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I kissed her softly, “You let me worry about that, Charlotte. I promise you that Tom will go away quietly, and you’ll never have to worry about him again.”
An idea on how I could do just that had sprouted into my mind, and I couldn’t wait until Monday when I could contact my attorney and get it taken care of.
“What do you think about me adopting her?” I asked her again.
“I love the idea, and I think Marisol will love the idea too.”
“Good.” I pulled her to me, kissing her slowly, completely. “I owe you an apology too.”
She looked confused, “For what?”
“For what I said, for how I acted. I’d had a terrible day. Three very serious patients and just minutes before I saw you, I had to pronounce a three-month-old baby dead after working on him for thirty minutes. I was wrong to have attacked you, but I wasn’t thinking straight.”
She touched my face, sadness filling her eyes, “I forgive you. Say no more. I forgive you. I love you, Wesley Young.”
“I love you, Charlotte Bennett.” I kissed her again, this time long enough that I think both of our heads were spinning.
As we separated, I held her close for a moment, “I can’t believe my brother came to get you. What did he say?”
We started to walk back toward the party, and she explained what had happened when he came to get her. “But how did he know where you lived?”
“I don’t know.” She replied. I heard a squeal and glanced over to see Marisol on a pony, Buttercup watching from the sidelines. I pointed it out to Charlotte, who smiled as she put her head on my shoulder.
We stood at the fence and watched Marisol go around in a big circle. “Mommy, I’m riding a horse!” She yelled and waved.
“I see that, Marisol.”
I studied the little girl on the chocolate brown pony and felt myself fall a little more in love with her. A hand landed on my shoulder, and I turned to find Brad smiling at me.
“How did you know where she lived?”
“I remember Charlotte mentioning at dinner the other night that she was friends with Jersey.”
My mouth dropped open, “You didn’t need copy edited, did you?”
“Nope.” He grinned and then winked at Charlotte. Behind him, my other siblings and my parents began to converge on us, and I introduced each one of them to her, then I glanced around the group, “Guys, not only is this Charlotte, but that over there is Marisol, her daughter, and hopefully soon, my daughter.”
There were a few surprised faces, and my mom came over to hug Charlotte. “Welcome to the family.”
I winked at Charlotte as she smiled at me over my mother’s shoulder. Now we had another reason to celebrate this weekend. Not that we needed a reason to celebrate family, but ours was about to grow, and that was always a reason to celebrate.
* * *
It was Friday afternoon, and I sat in the conference room, Charlotte on my left side, my attorney on my right. We were waiting for Tom to arrive, and then we could get this show on the road. Hopefully, within the next ten minutes, this would all be wrapped up and over with.
I’d also put one of the human resources people on notice that they might be needed, but I was hoping I wouldn’t need to do that.
Right on time, the door opened and in walked Tom. He looked a little confused to see Charlotte here and didn’t pay any attention to the suit sitting next to me.
“Thanks for joining us, Tom,” I told him as I motioned to a chair on the other side of the table. “Have a seat.”
“What is this about?” He glared at me, then let his gaze fall on Charlotte. “Why is she here?”
“I’m going to ask you again to have a seat, Tom and then we can talk about this like adults.”
He shook his head and laughed but pulled out a chair and plopped into it. He was a first-year med student, and I hadn’t liked him from the moment I met him. I didn’t have a reason for it then, but I did now.
“Tom, this is my attorney, and I have had something written up for you. I’d like you to sign it, and then we will be done here.”
