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Adopting children in Italy proved harder than Betty and Daniel had thought. Very few out of country adoptions had taken place there. Luckily, Daniel had a lot of pull due to his family's name and the fact that his family had spent many summers in the home they owned in Capri. Within five months, complete with sleepless nights, Nicholas and Isabella were officially Nicholas Bradford and Isabella Rosalina Meade.
Regardless of their good luck, Betty had been so apprehensive of everything going smoothly, she had had nervous bouts of sickness and eating binges a week prior to the official adoption ceremony. And apparently the worrying hadn't stopped.
"Betty? Hey, are you okay?" Daniel called after his wife, who had run out of the main cabin of the Meade jet and into the bathroom.
Betty leaned over the toilet and heaved.
"Baby, you can stop throwing up now – it's over. We're a family," Daniel rubbed his wife's back as she kneeled over the toilet.
"Tell that to my stomach," she remarked and heaved again.
"Are you still worried something will happen? Because I've got Nicky and Bella's adoption papers in my briefcase - our lawyer said it's an iron-clad deal. They're ours – no loopholes. You don't have to be nervous anymore," he assured her.
"I know. And mentally, I'm fine. But obviously my gut is trying to tell me something," Betty sighed.
"You think it's something you ate? You had a lot of fried mozzarella with your risotto at lunch," he wondered.
Betty glared at him.
"You're giving me that look. Why are you giving me that look?" Daniel questioned, clueless.
Betty continued to glare at him until it dawned on him.
"I was just trying to figure out the issue. I love that you have such a healthy appetite. It's adorable. Especially after dating models who barely nibbled on a piece of celery. Anyway, you've never been airsick before . . . Maybe you're coming down with something?" he guessed and curiously kissed her forehead. "You don't have a fever – that's good."
"I hope not. The last thing I want the first time we take our kids to their new home is to tell them we can't be near each other. They're miles away from everything and everyone they're used to. They need this time to be with us and get adjusted to life in a new country, and new people," Betty sighed and gestured for Daniel to hand her the cup of water. "I want this to be special for them."
"I know you do, baby, and so do I. But don't push yourself. The flu is a natural part of life. The kids will understand if you're not a hundred percent. We'll just spread the tour out to one site per day if that's what it takes," he assured her as he helped her up to brush her teeth.
"Go check on Bella and Nicky. I'll be fine," she told him.
"They're watching a movie and coloring. I'm staying here," he insisted.
"Something age-appropriate I hope?" Betty questioned.
"Are you saying you don't trust my parental judgement?" he feigned offense.
Betty gave him a look.
"Is this because I let DJ watch 'The Hangover' when he was thirteen?" he asked. "Because Alexis didn't have a problem with it either – she came in and made popcorn."
"Babe, what are our six-year-olds watching?" Betty repeated, ignoring his excuse. Reasoning with Daniel felt like having to deal with another child, sometimes.
"'Harry Potter'," he replied, satisfied with his choice.
"Which one?" she asked.
"I don't know . . . It's 'Harry Potter'. They're kids' movies – what's the difference?" Daniel shrugged.
"Um, the difference between children with sweet dreams and children who are sleeping in bed with us tonight because they're terrified Voldemort is going to get them," Betty crossed her arms.
"You mean that bald albino guy with bad breath and no life? Really?" Daniel asked, skeptically.
Betty rolled her eyes and hid a smile before attempting to go check on Bella and Nicky.
"Wait. Betty, stay here. I'll see which movie it is," Daniel insisted. "Let me tuck you in bed and I'll make sure it's nothing too scary."
"Daniel . . ." she protested. "I can take care of myself. Go."
Only as soon as she whipped around in the other direction, she felt dizzy and nauseated again. Daniel had to catch her from falling.
"Hey . . . careful, baby. You don't have to do everything on your own. You've taken care of me more times than I can count. Let me take care of you," he insisted.
"Okay," she caved, really having no choice at the moment, and allowed Daniel to lead her to the bed and tuck her in.
He then went to see how the kids were doing and returned with a few things for Betty.
"Here are some crackers, pretzels, and ginger ale. They might stop the queasiness," he put them by her bedside and kissed her lovingly on the lips. "It was the movie where they all look really young."
"Good," Betty replied, relieved.
"You're a great mom," Daniel smiled and caressed her cheek.
"Thank you. You're getting the hang of being a great dad, too," she teased.
Daniel chuckled.
"Get some rest," he tweaked her nose with his lips and then kissed her mouth. "I love you, Betty Meade."
"I love you, too, babe. But I still can't get used to my new last name. I had to stop myself from screwing up the adoption papers," she mused. "Whenever anyone called me Signora Meade, I kept looking around for your mother."
"It's been five months," Daniel pointed out.
"And I've been Betty Suarez for thirty-two years," she countered.
"Point taken. I guess guys have it easy," he agreed.
"Exactly. Why don't men have to change their last name instead?" she said.
"Well, technically, you didn't have to change your name either. And you did hyphenate it," he answered.
"True. But I wanted to. I wanted the world to know that you were mine and I was yours," she smiled.
"Still happy you're stuck with me, huh?" he flirted.
"You're not so bad," she teased. "And I wouldn't have two amazing children without you."
"When you're feeling better, we could always start on the third and fourth . . ." he gave her a sexy stare.
"Tempting as that sounds, I think we need to concentrate on the ones we just got before creating new ones," she advised.
"Yeah," he agreed.
"Doesn't mean we can't practice all we want . . ." she reminded him.
Daniel grinned and fervently kissed his wife.
"Get some sleep. I plan to do a lot a practicing tonight, if you're up to it," he told her. "I'm gonna go watch the rest of the movie with Nicky and Bella."
A few hours later, they arrived in New York. As they were on their way home, the new family made a stop at Build-a-Bear when Nicky and Bella's eyes lit up at the sight of the cute stuffed animals in the window. Betty seemed to be feeling a little better at the moment so she and Daniel relented. Nicky made a Chewbacca with an 'I heart New York' shirt. The heart was an American flag. Isabella made a Statue of Liberty bear.
Betty and Daniel couldn't wait to show their children their new home. They had painted and decorated their bedrooms with new furniture and bedding.
Bella's room was princess and butterfly themed, painted a light purple. Her comforter had butterflies on it and there were tasteful wall hangings of butterflies on the walls. She had a light pink princess-style bunk bed, with a slide to get down. Under the bed was a bookshelf with an American Girl-sized canopy doll bed for her new doll, Rebecca. Betty and Daniel had chosen it for Bella because the doll was from New York. Next to the doll bed was a large light pink wardrobe for her doll. An animatronic unicorn and a cushioned pullout chair sat in the other corner under her bed. A desk and dresser completed her bedroom.
Nicky's room was painted a light green, and glow in the dark stars had been placed on the ceiling in the shapes of constellations. His comforter was 'Star Wars' themed and framed posters of the movie characters and quotes hung tastefully on the walls. His bed was also a bunk bed with a slide, but with a space theme instead. A large talking Darth Vader, interactive R2-D2, plush Ewok, and plush Yoda sat on top of the bookshelf underneath his bed. A pullout chair sat next to the bookshelf. A desk and dresser filled up the rest.
Daniel and Betty had also dedicated one extra-large room as Nicholas and Isabella's playroom. The couple, along with generous contributions from their families and friends, had filled one side for Bella and one side for Nicky, with space in between for both of them to share.
Bella's side had a four-sided fully furnished Barbie-sized doll house, and one extra-large house-shaped shelf for the rest of her American Girl doll accessories and furniture she might receive in the future, along with a few current pieces. A separate shelf was placed along the other wall for any other Barbie, Ever After High, or Shopkins toys to come. There was also a small princess castle tent and life-sized, realistic plush tiger on her side.
The middle of the room had a Lego table, as well as a coloring/painting table and chairs, a book shelf filled with books and puzzles, and a dry-erase board on the wall with the American and Italian flags on each end.
Nicky's side was filled with a car race track, a train track, and shelves filled with Transformers, Star Wars, The Avengers, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action figures. Pokemon play sets and a pirate ship also had places on the shelves. A pirate ship tent and a life-sized, realistic plush lion and wolf completed his side of the playroom.
Both Nicky and Bella flipped over the basketball court. The gaming/movie room was also a big hit. It was perfect for the whole family to watch movies or play karaoke or dance games along with the occasional Super Mario Bros. game.
The kids also couldn't wait to start American kindergarten after winter break. They loved being with their new parents but missed playing with more children their own age. Their cousin, Rosalina, was the only child their age that they knew.
The rest of their week, when not working or sick, was spent with extended family and friends going to Ellis Island, seeing the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, Central Park, the Bronx Zoo, Coney Island, and other import landmarks in New York – including Meade Publications. Fortunately, Betty was able to stay at home and let her family or Daniel's show Nicky and Bella around the times she felt nauseated. She hated missing out on their reactions to all the new sites, but at least the kids got to know their grandparents and aunts and uncles. And she insisted Daniel go along, too, when he wasn't at work. There was no point in him missing those moments because she was miserable.
After a surprise welcome party for the children at the Meade building, thrown by Wilhelmina and Marc, Daniel and Betty found another surprise when they all arrived home.
It was the last thing in the world that either one of them had expected. But after all the happiness they'd had recently, Betty figured it had probably been due.
A mob of reporters started shouting questions and accusations of neglected parenting at them. Neither Betty nor Daniel knew what to think until they saw a familiar woman stand up from the steps of their home.
"Hello, Danny . . . Betty," Maggie greeted them, holding a bundled up infant. "Daniel, I'd like you to meet your daughter – Madelyn Danielle Meade."