Chapter 34

Chapter Thirty-Four Caleb Knowingthis would probably happen is not going to make it any easier to tell Hope. Igot the call on my way home from work that her mother and her boyfriend werefound dead today by the landlord. There were drugs everywhere in the house andit looks like her mother overdosed on pain medication while her boyfriendoverdosed on heroine. My heart is broken for Hope and Nathan. Whenthe doors open to our home, Nathan flings himself into my arms and then slidesdown onto my leg, gripping tightly so that I have to walk with him on my leg,sitting on my foot. He better enjoy it now because in a few years I won't beable to lift my leg with him on it. I bring us into the kitchen where Hope iscooking dinner and I tickle him so he lets go. Hopestops what she's doing and bounces up on her tiptoes to place a kiss on my lipsbefore returning to the pan of food in front of her. I won't tell her the newsin front of Nathan, so it will have to wait until after we eat. That isprobably for the best anyway, I don't want anything getting in the way of hereating now. I stand behind her and wrap my arms around her waist, kissing thetop of her head as she stirs the food. "Imissed you today," I say and she turns her head to give me another kiss on thelips. "Imissed you too." I let my hands slide upto rest on her growing belly. I hope that when I tell her the news she'llremember that even with all the ugly she has seen in her life, somethingbeautiful can come of it. Whenwe are done eating dinner and Nathan is getting ready for bed, I pull Hope intoour room and sit with her on the end of the bed. I can see now that my behavioris causing her to get worried so I jump right into it. "Hope, I got a call onthe way home from work today." I holdher hand in mine and use my other hand to brush her bangs out of her eyes to Ican see her. "Your mother her boyfriend were found dead by the landlord today."I watch her face as she listens to my words and I know that if I could take herpain away I would, but sometimes all I can do is just be here with her. Shenods her head and a few tears run down her face. "What does that mean forNathan?" she asks and I'm not surprised that she is thinking of him overherself. "Itmeans he's yours. Forever. No more hiding, no more fighting, and no more deals." She doesn't know all of the details of thedeal I made with her mother but she is about to find out. "How?"she asks, but I can tell by her tone she's not surprised that I would have thiscovered. "Ihad her create a will for if anything was to happen to her before we completedthe adoption. In the event of her death, Nathan is yours." Hope flings her arms around me so suddenlythat it almost makes me fall over. I hold her tight as she passes from tears torelief and I feel her relax in my arms. "Thankyou for this, Caleb." I nod my head andhold her against me. "What happens now?" "I'mnot sure about all of the details but I'll call the lawyer in the morning. Noone will contest the will so it should be pretty smooth. Do you want me to tellNathan or do you want to handle that?" I'lldo whatever she needs to me to do, but I know that her relationship with Nathanis very special and she needs to be given the option of telling him herself. "I'lldo it. He doesn't remember much about her." I nod my head and she takes a minute to clean her face up in thebathroom before making her way to Nathan's room. I stand in the hallway outsideof the room listening to her break the news. Nathan takes it very well, hisonly question was whether or not that means he has to go live somewhere else. Itmakes me so happy to hear Hope tell him that he will never live with anyoneelse besides us until he's an adult. Whenshe leaves his room, she shut's the door. I've been standing outside the roomin silence for about twenty-minutes waiting for her to come out. "I stayed withhim until he fell asleep," she explains and I just smile and put my arm aroundher shoulders. We walk back to our room and talk about what she wants to happenwith her mother's remains. When all of thedecisions are made, we put her mother's memory and any talk of her to rest andfall back into our lives without her. Hope and I take our showers and thenbegin to fall asleep wrapped up in each other. There isn't anyone that willbreak us down or anything that we can't survive together. I listen as herbreathing evens out and lie there in awe of her strength. When I finally driftoff to sleep, my heart is full of respect for her and the love that comes withtruly giving yourself up to another person.