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Sorry it's been a while, we've had a lot going on. We are officially down to 4 more days of school for the year. :-D I've survived a full year of virtual school! It's also now been a year and two months since I last had a break from my children. I'll try to be better about posting over the summer. We've got cyber summer school starting, and also speech and occupational therapy for both of my kids. I just need to get the rest of the therapy evaluation paperwork filled out, and get 5 teacher gifts done and delivered to the school, and then I am free for at least a few weeks.
Happy 44th birthday is hottie Matt Czruchry today! Did anyone watch The Resident this week, and see the creepy robo baby? It sucks that they couldn't use a real baby because of Covid, but maybe one of those semi less creepy reborn baby dolls would have been better. I saw on Instagram that they will have a REAL baby for Season 5. Did you hear that? SEASON 5! The Resident has been renewed! Can you tell that I am freaking excited?! LOL
Thank you everyone who has posted a review for me to read! I absolutely LOVE reading them! Thank you so much! You guys really keep me going. I really look forward to reading every single one of them. It really means a lot. Plus, the more reviews I get, the more I am inclined to post new chapters sooner. I have several finished right now, so we'll see what happens. ;-)
"Wait a second, Mitchum has another kid?" Collin asked as Josh drove through town with Logan in the front passenger seat, and Collin sitting behind them.
"That's what he said." Logan answered.
"Is it bad that I'm not too surprised? I mean, we all knew he was sleeping around behind your Mom's back."
"I always wondered if I had another sibling out there, somewhere."
"Nothing your Dad does, surprises me anymore." Josh told them.
"So my Dad claims to not know anything about the kid, yet somehow he's got a college account set up for him."
"Mitchum is either lying, and knows more than he's telling you, or he's got some random savings account set up in his own name, and a contract somewhere about an unknown child receiving the money at a later point. But legally, if he were setting up the account for another person, he would have to have it set up under their social security number." Collin explained.
"Rory said the same thing. And if he's got some kind of contract, that means that someone else knows about Dad's dirty little secret. I'm wondering how much his attorneys know."
"There is no way that they would tell you."
"Your Dad's attorneys are pretty shady. I've only had to deal with them a few times, but they are definitely good about keeping secrets. They aren't too smart though, considering the ridiculous prenup they drew up for me to sign." Josh commented.
"I think part of that was Grandpa too. He is probably fuming in his grave knowing that Rory and I are married without a prenup."
"That old Bastard is probably haunting you for marrying Rory. And he's probably even madder that she's now running his company." Collin chuckled. "No offense, but your Grandfather was Satan!"
"I've been learning that over the last year." Logan agreed. "He would be flipping out over Dad having an illegitimate son."
"That's an understatement." Josh told them.
"What is your plan for all of this information?" Collin asked.
"I don't really know . . . We have all of the properties to deal with, and the various evictions. Obviously, we are going to have to do some contract negotiations, because Dad said that some of the properties that we want to sell have employees living in them, who were given homes as part of their contracts, enticing them to leave other publications."
"That isn't too hard to deal with. You offer them a slightly higher salary to make up for the loss of free rent, and they can either take it, or be replaced. Contract negotiations are a piece of cake."
"Well I'm going to need you to draw up a new post-nuptial contract for my parents, giving my mom half of everything, and undoing all the BS and Dad and Grandpa have done to her over the last 30 something years."
"That will actually be fun. I'll need a copy of their prenup, to make sure that I completely undo everything."
"It's probably in one of the safes."
"What about the little brother? What do you want to do about that?" Collin asked.
"I'm not quite sure . . . Dad said that he was put up for adoption, so I guess the first thing to do would probably be to find him. Find out if he was actually put up for adoption, and where he is right now. Find out if his family would allow me to meet him."
"You want to meet him?" Josh asked.
"He's my little brother. I need to know that he's being taken care of."
"Would you want to have some kind of relationship with him?" Collin asked.
"I don't know. I don't even know if that kind of thing would be allowed. I guess it would all depend on his parents. I would have to establish a relationship with them first. Realistically, there is a chance that it is a closed adoption, and that they don't want to be found. We may not even be able to have contact with him until he's an adult, if his parents aren't open to it. As a doctor, I've been through training on how to deal with foster and adoptive families. It's a slippery slope, and there are a lot of rules that you have to follow. The adoptive families have every right to forbid the bio families from having access to their kid. I would need to contact the parents, and explain who I am."
"Well, what do you want out of it? Do you just want to meet the kid? And what about your Dad?"
"Who even gives a damn about my Dad! My Dad doesn't care about anybody but himself. I just want to meet the kid, and know that he's taken care of. If his parents aren't too well off, I guess I'll offer to help them out."
"Adoptions are expensive. Most adopted kids come from pretty well to do families."
"That's true. But then again, he's in another country. Things could be really different over there."
"We've been to Greece before. It's a completely different place than we are used to. People have a lot less money there than they do here. Most likely, if the kid was put up for adoption, it's because the mother wasn't financially able to provide for him. The economy is a lot different out there. There is a high likelihood that he was placed in an orphanage. He probably wouldn't have been adopted out locally, because of the economy. People out there don't have much money and struggle to take care of their own families, so they wouldn't be taking in additional members. If he was put in an orphanage, he would most likely be adopted by a family in another country, which could take years."
"How do you know so much about this kind of thing?" Josh asked.
"My mother in-law works with an adoption agency. They do a lot of overseas adoptions." Collin told them.
"Do you think Mrs. Vanderbilt would be willing to help me track this kid down?" Logan asked.
"Probably. She always liked you. But I need to ask you, if this kid is indeed in an orphanage, what is your plan then?"
"I have no idea . . . I think that would completely change everything."
"You said before, that you wanted to make sure that your little brother was taken care of . . . If he's in an orphanage, it means that he doesn't have a home . . . Would you ever consider adopting him yourself?"
"That's a loaded question . . ." Josh commented, glancing over at Logan as he sat, silently thinking. "Would that even be an option?"
"It's always an option."
"Would it be an option for us though? Honor and Logan would be considered blood siblings. Would one of them even be able to adopt the kid because of their DNA connection?"
"I don't know too much about adoption, but I think that being a family member actually makes the adoption process easier."
"So if the kid is in an orphanage, we could try to get custody?"
"Most likely."
"I would have to talk to Rory about that." Logan commented.
"I don't see Honor saying no to it. I think that if Honor found out that her younger sibling needed a family, without a doubt, she would jump to help." Josh told them.
"Honor definitely would."
"Do you want me to talk to my mother in-law about all of this?" Collin asked.
"I think that it couldn't hurt." Josh answered.
"Logan? What do you think? This affects you too."
"Let's talk it over with Honor and Rory tonight. I'm not doing anything without them."
* ~ * 6:30pm * ~ *
"Did you find everything you need?" Mitchum asked, seeing Logan heading toward his home office, carrying a box.
"I hope so. I took all the paperwork that was in there."
"A lot of that I'm going to need back."
"You'll get it back when I'm finished."
"Hey Logan, we've got dinner just about ready, if you're hungry." Sookie called out from the living room.
"Give me a minute to lock this stuff up, and I'll be right there." Logan called back.
"What's for dinner?" Josh asked.
"Pizza and salad. The pizza should be here in the next few minutes." Honor answered.
"Where's Rory?" Logan asked as he passed through the kitchen.
"In your office, feeding your daughter." April answered.
"That's perfect! I'll be back."
"Bring me that baby when you come back out." Sookie called after him, as Logan headed to his home office.
"Hey Ace, you hiding from the chaos?"
"Maybe? Would that be bad?"
"Care if I join you?" Logan asked as he closed the door behind him, and headed for the closet on the far wall.
"That depends on what is in the box?"
"I didn't find any bodies, if that is what you are asking."
"What about containers of ashes?"
"I didn't see any, but that doesn't mean that they don't exist."
"Did you find everything that you were looking for?"
"I hope so. I took all the paperwork that was in Dad's safe, and his desk. I'm going to go through all of it tonight, then give my Dad back whatever I don't need."
"Have you looked at any of it?" Rory asked as Logan set the box on the closet shelf, then shut the door.
"I saw a few things. I know one of the things is his will. There are several contracts, and other random files that I have no idea what they are yet. I was mostly focused on getting back here as soon as I could. I didn't want to leave you with all of the insanity for very long."
"It hasn't been too bad. Mom, Grandma and Sookie got back shortly after you left, and they've been a big help. Stephanie and Grandma have been doing a good job of running interference."
"Has anything happened that I need to be aware of?"
"Amazingly enough, your parents have been on their best behavior. Mom and Sookie brought back a bunch more food from the shower, but decided to order pizza for dinner because of all the extra people. They figure your parents would probably freak over eating leftovers."
"Have you ever seen my parents eat pizza?"
"Nope."
"Me either."
"So they'll be like my grandparents then, and eat it with a fork and knife."
"I hope your Mom takes pictures for mocking later on."
"I'm sure she will, but it wouldn't hurt to mention it to her."
"I was told that there is salad too."
"Sookie brought a bunch of salad stuff back from the shower, and added it to what we already had. Luke is excited about it."
"I'm sure he is. He likes to make you eat healthy."
"I'm not the biggest fan of grass."
"It's good for you. You need the extra greens."
"On a different note, I was thinking that we should plan a trip to Greece."
"Collin, Josh and I were actually talking about that in the car. Stephanie's Mom works with an adoption agency, and Collin is going to have her look into trying to find my Dad's illegitimate son. He was saying something about there being a good chance that the kid is in an orphanage because of the bad economy over there. He said that with how bad things are, most people are really poor and can barely afford to have a family, much less to adopt anyone else, which means that the kid would be placed in an orphanage while waiting to be adopted by a family in another country, which takes years."
"I was just reading that. I googled adoptions in Greece, and I was looking up different orphanages and adoption laws. Because adoption is so complicated over seas, there is a good chance, well, not good for him obviously, but I guess good for us, that the kid is still in the system, waiting for a family. Because we would be able to prove that you and Honor are a blood relation, if we can find the boy, we can petition to have him placed with either of you two, if that's what you guy want to do. We will obviously have to talk it over, because it's a HUGE deal, but it's definitely an option. It will still be a long adoption process, but because of streamlining and being a blood relation, the adoption could take less than half the regular amount of time that it usually takes."
"I love how you read my mind sometimes."
"What do you mean?" Rory asked.
"Collin, Josh and I were talking about that on the way to my parents' apartment. We were thinking that we should all sit down tonight and discuss it, after the parentals leave."
"It's HUGE decision. And we JUST had a baby. I mean, she's only a few days old, and Honor's baby isn't even due for a few more weeks. But in reality, with it being an overseas adoption, it's going to take at least 12-18 months, so we'll have plenty of time to prepare, if you guys decide that this is something that we want to do."
"Josh is onboard with it. I wanted to talk it over with you before making a decision. He's not a baby, so we would have a slightly easier time adjusting. But then again, there is most likely going to be a language barrier, and bringing a child home from another country is never easy, so it will be a huge adjustment for all of us. I can't imagine placing my child up for adoption, much less knowing that they have been placed in an orphanage, without a family. Every child deserves a family who loves them, and a stable home. I'm not too thrilled with the idea of having to clean up my moronic father's messes, but if this kid is in an orphanage, there is no way that I could leave him there. It wouldn't be right, or fair. We have more than enough, more than we could ever ask for. It's only right that we do what we can to help him."
"What about your Dad though? What do you think that he'll say about all of this?"
"I don't even care! I honestly wouldn't even tell him. It's not like my parents raised Honor and I anyway, so they definitely aren't capable of raising another child, or even babysitting for 5 minutes. I wouldn't even trust those psychos with my dog!"
"I can't blame you there." Rory chuckled.
"If we were to adopt this kid, I wouldn't even tell them. I would just have Collin take care of everything, then bring him home without even telling anyone about it. I would want it to be a surprise to everyone, that way there are less questions. We can just take a trip overseas, and come back with a kid. As far as anyone knows, we randomly decided to expand our family, and didn't tell anyone because of the long waiting period for overseas adoptions. Like you said, it'll be 12-18 months after we find the kid, IF we find the kid, before we could even bring him home. So all we would have to tell people is that we talked about expanding our family, and started the paperwork, just in case it ever went through in the future, and then one day, we got a phone call. It's pretty much the truth, just not the full truth. And my parents would never need to know all of the details."
"So you wouldn't want to tell your Dad that the kid is actually his?"
"Hell no! You know how my Dad is. I would be fine with telling your family the truth, but my family could never handle that kind of knowledge. Plus, it would cause all kinds of trouble. If we were to do this, I wouldn't even tell the kid who his real parents are, probably until he's a teenager, and old enough to understand everything. Obviously, he would know that he'd adopted, but I would ask that he not even be told that Honor and I are his brother and sister. I don't think that he's old enough to understand it right now."
"Ok, so how old do you think that he will need to be before you tell him everything?"
"I honestly don't know. I think that it might be best to play it by ear. I honestly believe that if the kid is old enough to ask the question, they deserve an honest answer. But I also feel like the answer should be age appropriate. If Ayribella comes to us at 4 years old and asks if Santa is real, we can ask her what she thinks, and then go from there. I would prefer that she believes in Santa as long as possible. I don't care if she's 12 and still believes. I am perfectly ok with that. Christmas is magical for children, and I want our kids to believe for as long as they possibly can."
"I can agree to all of that."
"So you would be ok with adopting this kid from Greece then?"
"If it's what you want. It would mean a huge adjustment for all of us, but if it's what you want, we can work it out."
"So let's talk to Honor and Josh about it tonight then, and then we'll have Collin and Stephanie's Mom start working on finding the kid, and getting the paperwork filed."
"I'm alright with that plan."
"Once my parents leave for tonight, we'll sit down and go through the box of stuff I brought home. Tomorrow morning, I want to head to Hartford to raid the safe at the big house."
"We can do that."
"I'm not going to drag you and Ayribella out of the house to drive 2 hours there and back. That wouldn't be fair for either of you. You've got plenty of people here to help with the baby. I'll take Collin with me."
"Logan . . ."
"We'll be fine. I won't subject you to 4 hours in a car."
"We can use the car service."
"I might do that anyway. But still, it's not fair to Ayribella. Lane leaves tomorrow, right?"
"Lane and Sookie."
"When does April leave?"
"Tomorrow night, I believe."
"So you can stay here and spend time with your sister while I run to Hartford. Then when I get back, hopefully all of the extra people will either be gone, or be getting ready to head out."
"It'll be just Mom, Luke and my Grandparents after everyone leaves."
"Sounds a lot more peaceful."
"I love having everyone here, but it's a little crazy. I'm starting to feel smothered."
"Speaking of which, I saw Rosalinda at the shower. She'll be here on Monday. I told her that she can stop by tomorrow to visit, if she wants to."
"I miss her."
"She is really excited to come back. She is having a nice vacation with her grandkids. She said they went to Coney Island yesterday."
"That sounds so fun! We should go there!"
"I'm down whenever you feel up to it. Maybe we can leave Ayribella with your Mom one day, and the two of us can do a day date or something."
"Maybe in a few months. I hate leaving her. It was a nice break earlier, to run to the office while she slept, but I feel really guilty about it."
"I know. I hate that I had to leave here for the shower today, then to go to the office, and to run to my parents' place, but I'm just telling myself that it's perfectly ok for me to have a life outside of her, and that it doesn't make me a bad parent. I'm sure that she didn't even know that I was gone."
"Probably not."
"Having a life outside of the baby doesn't make us bad parents. It actually makes us better parents to get a break from reality."
"I know. I just feel guilty."
"Don't beat yourself up over it. You deserved the break. You've been by her side for the last 3 days. You deserved 2 hours of adult time. We'll be begging for adult time in a couple of years."
"Yeah, but she's just a baby, and I'm all she knows right now." Rory said, as tears began to make their way down her cheeks.
"Ace . . . Please don't beat yourself up over this."
"I'm not trying to."
"I'm sorry that I upset you. I didn't mean to. I won't go tomorrow if you don't want me to. I can send Josh and Collin. Or even just Collin."
"Can we talk about it tomorrow?"
"Yeah, of course. We'll do whatever you want. Whatever you are comfortable with. We don't even have to go tomorrow, if you don't want to. It's not like anyone has access to that house, so none of the paperwork and stuff is going anywhere. None of this Dad drama is urgent. It can all wait a few weeks, if you would rather wait to deal with it."
"I just . . . I don't . . ." Rory started, as she sniffled, and attempted to wipe her tears away.
"Hey, it's ok. You don't need to explain anything to me. It's ok for you to feel. You have a ton of raging hormones right now, and I know that your emotions are all over the place. It's ok. If you need to cry, then I want you to cry. You can scream and break things if you need to. If you want to beat me up, that is perfectly ok too. The only thing that is important to me right now, is taking care of you and Ayribella. Everything else can wait, alright?"
"I don't even know why I'm crying right now."
"That's ok. If you feel like crying, then you can go right ahead and cry."
"I think I'm just a little overwhelmed . . ."
"Ok . . . How about this . . . Why don't you head upstairs and lay down. Sookie asked me to bring Ayribella to her when I'm done in here. I'll take Ayribella and give her to Sookie, while you go upstairs and lay down. I'll bring you up some dinner when it gets here, and then as soon as everyone is done eating, I'll start kicking people out. How does that sound? We don't even have to talk to Josh and Honor tonight. We can wait a few days. Nothing is going to change, or happen right away anyway. You can rest, and I'll clear all the extra people out of our house."
"Most of the extra people basically live here."
"Yeah, but your Grandparents have their own apartment, and I can send your Mom, Luke, April, Lane and Sookie out to enjoy a night on the town. I can get rid of everybody in the house, so it's just you, me, and Ayribella. How does that sound?"
"Do you think that they would actually go for that?"
"I'll make them go for it."
"I don't want to make everyone leave because of me."
"Don't even blame yourself for anything. I'm getting overwhelmed with all of the extra people too. It's perfectly ok. I'll get rid of everyone, so we can have a couple of hours of peace. Heck, they can all go invade Honor's house if they want to. In fact, I'll tell Honor to take everyone over there for a movie night. She'll be thrilled."
"That would be really nice."
"It's a deal then. Here, let me take Ayribella." Logan said as he stepped up to his wife, and reached out to carefully lift their daughter out of Rory's arms. "I'm going to take Ayribella out to Sookie. Why don't you head upstairs, and I'll be up in a couple minutes to help you get situated."
"Thank you Logan." Rory said, giving him a small smile.
"You don't need to thank me. This is just me doing my job as your husband. Do you need help getting up?"