One month later-

Neil’s family always made a special trip to visit his grave on his birthday. They usually met at the cemetery and then had a nice lunch somewhere. Today, Pam had made plans to ask his family about Scarlet’s adoption. She was nervous but hoped that they understood. She had already told them about her engagement and they were happy for her.

Pam, Jim and Scarlet arrived at the cemetery and found that Neil’s family had already arrived. They were standing over his headstone. Pam got out of the car and Jim unbuckled Scarlet and carried her until she wiggled down from his grasp.

“Hi Susan. Hi Richard.” Pam said to Neil’s parents.

They greeted her and Jim as well. They got a hold of Scarlet and squeezed her tight. Once Scarlet was free from their arms, she did her ritual of telling Neil she missed him.

“Hi, Dad. I miss you.”

Susan and Richard smiled down at her and then looked over to Pam. She was holding Jim’s hand and immediately felt conscious about being affectionate over her dead husband’s grave. She didn’t know why, she just felt awkward. Despite her feelings, she held tight to Jim’s grasp.

After they all visited about Neil and his past birthday’s, Pam knew she needed to get to the restaurant quickly so she could tell them about the adoption. She wanted to blurt it out right away but knew it would be best to wait until they were sitting.

---

“So, when is the wedding?” Susan asked.

“Jim and I would like it to be in May,” Pam answered.

“That’s lovely.”

“We’re really excited,” Jim said, pulling his tie close to his chest.

“We are excited for you two as well,” Susan said.

“Um, speaking of our wedding…” Pam said.

“Yeah?” Susan asked.

“I know that with our marriage, we would really like to start fresh and whole. We don’t want any gaps in our relationship. That includes issues with Scarlet.”

Susan and Richard nodded.

“Well, Jim…”

“I can tell them, Pam,” Jim said, interrupting her. “When I asked Pam to marry me, I offered her a set of adoption papers as well. I’d like to take legal guardianship over Scarlet.”

Richard’s face fell and he turned to face Susan who was still staring at Jim. Susan spoke first.

“You mean, you want Scarlet to take your name?”

“Not just my name. I want to be her guardian. I don’t just want to be the step-dad. I want to be her father and care for her just like she was my own.”

“Susan. Richard. This is something that we’d really like to do. It has nothing to do with Neil or you.”

Susan let a tear fall from her eye. “I’m so happy for the both of you but so sad for Neil. He died and left a child behind and now she is being given to someone else.”

“No, not at all. We will always remember that Neil was her father but, doesn’t Scarlet deserve to still have a father? Doesn’t she deserve someone to love her in a paternal way?” Pam asked.

Richard looked over at Susan and put his hand on hers. “Susan, Pam is sincere about letting Jim become her guardian. He is more than capable and I fully believe it’s a good thing. Let’s allow them to do this.”

“You’re still her grandparents and we’ll still see each other. That will never go away. We just really want what’s best for Scarlet.”

“But, Jim can be her mentor and father figure without the papers being signed. I don’t understand why Neil’s last name needs to be taken away from Scarlet. That’s all she has left of Neil.”

Pam looked down and then over at Jim. She wanted this to go smoothly but it seemed like they were getting into more of a mess than planned.

Jim cleared his throat. “If I take Pam as my wife, I want to take Scarlet as my child. That’s how I want this to work. I don’t care about last names; I only care about accepting this child into my life. When I marry Pam, Scarlet is mine. We would just like this to be in legal writing. I want to be her father.”

Susan wiped a few more tears from her eyes. “I understand.” Richard rubbed her back. “I guess it would be fine with us for you to adopt Scarlet.”

Jim and Pam smiled at each other. “Thank you.”

----

Over the course of the next two months, Jim and Pam were busy planning and preparing for their new life together. They looked at new homes, planned their wedding and reception, and even had time to give Scarlet her sleep-over.

Pam decided to take most of the wedding preparations so Jim could focus on locating a new home. Most nights were spent on the phone, online, or going out at the last minute to shop. Neither Jim nor Pam had any real time to slow down and relax.

“How are you doing with the realtor?” Pam asked, cleaning up the dinner plates.

“Good. She thinks she has found two houses nearby that are relatively in our price range.”

“Great. When can we see them?”

“This week if you want. I know that you are swamped as it is.”

“Yeah, just let me know when. I don’t have to do much more for the wedding. All I need is to get one more fitting on the dress, find the right shoes, pick up our rings that have been resized, and confirm with the bakery.”

“Wow. You’re amazing,” Jim said, pulling her into a hug.

“Why thank you,” Pam said, smiling.

“You know, we hadn’t really talked about a honeymoon yet.”

“I know. I was going to see….”

“But, I have it all covered,” Jim said, grinning.

“You do?”

“Yup. So, you will find out where we’ll be going closer to packing time.”

“Oh no. Tell me you didn’t make a list of things that I need to pack?”

“Oh that will be coming soon.”

“You’ve turned into Michael.”

“Eh. How bad could that be?”

“Bad. Really, really bad.”

“I promise I will refrain from putting the list in a memo titled, “Annual Camaraderie Event.”

“That’s better.”

“So, in a few weeks, we are going to be married.”

“Can you believe it? It’s exciting.”

“It is. I’m just ready to finally get to move in with you. We’ll have a new home, a new marriage, a new life…everything basically new.”

“That’s exciting too.”

“Well, I got to get going. I have another hard day at work tomorrow.”

Pam rolled her eyes. “Oh yeah, monitoring an office of salesmen is tough work.”

“You wouldn’t know how tough it is.”

“I bet you sleep in your office all day long.”

“I do. And, in between naps, I read the paper, color, and play games on the internet.”

“See. That’s not tough.”

“Oh, but it is. I can’t seem to beat Bejeweled.”

Pam laughed. “You poor thing,” she said as she pulled on his lapels.

Jim leaned in for a kiss. “Night Babe.”

“Night. See you tomorrow.”

----

The realtor had set up an appointment for Jim and Pam to view a two story home on the east side of Scranton. Jim made plans to pick up Scarlet from school, meet Pam and the realtor, and walk through the house. Jim left the office early to get Scarlet from school and decided to head to the house and wait for their appointment.

Pam was at the jewelry store picking up their newly sized rings and was running behind. Jim had no problem picking Scarlet up from school. They waited in his car until Scarlet started getting antsy. Jim decided to take Scarlet out to the park behind the housing edition. Instead of driving, they walked down the street to the park. He held her hand and they talked about her day at school.

“Matthew told me that I was ugly,” Scarlet said, rubbing her nose.

Jim felt angry at the little boy in her class. “You’re not ugly. You’re so beautiful, Scarlet.”

“That’s not what Matthew said.”

“Well, sometimes little boys like to pick on girls just because they like them. Maybe Matthew likes you.”

“No. I think he doesn’t like me. He told me that he didn’t like my hair and that I was ugly.”

Jim glanced down at Scarlet’s reddish brown hair. It was in pigtails again and it was adorable. He loved her hair and couldn’t believe some five year old was torturing her at school.

“Eh. Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.”

“What?” Scarlet asked with a puzzled look.

Jim laughed. “Never mind. It’s just something that my mom taught me when I was little.”

As soon as they got to the park, Scarlet ran off toward the slide. She ran up and down the ladder as many times as her little body could carry her. Soon, Jim could see that she was exhausted. The sky was getting fairly dark with clouds and Jim thought that it would be best to head back before it rained.

“Hey Scarlet. Let’s get going before it rains,” he hollered out.

“One more time Jim!” she said, climbing the ladder to the slide again.

“Hurry up.”

Thunder clapped and Scarlet jumped. Jim noticed her horrified face and let out a squeal that echoed through the park. She came down the slide flailing her legs and jumped off it. She ran towards Jim and grabbed him around the legs.

“What’s wrong? It’s just thunder.”

“I’m scared, Jim. Let’s go,” she said, starting to cry.

“Don’t cry. It’s okay. All that will happen is that we get a little wet from the rain. We’ll be okay.”

“No! I don’t like storms. Let’s go Jim,” Scarlet said, holding her hands up.

Jim picked her up off the ground and started carrying her back to his car. He checked his watch and noticed that they had twenty minutes before Pam or the realtor would arrive. As soon as they exited the park, rain drops starting falling heavily. With every drip drop of rain, Scarlet would squeal and sob. Jim’s heart broke.

He covered her head with his suit jacket and quickened his pace. She clung to his chest and Jim could feel her little hands grasp at his shirt. She was hanging on for dear life. Thunder echoed in the background again and Scarlet made another terrifying scream as she shook. Jim pulled her in tighter and whispered into her ear.

“I love you Scarlet… We’re gonna make it.”

Scarlet kept her grasp on Jim as they trotted down the street. He could see his car and the house about a block away. He started at a jogging pace when the ran fell harder against his face and back. All the while, Jim kept repeating, “I love you Scarlet…We’re gonna make it.”

He held her tight to his beating heart as he whispered those words in her ears. He felt her shoulders stop shuddering and her cries subside at his comforting words. As the rain hit his face, he felt a smile surl up on his lips.

Jim opened his car door and climbed in with Scarlet still clinging to his chest. She kept her head under his coat. Even though they were out of the rain, she was still frightened by the noise the rain made on the car. A streak of lightening hit nearby and she jumped, nearly knocking Jim in the chin.

“Are you okay, Scarlet?”

She nodded in his chest.

“Everything’s alright. You’re okay. We’re safe,” Jim said, rubbing her soaked back.

“Are you sure?”

“Would I lie to you?”

“Nope.”

“Well, then…what does that tell you?”

“That I’m going to be okay?” she asked, pulling her head from his coat. She rubbed the wet hair from her face. Jim pushed it behind her ears.

“Exactly,” Jim said, smiling at her.

Pam pulled in the driveway soon after their escape from the storm. She looked over into Jim’s car and saw that they were soaked. She held her hands up as if to ask what had happened. Pam braved the elements and ran over to Jim’s passenger side and jumped in.

“What happened to you two?”

“We went to the park,” Scarlet answered.

“Oh.”

“We walked down there while we waited and then it started storming. Why didn’t you tell me that she was scared of storms?”

Pam laughed. “Oops. Hey Jim. Scarlet’s scared of storms.”

“Thanks for the heads up,” he said, still rubbing Scarlet’s wet shirt.

“Are you okay?” Pam asked, leaning in to where Scarlet rested her head on Jim’s chest.

“Yeah. Jim picked me up and ran back to the car. He told me the whole way that we were gonna make it and we did!”

“Looks like you did, huh?” Scarlet nodded as Jim smiled. Pam leaned over to place a kiss on Jim’s lips before sitting back up in the seat.

“I love you,” she said, smiling.

“Love you too.”

Pam looked out the window. “So, when’s this realtor supposed to be here?”

“Any minute now.”

---

As they looked through the house, Jim knew this was the place that he wanted to start a family in. When he saw the fire place and the den, he knew it was where they could make memories. Pam’s face portrayed those same feelings.

Jim and Scarlet walked hand and hand through the house. Jim realized that the storm had brought them closer together. It was the most intimate he had ever felt with his future daughter. It was as if he was really her dad, telling her that he loved her and cared for her. For some reason, he knew that Scarlet had realized that too. She was holding his hand tight and swinging it playfully; something she had never done before.

Standing in the large living room, holding on to Scarlet’s hand, and looking into Pam’s eyes, Jim told the realtor that he wanted to purchase the home. Pam’s eyes lit up and the realtor whipped out her file folder of papers. He signed on the dotted line without any hesitation.