Page 17 of A New Chapter
Ross arched an eyebrow at her. “Comment, pet?”
She snickered and dropped her voice. “I feel sorry for the poor kid who tries to date Clayton in high school. Between Colton being so beefy, and Rom being so intense, Clayton will have a hard time not having guys be terrified of him.”
“True story,” Rom said. “And just think, we add Ina and Chad to the mix, boys will be petrified.”
Chapter Six
The drive south was uneventful. They ate dinner in Sarasota, dropped Ross and Loren off, and then headed home to Venice. Ross had the paperwork he needed to give to Ed for the filing, and he gave Colton what they’d need for enrolling Clayton in school tomorrow.
It was after nine when they parked behind the building and Rom shut the car off.
“Home,” Colton said as he stared at the back of the building.
Rom reached over and touched his shoulder. “It’s okay. We’ll go get him enrolled in the morning.” The latest transcript they had for him was two years old, though, and they didn’t know what other hoops they’d have to jump through to complete the process, like needing testing, or even vaccinations.
In the bottom of the box, they’d found items that had rocked Colton to his core—some of his own baby pictures. Grammy had managed to get nearly everything else from his parents back then, but he’d never had these pics of himself as a newborn.
“Why are they like this?” he softly asked without making any move to get out.
Rom sighed. “Because they’re shitheads. I wish I could fix that for both of you, but I can’t. Tomorrow morning, we’ll get him enrolled at the junior high.”
Colton looked at him. “Thank you, Master,” he softly said. “I know this wasn’t part of the plan when you married me.” He had to say it, had to put it out there, instead of letting it silently swirl within his heart and soul. “I’d understand if you want to—”
“Don’t,” Rom said, silencing Colton. “Don’t finish that sentence, because I don’t want to hear it.” His fingers closed around Colton’s hand. “I love you. I meant it when I said it’s for life. So I get a bonus son-slash-brother-in-law? I’m good with that. Not the pain he had to go through, but the final result.”
Colton nodded, studying Rom’s hand, his fingers, where they curled around his own hand. “At least Mom’s too old to try again,” he said, but it came out sounding darker and flatter than he’d meant it.
Rom snorted. “If your father can even find his dick with two hands and a flashlight.”
The laugh erupted from Colton and filled the car. It felt like some dark, festering scab had been ripped free, finally, from where it’d always remained attached to his skin and preventing that last little bit of healing.
“You’re free,” Rom said. He ran his fingers through Colton’s hair. “You’rebothfree, and you’ve both gotme, and I’mnotgoing anywhere. Neither are Chad and Ina, or Aunt Roberta. Now let’s get upstairs and check on him.”
Colton nodded. “Yeah.”
Colton carried the bags of paperwork and followed Rom inside and upstairs, where Ina and Aunt Roberta were watching TV with Clayton in the living room.
Clayton sat up when they entered. “Is it really over?” he asked. They’d called Aunt Roberta after lunch, before heading south again, to give her a brief update so Clayton—and everyone else—wouldn’t be stressed out any longer than necessary.
Colton nodded and set the bags on the table. “It’s really over. All we have to do is file the paperwork tomorrow, and then the adoption. The adoption will take a little longer, but tomorrow morning, we’ll take you to the school and get you enrolled.”
Clayton stared at him, then jumped up and ran to them, throwing his arms around them in a hug. “Can I pick a different name when you adopt me?”
“Like what?” Rom asked.
“Your name. Can I change my last name to your name? Can I be Clayton Quinn?”
Okay, that was dust in Colton’s eyes, not tears. Right?
Right.
That was Colton’s story, and he was sticking to it.
“Sure you can, buddy,” Rom said. “We’ll do that.”
They both hugged him again. “You should get ready for bed,” Rom told him. “Morning’s going to come early. Tomorrow we can talk about what happened today.”
“Okay. Thanks.” He hugged Ina and Aunt Roberta and said good night to them.
