Family

As Mary got home, she went into the kitchen as usual, expecting to see Bettina cooking. Instead, Both Kopa and Bettina were there. Kopa had his arms around Bettina, she had her head buried in his shoulder and seemed to be crying.

Mary got a cold lump in her stomach. If something had made Bettina cry, it had to be truly bad. Bettina always smiled. Mary stood a moment in the doorway, not sure that she should interrupt. But finally, her worry won.

“What has happened?” she asked with an unsteady voice, preparing for bad news.

Kopa turned around and to Mary’s surprise, he had the biggest smile on his face. This confused Mary until Bettina raised her had to look at her and Mary realised that even though Bettina was crying, she was smiling as brightly as Kopa.

“Come in Mary, we have some news” Kopa said, and Bettina sniffed. Mary walked up to them, still feeling a bit worried.

“I was called in to the magistrates office this afternoon” Kopa started. “You adoption has been approved, you are now officially part of our family” he then said holding out an official looking document towards her.

Mary was so stunned that she took the paper and read it, then read it again. She looked up at Kopa and Bettina, still feeling numb.

“Are you okay Mary?” Bettina asked as she dried her tears with her apron. Mary nodded and looked at Kopa again and felt her tears start to run down her face.

“I’m really part of your family?” she asked. Before she knew what had happened, Mary had been pulled into a hug with both Kopa and Bettina tightly squeezing her.

“You have been a part of this family since the day you arrived in Salmis, but know it is official” Kopa said sounding more emotional than Mary had ever heard him.

“Now, nothing can separate us” Bettina told Mary as she gently stroked her hair. “Now you are ours forever and we are yours.”

The family stood for a while in the thigh embrace in silence before Kopa took a step back.

“How do you feel Mary?” he asked.

“Happy” was all Mary could say. Her tears had stopped rolling down her face, but she couldn’t stop smiling.

“I wanted to ask you something Mary, but if it makes you uncomfortable, you just say no” Bettina said, looking a bit nervous. “Would you consider calling us mom and dad?” she asked.

“I would like nothing more, mom” Mary said looking Bettina in the eyes. Bettina looked at Mary with such joy that the tears threatened to start rolling over Mary’s face again.

“Sweet child” Bettina said and hugged Mary once again. That was all it took for both women to start crying again.

“Okay, okay, we need to break this up. I’m taking you out to celebrate with dinner” Kopa said after a while. “Go and wash up and then we will head out.” Bettina smiled at him and went to wash her face. Mary lingered behind.

“I really am happy. Thank you, dad, this is more than I could ever dream about having” Mary told him, getting on her tip toes, and kissing him on the cheek. He gave her a brilliant smile and hugged her.

“I too am happy Mary. I only wish I could have made it happen sooner” he said.

“I don’t care about that. I am here now and that is all a care about” she said before going to wash her own face.

Kopa took them to the little restaurant where they had gone the first day Mary had gone out on the town. The owner greeted them with the same kind of friendship as the previous time. When he learned that they were there to celebrate that Mary’s adoption hade gone through he teared up.

“And you have come to my place to celebrate this glorious occasion!” he almost vailed. “This makes us practically family my friends. Wait here and I will be back with your food” the little man said and made his way towards the kitchen, drying his tears on his sleeves.

“But we haven’t ordered anything” Mary said surprised, Koppa laughed.

“He’s like this. I took Bettina here to celebrate when she said yes to my proposal, and he spent the night crying and sending over new dishes for us to eat” he said.

“He’s a really sweet man” Bettina agreed.

They settled down and waited for their food as they talked about the day. All three of them had smiles that wouldn’t go away. Mary had never seen Kopa smile for such a long period of time.

Finally, the owner came back to their table, followed by the waiter and the cook. Everyone congratulated Mary and then started to put down dishes full of food on the table. It seemed like it would never stop.

“A little bitt of everything on the menu, if you want more of anything, please let us know” the owner said as a couple of tears rolled down his cheek.

“Thank you, my friend” Kopa said.

“The least I could do. Please enjoy” the main said, moving over to the table in corner where he usually sat.

“This all looks amazing” Mary said, looking at all the food.

They sat there eaten for a long time. Everything was delicious and Mary had to ask what a couple of things were. When they were finally full and ready to leave, Kopa made his way to pay for their meal. Only to be told it was on the house.

As Mary laid in bed several hours later, still full from dinner. She looked out of her window as usual and just enjoyed the feeling of happiness that permexated her entire being. She thought about her parents back in Dermes.

Mary had forgotten their faces, but she still remembered things from their daily life. She had been happy living over their shop. Her home back then had been full of happiness. She had known that her parents loved each other and her.

She felt blessed that God, or gods, she wasn’t sure about that, had given her that kind of home twice in a lifetime. She gave a little thought to how life would have become if her parents hadn’t gotten sick back then.

But she found the thought of life without Kopa and Bettina too painful to consider. Maybe she was being disloyal to her first parents, but she wouldn’t have wanted things to be any other way then they were. She even felt a bit grateful that Zerden hadn’t returned her feelings.

She knew that she would never have gone back with Tariana and Kopa if he would have. And at this moment, when she laid in her bed, looking out on the stary sky over the city, she wouldn’t have traded her new family for a chance to be with Zerden.

That was a surprise to her. Something she needed to think about. But not to night, maybe tomorrow or some other day. When she didn’t feel as drowsy and content, she thought as she drifted off to sleep.