Chapter 5

Cal and Gillian left early the next morning. Gillian had made a thermos of coffee and since there was little to no traffic, they were easily out on the highway in record time.

An hour later, Cal stopped to fill up the gas tank. Gillian went inside to use the bathroom and when she came out, Cal nodded towards the fast food restaurant. "Something to eat?"

Gillian placed her hand on her stomach and shook her head. "I'm so excited; I don't think I can eat."

Cal handed her the keys and pointed at the men's room. "I'll meet you in the car then."

Cal came out of the bathroom and headed to grab some breakfast sandwiches. After he had his bag of food, he was walking passed a Cinnabon display and rolled his eyes and grinned. He quickly grabbed one for Gillian and popped it into the microwave. He dropped the money on the counter and walked to the car.

He grinned at Gillian as he sat behind the wheel and handed her the box.

"I said I didn't want…Oh Cal!" she said when she smelled the enticing aroma of cinnamon.

"Yeah, I knew you'd change your mind…"

Gillian opened the lid and groaned with pleasure. "It smells wonderful!"

Cal chuckled. "It smells like a stomach ache."

"Thank you."

"Welcome." Cal replied as he buckled his seat belt and pulled back onto the highway.

Gillian opened his sandwich and handed it to him before she took a bite of her roll.

"Oh God!" she moaned.

"Good?"

"Good?! This is better then sex!"

Cal grinned and wagged his eyes suggestively. "There is no way eating a sticky cinnamon roll is better than sex with me."

His eyes had darkened and Gillian stuck the spoon in her mouth and licked at the frosting. "I can't wait to compare."

"Damn!" Cal muttered at the turn the conversation had taken.

Gillian continued to moan as she ate her roll.

Cal looked at her with surprise. "It can't be that good!"

Gillian put a small bite on the spoon and offered it to him.

Cal took it and made a face. "Bloody hell, I think I just got a cavity!"

"You don't know what good is!"

"I hope you don't plan on feeding our daughters that crap!"

Gillian's eyes softened as she looked at him. "Our daughters?"

Cal glanced at her. "Well, yeah…you've pretty much been like a step Mum to Em her whole life and I kind of thought as long as you and I were going to be married that I would…you know…adopt Sophie along with you."

"Cal?!" Gillian gasped.

Cal's face fell as he realized he may have overstepped his bounds. He gripped the steering wheel tightly as he stared at the road ahead of him "Look it was just a thought, if you don't…"

"Are you sure?" Gillian interrupted him as she placed her hand on his arm.

Cal glanced at her and could see her uncertainty. "Of course, Darling, we're in this together, yeah?"

Gillian had tears come to her eyes. "It's just that Emily is leaving for college soon and I wasn't sure if you wanted to do the whole parenting thing all over again…"

"I can't say raising a child wasn't challenging but I loved every minute of it."

"Emily is a wonderful young woman; you and Zoe did a fabulous job."

"Zoe and I disagreed on almost every aspect of raising Emily and despite our mistakes we luckily got through."

"You and I make a great team Cal; I can't imagine raising Sophie with anyone but you."

"At's good since we're going to be married," Cal joked.

Gillian cleaned up the wrappers from their breakfast then poured them each more coffee from the thermos.

Her thoughts turned to Sophie again and she sighed. "How much further?"

Cal sighed as he looked at her. "We've gone about forty miles since the last time you asked…"

Gillian rolled her eyes. "I'm sorry…I'm so excited!"

"Understandable," he said as he reached for her hand and curled his fingers around it.

Gillian nodded and settled back in her seat and tried to relax.

Cal told her funny stories about Emily growing up and although Gillian had been closely involved most of them she had never heard before.

Cal eventually turned off the highway and was weaving through streets as Gillian observed the neighborhood.

She looked at him worriedly when he pulled up in front of a house and stopped. "Is this is?!"

"This is it."

"Cal?! What if she doesn't like me? What if Isabel has changed her mind? What if…"

"Gill?" Cal said as he put his arm around her. "It's going to be all right, Darling, I promise."

He kissed her temple then got out and walked around to her side of the car. Gillian had gotten out and stood, looking tentatively at the house.

Cal reached for her hand and squeezed it. "We have to go inside to do this."

Gillian sighed and held onto his hand tightly as they made their way up the front walk.

A tall man in a suit greeted them at the door. Cal dropped Gillian's hand and stepped forward and offered the man his hand.

"Cal Lightman."

The man shook it and nodded. "I know who you are Dr. Lightman as well as you, Dr. Foster," he said as he extended his hand to Gillian.

Gillian shook it and smiled. "Nice to meet you…"

"Kyle Rappaport, I'm Isabel's attorney and a family friend."

"Attorney?" Cal asked.

"I've know about this for some time. Isabel approached me awhile ago and I drew up the necessary adoption papers a few months back. Isabel signed her portion back then so there'd be no question as to the sound body and mind portion. If this works out, Dr. Foster, you only need to sign your portion then Amy becomes your little girl once again."

They had walked inside and Cal glanced into the living room. A nurse was sitting in the far corner presumably taking notes and Isabel was lying on the couch. She was in horrible shape and Cal couldn't believe how quickly she had declined since yesterday. Ignoring Kyle he walked and over and knelt by her side. "We're here now, Isabel," he whispered as he took her hand.

"I can see that. Did Dr. Foster come with you?"

Cal glanced at Gillian who was hovering nervously in the doorway. "She did."

He held out his hand for Gillian who walked over and took it. She glanced at Isabel and saw that the woman was clearly at the end of her life. Filled with sympathy, Gillian knelt in the floor next to her. "Hello, Isabel. It's nice to meet you."

Isabel glanced at her and smiled. "I forgot what a pretty little thing you are."

Gillian blushed. "Thank you."

Isabel coughed. "Yeah, did he tell you the story?"

"He did, he explained it all to me last night."

"I didn't want you to be hurt no more…"

"That's very kind of you, thank you."

"Guess we should just move this along…can you help me set up?"

Cal helped prop her up on a pile of pillows while Gillian helped her get a drink of water.

"Kyle, call Amy on in here."

Kyle walked into the other room and woke a sleeping Amy. When he carried her out, she was rubbing at her face and whining.

Gillian gasped and got to her feet and walked towards her. "Hi, baby."

Amy looked at her suspiciously then looked down at Isabel.

Isabel nodded. "Go on Amy, that's your Momma."

Amy stared at Gillian then frowned as she reached out her arms. Gillian's eyes filled with tears as she held her again. "Hi, Amy."

Isabel's voice was weak when she spoke again. "Cal here promised me you was gonna adopt Amy so I talked to her all last night and told her what was gonna happen. I'm sure she don't understand none of what I said but she's a good baby. She won't give you no trouble."

Gillian walked over to Cal and sat on a chair next to him. "Its okay if she does, we'll love her through all of it, I promise."

Isabel nodded. "He done promised me he'd help you raise her too."

"And he will; we're actually getting married."

Isabel smiled warmly for the first time. "Well that's good news ain't it?"

Cal grinned. "We owe it all to you…"

Isabel chuckled. "Well, that's just sweet. He's a charmer this one is…better keep a tight rein on him," she said as she glanced at Gillian.

Gillian laughed and touched her arm. "He's also one of the most loving, loyal men I know so if he makes me a promise, he'll keep it."

"I believe ya, he never met me and he promised he'd bring you back today and he did. Now, Kyle here is the son of my best friend. After I found I only had a short time left, he drew up them papers in his hands and helped me find you all…now that you've come for Amy, he can finish his job and you all can take that princess outta here and I can move on."

Kyle coughed and stepped forward. "Dr. Foster, if you would just sign on the areas indicated, I can run down to the courthouse and get these signed by the judge."

Gillian frowned as she signed the papers. "Will that even be legal? What judge would sign these without hearing all the facts first?"

"Judge Williams still sits on the bench. She said Amy was yours from the beginning and should have never left your arms. She's happy to correct my Stephanie's mistake and give Amy back to her rightful Mama," Isabel explained.

Judge Williams was the judge who had originally awarded custody back to Stephanie. Gillian remembered her saying that she was firmly against the decision but the law dictated what she had to do. Kyle leaned over and showed Gillian a final spot. "You need to fill out the name you would like Amy to go by so that is where you would put Sophie's name."

Gillian frowned and glanced at Cal who knew immediately what she was thinking. He winked at her and nodded as Gillian handed the pages to Kyle and looked at Isabel. "I lost Sophie as a baby and I'm adopting Amy now. I'd like Amy to keep the name her mother and Grandmother gave her."

Isabel closed her eyes slowly. "That's nice. Now one last thing, it ain't much but Cal and you can take the few things Amy has. There's an old suitcase in the attic, you go clean it on up and pack Amy's things in it, you hear?" she directed at Cal.

Cal nodded and stood. "Sure, I'll go get it now."

Kyle leaned over and kissed Isabel's forehead. "I'm going to go file these, Aunt Isabel."

"Go on, son, you get that done."

Left alone in the room, Gillian was still holding Amy in her arms when Amy leaned back to look into her eyes. Gillian cuddled her and kissed her head.

"It's okay, baby, I'm here."

Isabel nodded and looked over at Amy. "You done be a good daughter to your new Mama…I'll be watching over you little one."

Gillian held her hand as Isabel closed her eyes and took her final breath.

Cal came down from the attic with a dusty suitcase and saw the tears in Gillian's eyes as she looked up at him. He grimaced when he realized that Isabel had passed.

The nurse was hovering uncertainly and Gillian got up and walked over by Cal so she could perform her final duties.

Cal hugged Gillian briefly then leaned back and kissed Amy's head. "Why don't we pack up Amy's things and get her out of here before they come for her grandma."

Gillian nodded and walked to Amy's room as Cal went to the kitchen and quickly cleaned the suitcase. He set it on the bed and turned to see Gillian walking with an armful of clothes. "I think this is all she had…"

Cal sighed. "Well, she wasn't in school and they probably didn't get out much…"

Gillian nodded. "I was hoping to have more to be able to save for her so I could show her later how much she was loved."

Cal walked around and found an old photo album. "This will help and I'll get a hold of Kyle. See if there are any other photos we can have."

Gillian grabbed the few toys around the room as well as the comforter on the bed and put them all in the suitcase as well. "Would you put this in the car?"

"Course, I will." Cal said as he took it and went outside.

Gillian sat in a rocker in the room and started to rock Amy in her lap. She was humming a tune and Amy was almost asleep when Cal came back in.

"I found a car seat out in the garage. I cleaned it up as best as I could. It's old and worn but it will get us safely home."

Gillian smiled at him. "You're a great help."

Cal leaned over and took Amy into his arms. "The undertakers car just pulled up, we should…"

"Okay," Gillian stood and grabbed a blanket from the back of the rocker. She paused briefly as she looked at Amy. "Amy, honey, would you like to say goodbye to your Grandma before we go?"

"Meemaw…" Amy spoke shyly.

Gillian kissed her as Cal set her down and took her hand and led her to the couch.

Amy stared at Isabel then looked at Cal. "Meemaw…nigh night?"

Cal blew out a long breath and knelt down. "No little one, Meemaw is not nigh night…she's not going to wake up, Luv."

Amy frowned and looked at Gillian then pointed at the front door. "We go bye bye?"

Gillian smiled through the tears and nodded. "Yep, we're going bye bye too."

Amy turned back and leaned over to kiss Isabel's cheek. "Bye bye Meemaw."

"Oh my God," Gillian gasped as she started to cry.

Cal had tears in his eyes when he picked up Amy then put his arm around Gillian and led them both to the car. He had secured the car seat into the back and Gillian watched as he buckled Amy into place. Gillian covered her with a light blanket then handed her a stuffed animal.

She backed away and Cal gave her a quick hug then kissed her forehead. "Let's get our daughter home, yeah?"

Gillian walked to her side and climbed in while Cal climbed behind the wheel and drove off.