I don't know how long we sat there, but it was done in companionable silence. I didn't know what else to say, and Adele was nice enough to just sit there with me after what I'd done to her.I don't deserve someone this wonderful, I thought to myself."Liam?"I looked up, a little startled when Adele called my name out of nowhere. She was staring straight ahead with her lips pursed and this distracted expression on her face. She didn't say anything for a long moment, but then she turned to me."Are you serious about looking for the surrogate?" she asked.Her expression was completely serious, and I de-cided I wouldn't take the question lightly. I thought about it, seriously.What good could come of knowing who it was? Probably nothing. They'd obviously moved on, if they hadn't tried to at least get to meet me. For all I knew, it could have happened at some point and Dad just hadn't mentioned that part, but that was probably just wishful thinking. I shouldn't be raising my ow
We checked into the hotel. I picked up the keys to our room, and Adele and I went over to the elevator. I pressed on one of the buttons to bring the elevator down, then looked down at Adele."Are you still with me?" I asked, tentative.She looked up at me with a smile, though it looked a little strained around the edges."I'm not changing my mind," she said, and it al-most sounded like a Promise.We both looked up as one of the elevator doors opened. A few people got out, and Adele and I got in-side, alone. Adele and I had space separating us, but as soon as the doors closed, I was hyperaware that I wasn't alone in the elevator. My heart was beating so fast and hard, I could swear I heard it in my ears, and she probably did, too. I peeked at her out the corner of my eye, and she was standing there with her arms wrapped tight around herself. I would have thought she was uncomfortable, but I noticed how she kept throwing looks at my body that would have had me smirking any oth
I wasn't sure how long we lay there, both of us si-lent. I'd gone completely soft, and we'd shifted around enough that I'd pulled out of her. But she was still lying in my arms, only with me on my back and her half on top of my chest. I held her to me, with one hand carding through her soft hair."I'm sorry," I said, once I couldn't stand the si-lence anymore.She hummed, then shifted on my chest, folding her hands on top of me, then resting her chin on them as she smiled up at me."You said that before," she reminded me. "When we were getting on your bike."I grimaced. "Yeah, but that was a pathetic at-tempt at an apology. It doesn't really count. I just really need you to know how fucking sorry I am..."I didn't get far, before she was stopping me with her fingers on my mouth. She moved so she was a bit above me, bracing her body with her elbow. Her smile went from teasing to sweet, and she pecked a quick kiss on my jaw before meeting my eyes again."Liam, you really don'
AdeleI woke up unusually early today, and the moment I remembered what day it was, I couldn't go back to sleep.Graduation day.Finally, the big day had come, for me, Liam, and my friends. Liam had managed to last the week, going to school with me every day, even though I was pretty sure he mostly just slept through his classes. Not that it mat-tered. As long as he attended, he was in the clear. Con-sidering what a bad boy he usually was, I wouldn't have been surprised if he was at risk of not graduating because of poor attendance. It wasn't the only factor, but it was a problem he created himself, and could only fix by him-self.Whatever. As long as we crossed this hurdle. Eve-rything wouldn't be magically fixed, but... It's another step.I rolled to my side and pressed my hands to my stomach, a faint smile on my lips. While the thought of being a mother so young was still foreign to me, I was no longer as scared as I had been when I initially found out, only to have Liam p
Hours later, everyone was assembled in the school auditorium for the graduation ceremony. The graduates were up on stage while the guests took up the rest of the room. It was mostly silent as the names were called out, then a short round of applause as the student got up to go and pick up their diploma.Since we were arranged alphabetically by sur-name, I wasn't sitting with Liam or any of my friends. I only vaguely knew the people I sat with, but none of it mattered because very few of us even bothered with talk-ing. We all had the same objective, after all; to get through graduation as quickly as possible. Even for those that hadn't exactly hated high school, we were all re-lieved to have it over with.Finally, it came to my name. I got up from my seat nervously and made my way to the stage and to the podium. It was a pretty short walk, but the whole room was quiet at that time, and I was the center of attention, so I worried.All sorts of things went through my mind, then. I c
The days that passed after graduation were nor-mal. It was completely expected, and still a disappoint-ment considering how hyped up the whole graduation thing was. Now that we were done with school, we could spend time doing whatever we wanted. Including, plan-ning for our future.I had Liam with me in my room trying to help me come up with thoughts, but it had been hours, and we hadn't come up with anything in all that time. I was pret-ty much just at my table randomly surfing the net at that point while Liam lazed around on my bed. The only rea-son I didn't join him there for some real fun, was because Mom had stepped out and could come back home at any time, so we were careful."Are you hungry?" I asked, glancing over at Liam, breaking the silence in nearly half an hour.Liam was laying back with his legs crossed, knees slightly raised, and his arms under his head. At my ques-tion, he turned a little and squinted an eye open to look at me."Hmm? Hungry... I'm fine for now.
Once again, it was Liam and me alone in a room, only this time, it was his. I'd called and told him I was coming over when Mom let me know that his dad would be coming over to our place. While I wasn't about to in-terfere with my mom's relationships, it was still so strange for me to have the two of them dating. So, I left the house the moment she told me he was coming over, and I carried an outfit with me.Even though it was more than a week later, we were finally going to have a graduation party. I didn't know all the people who were throwing the party, but nearly everyone would be there. I didn't bother letting Mom know, I just told her I'd be at some friends' places. Besides, she was planning a romantic dinner or some-thing. I wouldn't be surprised if she took advantage of the fact that I was out to get a little fun.I pushed those thoughts out of my mind quickly as I shoved open Liam's door."Hey," he said, looking up.He was seated at his desk, playing on his phone, but h
I was home alone when the doorbell rang. I perked up because I was bored by myself. I did have a thought that it might be Liam there, and it was enough to have me rushing to the door. Only, when I opened it, someone unexpected was standing on the other side."Rita?" I said, confused.She gave a wry smile. "You could at least pretend to be glad to see me, you know? Now I feel bad for com-ing all the way here.""No!" I said immediately, fluttering my hands in the air between us. "I'm sorry about that; I just wasn't expecting..."She rolled her eyes at me. "Let me guess. You thought it would be your boyfriend, come here to pull you out of your boredom."I couldn't exactly say no, so all I did was give her a sheepish smile. She just snorted at me as she rolled her eyes. I stepped to the side, and she let herself into the house. She'd been around to my place a few times, so she didn't even wait for me as she headed straight for the stairs, and once I'd closed the door, I followed
AdeleI sat on the couch, holding Harmony in my arms. I felt a little bad for taking so long, but when we'd woken up and started getting ready for Liam's departure, I fig-ured it had been about time to let our little girl know that her dad would be going away for a while.She hadn't cried, but she was being pouty about it, and not speaking. I knew, sometime after he left, she'd come to me and cry, and when she did, I would cry with her. Sometimes, things just seemed to hit her late, and when they did, they hit hard. It reminded me a little of myself at times.Liam brought down the last of his suitcases and set it at the base of the stairs, then glanced over at us. He arched an eyebrow at me, but all I could do was sigh."Harmony?" I said slowly, pulling her away from my chest so I could look at her face. She kept her head ducked down, but I tilted it up by the chin, and she final-ly met my eyes. "I know you're sad that Daddy is going away, but he has to leave soon, so why don't
LiamI was seated in my bedroom, on top of the bed with my laptop on in front of me. It was about time for me to go to school, and I was doing last minute checks to be sure I didn't forget something before I had to leave. I would be leaving for the city tomorrow morning, taking a few things with me to my new apartment that was closer to the school and my job. I would be coming back when I had to time off, but it killed me that I had to move away from my wife and daughter like I knew it bothered Ade-le.Shit, we hadn't even explained it to Harmony right that I wouldn't be around all the time anymore. There were phone calls and video calls, but it was hardly the same."Are you done?"I looked up to see Adele just walking out of the bathroom with a bathrobe around her and a towel around her neck as she wiped at her hair."I can do whatever's left once I get there," I said, closing the laptop and setting it aside without taking my eyes off her."I'm going to miss you when you l
AdeleIt was getting closer and closer to the fall, and with it, nearer to the time Liam had to go off to law school. As summer was winding down, Liam had to get a bunch of stuff in order before he could leave. The one thing I hated most, though, was when he was looking for a place to stay. I knew he wasn't leaving me, but I still hated that he had to move out of the house.I woke up one day, too anxious to sleep longer, and both Liam and Harmony came down to find me on the couch, and breakfast nowhere in sight."I'm so sorry, honey," I said, referring to both of them, but looking at my pouting daughter. "I haven't cooked anything, but we still have cereal would you like that?"Immediately, she perked up. "Yay, cereal!"She shot toward the kitchen, and Liam grinned at me. I didn't usually like her having cereal, so I tried to lessen how many times in a week she could have any, and she'd already had it twice. She preferred the extremely sweet types, and the sugar rush always h
LiamWe had a late night, but I still woke up early. My body was too used to getting up at a certain time in the morning every day, I was up before the alarm even rang, and I reached over to shut it off before it got too annoy-ing. Then, I turned to the woman sleeping in my arms.I hadn't moved yet, and already I could feel the aches all over my body that pretty much meant we'd had a really fun night last night. After how that disastrous dinner had been, and then the day of circling each other while I thought of how best to cure Adele of her disap-pointment, I couldn't have asked for a better end to our long streak of no sex.There was still school, and I sighed as I wondered how I was going to work both that and my job into my family life. If Harmony did start going to school at the same time...it would be so much more convenient for everybody.After leaving a peck on her forehead, I slid out of Adele's arms and went to the bathroom. The area around my upper arms and back stun
AdeleIt had been a whole day since the dinner fiasco. I'd stopped crying a while back, but I was still pretty bummed out about it. Liam noticed, and he'd left me alone since then. I hated that he had, though, because he didn't even come to the bedroom to sleep last night. I must have cried myself to sleep, and when I woke, I found him sleeping on the couch in the same outfit from yesterday with his jacket thrown over him.Since he'd ignored me first, I'd done the same to him throughout most of the day. We didn't eat the food from yesterday, but at least I'd left it all covered, so all it needed was some warming. In fact, last night's dinner was pretty much all we had throughout the day; I warmed separate portions for breakfast, lunch, and din-ner. We ate separately and stayed in different rooms of the house.I hated how it felt like we were in a fight when the reason I was in such a mood wasn't even because of him.Is he just going to let things stay like this? I mused to myse
LiamIt was evening already. Adele had spent most of the afternoon cooking, and I could smell all sorts of amazing scents wafting from the kitchen. I'd kept my ass on the couch and my focus on the TV, though, so I wouldn't bother her. I could have helped, but... I was feeling a little lazy. And I was kind of uneasy over what Adele planned to do. So I left her alone. She wouldn't give me a plate before our guests were present, but my mouth was practically watering, and my stomach kept growling in hunger.To hurry things along, I got up to head for the kitchen, and see if she at least needed help with some-thing."Is there anything I can do to help?" I asked while leaning against the door. Hoping that her answer would be no.She glanced at me over her shoulder, paused with her arms raised where she was reaching for plates from the cupboard. I walked across the room and reached for the same plates, glancing down at her. She was just standing there, staring at me with wide eyes.
AdeleMy mom and Liam's dad were going to spend the day with Harmony; Liam's birth mother was even going to join them in spoiling her, and then she was going to spend the night over with them. She was four-years-old already and didn't exactly mind the attention, taking af-ter her dad in one more thing, among others, including her pretty looks.She should be starting school soon...and the idea of it scared me, the fact that she's grown up so fast.Where did the time go?It was something I had to talk to Liam about at some point. For the moment, she was still going to day-care, but it would probably be better to get her into kin-dergarten already instead of waiting too long, or she'd end up older than the other kids in her class.I was pretty much a stay at home mom, even though I'd gone through college and gotten my degree. It wasn't something I couldn't put to use while staying at home, anyway. Considering how far the world had ad-vanced already, it wouldn't be so difficult t
Liam"Are you going to meet Dwayne?"I looked up to see Adele, my wife, and sweet-heart walking down the stairs to join me in the living room. I was tying up my sneakers, ready to head out."Uh..." I stalled. "Am I not supposed to?"In the past four years since we'd graduated high school, we'd had a baby, completed college, and gradu-ated in our respective courses. Adele and I stayed in her family's house instead of looking for a different place for ourselves, and her mom stayed with my dad at our old house."It's not that you're not supposed to," she mum-bled, joining me on the couch.I rested my elbows on my knees, leaving my sneakers alone for a moment. Adele folded her legs under her on the couch, her arms wrapping around my middle as she settled into my side."What's up?" I asked."Well..." she hesitated. "It's just, I've organized a dinner...""For us?" I frowned, confused. "What for? I don't think I've missed any important dates..."Her arms squeezed me a lit
There was no huge disaster like I'd been worried about all along. We all got ready in time and then started heading out to the church in groups. Mom and I were among the last, of course, and we got out together and rode in the same car, one of the many we'd rented for the occasion. It was big enough to carry six people, so we each had two friends with us in the car.We arrived at the church just in time. We waited in the car as everyone else got things ready inside, Chanel and Rita waited with us. Once we heard the wedding march playing inside, they stepped out first, and we fol-lowed.Neither of us had someone to give us away. So, we walked down the aisle holding each other's arms. Mom's veil wasn't as dense as mine, so I could only hope that she wouldn't trip, as I learned mostly on her. We each held small bouquets of white and pink roses.The church had been set up so the audience could mingle and sit wherever they wanted. Mom and I had both decided there wasn't much point in