Crazy For You Alexander, S.B. (ebook reader 8 inch .TXT) 📖

it could take quite a long time. I told him to start the process. If I weren’t here then, he knew to contact you. Recently, he was able to get a judge to grant access to your adoption records. I always planned to tell you, sweetheart. And I’ve been doing some heavy thinking in the last few weeks. I’ve been so distraught over who would take care of you. I want you to be happy. I want you to make the decision about who you would like to be your guardian in the event I pass before you’re eighteen. You mentioned Nan and Georgia’s parents, and now you have the option of your birth mom.’”

“Do you know who my birth mom is? Or where she is?”

Mom and Dad had relocated south from New England eighteen years before. Dad had told me his company had relocated him, but I was curious if they chose to move here because of my birth mother. My pulse sped at the thought that she could be living right under my nose. I mean, the town we lived in wasn’t that big.

Dad glanced at Nan.

“Mr. Wilson hasn’t located her yet. However, if or when you decide you want to learn more, we can contact Mr. Wilson,” Nan said.

Dad typed, “Skyler, I love you so darn much, and your happiness means everything to me. No matter what you decide, I will always be your dad. I’ve loved you from the moment I saw you, and I will go to my grave with all that love in my heart.”

I popped out of my chair and threw myself at the man who had given me everything. “I love you so, so much. I have no idea how I’ll survive without you. But I know one day I’ll see you and Mom again when the three of us are flying with the angels.” The words tumbled free as if I were saying my last words to him. I knew it killed him not to have told me before now, and I couldn’t let him think I would just drop him without a thought because he didn’t father me.

Dad’s shoulders shook as he cried. My heart splintered into a trillion little pieces, and I couldn’t help but sob.

Nan came over and held Dad’s hand. “Randall, rest assured, I will be here for Skyler no matter what she decides.”

I flung myself at Nan, “Thank you.”

“You’re special, Skyler. You’re like a daughter to me.”

Dad and I had been lucky in finding Nan. I hugged her as tightly as I could. “I love you.” If not for her, Dad would probably be in a nursing home, and I would probably be living with my aunt or in foster care. He’d come close to making the decision of a nursing facility. He’d had three caregivers prior to Nan, but they hadn’t been committed to living with us.

She kissed me on the temple. “Right back at you.”

A cool breeze blew, picking up dead leaves from the pear tree that hung over the fence from Colton’s yard.

Nan let go of me. “We should probably get your dad inside. It’s dinner time, and there’s a chill in the air.”

He typed, “One more thing, Skyler. I would like you to make a decision on your guardian soon. I need to take Aunt Clara out of the trust. Mr. Wilson wants to make sure we have the paperwork in order before I go. Otherwise, my sister might be forced to take care of you, and with her new job, I would rather not put her or you in a tough spot.”

Nan handed me the letter. “So don’t take too long.”

I heaved a sigh as I neatly folded Dad’s written words. I had two choices—Nan or Georgia’s parents. I wasn’t about to live with a woman I didn’t know, blood or not. So what if she gave birth to me? She didn’t want me seventeen years ago. Why would she now?

Nan engaged the attendant control wheel on the back of Dad’s wheelchair.

“I don’t have to think,” I blurted out. “I want Nan to be my guardian.”

Nan’s expression was a mixture of happiness and hesitation. “Are you sure? You don’t want to reach out to your birth mother?”

Dad studied me, eagerly waiting for me to answer.

I tucked the letter in the front pocket of my shorts. “Doesn’t matter if I do or don’t. You’re more family to me than she is.” The woman who’d carried me for nine months was a stranger. “This house is mine when Dad goes. And I want to stay in it. I want you to stay here too.” Nan wasn’t married. She didn’t have a boyfriend. Her only family was her mom, who lived in Arizona. Her dad had died of cancer many years before—that was how she’d become a caregiver. She’d taken care of her father alongside her mom, and she’d “gotten the bug,” as she told Dad and me.

“Let’s just sleep on it,” Dad said. “See how you feel in the morning.”

I didn’t think I would change my mind, but I nodded. It wouldn’t hurt to see how I felt in the morning.

I thought to ask about my bio father, but I didn’t want Dad to feel awkward or make him feel even worse than he already did.

Nan drove Dad up the ramp and into the house.

I collected my skateboard, feeling somewhat lighter now that a major decision had been made. But with one problem gone, I had another one to noodle on.

16

Oranges and reds blazed through the sky. The cemetery glowed like something out of a watercolor painting. Sweet-scented flowers graced carved headstones far and wide as the fragrance floated on a light breeze.

Sometimes, sitting in front of Mom’s grave took me to another place—peaceful, tranquil, no worries, no problems, and just a wonderful sense of belonging.

I wiped off the ledge of her headstone before placing a single yellow rose I’d cut from our yard on top. I tried not to visit without