I counted the ceiling tiles twice while I waited, some nervous habit I didn’t even realize I still had from childhood doctor visits.
She looked up once, halfway through, studying the two of us over the top of her reading glasses.
“I’ve read a lot of these petitions over the years,” she said, mostly to herself. “This is a well-written one. Very thorough for something filed by an eighteen-year-old.”
“Ms. Alvarado helped a lot,” I said. “But I meant every word in it.”
“I believe you,” the judge said. “It shows.”
She flipped through a few more pages, occasionally nodding, before setting the folder down and looking directly at Marcus.
“Mr. Reyes,” she said, looking at Marcus, “you understand this creates a full legal parent-child relationship. Same as if Eli had been born to you.”
“I understand,” Marcus said, his voice steady despite the tie clearly strangling him a little.
