It was a quiet Christmas Eve. Marcus joked that it was a day of meditation in preparation for tomorrow's chaos when her side of the family came over. It was a tradition they had every year once all the kids had stopped believing in Santa: prepare the food for tomorrow, snack most of the day, and open presents after dinner.
Now, they were just sitting around the living room handing out the gifts. All of her children were there, along with her grandchildren and Shiro and Adam. Sylvio and Nadia had been enthralled with Shiro all evening, curious as all else about his prosthetic. He was very patient with them and explained how he got hurt in more kid-friendly words. But then the kids were more interested in presents and she delegated Marco and Rachel to hand out the gifts.
They were a quick and efficient team, making piles around them before handing them out. Rosalina watched Keith as the two started handing the piles out. He was watching them with a small, sad smile at Shiro's feet, but frowned when Rachel handed him a stack.
"Uhm...?"
"You didn't think we'd forget about you, did you?" Rosalina asked quietly, hoping not to draw the others' attention.
"I've... Shiro's been the only one to really get me presents before," Keith replied, just as quietly. "I mean, my first Christmas in foster care I got little toys and whatever, but..."
Shiro nudged him with his knee. "Well, this year is different."
They all dug into their presents. Wrapping paper flew across the room and chatter and laughter grew the more they delved into their presents. Rosalina watched the mayhem for a moment before opening her own presents. Her kids were always so thoughtful with their gifts and—
To: Rosalina and Marcus
From: Keith
It was a small box, just bigger than her palm. It was wrapped a little clumsily, but she could tell that he did his best to make it look nice. The gold ribbon was a little lopsided, but knotted in a neat, tight little bow that pressed a lined piece of paper to the box. She was careful to unwrap it, tears gathering in the corners of her eyes. She hadn't expected Keith to get her something—when would he have had time to? Unless he had gone with Marcus last weekend after going to the shop together, or maybe Shiro had brought it for him?
She looked up to see Keith watching her with wary, guarded eyes.
Licking her lips, she turned back to the paper and got Marcus' attention. It was addressed to both of them, after all.
Dear Rosalina and Marcus,
I wanted to thank you for opening your home to me and making me feel welcome and safe. I really like living with you. You're the best foster parents I've ever had. I hope you like the gift.
Merry Christmas
Keith
There was even a cute little heart drawn next to Christmas. Rosalina let out a watery chuckle and carefully put the note aside.
Inside the box was a little purple-tinted glass hippo. It was small, about the same size as the others on the shelf in her room. How had—
That's right. Keith had come into her room a few days after Thanksgiving and had caught her kissing the little dog. He hadn't asked what she was doing, but his quirked eyebrow spoke loud enough for him. She explained the little trinket shop where she had gotten all the glass figures and had explained how when one of her kids (or grandchildren or Lisa) were sick or hurt or needed "extra good vibes" she would hold their little glass figurine, each a different animal, say a little prayer, and kiss it for good luck.
"Rachel is struggling with one of her classes," Rosalina had told him, replacing it on the shelf between the hummingbird and the shark. She touched a finger to the bear, the cat, the fox, the swan, the penguin, the fish, the hummingbird, the dog, and the shark. Marcus, Marco, Luis, Lisa, Sylvio, Nadia, Veronica, Rachel, Lance.
Was this Keith's way of asking her to do the same for him? Or was this his way of asking her to adopt him?
"Thank you, Keith." She smiled brightly at the boy who flushed and turned away.
She knew what she had to do.
"Alright!" Rosalina called once everyone was done unwrapping their gifts. The rustling of wrapping paper and tissue paper paused as they all looked over at her. "I need all my children and my husband and Keith in my room, please, for a family meeting. We'll be right back!"
She herded them into her room, each one except for Marcus clearly confused. Everyone else left in the living room shot each other confused looks, but did not mess with her glare to stay out. Her room was the furthest from the living room, so hopefully there wouldn't be any curious eavesdroppers. Carefully, she placed the hippo at the end of the line of little glass figurines, next to the shark. No, Keith was older than Lance, right? She switched the two and nodded, satisfied.
Her children were waiting on her bed, familiar enough with family meetings to have figured out where to sit. Keith stood off to the side, hands clasped tight in front of him. She motioned for him to sit on the bed as well. "You too, Keith. On the bed."
Nervously, he sat between Lance and Marco.
"So." Rosalina clapped her hands once to steady herself. She tried to appear somber, but she was just too excited! "I—"
"You're not pregnant, are you?" Lance interrupted, looking dismayed.
"What? No." She scowled at him. "Hush." She then grinned. Marcus put a hand at the small of her back. "I have one more gift for Keith. But I don't have it yet. I won't be able to get it for at least four or five more months." And here, she looked expectantly at Keith, hoping he understood what she meant.
He frowned back at her, slightly shaking his head. "What..." But then understanding lit up behind his eyes and he straightened, eyes starting to water. "You... Are you serious?"
"What? What's going on?" asked Lance, never one to be left out.
"If you want," Rosalina replied, ignoring Lance.
"But I'm almost eighteen..."
The others seemed to clue in, looking between her and Keith in turn, each looking excited. But they kept quiet, maybe understanding that they shouldn't interrupt quite yet.
"So?" Marcus replied. He was grinning just as wide as she was. "That doesn't mean anything. These other miscreants are still our kids even though they're over eighteen. Doesn't make them our kids any less, now does it?"
Tears were streaming down Keith's face. Rosalina could feel tears run down her own cheeks. Keith just looked so—so happy, so awed. "You want me?"
"Of course I do," she said at the same time as Marcus said, "She told me the second night you were here she wanted to keep you."
It was quiet, for a moment, as Rosalina watched him cry. For being such a hardened boy just two months ago and taking a harsh 'take no bullshit' attitude, he sure did have a lot of emotions that expressed themselves through tears. It made her own throat thick and she had to choke out, "I'm going to do everything in my power to make you part of this family, Keith. I know—I know it's only been two months, but I want to give you a home. I want to give you a home with me—with us."
And then Keith just launched himself at her, arms wrapping around her so tight she couldn't breathe. The only reasons they didn't fall was because of Marcus steadying her. But she didn't care that she couldn't breathe—Keith was sobbing into her shoulder, thanking her over and over through his gasps. She couldn't say she wasn't crying just as hard as she pulled him even closer to her, cradling him close.
Arms surrounded them. Several arms and several sniffles and she was sure Lance was sobbing just as hard as she and Keith were. A large hand ruffled Keith's hair.
"Welcome to the family, hermanito."
Rosalina took a moment to watch Keith shyly interact with her family. There were so many cousins and aunts and uncles and grandparents all shoved into one house that it was nearly bursting at the seams. But Keith was taking it all in stride, keeping close to Marco and Shiro as everyone introduced themselves and tried to talk his ear off and get to know him. He was positively glowing and basking in all the attention that her family showered him in. Adam was floating around somewhere, probably with her mom. They had seemed to hit it off, earlier, and with her mother's mischievous smirk she expected at least three pranks by the end of the night.
She remembered, just almost two months ago, when Keith had first looked up at her from Laura's desk. He had been so gaunt and skittish, hair matted and tangled, scowl firm in place...
It was almost like she was looking at a completely different boy. His cheeks had filled out and his shoulders weren't hunched in and his hair was up in a style Lance had taught him the other day with about twelve-thousand bobby pins and a light sprinkle of glitter that she was sure to find in her house for years afterwards. He was even smiling, and even if it was small it was there.
"Mama!" Rachel called from the kitchen. "Mama, the ham!"
Rosalina grinned. Keith would be okay without her watching over him for a moment.
