Later that afternoon, Aurora approached Adam in his room.
"You gave Samantha a teddy bear?"
"Yeah, how'd you know?"
"She told me."
"How is she?" Adam asked, sitting up on the bed.
"She's better but won't be at the party on Thursday."
"Oh."
"Logan and I agreed that tomorrow would be the best day to get our family portrait done. Let's pick your outfit."
Adam and Aurora spent an hour combining shirts, ties, and suits until they both agreed on a black suit with a maroon shirt and black tie.
The rest of the evening was mostly quiet, except Aurora had another episode, and Sophia had to keep her overnight in the care room. Logan was very displeased by the turn of events and insisted on staying in the care room too, much to Sophia's annoyance.
With nothing much to entertain him, Adam checked his messages and went to bed early. But he couldn't fall asleep, no matter how hard he tried. The previous night replayed in his mind. He wanted Aurora to read for him again.
It didn't make any sense. He had gone to sleep all his life without her; why now did he have to have her read to him? He tossed and turned until he finally took the story book from the shelf. He read through the same stories Aurora had read.
As he read, he heard her voice, just as she had read the stories the night before. The memory of Aurora's voice and the monotony of words carried him off to sleep.
Adam awoke early the next morning and hurried to Aurora's care room. Shouting from inside the room stopped him.
"Yes! One you want us to end."
"No! You think voiding the contract means the end of our agreement? It doesn't. It means the thing that makes our marriage unauthentic no longer exists."
"How do I know you'll stay with me?!"
Aurora sighed. "Logan, I'm not Selene... I need you."
"What about Adam? Ever since he showed up, you've been fixated on him, and he isn't even our child."
"... What if he was?" She asked softly.
"He isn't."
"But what if he was? What if we adopted him?"
"We can't; he has a family to go back to."
"But they're not looking for him."
"We don't know that. We only have his word."
"What if they aren't? What if they didn't want him? He could really be our son. We wouldn't be pretending."
A smile tugged at Adams cheeks as his blood trickled through his veins like hot lava. Aurora wanted him. His mother used to say he was never hers. What if he wasn't? If he could leave that past behind and be Aurora's son, he would be Adam Jordahl. How much better life would be. He wouldn't need to leave. Sammy was here. If he went back to being Chase, he would not be able to see her again.
Adam moved his foot back, but stopped. This had happened before. He looked over his shoulder, and sure enough, Sophia was standing behind him with a wide grin on her face. She pointed to the door with her chin, but he shook his head. Sophia smiled mischievously at him before opening her mouth and taking a deep breath.
Realising that she was about to expose them, he ran off as quietly as he could. The last thing he heard as he sprinted up the stairs was Sophia greeting his parents.
They were all dressed up for the portrait. Before they left the house, his parents had given him a watch, a tie clip and cufflink set.
The watch was one of Logan's; he had removed a few links so it would fit Adam comfortably. The watch was black and gold, with a blue face with gold trimmings. It was also analog. Adam made a note to check the time on his phone rather than his watch. The tie clip and cuff links were gold and engraved with a maze pattern and the letters L.J.
Getting the portrait was not at all what Adam had expected. He thought it would be like taking pictures. Though pictures were taken, Rochelle insisted on starting the piece with the family in front of her. Aurora and Logan stood on either side of Adam as he sat on a stool. They had to stay still without the slightest movement.
Once he had looked at an assistant walking into the room, Rochelle yelled at him to stay focused. She had a sign on the back of her easel that they had to focus on. Now he was feeling restless; there was an itch in the centre of his back.
He began a game of 'Red light, Green light' with Rochelle. Whenever her eyes fell on the canvas, he would twitch a little. Logan poked him after the third time. He stopped briefly, but the itch stung like something had bit him, and he jerked upright.
"Rochelle, can we stop?" Aurora asked as she ran her hand along his back.
"One more minute."
Aurora kept scratching his back in the same way he'd been twitching earlier, avoiding Rochelle's stare. As soon as Rochelle let them go, Adam flew out of his jacket and reached for the spot on his back. There was nothing there.
Rochelle called Logan aside to discuss plans for another building.
"Mom, can I talk to you privately?" He asked as he put on his jacket.
Aurora watched him carefully. "Rochelle, I'm borrowing your office."
"Go ahead."
They walked to a walled office down the hall from the studio room. It was a small white room with a desk, three chairs, a phone, and a laptop. The only window in the room overlooked the gallery below. With the door closed behind them, Aurora turned to him questioningly.
Adam bit his lip; he wanted to ask it before, but now that they were alone, he was afraid. After debating back and forth with himself, he finally asked.
"Will you adopt me?"
"What?" She asked shakily, her eyes brimming with tears.
"I want you to be my real mom."
Aurora's tears broke, streaming down her cheeks. "Do you mean that?"
He nodded at her, afraid that his tears would also fall if he spoke.
"My son." She reached for his face. "Piccolo." She pulled him into a tight hug, laughing and crying.
Adam held on to her just as tightly. Aurora's smell, her warmth, her smiles—everything was home to him.
Home?
She felt like home to him. The home he wanted, the home he wished to have, the place where he belonged. He had seen other children with their mothers and wanted to have that kind of happy life. He got a sample of it, and if Aurora wanted to keep him, he wanted to stay.
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