5 YEARS LATER
"Cam, get up." No answer. I saw his faint silhouette roll over to check the clock.
"Adie, it's 5 am," he complained.
"Yeah, but we have to pick up Amy at the orphanage in New Hampshire this morning. You know it takes an hour to get there, and with traffic, we'll be lucky to get there in an hour. So get moving," I explained. My alarm had gone off 10 minutes earlier, just so that I could wake Cam up.
"I'll be in the shower," I said, getting out of bed.
"May I join you?" Cam asked. I smiled.
"If you get out of bed fast enough," I answered. Cam chuckled as he got out of bed and followed me into the bathroom.
We stripped off our nightclothes and had ourselves a little fun in the shower before our big meet with our new daughter. We took a little longer than necessary, so we were rushed in getting dressed and out the door on time.
We stopped at a Dunkin Donuts on the way out of state, eating our bagels and drinking our coffee on our way to our miracle.
We arrived at the orphanage in a little under and hour and a half. We were only just a minute late, so we rushed through the door just as our names were called.
"Cameron and Adrienne Stevens." We walked up to the lady, out of breath, and led us down the hall to the room where our new daughter was waiting.
The woman went inside to say a few words to Amy, and then let us in. Cam and I walked in together, to give her a sense of family unity. She was beautiful, and 16 years young.
Amy Stevens, as she was to soon be called, was standing in the opposite corner from Cam and I had entered the room. She was approximately 5 feet, 2 or 3 inches tall, pale complexion, fierce green eyes drawing all the attention to her face, and shiny strawberry blonde hair pulled into a tight ponytail. She was wearing a pink polo, pale blue jeans, and white sneakers. I thought Cam and I were the tiniest bit overdressed, with him in a white polo and jeans, and me in a pink blouse and jeans. We thought that it shouldn't have taken that long to get ready, but we wanted to look our best.
"I'll leave you to get acquainted. I'll be out in the lobby when you're ready to go home," she said. We just nodded and sat down to start talking.
"I'm Adrienne, and this is my husband of 5 years, Cameron. It's nice to meet you," I said, shaking hands with her. Cam shook her hands as I introduced him.
"Hi. You already know I'm Amy," she said with a little chuckle. We smiled.
"So, Amy, you're 16?" I asked. She nodded.
"Do I have to buy a shotgun on the way back home?" Cam asked. I smiled, and Amy did too. We all loosened up after that. Cameron's humor had that effect on people.
Amy, Cam, and I all had a wonderful talk about life, love, and happiness. When we were ready, we all headed out to the lobby, Cam and I hand in hand.
"Amy, why don't you go pack up your stuff while Adrienne and Cameron fill out these forms?" Amy nodded and headed back to her room. Cam and I sat down with a stack of papers.
We sat there for at least half an hour because we couldn't find the social security cards and I couldn't remember my maiden name. About 20 minutes through the papers, Amy came out with her luggage and a boy about a year older than her. I saw him, nudged Cam, gave him a look, and then finished up the papers. We then handed them to the lady at the desk, and she reviewed them before letting us go home with our new daughter.
We were wheeling Amy's luggage out to the Acura when I dragged Cam aside to talk to him.
"Who do you think that boy is?" I asked.
"I don't know. If he's her boyfriend, he has to be left behind," he answered.
"They're not dating. They're acting too friendly. In fact, they may be related..." I wondered out loud.
"Like brother and sister? It's a possibility, but the only way to find out is to ask," Cam said.
"How do we ask without it being too awkward?" I asked, looking up at him.
"Not sure. I guess we'll just come out with it," he said.
"Okay. Come on, let's go. Amy and her brother slash boyfriend are waiting," Cam said, pulling me back to the car by my hand.
The boy heaved the luggage into our trunk after we had opened it, then I asked who the boy was.
"Oh, this is my brother Jack. He's here to see me off," she answered. I smiled at Cam, and he smiled back.
"Well, we just want to let you know that you are welcome anytime at our house, Jack," Cam said. Coming from Cam, that meant something.
"Come on, let's go. We have a little bit of a drive back," I said, hopping into the driver's seat. Cam sat down in the passenger seat, and Amy got into the back after a big, long hug from her brother.
"First stop, the nearest phone store. A welcome gift for you, Amy," I said. She smiled.
We drove in relative silence on the way to the phone store and on the way home. We made and ate lunch when we arrived home, then gave Amy a tour of the house. We ended at her new bedroom, and she unpacked her stuff while we unpacked the rest of the boxes.
At the end of the day, we were all sitting on the couch together, watching television. Cam and I had a new adventure to embark on.