Page 150 of The Warrior
“About that…” I called Mila over. “Sweetie, would you please go to Pearl. She has something for Magni to see.”
Mila hurried and was given a folder that she brought back to us. “Here you go.” She handed it to Magni. “What is it?”
Magni opened the folder and read the title, before his eyes flew to me. “What is this?”
My face softened and I couldn’t hold back the tears in my eyes. “Mila, why don’t you help Magni read it?”
Mila moved closer to him and looked down at the folder. “I can’t read that first word.”
Magni caressed her hair. “It says certificate.”
Mila read slowly. “Certificate of adop...” Her eyes grew wide.
“Certificate of adoption,” I finished for her.
Both Mila’s hands flew to her mouth and she kept looking from me to Magni and back again as if waiting for us to confirm that it was true.
“If Magni signs this paper, you’ll officially be our daughter,” I said and lowered my forehead to Mila’s temple. “See, I already signed.”
The folder in Magni’s hands was shaking and his Adam’s apple jumped as he kept blinking his moist eyes while looking into Mila’s.
“Do you want him to sign?”
Mila’s head nodded up and down and the heels of her palms dried tears from her eyes. “Yes,” she cried.
I handed Magni a pen, and using his thigh as support under the folder, he signed the papers with his hand trembling with emotion. As soon as it was done, he picked up Mila and held her with one arm while pulling me into his other arm. Mila and I were crying happy tears and Magni was laughing and planting kisses on our faces and hair. “My girls,” he kept saying.
“What’s going on?” Raven asked and I looked up to see that we’d attracted an audience.
Khan took the initiative. “I’m happy to announce that I’m not the only one who’s growing his family. My brother and his wife Laura have adopted Mila as their daughter.”
The joy was like waves of happiness running through the crowd, and everyone wanted to congratulate us.
“I showed Magni the letter that Mila had sent to Pearl and told him it had been Mila’s idea for me to adopt her.”
Magni laughed. “Who would have known that you being a Motlander would end up being a good thing?”
“You need to thank Pearl. She was the one who argued our case with the Council and without her none of this would have been possible.”
I watched as Magni pulled Pearl to the side and thanked her. They spoke for a while and ended up smiling.
“What did you say to her?” I asked with curiosity.
“That I was grateful for her help.”
“And?”
“And I apologized for the times I’ve given her shit.”
“No way. Youapologizedto Pearl?”
Magni met my eyes. “Do you think less of me for apologizing to her?”
“No, why would I? I’m impressed with you.” I leaned in and kissed him just as Kya stood up on a chair.
“Can I have your attention?”
“Look, Kya looks like a grown-up now,” one of the boys teased. Compared to the women in the Motherlands, Kya was average in height, but with the Nmen being way above six feet, she looked petite next to them.
