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“Hey, you,” I said, walking over to her and putting my free arm around her. The other was holding Rose’s car seat with her happily sleeping inside.
“Hey,” she said, kissing my cheek and then wiping the lipstick that transferred over with her thumb. “Are you ready?”
“As I’ll ever be, I guess.”
“Then let’s go,” she said, smiling reassuringly. “Rose looks so cute in her dress. You did so good getting her ready!”
“I picked up a thing or two from you. She’s wearing the little embroidered bloomers you got her.”
“I’m so glad,” she said. “Are Malia and Gerry here?”
“They’re up at the door,” I said.
We walked, arm in arm, up to the door where Malia and Gerry were waiting, and they exchanged hugs. I couldn’t take my eyes off her as she talked to them. She was so amazing, so gorgeous that it made me wonder what I had done in life to deserve a second chance with her. She was everything I ever wanted in a partner. Kind and sweet, caring and smart, beautiful and sexy—she was perfection.
Now she was standing at a courthouse, waiting to be there for me as I adopted my sister’s daughter. A commitment that would involve her being there as a mother to her if she wanted to continue our relationship. And she was doing so willingly, knowing that was the case, and showed no signs of hesitation.
Taking a deep breath, I reached out my hand, and she linked her fingers between mine. I nodded, and we opened the doors together, heading into the courthouse to find the chambers where the hearing would be held.
22
DEE
The guardianship hearing was a long time coming, it felt like. Even though it was only a month between when Desiree’s family helped find Kim and get her to sign the papers and now, it felt like forever. Part of that was working all the time, trying to stay on top of a pretty demanding job and making my employers happy with me, as well as really falling into a rhythm of a relationship with Hawk.
In the few weeks we had been together, we had spent very little time apart when I wasn’t working. I loved it. I wanted to spend as much time with him as possible and curling up in his arms on the couch and falling asleep made all the hours at work and trying to stay out of Dr. Sutton’s way worth it.
Dr. Sutton hadn’t been happy with me suddenly taking some time off, nor was he pleased with me asking to limit my shifts to what I originally signed up for. It was as if working ten hours a day was an affront to him, and that if he stayed at the hospital for eight hours, then everyone else should be there for sixteen. It was cause for a fair amount of sarcasm and anger from other doctors and nurses there, but there was no denying Dr. Sutton’s brilliance. Nor was there any denying the donations that came from wealthy people all over the state who paid to help keep Dr. Sutton in a place that he could do the most good.
I tried skimming down my hours a bit, going from the occasional eighteen-hour day and regular sixteens to the occasional sixteen-hour day and regular twelves or even eights. It was a hard sell, but I got permission after I explained the whole situation with Hawk and Rose to my immediate bosses and they provided cover for me to Dr. Sutton.
Hawk was being an absolute champ about Rose when I was there. I wanted to help out and wake up with her for feedings and changings that she needed, but I was so tired when I got back that oftentimes I passed out on the couch in Hawk’s arms and was dead to the world for several hours. I would find myself back in the bed a lot, waking up around midnight, wondering how I got there. Hawk said sometimes I woke up and followed him into bed, and other times he simply picked me up and carried me in. I was starting to believe it was a lot more of the latter than the former.
Still, being on the couch or in the bed didn’t matter. What mattered was that I was with Hawk. Being able to snuggle with him and smell his scent as I drifted off to sleep was better than any sleep aid I had ever used. It was like being wrapped in a warm blanket in front of a fire on a cold day. There was nothing more relaxing or comforting than hearing his heartbeat and smelling the T-shirt he was wearing, a soft mixture of clean cotton and his scent, as my eyes closed in the middle of some dumb TV show we were watching.
