Page 85 of Breathing Her Fire

“I love you too, Tucker.”

I smile at her as I continue to hold her close. I finally feel a sense of calm come over me despite the events of the evening. She’s the cure, and whatever happens, I’ll make sure she stays mine forever.

* * *

The quiet ofmy office surrounds me as I stare at a copy of the letter Natalie found in my mail.

I gave the hard copy to Cooper even though I knew there wasn’t anything he could do with it. With no return address and the very slim chance there will be prints, it’s unlikely they’ll be able to find out who sent it to me.

I still wanted them to know I received a threat, even if there was nothing he could do.

Who would want to threaten me is the biggest question on my mind. I’ve always kept to myself and did my best to stay out of trouble. I had enough of it at home, I didn’t go seeking it elsewhere.

The suspect list is non-existent since I can’t think of any enemies, which is almost worse than having too many options. At least with several people, you can start crossing them off the list. With none, where are you supposed to start?

I also have to think about Natalie and her safety. The note said I didn’t deserve my happy life, and I’d be stupid to think Natalie isn’t included. How am I supposed to keep her safe when I don’t even know what the threat is?

Do I distance myself from her to keep her safe or pull her closer to me? There are too many unknowns right now, the loss of control almost too much to bear.

My ringing cell phone pulls me out of my musings. Looking down, the caller ID says it’s an unknown number.

“Is this Tucker James?” a lady says through the phone when I answer.

“Yes, it is,” I respond.

“This is Stephanie Carter, Noah’s caseworker. You had questions about adoption?”

“Hi, Stephanie. Yes, my fiancée and I would like to adopt Noah and were wondering what we’d need to do to start the process.”

“Oh, fantastic! You should know there are a lot of hoops you have to jump through, and there’s no guarantee you’ll be approved.”

“We’ll do whatever it takes. Can you let me know where we go from here?”

“Sure. Let me get your email address, and I can help you start the paperwork.”

I give her my email address along with the other information she needed. Hopefully, she’s able to get this submitted quickly. I’d like to talk to Noah about adopting him but I don’t want to get his hopes up.

“I’m glad he’s had you since the fire,” Stephanie says before we hang up. “He’s had a rough go of it, and if this works out, you’ll change his life. I wish you guys luck.”

“Thank you. We’ll do whatever is necessary to give him the life he deserves.”

We hang up, and I immediately text Natalie to tell her the good news. I want to shout it from the rooftops, but I know I shouldn’t have my hopes so high. There’s still the chance for the state to deny us, but I’m going to do what I can to not dwell on the negative.

Natalie has helped me remember there are good things in life, and just because they haven’t gone well before doesn’t mean they will always go bad. If I can focus on the good, I won’t get stuck on the negative like I usually do.

With this threat hanging over my head, I feel like the best course of action is to pull Natalie closer to me. Plus, who knows, it could be some kid playing a prank or an idiot looking for attention.

Dwelling on this isn’t going to help, and the only thing I can do now is let Cooper do his thing. I also refuse to let some idiot change the way I want to live my life.

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