Chapter 8

[5th May]

Finally it was happening. After a long process of 7 months it was finally happening to Jeff and I. we had always been partners from the first day we met and it had been a journey to say the least but now, finally, it was happening. Our relationship has grown not physically but what we share matters and now we were going to let someone else share in that. We got the call about 20 minutes ago and now we were on our way to the children's home to pick up our new child. We were being accepted for who we were and being given a child just like we had always wanted. I didn't know what to expect my head was all over the place, in the phone call Nathan didn't say much about the child we were adopting but he said that he had found the perfect match for us. Jeff on the other hand he looked excited but he had done this before, well not exactly. Back when he was with Lucy he had done the father role when she was having John and Sophia but this time was different we knew almost nothing about this child and that was a though that scared me deeply.

We arrived at the children's home after an almost silent drive that seemed to last forever. I got out the car as Jeff did and we started to walk towards the door of the new home. Once again Jeff came closer to me and before I knew it he was holding my hand to show me he was always by my side and we were going to do this together. We got to the front door and I was about to put my hand up to ring the doorbell when I was stopped by Jeff.

"Dixie." He said getting my attention "I want you to know that whoever awaits us on the other side of this door we will love and cherish and that any problems we will tackle and overcome together. I will always support you and every decision you make and I will support our child, no matter what." Jeff spoke clearly convincing me that everything will be alright.

"Thank you!" I replied smiling back at him. I could really trust Jeff to stick to his word he might like to joke around but deep down I can rely on him for anything.

Once again I reached for the doorbell and felt Jeff's grip on my hand get tighter. I pressed my sweaty finger on the doorbell with my hand shaking as I brought it back down to my side. In the few seconds it took for someone to answer the door I thought about my new life, Jeff's new life and the child's new life. What we were about to get ourselves into was going to impact many people's lives and that was too much pressure to think about.

I turned to Jeff about to open my mouth to express my thoughts when the door opened and we were greeted and ushered inside by Nathan. Nathan was the person who we trusted about the adoption and he had told us about everything we should expect to happen when adopting, apart from this. We had no idea what to expect he had said nothing about the child he is looking at for us to adopt and he had certainly not said anything about the nerves that I were feeling as I walked into the hallway.

"This place looks really nice." Jeff informed Nathan remembering the last time we were here. I nodded in agreement and Nathan thanked us for the compliment.

"I would give you a tour but I expect you are desperate to know who I have paired you with?" Nathan said showing us into his office, we followed shortly behind him. As I entered the room it was like all my nerves had been taken from my body and given to Nathan. The child be were going to adopt was in the corner of the room, I stared for a moment before looking at Nathan who was shaking hoping that we would be happy with his decision. But, I was more than happy I was ecstatic and ran over to the newest member of the collier family. In the corner of the room was a navy blue car seat with a small brown teddy and an even smaller baby girl. She was wrapped in a little pink blanket sleeping with her hands by her rosy cheeks. I knelt down and placed my finger into her hand she clasped it and at that moment I knew she was the one.

"This is Hope, she is a month old and was left on the door step. We took her in and I knew you were the perfect couple to accept her into your family." He paused letting Jeff and I take in all the information "She was found with this note." Nathan added handing me a crumpled A5 sheet of paper. I read the paper before handing it to Jeff. I brought my focus back to Hope who was now starting to wake up, her eyes slowly opened to reveal the most perfect hazel eyes to go with her auburn coloured hair. I couldn't help think that this was the perfect new addition to mine and Jeff's lives.

[45 minutes later]

I signed the last form before picking Hope up from the car seat she was laying in.

"You're a natural." Nathan encouraged me while Jeff picked up the car eat that was left in the corner. We left the room to leave when we were stopped by Nathan. "You might want to take this." He said passing a bag of nappies to Jeff and giving me the letter Hope was left with. We walked out the door with a child, our very own, brand new baby. It was like all my wishes had all come true as we drove off to start our new lives. But there was just one problem, clothes. Hope needed clothes and food so instead of going straight home we drove to the E.D. where hopefully they would have some spare baby things in lost property.

When we arrived at the E.D. we jumped out of the car and started to walk inside carrying the car seat that Hope was now back in. We walked in and found Max, Robyn and the wicked witch of the west, Louise, all gathered around the front desk at reception. Jeff and I started to walk over when Rita saw us and came over.

"Is this the new addition to the Collier family?" She asked with excitement as she joined us to walk over to reception.

"Yes this it Hope!" I proudly stated as everyone at reception turned to see what was going on. Immediately they huddled around me and Hope playing with her and asking my questions.

"What's that?" Robyn asked pointing to the note I was still holding in my hand.

"Well, Hope was left on the door step of the children's home and when they found her they also found this letter." I said handing the note to her so she could read it.

"This is Hope and she has come here to have a better life than her my can provide. She hopes she can have a good life and will be supported. She was born on the 9th April 2014 at 6:27 pm. I cannot live with my real family so I have come here to find a new one." Robyn read the note so everyone knew what it said.

"Can I take a look at that?" Zoe asked walking over to the huddle. Robyn passed over the note as rita came back from lost property with some baby clothes.

"Thanks so much!" I thanked her accepting the clothes for Hope.

"It's no problem, she's such a cute little baby." She replied giving a smile.

We said our goodbyes now that we had clothes for Hope and walked back to the car that was parked in the E.D. parking area. On our walk to the car I couldn't help but feel proud of Jeff and I for going through with our plan and grateful that even though someone didn't want Hope we did and we were able to take her in and look after her. I have always wanted to be a mum and now I finally had the chance to be one and raise a beautiful child. I knew it wasn't always going to be easy but we would make it all work out.

Again if anyone has any suggestions or ideas please feel free to share them wih me and review. Hope you liked the chapter!