I clear my throat and shake my head again, but I know I’m blushing, and Ollie’s smug expression makes it clear he doesn’t believe me.
“Well, then I hope your house is ready soon.”
“You and me both.”
My ringtone wakesme up the next morning instead of my normal alarm, and I bolt upright, sitting on the edge of the bed as I glance at the clock on the hotel’s nightstand. Six a.m.—who the hell is calling me?
Any grogginess is gone when I see it’s Holly’s name on the caller ID.Fuck. This is it.I have no idea if it will be good news or bad, but I think the period of uncertainty might finally be over.
“Hello?”
“Hello, Hudson. Do you have a moment?”
“Of course,” I agree on a heavy exhale.
“Well, I am very excited to inform you that Emily would like to move forward with you adopting her child!”
My heart stops, and I jump up out of bed. “Oh my god, really?” I need to hear it again to confirm it’s real.
She chuckles. “Yes, really. Congratulations, Mr.Roy. It sounds like you two really hit it off.”
I’m going to be a dad. It’s real.
“I… I can’t believe it. Everything said it would take so long. I didn’t want to get my hopes up of course, but obviously I did. I’m so excited! I have to tell Adrian. I have to tell my parents. What happens now?” I ramble.
“Well, you’ve both indicated that you would like an open adoption, and our agency believes in supporting as much independent communication as possible from the beginning to help establish a healthy relationship between all parties involved. We have you both come in and fill out paperwork regarding your intentions. The finalization of your parental rights won’t happen until after the child has already been living with you forat least six months, though. The agency will remain very involved with post placement requirements, more visits, interviews, and paperwork.”
That all sounds familiar from those early meetings, but at the time it had seemed so far away. I can’t believe this is all actually happening already. “Okay! That sounds great.”
“Emily is in the office now filling out her paperwork with one of my colleagues,” Holly continues. “She requested to talk with you. Would that be alright?”
“That would be amazing!”
“Okay, I’ll put you on a brief hold while I find her.” Waiting music starts to play, and I want to scream with how excited I am. I want to run around the hotel and wake up the whole team so we can all celebrate. But I know I only have a few moments where they can’t hear me, so I opt for a silent happy dance instead.
“Hudson, thank you for holding,” Holly says, pulling my attention back to the call. “I’ve got you on speaker here with both Emily and one of my coworkers who was helping her with her paperwork.”
“Hello!” I greet them all eagerly.
“Hey, Hudson!” Emily says. “I was wondering if you wanted to be included in the rest of my OB appointments?”
I gasp, and apparently it’s loud enough for everyone on the other side of the line to hear because there are a few chuckles in response. “If that would be alright, I would love to!”
“Awesome! I actually have one this afternoon at twelve thirty. I’m sorry I didn’t plan this sooner; this past week was a really busy one with school and today is the first day I’ve had off to come down here.”
I deflate. I have a flight in a few hours and another game tonight. “Wow, I so wish that I could come. But I’m in Seattle right now. There’s no way I’d make it back in time even if I did get approval from the team to miss tonight’s game.”
“No worries,” Emily responds easily. “Hopefully you canmake it to the next one. Or hey, if Adrian wanted to come and take pictures or call you or whatever works, he’d be welcome to join me too.”
I perk up again. “If you wouldn’t mind, I can see if Adrian is available. That would be amazing.”
“Cool. I’ll be here for a while filling stuff out if you want to call us back.”
“Perfect! I’ll call him now, talk soon!” After quick goodbyes, I hang up and immediately dial Adrian while I pace the room, far too excited to even attempt to sit still.
“What’s wrong?” he answers on the second ring. “Isn’t it like six a.m. for you?”
“Emily agreed to move forward with me adopting her child!” I practically scream into the phone.
