Therefore I rushed on. “I know, it’s kinda loopy, adopting a thirty-three year old woman but… um… why not?” I faltered when she just stared at me and I wondered if I’d insulted her. “I mean… I don’t want to imply that I haven’t always thought of you as my Mom but I just want to… I don’t know, make sure you know that, uh… that’s how I feel and it always has been.”
Meredith didn’t move nor did she speak.
“You don’t have to sign them,” I assured her. “It’s okay. Nothing between us changes. I –”
I shut up when she jerked her body toward Dad and whispered, “Find me a pen, Bax.”
She asked Dad but it was Gus who took off, Hawk’s arm curled around my neck and he pulled my front into his side as the tears filled my eyes.
Meredith looked up at me. “Now… sweetie, now I don’t know what to say.”
“Sign the papers, that says it all,” Hawk replied for me but he did it gently.
Meredith looked down at the papers and when she lifted her eyes back to me they were filled with wet.
“This is the best present I’ve ever had,” she whispered.
Tracy emitted a muted sob and I moved away from Hawk and hugged Meredith as a tear slid down my cheek.
“I’ve always loved you,” I said quietly in her ear and her arms spasmed around me. “I think I fell in love with you the first time I saw you.”
“Oh sweetie,” she whispered, holding on tighter so I did too.
We hugged for a long time then I pulled away and Meredith moved into Hawk and gave him a squeeze and kiss on the cheek. Then Gus showed with a pen, she signed the papers, put them in the envelope and when she handed them to me, I handed them to Hawk. He folded the envelope double and slid it into his inside jacket pocket. It was his attorney’s firm that had drawn up the papers and it would probably be Elvira who returned them to be filed.
“I need a reload,” Elvira announced and I looked at her to see her eyes were on Hawk. “And your woman has been here all of five minutes and she doesn’t have a martini glass in her hand. What? You think you can buy her twelve hundred dollar shoes and that gives you the right to slack on bein’ a gentleman?”
Tracy giggled.
But I turned, leaned into Hawk and looked up at him. “Actually, just FYI, giving me twelve hundred dollar shoes totally gives you the right to slack on drink deliveries.”
Hawk’s dimples made an appearance then disappeared when I couldn’t see them anymore because his head dropped and his lips gave me a light kiss.
Then he lifted his head and asked all around, “Anyone else?”
“Me,” Tracy put in.
“I already gave my order,” Elvira added.
“A white wine, honey, if you don’t mind,” Meredith stated.
“Cuba libre, querido,” Maria muttered.
“I’ll go with you,” Gus offered and Hawk and Gus walked away but Maria got in my space, so close, it was surprising and I looked down at her.
“My boys,” she started, “look like their father, act like their father and he gave them something else,” she paused then finished on a huge grin, “good taste.”
I stared at her a second then threw my head back and laughed.
* * * * *
Dinner was over but the party (in other words the drinking) was not.
I was sitting beside Leo but listening to Mrs. Mayhew and Erma, both hilariously tipsy, as they shared stories of Dad and Meredith’s anniversaries past with their other audience member, Elvira.
Suddenly, Leo took my hand and my head turned, my eyes going to his face to see he was gazing across the room.
My eyes followed his and my heart warmed. Cam was standing with Meredith who was holding Cam’s hand by the fingers admiring the diamond Leo had slid on earlier that night when he’d asked her to marry him.