That night, Katey sat in the living room of Jeannie and Bert's house alone. She had just put Kerri to bed and had decided to settle down with a nice book about wolves. She looked up when she saw Jen come in.
"Can't sleep?" Katey asked with a smile. "Want some milk?"
"Sure," Jen said, sitting on the couch. "I want to talk to you."
"Go ahead," Katey said as she poured milk into a blue mug.
Jen waited until Katey came over with the milk. After taking a sip, she began to speak. "Well, I'm sorry about what I did today. I don't know what I was thinking. I mean, I was happy and all when you got engaged to Javier because then me and Tomas would be brother and sister and he's really cool and I like all the other kids too though. But then I was thinking that you were moving too fast. I mean, Dad just died not even a year ago and you're already getting married. I didn't think that anyone could replace Dad. And I mean, I like Javier and all, he's a really nice guy. But still, I thought you were going to throw away everything for him just because you were together in Cuba. So I thought that if I pulled that little stunt that you would rethink everything and tell Javier that you didn't wanna get married because I wasn't happy. So I ran away. Then those guys started talking to me and telling me to get in their car. I got really scared. Then Javier showed up and saved me. Then I realized that he really must love you if you he's going to save your kid and he must love me if he cared that much to come find me. So I realized that although he will never replace Dad, he deserves to be called Dad because he loves me and I love him and he's going to be in the place of Dad since you're getting married. I'm going to be his daughter, so I should call him Dad. I think Dad would want that though. He'd be happy that we're moving on but deep down, he knows we still love him. Right Mom?" She took a long sip of milk.
"Wow, Sweetheart," Katey said, staring at her daughter. "It seems as though you've seriously thought about what you've done and you have learned your lesson. I think its great that you want to call Javier Dad. I just wish that if you had such a problem with me and Javier that you would have talked to me about it. As much as I love Javier, you, Miles, Sam, and Kerri are top priority. You'll learn that when you're a mom."
"Thanks Mom," Jen said with a smile. They hugged for a minute and Katey felt a special bond with her daughter.
"Can Javier adopt me?" Jen asked, staring Katey straight in the eye.
"If that's what you really want, and Javier would like to, then go for it."
"What about the others?"
"I'll let them make that decision when they're old enough to decide for themselves."
"Do you think that Tomas will want to get adopted?"
"I'm not sure, that's his choice."
With that, Katey walked Jen back to bed and kissed her goodnight.