“Mom, calm down.”
“My only child is pregnant, I am not calming down. I’m about to be a grandma!” She jumped up and down like a kid at a carnival, clapping her hands together, like nothing could go wrong.
“I’m only a month along, according to the doctors. Anything could happen.”
“Stop that.” Alexa pushed forward, taking the free hand that Erica had and holding it in her own. “None of those thoughts.”
“We’re just going to try to live in the moment.” I repeated the words Erica had spoken only moments ago. She looked up at me and the smile on her face showed just how much she appreciated being brought back to the moment of us finding out about all this.
It was sudden and yes it was slightly planned, but whatever the outcome, we were going to be in it together.
“If we’re announcing news, then I think I have something for everyone to hear.”
Alexa rushed from Erica’s side straight to Max, covering his mouth with her hand.
“Nothing to see here, folks, just ignore the crazy man.”
Max pulled her hand away and he pulled her to his side, straightening with a pride that I knew he was beyond excited to tell all of us.
They had just gotten back from a mini honeymoon in New York where Max was going to tell Alexa they were adopting Apollo and by the look on his face, everything had gone just as planned.
“We are not stealing this away from them.” Everyone heard Alexa say through her teeth.
“Out with it already!” I yelled at them, which got cheers from all our friends. Alexa rolled her eyes and then waved her hand for Max to continue.
“As many of you know, Alexa and I have been working on adopting and the first few times have fallen through. But now, I am beyond happy to say that we are officially adopting a baby boy, Apollo.”
Max looked down at Alexa, smiling from ear to ear. She shared the same look on her face and when I looked down, Erica was staring up at me, smiling with tears running down her cheeks.
“We pick him up in a month.”
“How old is he?” Lilly asked.
“Three,” Alexa said the age with such pride and it made me so happy for our friends. That we were getting to see them start a family, which we were starting as well. Len came up beside me, wrapped an arm around my shoulder, her husband standing off to the side, giving me a solid nod of approval in making him a grandfather.
“Where are your parents, Chase?” Len asked.
I looked around the room for a moment, and then sadness took over me. I had thought they had been here. It felt like everything was perfect in this room, but it had felt that way without them here. I pulled out my phone and nothing from what I texted them before. I sent my parents and Tabitha the room number and hospital we were at hours ago and received nothing back from anyone.
I looked back over at Len and then around the room once more.
“I have my family right here.”
Erica’s hand squeezed mine and I leaned down to kiss her forehead, knowing that no matter what happened in our lives, I would always make sure to be there for not just her, but for our child as well.
We were a family now, and I was going to keep it that way.
