luca, but they knew that the possibility of that was slim. Leah obviously didn’t want anything to do with her baby, which was why she’d lied about who she was and left him.
“So, after that waiting period, then what?”
Cameron and Melanie exchanged a glance as Melanie picked up the answer.
“Then Mom and I have the option to adopt Luca. Of course, that’s not a decision that would be made without talking with both of you. We wouldn’t do it unless all four of us were on board.”
“We are,” Jonah and Dylan answered firmly in unison.
“We’re on board,” Dylan said.
“We talked about it last night. We support adding Luca to the family. He can even have my room if you need it for him.”
“Jonah, that’s so sweet.” Cameron squeezed his arm as he smiled at her. “And Mama and I want both of you to know that we will be completely open with both of you during this entire process. I know we’ve talked about fostering before, but we all got thrown into it blind with Luca.”
“It’s because he’s meant to be part of our family.” Dylan’s firm nod punctuating her statement.
“I can’t argue with that,” Melanie laughed as she took a sip of her iced tea.
Later that night, Melanie and Cameron were cuddled in their bed as Dylan and Jonah were on either side of them while they watched a movie. Melanie had her legs bent as Luca lay on her knees, looking around the room as he took everything in. Cameron’s heart could nearly explode at how happy she was at their new family of five. Even though she knew things weren’t going to be official for a while, Cameron had a calmness in her that told her things were going to be okay.
“What are you thinking?” Melanie asked as she watched Cameron watch Luca. Both Jonah and Dylan had fallen asleep, leaving only the three of them awake.
“That we’ll beso oldwhen he graduates high school.”
Melanie chuckled. “Shut your mouth.”
“Like you haven’t thought the same thing.”
“I’ve just been thinking how lucky we are to get to love this precious baby boy.” Melanie rubbed her nose against Luca’s likeshe used to do with Jonah and Dylan when they were babies. “I never thought we’d have this. Me and you together. Jonah and Dylan thriving. A baby of our own.”
“It’s perfect.”
