Just as I expected, based on Audrey’s calm expression, she had no idea about what would be in store for the couple that had just been taken away.
As a mother, I was happy to a certain extent. However, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong at the sight of my child being so at peace and unruffled.
Ashton couldn’t be bothered by what had happened either. After the despicable couple had been brought away, he began coddling his dear daughter. “Can you forgive me now? Daddy just punished the bad guys that hurt Shaun.”
“Hmm…” Audrey clamped her tiny mouth shut as her bright eyes started looking around mischievously. Clearly, she was up to no good once again.
Ashton straightened up and frowned slightly. “Do you still have to think about it?”
“Yep!” Audrey yelled out happily. She was obviously in a much better mood now. With a bright smile, she held onto her father’s fingertips with her own small hands as she whined, “Daddy, let’s take Shaun home with us. We can’t just leave him here alone! Pretty please?”
The smile on Ashton’s face dissipated slowly at the sound of Audrey’s request. He glanced over at me helplessly before looking at the child on the hospital bed. Then, he stood up and walked toward him with Audrey in tow, staring down at him from above.
“Why didn’t you call for help?” Ashton asked.
Shaun was silent for a little while before answering hesitatingly, “The people who left me in the past never showed up again.”
It was more than heartbreaking to hear such words coming out of a six-year-old child’s mouth. He was so young, and yet he already knew how fickle relationships could be.
Behind every nonchalant expression lay layers upon layers of pain and bitterness.
No matter how suspicious he had been in the past, I knew this came straight from Shaun’s heart. It was probably because I could resonate with him, having been left behind myself.
I suddenly found myself warming up to Audrey’s suggestion.
After those words left his mouth, the remaining life in him seemed to drain out of his body and left him even weaker than when we first found him. He now seemed like a sack of mere skin and bones. I knew that any consolation would pale in comparison to the pain that he was feeling on the inside. After all, we had no idea what he had experienced. All we could do was sit there quietly and let him know we were there for him.
Ashton finally broke the silence after a long time. “From now on, you will be part of the Fuller family. Mrs. Fuller will be your mother, and our children will be your siblings. Are you willing to accept that?”
Shaun jerked his head up violently. His eyes were shining with indescribable emotions, but most obviously, he was in disbelief.
Before waiting for his reply, Ashton let go of Audrey and walked toward me, slinging an arm around my shoulder. “Still, I’m not the boss of the house. If you want to stay, you’ll have to convince Mrs. Fuller over here,” he said lightheartedly.
“You!”
He’s clearly playing good cop, bad cop! If I were to say no, that would obviously make me the bad cop.
“Mommy, please say yes! Please, pretty please!”
Before I could say anything else, Audrey ran over and started shaking my arm as she pleaded with me.
It wasn’t too big of a hassle for us to have a new member joining the family, and I had no reason to say no. Still, I kept feeling like Ashton had just played a trick on me and couldn’t put my words together for a long time.
Suddenly, Shaun swung aside the blanket and stood up on shaky legs as he stared at me in determination. “Mrs. Fuller, I want to live. I want to keep living on. Since you were the ones who saved my life, I want to repay both you and Mr. Fuller. Please take me in! I will not disappoint either one of you, and I promise I won’t be a burden. Please, I’m begging you!”
As he spoke, he lowered his torso into a deep bow. It was a simple bow, but it was hard to say no to his sincerity.
All he wanted was to keep living, and who was I to say no to giving him a chance to grow up without trouble?
“Yes to everything except the part about you being a bother,” I said. “If we’re too courteous with each other, we won’t really be a family now, will we?”
After deciding to take Shaun in, we checked him out of the hospital that very night and brought him home.
