AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Are you upset?”
“Nope.”
“Not even a little?”
He shrugged. “My parents have always been a little cold and standoff-ish, but they’re family, you know? There was always a full house at the holidays, vacations, stuff like that, but not a lot of one-on-one bonding. I had Hank and good friends so I just accepted that my parents would never be like the parents on TV. Now it’s just official.”
“But now you have us,” she said softly.
“I do and that’s more than enough.” He paused. “I still feel bad about the way we got married, though.”
“There was too much red tape to cut through in Greece,” she said mildly. “Getting married in Vegas saved us a lot of time and aggravation. Besides, we needed to come to the U.S. as soon as possible, and doing it in Greece would have delayed us at least another week.”
“I know, but your mom was so bummed.”
“She’s throwing us a huge party when we get back—she’ll get over it.”
“I hope so.” He smiled over at her.
“Well, now what?” she asked.
“I thought we’d call that realtor and see if she can meet us at my house so we can get it on the market as soon as possible.”
She nodded. “Okay.”
“And then maybe you’d like to change into something comfortable and I can show you and Mihalis San Francisco through the eyes of a native? What do you think, Mrs. Laughlin?”
“I’d like that, Mr. Laughlin.”
“Laughlin…” Mihalis chortled from the back seat. “LOFFFFF… LEEEEN…”
“What do you think, buddy?” Mick asked him, looking in the rearview mirror. “Do you want to be a Laughlin?”
“I like Laughlin,” the boy nodded.
“Me, too.” Mick grinned.
Epilogue
Six Weeks Later
The weather in Greece had changed in the last few weeks and Mick smiled up at the sun as a cool breeze drifted onto the balcony of the apartment he and Lena had rented. It was mid-October and his entire life had changed in less than two months. No longer employed at his family’s now bankrupt firm, Mick was taking a little time off to regroup and figure out what he and Lena wanted to do next. He and Hank had spoken and there were options, but Hank was dealing with the closure of the firm so Mick and Lena were taking advantage of the opportunity to be together and slowly introduce Mihalis into a new family unit. Sophia had come back from the U.S. and was spending time with them as well, helping with his adjustment.
They’d signed the papers officially allowing Lena to adopt him just last week and they would work on having Mick adopt him in the near future. It was easier to complete one step at a time and so much had happened so fast they weren’t rushing anything else. Mihalis hadn’t questioned anything so far, accepting the new arrangement without complaint. While he’d been happy to see the woman he knew as his mother, he transitioned between Sophia and Lena seamlessly and they hoped it would continue in the future.
“Do you want another cup of coffee?” Lena asked Mick, peering out of the sliding glass doors that led to the balcony where Mick was reading the newspaper on his laptop.
“I want you to come sit on my lap,” he laughed, grinning up at her.
She shook her head, smiling back as she plopped herself down on his lap and rested her arms on his shoulders. “Now what?” she teased.
“Mihalis awake yet?”
“Yes!”
“Too bad.” He nuzzled her chest, using one hand to squeeze her round bottom.
“Michael Laughlin, are you trying to seduce me?”
