Page 170 of Tides That Bind

“Say he’s your service dog,” I say as we approach the entrance.

Harper comes to a stop. “Riley! You can’t tell him tolie,” she hisses, “especially in a courthouse.”

I roll my eyes. “He hasn’t been sworn into anything. It’s not like he’s committing perjury. Besides, we’re going into a small conference room.”

“How do you know?” Harper asks.

Because I set it up that way.

“This way.” We thankfully make it through security relatively with only a few off looks but no problems. “It should be conference room C.”

The skepticism painted on Harper’s face doesn’t fade until we get inside and she sees who’s there.

Under California adoption law, any judge can oversee the procedure. After we got married, after Lucas asked me to adopt him, I was a little upset to hear that Judge Pearson had retired.

Our case happened to be his last day on the bench.

But after enough snooping, and enlisting Silas’s help, I was thankful to find even though he had retired, he remained local.

Judge Pearson puts on his glasses and then looks at me with a raised brow. “You brought the dog?”

Tightening his hold on Tides’s leash, Lucas steps forward. “He’s my service—”

I gently cup Lucas's mouth shut with my hand, which I realize, doesn’t exactly bode well for an adoption proceeding.

“He’s family,” Harper says. Her tone leaves little to be challenged.

Judge Pearson eyes Tides, who tilts his head nearly parallel to the floor when he stares at him but rights it when the older man walks over.

“It’s an honor to meet you, Tides.” Judge Pearson says, scratching the dog’s chin where his fur has begun to turn grey. He looks at the rest of us. “I suppose since I oversaw your”—he pauses, obviously contemplating the right word—“reunification with your family, it’s only appropriate I make the rest official.”

Harper relaxes.

Judge Pearson motions at the conference table. “Shall we begin? Today marks the first day as the three of you legally become a family. Father, mother, son, and…canine.”

I grin. And it’s not just because of what today means. It’s because, this beautiful family of mine? It’s not like this is our beginning.

We’re still somewhere in the beautiful middle where the magic happens.

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