The Brightest Light of Sunshine

The next few months are full of big changes and conflicting emotions.

Two weeks before my college graduation, Cal officially became Maddie’s permanent guardian. His lawyer explained that guardianship isn’t the same thing as adoption—which I had thought at first—but that Cal would take care of his sister from now on like a parent would.

The whole process turned out to be a lot more tedious than expected, particularly because we had to update the school, the medical center, the dentist, and literally everything else. Cal asked me if I would be okay with being Maddie’s emergency contact, and of course I said yes.

However, the toughest part of all was to make Maddie understand her new living situation. For weeks, she didn’t understand why she had to visit her mother at some strange building that worked like a hospital but didn’t really look like one. She kept asking why she couldn’t live with her mom again. If it was because she didn’t love her anymore.

“Mommy loves you, princess,” Cal would tell her every time she asked, which happened less frequently as the weeks went by. “She’s just sick right now, and she needs the help of doctors and nurses to get well again.”

Weirdly enough, she rarely asked about Pete. The ‘official’ explanation (we weren’t going to tell a four-year-old that her father had abandoned her) was that he had found a new job very far away, and he didn’t know when he would be able to come back for a visit. I always suspected Maddie wasn’t too attached to her dad—thank God—and time only proved me right.

Just like he had done before, Cal attended another Daddy-Daughter event at her school, not before complaining about how unnecessary and insensitive those could be. Many kids don’t have a father for whatever reason, and there’s no point in reminding them that they’re not like their classmates.

Surprisingly, months after Maddie left for her ‘big girl school’—as we call primary school now—we learned they had changed the dreaded events into Parent-Daughter and Parent-Son gatherings, which sounded much better.

As for Gracie and Sammy: Undercover Detectives not only did I end up getting a big, fat A, but I also got the tremendous opportunity of having an agent look at my manuscript during the summer. Professor Danner thought it was worth sending out to a few publishing houses and that’s precisely what I did.

If impostor syndrome is a bitch, then I’m the Bitch Supreme.

A month before graduation, Aaron dragged me out of a ballet lesson I’d just finished teaching because one of his clients told him she had just finished renovations in one of the old houses near the river and she wanted to rent it out. We picked up Cal and Maddie on our way, and the second we stepped foot into the three-bedroom, two-bathroom, two-story house, we knew it was the one.

It sits in one of the nicest areas of Warlington, right next to a park with a pond and a lot of ducks Maddie loves to feed. There was no way I could walk from the house to TDP as it was too far away, but luckily that stopped being an issue the day after graduation, when my dads came all the way here to drop off my new car.

I literally cried for hours. Not only because of my first and new vehicle—which is a beauty, by the way—, but because both of my dads fell in love with Maddie the second she went up to them with her yellow princess costume and ballerina bun to introduce herself.

She got a bit confused when she found out I had two dads instead of one mom and one dad like she did, but a simple explanation from Cal was enough to make the confusion go away.

“Some families have a mommy and a daddy, but others can have two mommies or two daddies,” he’d told her.

“Or one big brother?” she’d asked, a hopeful gleam in her eyes.

He’d kissed her little forehead and said, “That too, pumpkin.”

That was a year ago.

Now, in the middle of a hot July afternoon, I’m about to lose my shit.

“Maddie! Dinner’s ready!” I shout from the kitchen, knowing she’s probably watching something on Cal’s tablet upstairs and won’t hear a thing. “Maddie!”

“I’m coming, Gracie!” she finally shouts back, right before I hear her loud footsteps on the staircase. A moment later the five-year-old appears in the open-concept kitchen, dressed in a little orange dress with flowers all over it—she’s in an orange craze these days. Don’t let her fool you, though, because the flowers are still pink. “Where’s Sammy?”

“That’s what I’d like to know,” I mutter more to myself than to her as I take the big bowl of salad and pass it to Maddie so she can bring it to the table. She always wants to help around the house, and it makes me melt every time.

Cal raised her well, and I hope I’m doing a good job, too.

Trying to calm down, I set the chicken on the wooden table where we have breakfast and dinner as a family every day—Cal and I usually eat lunch together at the parlor or at The Spoon when Maddie’s at school—and I press a kiss on Maddie’s head. She’s gotten slightly taller in the past year, and although she’s still a cute little thing, by the time she’s my age she’ll probably be taller than me. Which isn’t too difficult to begin with.

Oh, but don’t broach the ‘Maddie is growing up so fast’ subject to Cal because he’d have a literal meltdown, and then I’d have to cuddle him and remind him that she’ll always be his little princess. Such a man-baby, that one.

Speaking of my over-the-top dramatic boyfriend… Where the hell is he?

Nearly an hour ago he left the house after saying we’d run out of milk and butter. Mind you, there’s a supermarket five minutes away. I wouldn’t mind his delay so much if the chicken wasn’t getting cold. Or if he replied to my texts.

“I’m so hungry,” Maddie whines, plopping down on the couch with a dramatic sigh. I smile to myself. Like brother, like sister.

“I’m sure he’ll be here shortly. Do you want to have some crackers? Just a couple, though, you know the rule.” The rule being ‘don’t stuff your face with snacks right before dinner.’

“Yay! You’re the best, Gracie!”

It isn’t until ten minutes later that we finally hear Cal’s car pulling into the driveway. I hold out my hand to Maddie. “Come on. Let’s see what took your brother so long.”

Hand in hand, we walk to the front of the house and are immediately met with an overwhelming wave of heat when I open the front door.

And a very smiley Cal getting out of the driver’s seat, going back to the boot of the car, and getting out…

“Is that a dog?!” Maddie screams just as I spot the biggest, cutest black Labrador I’ve ever seen.

“Surprise.” Cal smiles sheepishly, taking the dog by the leash and coming towards the front of the house. “Sit,” he instructs the animal, and my mouth hangs open when the dog doesn’t even hesitate to do as it’s told.

“What… Cal?” I’m speechless right now. We’ve talked about getting Maddie a dog sometime soon, but I had no clue he had gone ahead and sorted everything out already. “Explain.”

He chuckles. “Sorry about the supermarket thing, I actually didn’t go there.”

“I figured.” I roll my eyes, unable to stop a smile as I watch Maddie bouncing up and down with excitement and the dog wagging its tail in response.

“This big guy is Rocket,” he explains under his sister’s astonished gaze. “He was born in the local shelter four years ago, is fully trained, and good with kids and other dogs despite his size. Do you want to pet him, princess?”

“Yes!”

“Okay, but do it gently.”

Maddie makes her way towards the newest member of our family and extends her hand at him, which Rocket wastes no time sniffing and licking. Maddie laughs. “He likes me.”

“Of course he does, baby. He’s a really good boy.” Cal scratches him behind the ears. “Come here, sunshine. Say hi to our son.”

“Our son, huh?” Kneeling before Rocket, I wait until he too licks my hand in approval. “Aw, he’s such a cutie.”

“He’s a big teddy bear,” Cal agrees. “I’ve also brought some food, toys and a doghouse with me in the car. Mind getting those for me?”

Once Rocket is settled in our big backyard, busy running and sniffing around, we finally dig into our—now cold—dinner.

“We’ll have to walk him every day,” Cal tells Maddie, who immediately nods.

“Yes, Sammy, I will walk him. He’s my best friend,” she says around a mouthful of chicken. She turns to me, “He looks a little like Poe.”

“You’re right, he does,” I agree with a smile.

Rocket looks exactly like Poe, Gracie and Sammy’s fur-buddy. That’s how Cal imagined him more than a year ago, and that’s how he’ll be hitting the shelves in a little over a month.

That’s right—the first installment of Gracie and Sammy: Undercover Detectives is being published by one of my favorite publishing houses from when I was a kid. And I say first installment because, according to the juicy contract I signed a few months ago, there will be at least another two coming out in the following years.

No matter what happens with that, though, I’ve already told Adelaide she won’t get rid of me. I owe ballet—and TDP—too much to quit. It’s not in my plans.

The afternoon summer breeze filters through the open window facing the backyard, where Rocket is busy chasing a butterfly, already feeling at home.

A warm sense of calm settles inside me. As I steal a look at Maddie and Cal, who are laughing and watching Rocket with heart eyes, I wonder if life could get any better than this.

The short answer is yes.

Yes, it can.