“Temporary,” I repeat the word, and she holds up her hand.

  “You have to go from temporary to permanent,” she explains. “But it’s a good thing.” She looks at both of us. “Would be a touch better if you were married and not living in sin, but …” She smirks. “One step at a time.”

  “So what does this mean?” Alex asks her, and I can feel her beside me almost shaking.

  “It means that as soon as the doctor clears him, you can take him home,” she sighs, and I feel like I can breathe again. “I will, of course, have to escort him to the house and make sure that everything is in proper order.”

  “Of course,” Alex says. “We have the spare bedroom, but tomorrow I can make sure I go out and get everything that he needs.”

  She looks at us and laughs, shaking her head. “You think with the family you guys are in that you’re going to get home and it’s not going to be done? I can bet you money your mother”—she points at Alex—“has a whole wardrobe for him to wear, and your fathers”—she moves her fingers from both of us—“are assembling a bed as we speak. Throw in Matthew and I’m thinking there may even be a paint job in there.”

  We can’t help but both laugh because she isn’t wrong. The nurse comes out and looks at us. “Doctor just signed off.” She looks at Julia and then at us. “He’s a bit dehydrated, but other than that, no broken bones.”

  “He has a bruise on his leg,” Alex says. “I saw it when we found him. And his arms are dirty, but we are going to have him take a shower.” I put my arm around her shoulders and pull her to me, kissing her head while the nurse just smiles at her.

  “I’ll put that in my notes,” she says. I rub Alex’s arms as she walks away. “You can go in and see him.”

  “Well, you two,” Julia says. “Go and tell him where he is going.”

  I take a step toward the door when Alex grabs my hand. “What if he doesn’t want to come with us?” she asks, and I can see the worry all over her face. “His whole life, everyone has told him what to do and where to go.”

  “We can ask him, then.” I bring her hand to my lips. “I never thought of it like that, but you’re right. It’s time for him to decide.”

  “I hate to be the bad news person. But that kid is going with you.” Julia folds her arms. “So you better be damn good at convincing him.” She glares at us, and we walk past the two brown doors. Looking into the first room, we see him sitting on the bed with his feet dangling off the side.

  “Hey,” I greet, walking into the room, and he looks up at me.

  “Am I going back to the people?” he comes right out and asks us. “Are they mad?”

  “One,” I say, walking to sit beside him on the bed. “I don’t think they are mad. I think they are worried. They just want you safe.” His little legs just swing nervously. “What if I were to tell you that you don’t have to go back to Mr. and Mrs. Pinto?” He looks at me, not saying anything. “And if I were to ask you if you wanted to come home with us?” He looks at me and then looks at Alex.

  “You don’t have to say yes if you don’t want to,” Alex says. “We were hoping that you would want to, but if you don’t, we can look at someplace else.”

  “Can I still do hockey?” he asks, and we both nod. “Is there a bed at your house?”

  “There is a bed,” I say.

  “With blankets?” I swallow down the lump.

  “With blankets and pillows,” Alex confirms to him as she blinks tears away. “And we have some food also.”

  “Is Mac going to be there?” he asks, and I can’t help but smile and nod my head. “Okay,” he says softly, and if only he knew what that meant to us. If only I could pull him to me and hug him. But I’m afraid to scare him off, afraid that it’ll push him away and then he won’t want to come with us. “I’m a bit hungry,” he shares, looking at us, and we just stare at each other. “But I don’t need to eat.”

  “Oh, honey,” Alex says, putting her arm around his shoulder. “We can have whatever you want to eat, and you will get to meet my mom and dad.”

  “Is your dad coming, too?” He looks at me, and I nod.

  The knock on the door makes all of us look up. “Are you ready to go?” Julia smiles, and Maddox jumps off the bed.

  “I’m going to their house,” he tells Julia, “and I won’t leave.”

  She squats down in front of him. “You promise?” He just nods his head.

  “Let’s go see their house, then,” Julia says to him. He looks over at Alex and me, waiting for us. I get up and hold out my hand for Alex, and she slides her fingers through mine as she gets off the bed.

  Maddox walks in front of us with Julia. When we get outside, Julia tosses me the keys to my father’s car, and I don’t even know how they made this happen, but I don’t know why I’m surprised. We get into the car, and we drive home, none of us saying anything.

  I park in the driveway and look in the back at Maddox as he stares at the house. “Welcome home, buddy,” I say, getting out of the driver’s side and opening the door in the back for him.

  Alex and Julia wait on their side for us, and when I walk around the car toward them, I feel him slip his hand into mine. I almost stop walking to look down at it, but I don’t want him to pull back from me. I open the front door, and I can hear voices; when we walk in, my parents are there with Max and Allison. “Hi,” I greet, smiling at them, and they look at us with tears in their eyes. Mac comes to us with her tail wagging even more when she sees Maddox beside me. She comes over and sniffs his feet. She starts to lick his hand, and he lets her.

  My mother’s eyes and nose are as red as Allison’s. “Maddox, you know my dad, Justin, and that’s my mom, Caroline.” I point at my mom, who comes over and squats down in front of him. Mac sits next to him, not moving from between us.

  “Hi there,” she says to him with a huge smile and tears. “You remind me of this guy.” She points at me. “When he was your age.” She gets up and walks over to my father, who takes her in his arms as she cries into his shoulder. The memories of what we went through for sure going through her mind.

  “And this,” Alex says, walking to Max. “Is my dad, Max, and that’s my mom, Allison.”

  “Hey, buddy,” Max says to him, smiling, and Allison just waves nervously.

  “This is our home,” I say. “This is the kitchen and the living room.”

  “His room is ready,” Allison says. I just look over at her, and she just rolls her eyes, trying not to cry but fails when she turns not to show us.

  “Shall we go see your room?” Julia asks, turning to walk up the stairs. “You know I used to sleep here sometimes,” she tells Maddox. “I think you’re gonna like it here.”

  “If you start singing,” Alex says from behind us, making me laugh.

  When we get to the front of the closed door, I’m almost afraid of what my family did. I open the door, and my mouth hangs open. Mac runs into the room ahead of us and goes straight for the bed, lying down on it. The big queen-sized bed is in the middle of the room with the word PLAY over the bed in lights. The white comforter and blue pillows show it’s a boy’s room. There are four pictures on one wall, one is a soccer ball, one is a basketball net, one is a group of baseballs, and then the last one is a picture of Maddox in hockey gear.

  He walks into the room and looks around. “Are we all sleeping in here?” he asks, and I shake my head.

  “No, this is all yours,” I say, putting my hands on my hips. “This is where you sleep or just come up and play.”

  “It’s so big,” he says, and his eyes are wide when he looks over to see a bookshelf with books on them. He reaches out and then holds himself back, looking over at us to make sure it’s okay.

  “Whatever is in this room is yours,” I assure him. “If you want to touch it, you touch it. If you want to play with it, you play with it.”

  “You just have to clean it up when you’re done, and if I’m not mistaken …” Alex says, walking over to the closet and opening it. The closet is full of clothes, all separated by color and styles. “These are all yours also.”

  She walks over to the chest of drawers and opens them. “You have everything you need right here.”

  “How many kids live here?” he asks, looking at us.

  “Just you,” I confirm, smiling at him and then looking at Alex, who comes over to me. She wraps her arms around my waist, and I kiss her forehead. I look back at Maddox, who stands there with us. “It’s the three of us.” I look back at the bed. “And Mac.”

  Chapter 35

  Dylan

  As I head to my car after my workout, the phone in my hand buzzes. I look down and see that it’s my dad. “Hey,” I answer, getting into the car and turning it on. The heat outside is almost unbearable, something that my cousins used to complain about but I never actually believed until now.

  “Hey yourself,” my father says. I can hear that he is also driving. “What are you doing?”

  “Just got done with off-ice training,” I say, pulling out of the gym parking lot. “I’m not going to lie, I’m hurting.” I laugh.

  “I told you not to take two weeks off,” he reminds me.

  “I wanted to spend time with Maddox.” It’s been a month since we’ve had him, and he’s the best kid I know.

  “How is it going?” he asks, and I take a deep breath. “Oh, boy.”

  “It’s going good,” I say, finally. “Great even, except last night.”

  “What happened?” my father asks, his voice filled with worry.

  “He wet the bed,” I say, “and then instead of saying anything, he tucked himself in the corner and slept on the floor.” My chest compresses when I say it.

  “Fuck,” my father says out loud.

  “Yeah, that sounds about right,” I say. “I found him this morning curled up with Mac beside him.” I shake my head. “I was so fucking angry that he was on the floor and I didn’t know what to do.”

  “Welcome to parenting,” he says, and I roll my eyes.

  “I never understood it.” The words start to come out. “That day that …” I start, the memory coming back to me as if it was yesterday, the lump in my throat is so big I don’t know if I can say anything. My father just waits for me to gather my thoughts. “That day when he showed up at church.” I blink away the tears that are now coming full on. “When you”—I clear my throat—“fought with him.”

  “I’d do it all over again,” my father says softly. “Every single day for the rest of my life, I would fight for you.”

  “I know,” I say, my eyes filling with tears. There has never been one day since we met that I doubted how he felt for me. “It made my stomach burn. It made my whole body shake with this unspeakable anger that I never knew I had in me,” I breathe out.

  “It’s love,” he says. “It’s a love that is unbreakable.”

  “I want him to trust me,” I say, “and to come to me when he’s hurt or happy or just because.”

  “Son,” he says, “do you know how many people he must have tried to trust who just burned him? The number of people who told him one thing and then did something else. Fuck, his mother, the one person supposed to love and protect him dumped him off like he was a fucking library book.” His voice gets higher, and I know that everyone in the family feels the same way about the situation. “So even though you love him with everything that you have and you want him to see it, you have to go in it and remember how you felt.”

  “What do you mean?” I ask.

  “You were that age, and your father …” he starts to say.

  “He’s not my father,” I say, my voice tight.

  “Relax there, you know what I mean,” my father says. “Like I was saying, he did things that are unspeakable and your mom shielded you until she couldn’t anymore. He never had that.” I listen to my dad. “So now it’s like you proving to him that no matter what, you’ll be there. And it’s going to take a lot more than you saying it for him to believe it.”

  I pull into the driveway. “One day at a time,” I say, repeating the words he has always said to me.

  “One day at a time,” he says, and I can even see him smiling. “Now go and gain some trust.”

  “Love you, Dad,” I say.

  “Love you more,” he says. “I’ll FaceTime you later.” I smile. He calls Maddox every single night, even if it’s for just a five-second conversation. It’s something that Maddox actually asks for.

  “I’m home,” I say as soon as I walk into the house. I look up the stairs to see if anyone is upstairs and then hear Alex.

  “In the kitchen,” she says, and I walk down the hall toward the kitchen and see her washing her hands. I walk to her, putting my hands on her hips. “Hi,” I say, bending and burying my face in her neck. “I missed you.”

  “It’s been four hours.” She laughs and turns her head to the side to look at me, and I lean in to kiss her lips.

  “It’s four and a half,” I say when I let her go and then lean in to kiss her again. “Where is Maddox?” I ask, looking to the living room and seeing it empty.

  “He’s outside trying to teach Mac how to do the obstacle course that you guys built together,” Alex says, and I look out the window. Seeing him talking to Mac who just looks at him.

  “How was today?” I ask her.

  “It was interesting. He didn’t know why he needed two pairs of shoes for school, and then when I told him that we had to get him more shorts for school, he said he didn’t need them.”

  “I mean.” I try not to laugh. “He has enough clothes for seven kids.”

  She shrieks, “Go outside!” She points toward the back door. “He wants to go into the pool.”

  “Go change and meet us there.” I smack her ass and then walk outside.

  “So you are going to roll over,” he tells Mac, “and then jump over this.” He runs over to the cone. I have to say that with Mac, he lets his guard down. She’s his best friend, and Mac doesn’t leave his side. She doesn’t even care anymore about us. It’s all about Maddox.

  “Hey,” I say. Mac looks at Maddox and then at me before she comes over to me. “Hey, princess.” I rub her neck and then look over at Maddox.

  “Come here, buddy. I want to talk to you,” I tell him, and he puts his head down and comes to me.

  “Are you mad?” he asks, and I shake my head.

  “No,” I say, smiling, “but this morning, I was sad.” He looks at me with his eyebrows pinched together.

  “Is it because I wet the bed?” he asks. “I’m sorry.”

  “There is no need for you to be sorry,” I tell him. “I felt sad that you slept on the floor.”

  “It was okay.” He tries to pretend that it meant nothing.

  “When I was your age, I got into hockey summer camp,” I tell him, and he looks at me. “I was so happy because I got a whole bag of new equipment.” I smile, thinking back to that day. “I’d never had anything new. My mom would have to buy my stuff secondhand, or the church would give us stuff.” I sit on the grass, and he sits in front of me. “Then when I went home, my dad took my stuff away from me.” He just looks at me. “All my new stuff was gone.”

  “Did you cry?” he asks, and I nod.

  “When my new dad came to see me, Justin, he took me in his arms and told me that it wasn’t my fault.” I smile. “Just like when you wet the bed, it’s not your fault.”

  “But,” he starts to say, “what if you get mad and then want me to leave?”

  My heart stops in my chest. “There is nothing, and I mean nothing that you can do that will make me want you to leave. When you are hurt and you don’t come to me, I get sad. You know why?” He shakes his head. “Because it’s my job to make you better. It’s my job to hold your hand. It’s my job to hold you when you fall. It’s my job to read you a story at night. It’s my job to tuck you in at night.” I want to drag him to me and hug him, but I don’t want to push him. “So the next time …?”

  “Next time,” Maddox says, “I’ll call you.”

  “Perfect,” I say, getting up when the back door opens and Alex steps out.

  “Why are you guys not in the pool?” she asks, looking at me and then Maddox.

  “Dylan gets sad when I pee the bed and don’t tell him,” Maddox fills her in, “so now when I pee, I am going to tell him.”

  I reach over and pull him to me, kissing his head. “That’s my boy,” I say and then let him go. “Now.” I stand up, taking off my shirt. “Race you to the pool.”

  The sound of laughing fills the yard when I jump into the pool, and he follows me. Mac is right behind him, and the four of us stay in the pool for the rest of the day.

  When I walk up the stairs after dinner, I can hear him talking. “Mac, you have to tell me if you don’t want to do the tricks,” Maddox says. “I have to take care of you.” My heart explodes as he repeats the words I said to him today to Mac. I look into the room and see Mac lying on the bed with her head down. “I won’t be mad if you don’t want to jump.”

  “Ready for bed?” I ask, and he just nods at me, getting into bed now. Mac lies on her side. I tuck him in and kiss his head. “Good night, buddy.”

  “Night, Dylan,” he says, and I walk out. “Thank you,” he says softly, and I turn to look at him, “for not being mad at me.”

  “Love you, buddy,” I say, and I walk out with the weight lifting off my shoulders. “One day at a time,” I mumble to myself. “One day at a time.”

  Chapter 36

  Alex

  Seven Months Later

  “I’m so nervous.” I stick my head out of my closet and look over at Dylan sitting on the bed doing something on his phone.

  He looks up at me, and his blue eyes light up as he smirks at me. “Baby,” he says softly. He doesn’t call me that all the time, but when he does, my heart literally skips a beat, and my stomach does flips. “It’s going to be fine.”

  I shake my head, walking out of the closet. “What if it isn’t fine?” I ask, looking over at the door to make sure that Maddox can’t hear me. “What if he says no?”

 

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