were shaking slightly too, I realized, watching his. I hadn’t expected that, hadn’t rehearsed for my own nerves showing up alongside his.
Marcus’s eyes came up from the page, wet already.
“I need your signature,” I said. “Not today. Whenever you’re ready. But I wanted you to see it before anything else happened today.”
He read the first paragraph out loud, quietly, like he needed to hear the words in his own voice before he could believe them.
“I, the undersigned, request the court grant full and permanent legal parentage—” he stopped, his voice catching on the word permanent.
Behind him, I could see Mom pressing a hand to her mouth on the porch, and past her, Jonah and Lily standing frozen in the doorway, not fully understanding yet but clearly sensing this was the kind of moment you didn’t interrupt.
“Keep going,” I said. “It gets better.”
He didn’t
