Page 50 of Rock the Cradle of Love
All the breath whooshes from Noah’s lungs. They won…Noah gets to adopt Emma. His mom hugs him, and a moment later, he feels Taylor’s large hand on his shoulder. “Congrats, Dad.”
Brenda stalks from the room. Noah feels sorta bad for her; he’ll reach out later though. He wants Emma to know both her grandmas. He has fond memories of visiting his own grandparents, and Emma should have as many people as possible in her life to count on and love her.
“Thank you so much,” Noah says to his attorney, grateful and relieved.
“It was all you, Noah,” she says. “I was just here to ensure you received a fair hearing. I have the paperwork for Julia to sign, if you think it’s the right time.”
Noah scans the room for Julia. She’s peering into the stroller, hand on her heart. He can’t read her expression from here.
“Excuse me,” he murmurs and joins her.
She looks up at his approach and he sees the tears, but she’s smiling. He envelops her in his arms. “You okay?”
She nods into his chest. “She’s beautiful, Noah.”
“You did all the hard work, squirt.”
They shift so that Noah’s arm is around Julia’s shoulder and they gaze at their daughter. “You’ll always be her mom, Jules. If you ever want to spend time with her, you can. You know that, right?”
She sniffs and nods.
“Your mom, too. It was never my intent to exclude her from Emma’s life either.”
“I know. She’ll come around.”
“Okay, well…my lawyer has the paperwork. I mean, no pressure, but she has it.”
“It’s fine, really. I imagine you’re ready to put all this behind you, huh?”
Understatement. Between the mess with Taylor and then with Emma’s custody, his week has been pretty stressful. But at least it was only a week. “You can’t even know.”
Emma snuffles in her sleep, but doesn’t wake.
Noah laces his fingers through Julia’s and kisses the back of her hand as they head back toward his attorney. He meets Ms. Padget’s gaze and nods; she lifts her briefcase to the table and lays out the forms.
“Are you really okay, Jules?”
She looks up at him, her eyes clear and a genuine smile on her face. The joyous one he remembers from their childhood. “I really am, Noah. I went to the counseling center at school and they helped me out a lot. Ms. Maple calls every week or so to say hi. I don’t know if I can ever thank you enough.”
“Hey.” He tugs her into another hug. “I could say the same to you. You’ve given me the most incredible gift. Why don’t we just call it even?” He can never repay her for her implicit trust, and Emma is priceless.
“Deal.”
Julia lays a hand on Taylor’s arm as they pass each other. “It’s nice to finally meet you,” she says.
Taylor pulls her into a hug. “Nice to meet you too.”
Jules stands up on tiptoe and whispers something in Taylor’s ear. He looks at Noah and then toward Emma, shrugs, and murmurs something back. His eyes are bright and his expression is fond, to say the least.
“Take care,” Taylor says and returns to Emma in the stroller.
Julia and Noah step up to the conference table.
Ms. Padget’s laid out a handful of documents with sticky colored arrows pointing to signature lines. She explains each document and asks Julia if she has any questions before handing her a pen.
Noah glances at Taylor and gets a wink in return. He grins, warmth blooming in his chest. He’s got a head start on the life he thought he’d struggle harder to have.
“So you and Taylor, huh?” Julia says, signing the first doc.
