“It’s done,” I told him. “Legally, I mean. Marcus adopted me this morning, officially, on paper.”
There was a long pause on his end, long enough that I checked to make sure the call hadn’t dropped.
“Congratulations,” he said finally, and I believed he meant it, even through whatever complicated feelings must have been sitting underneath that single word, unspoken.
“Thank you,” I said. “For calling that day, after the birthday. It mattered, even if it didn’t change the outcome.”
I meant that more than I expected to, once I heard myself say it out loud.
“Would it have?” he asked. “Changed the outcome, I mean, if I’d said all that sooner.”
I thought about it honestly before answering, giving the question the weight it deserved.
“I don’t know,” I said. “Maybe. It doesn’t really matter now. I’m not angry anymore. I just built something that didn’t need you to be finished.”
