I can’t help it. I turn my face and bury it in Dylan’s shoulder. “It’s okay,” Dylan says to me softly and then I feel his small arms wrap around my waist.
I stop crying, shocked that he’s come to me. He’s given me a couple of hugs, but it’s always a side hug and never full on. I look down at him and see him looking up at me. “I don’t want to go with her,” he tells me as I turn and hug him to me.
“You don’t ever have to go with her,” I say, vowing to never repeat what she told Julia. “I love you.” I say that every single time he gets out of the car or he comes home from school or when I tuck him in at night. He has never said it back, and I know it’s because he doesn’t know what love is.
“I love you, too,” he says and then looks at Dylan. “And you, too.” Dylan looks like he just won the fucking Stanley Cup. His face breaks into the biggest smile as he takes us both in his arms. “Do I have to tell Julia that I want to stay with you guys forever?”
“No,” I tell him. “What will happen is we have to go to the court, and the judge will ask you if you want to live with us,” I explain to him a little bit. “And then once he says okay, then you are ours forever.”
The smile fills his face so much that his blue eyes become hazel. My hand comes up to cup his face. “So that makes you guys my parents.”
“It means that we get to take care of you every single day. It means that when you are sick, we make sure you get better. It means that when you have a problem, we help you solve it. It means that.” I swallow now. “We get to love you forever, and we get to watch you become the best person we both know.” I cup his cheek.
“Do I have to call you mom?” he asks, and I shake my head.
“You can call me whatever you want to call me. You can call me Alex just like you call me now.”
“You do more than my mom did,” he says now. “She never made sure I was washed. She never made sure I ate my veggies. She never made sure I did my homework.”
“Everyone loves in a different way,” I say.
“You never told me you didn’t want me.” He steps away from me. “You never told me I was a loser.” He rubs his cheek with the back of his hand. “You never told me you hated me. Not once.” My heart breaks for this little boy who did nothing to deserve what she said to him. “You never told me you wish I would just die.”
“Hey,” Dylan snaps. “What she said to you doesn’t mean anything,” he tells him. “My father called me words that I can’t repeat, but you know what I did? I made sure that I was never that person.” He puts his hands on Maddox’s shoulder. “I’m going to be the one who helps you do that. I’m going to make sure that you never become what she said you were. I’m going to be by your side when you become greatness.”
“Okay,” Maddox says. “Can we go to the judge now?”
Dylan and I just laugh now. “No, we have to go in two days,” I say, and then we turn to walk out of the shark tank. “Do you know that we had our first date here?” I state, and he just listens to our story.
Two days later, with the courtroom packed full of our family and some of our friends, we officially become a family of three.
Epilogue One
Dylan
Three Months Later
I try to catch my breath as I look up at the Jumbotron and see that there is one minute left in the game. One minute and the score is one nothing for us in game six of the Stanley final. We have one minute to hold the lead before we win the fucking Stanley Cup. The building is electric, and the fans are on their feet, and I have to zone it all out. I have to focus on one thing and one thing only, the game at hand.
My eyes go back to the play in our zone as the guys take their place for the face-off. I watch Vegas win the face-off and start their play in the zone. Ralph tries to poke check it out of the zone but misses as the puck goes back to Vegas, who then passes it to the defenseman as they set up the play. Every single second feels like an hour, and with every single pass, you literally hold your breath. Their goal is empty as the extra attackers on the ice make it even more nail-biting.