Adopted

Chapter 20

In the next morning, Alex woke up to find the he slept alone. At first he thought that Valeria went to throw up again, but looking at the clock he realised that it was already 8:00am, so she must've just sent Stephanie to school.

After he brushed his teeth and got dressed, he went downstairs, but she wasn't there.

"Vale?" he called her, but his voice only echoed.

He went upstairs and decided to check Stephanie's room. He opened the door and noticed that was sleeping in the bed – spooning with Stephanie. He went to her side and gently shook her to wake her up.

"Vale?" he whispered.

"Huh?" she barely woke up.

"Is everything ok?" he asked.

"Oh... Yeah... She had a nightmare and cried all night. Eventually we both fell asleep." She explained, still half asleep.

Alex thought for a moment, then said "Do you want me to carry you back to our bed?"

"Yeah, that'd be great, this one is really hurting my back." She replied.

When she moved her hand from Stephanie's, Stephanie felt it and woke up. She turned around and Valeria sat up.

"Oh, hey..." she said, looking at both of them.

"Good morning to you too." Valeria smiled and stood up.

"What time is it?" Stephanie asked.

"Um, 8:20am." Alex answered.

"What?! I'm totally late for school!!" she freaked out.

"No, no, it's ok. You had a tough night, it's ok, and you'll stay here today." Valeria calmed her down and went to hug her.

"Oh, thank you, mom..." Stephanie said and hugged her back.

Alexander's eyes became wider. Did she just called her "mom"? Valeria turned to him, she just smiled and nodded. He smiled too, then broke the silence and said "Well, I don't you about you guys, but I'm going to make breakfast."

"Good. We will join you in a few minutes." Valeria told him.

*****

After breakfast, Alexander and Valeria asked from Stephanie to sit in the living room. Alex joined her and Valeria grabbed something from the kitchen island drawer. It was a DVD. She came back to the living room and put it into the DVD player.

"What are we going to watch?" she asked curiously.

"Just wait and see." Vale teased her.

Valeria sat on the sofa next to Stephanie and played the DVD. Stephanie saw on the screen something in black and white. It looked like a human. Well, it had hands like a human, and legs like a human, and face like – a little baby. Stephanie just realised what she was watching.

"Is it... is it the baby?" she asked her parents, not moving her eyes from the screen.

"Yes, it is." Alexander replied.

"That's going to be my little brother..." Stephanie said.

"Or little sister..." Alexander commented.

"Oh, Alex..." Valeria laughed.

"Well, are you excited?" Valeria asked Stephanie.

"Of course I am." Stephanie answered and hugged her.

Alex joined their hug and kissed each one on their heads.

"You are my two favourite girls. Well, three, if the baby is a girl too." He said and they laughed.

"Dad, stop it!" Stephanie laughed.

Again, like Vale, he decided not to say anything about it and just hugged them again.

*****

At the afternoon, Bessie invited Valeria over for a hot drink.

When Bessie came back with the cups of coffee for her and tea for Valeria (since she can't have caffeine while her pregnancy), their conversation began.

"Thank you, Bessie." Valeria said as she took the tea cup from the blue-haired woman.

"Oh, you're welcome, dear." Bessie smiled.

"So tell me, is everything going well now? I mean, with Stephanie and everything." Bessie asked.

"Actually pretty great. She started to call us mom and dad." Valeria said with a sad smile.

"Why, that's great. Why you look so sad about it?" Bessie asked.

"Because of Milford. You see, she started to call us like that after the nightmare she had last night. She dreamed of Lilian and Gary's car accident, and when I came to see if she's ok, she called me 'mom', and then today she called Alex 'dad'. I think it's because of that, and she's starting to get over their death, and maybe even getting away from Milford, and I don't want this to happen! I know how much they love each other, but it happens too fast!" Valeria began to cry, but Bessie knew it was her hormones talking.

Bessie handed her tissues and said "Don't even think it's your fault! The fact that she began to call you two 'mom' and 'dad' isn't going to change the fact that he's still her uncle. Remember that."

"Ugh, you're right, you're right. I'm just hard on myself. I shouldn't think that way." Valeria said as she wiped her tears.

"You're right. Now, let's talk about something else. How do you guys feel with the new baby on the way?" Bessie asked, trying to change the subject.

"Oh, don't even start with it!"

"Why, is everything ok?" Bessie asked concerned.

"It's Alexander. He keeps saying that it's going to be a girl and doesn't want to hear anything else, although he doesn't wanna know what it will actually be until it comes." Valeria explained.

"Well, I'm just guessing, my dear, but I think he wants a girl to make up for losing Stephanie when she was a baby." Bessie said.

"You really think so?" Valeria asked, trying to think about it.

"Yes, I do."

"So you think he'll be disappointed if we're having a boy?" Valeria asked worried.

"No, no, of course he will be happy, but it will be just... different for him." Bessie explained.

"What do you mean by that?" Valeria rose an eyebrow.

"Do I really need to explain you the difference between boys and girls?" Bessie asked cynically.

"No, thank you." Valeria answered in the same tone.