Enraptured

Chapter 50

"Ms. Belle?"

"Yes, Theo?"

"Mr. Demetrius is coming back in a few days, right?"

"Mhm, he said that he only had two more branches to check up on and might even come back a day earlier than originally planned."

"Oh..." He fiddled with the corner of his page, making me look up from my book in curiosity.

"Why do you ask?"

"Um... There's something that I want to give him for Christmas, but I'm not sure if he would like it..."

I raised an eyebrow, having never seen him so unsure of himself before.

I knew that Demetri and Theo didn't exactly get off to the best start, but they had grown so close over the last few months that any passersby would've automatically assumed them to be a biologically related father-son pair. Theo rarely did anything without wondering about what Demetri would think of it nowadays.

I closed my book and walked over to him, wrapping my arms around him as I joined him in his cozy nest of a cushioned chair. Hugging his little body I reassured him, "I'm sure he would like anything you might give him as long as it's from you."

He hummed slowly as his eyes drifted down into his lap. He nervously chewed on the inside of his cheek before finally confessing, "I want to give him my adoption papers and ask him to be my... dad..."

Oh...

"He said that he was willing to take me in as one of his own before... And I-I really like him... But... Do you think he'll like it?"

"Of course, Theo." I pressed a reassuring kiss on his forehead. "I'm sure he already sees you as his son even without the papers, but I can help you get them ready for him to sign."

A small smile spread across his lips as he threw his arms around me, returning my hug. "Thank you."

"You don't need to thank me, honey. It's—"

"But I do! You're the one who took me off the streets and gave me a home when no one else wanted me." He faltered slightly from his strong start and bashfully diverted his eyes to his lap as his voice grew smaller. "You're my mom... and now I'm might get to have a dad too..."

My eyes watered at his confession.

I had been waiting for him to call me his mother for so long, worrying that he may never see me like that, but he finally did it.

Unable to come up with any verbal reply, I threw my arms around him and pulled him into a tight hug, peppering kisses all over his face with uncontainable joy.

Theo squirmed in my hold. "Ms. Belle! That's too many kisses!"

I pouted as I pressed one last one on the top of his cheek. "I thought you were going to stop calling me Ms. Belle. Can't you keep calling me mom instead?"

His cheeks flushed. "I-It just feels kind of embarrassing."

I whined in refute, "But it's so cute! You're always acting so mature for your age that it makes me worry. Can't you just call me mom from now on?"

"Okay, okay, okay!" He frustratingly pushed my face away and grumbled, "Mom."

A bright grin spread across my face.

But, as another wave of giddy joy started to wash over me, a chime rang out from the panel at the entrance of the library, signaling that someone was waiting at our front door.

Placing one last kiss on the side of his head, I released Theo from my hold and walked over to the panel to answer the call. I unmuted the panel and was greeted by Watson's deep voice.