Oh, I love my sister.
She comes toward me, and I meet her halfway, our embrace tight. Aviva’s hugs are one of my favorite things in the world. As she holds me, I close my eyes, taking in her citrus scent as time stops around us. When she pulls back, she looks down at me, grinning as she cups my face. “I swear Nashville looks good on you, Calliope.”
I grin back at her and hug her once more. “I’ve missed you.”
“Same,” she says in my ear, and then I hear Vance screech. I turn to see Nico holding him, both of them smiling so big, and my heart melts. It’s hard being away from Aviva. It was always just us two, but now that Nico and Vance are around, it’s just as hard being away from them, too. I go to them, and Nico hugs me tightly into his side as Vance smacks my face. I laugh as I kiss him and then Nico before taking Vance from him.
“Are you Auntie’s baby boy? Look at you! You’re huge!”
He laughs, babbling something as Nico wraps an arm around me. “Missed you.”
I smile up at him, hugging him close. “I missed you. How was the trip in?”
“Good, easy, no biggie. Excited for the tour and for tonight.”
“Me too,” I agree, and then I take his hand in mine. He seems a little surprised by that, especially when Aviva takes Vance from me. I lead him toward the ACOB building, and I sigh. I’m nervous all of a sudden. “So, this is it.”
He looks up and nods. He volunteered for the Bullies this morning, and instead of going to lunch as we planned, we decided to have a picnic on the grounds after I showed him the ACOB building. When he donated money to the school my freshman year, most of it went to the gymnastics and hockey programs, but some was left over. They offered it to me, but I asked for the remainder to be donated to the Autism Center of Bellevue in my name so it wouldn’t link back to Nico since he wasn’t open about his diagnosis at that time. This year, though, he made donations to all three. In his own name.
I’m so proud.
Nico hasn’t seen the Autism Center of Bellevue yet, and I want to share it with him. Not only because he’s donating money to it, but because I want to open one in South Carolina. “It’s my dream to own a place like this so I can give the support and love to kids like you needed.” I feel his gaze on my face as his fingers thread with mine. “I’ve always wanted to help people, and since it hurts too much to be involved with breast cancer patients, I want to do this. I want to make sure that all kids with an autism diagnosis know they can do whatever they want.”
I meet his gaze then, in time to see him swallowing hard. “I’ve always known you’d do something like that, Callie. Ever since the day I met you, you’ve had a heart of gold.”
I smile. “But do you know why?”
His brows come in. “Why? I suspect it’s because your sister raised you.”
I laugh. “No, not that. Do you know why I want to do this?”
He looks confused. “Because you’re a good girl?”
“No,” I say, shaking my head. “It’s because I love you so much.”
He takes in a shaky breath as his hand comes to his chest. “I love you, Callie.”
“I know. I’ve always known,” I say, tears filling my eyes. I can hear Aviva crying, and I know if I look at her, I’ll start sobbing. “In a very short time, you’ve become such a rock in my life, and I want you to do something for me.”
He can’t look me in the eye, and I know it’s because he’s overwhelmed. “Anything,” he whispers.
I point toward the building, and there are my teammates, each holding a letter, asking Nico to adopt me. I watch as he takes in the letters, forming them into words, and then reading them as a sentence. I know how his mind works, and I know the exact moment he realizes what I am asking. He looks down at me, his eyes locking with mine, and that doesn’t happen a lot. He swallows hard as the love and adoration he has for me pour off him in waves. “Are you sure?”
“Nothing would make me happier.”
He looks back at Aviva, and as I suspected, she’s sobbing like a baby. He then reaches out, pulling me into his arms, and kisses my temple. “I don’t need papers to say you’re mine, because you are. But giving you my name would be the greatest honor of my life, Callie.”
I squeeze him hard as everyone cheers around us, and emotion floods my senses. It’s unfair that I grew up without someone like Nico in my life. I lost the person like him, my mom, but I swear, in my heart, I know she sent him to us. She knew that we would need someone who would love us unconditionally, and that was Nico. In all the ways society says he’s imperfect, his love is beyond perfect. My heart soars when I see the tear roll down Nico’s face, and his lips curve in an unstoppable grin. I knew he’d say yes, but relief completely fills me.
Once we take pictures with the team, they gush over Nico and me, and love all over Vance. When everyone is just standing around, doing nothing, I know it’s time to show him the building.
“Ready?” I ask him, and he nods, a little unsure of himself. I assume he’s excited and was distracted by my request, but that doesn’t mean the anxiety of meeting new people and seeing a new building hasn’t come back. It’s been a lot for him in South Carolina with all the events he’s been invited to. He hasn’t gone to all of them, but he tries to do two a month. Aviva goes to all of them, though, because she’s basically an angel.
“Callie, I’d give you the world at this point,” he says, lacing his fingers with mine. “We don’t have to do the tour. We can just go celebrate.”
“I agree. Let’s go celebrate!” Aviva suggests.
“No,” I say, shaking my head. “I want to show you this. Come on. It’s going to be awesome.”
I can tell neither of them wants to and they’d rather just spend time with me, but Nico says, “Lead the way.”
I’m basically shaking with anticipation and excitement. I show him every single inch of the building, even the broom closet. All the staff is so eager to meet him, and to my surprise, he takes pictures and signs autographs. As we watch him get gushed over by the manager of the center, Aviva knocks her hip into mine. Since Vance is passed out on my chest, I lean my head on his to meet her gaze.
With a grin, she says, “This place is better than I thought.”
“Do you think Nico thinks so?”
She nods eagerly. “Oh yes, he already hired a real estate agent for a center at home. Plus, Jaylin is working on the adoption papers. She asked if you’ll want to be Pearce-Merryweather.”
I don’t even have to think about it. Without hesitation, I say, “No. Just Merryweather.”
Aviva leans in, kissing the side of my head, just as Brenda, the manager of ACOB, gushes about me. “Callie is our favorite volunteer. She’s always on time, never misses a shift, and is so smart.”
Nico smiles proudly. “We are very proud of her.”
“You should be,” Brenda says, smiling at me. “She has started a campaign to have an autism awareness night at one of the gymnastics meets, and she designed the warm-up leotard and everything for it. We even got approved to have the ACOB logo on the back of the leotard beside the Bullies’ logo. She’s worked incredibly hard on it this season.”