𝘼𝙁𝙏𝙀𝙍 𝙒𝙀 𝘾𝙍𝘼𝙎𝙃𝙀𝘿 ↣ 𝙊𝙉𝙀 𝘿𝙄𝙍𝙀𝘾𝙏𝙄𝙊𝙉

6. THERE YOU ARE

[THREE MONTHS LATER]

Louis and I were always busy. After our wedding, instead of a honeymoon, we left for Louis' North and South American tour.

Over the last three months we've been in Canada, the United States, and South America. We haven't had a moment to slow down, but that's the way tour is.

Now, watching him from the balcony during one of his final shows, I allowed myself to stop thinking, stop stressing, and just watch.

Louis' eyes would flicker up to me from time to time while he was singing. His lips would pull into a smile right after when he saw me leaning against the railing, looking down at him.

He was right in the middle of singing Defenseless when my phone rang. I pulled it out of my back pocket and looked down at the caller ID. I expected it to be something regarding my record label, which was still in its early stages.

Instead, it was Sarah Cooper. As in, the social worker that had been paired with us to find us a child to foster. I furrowed my eyebrows.

Louis and I had told Sarah that we wanted to wait a few months before bringing a child into our home. He was busy with tour. I was on tour with him, busy with my label. He and I were swamped with other responsibilities, and having a child to take care of just wasn't realistic.

I answered the call and backed away from the balcony. "Hello?"

"Mickey Tomlinson?" Sarah asked expectantly.

"Yeah," I said, "what's up?"

"I know you and Louis are busy, and I know that you want to wait until your lives calm down. But please just hear me out." Sarah's voice didn't reflect the calmness and security it usually did.

"I'm listening," I said.

"I have two kids with me right now. Keenan and Karter Smith. She's 14 and he's 15. Karter just got out of juvie and his previous foster home refuses to take him back." I took a deep breath and absorbed the information she told me. "Keenan called the police and said that her foster parents were abusing her. Both kids are at the police station right now."

"Okay," I said, "what do you want us to do?"

"I want you to take them in. If you don't, Keenan goes back to her other foster parents and Karter gets placed a few hours away in San Francisco." My heart instantly broke. "Mickey, you know that when siblings get separated in the system they don't get put together again."

"Yeah, I know," I said. I pushed my hand though my hair. "I'm in Brazil right now. Louis is on stage."

"I have fifteen minutes to give the judge an answer on weather you and Louis will take them, or if they'll be separated."

"I'll pull Louis off stage and talk to him."

"Okay."

"And Sarah?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't let anything happen to the kids before I call you back."

"You have my word."

I pulled the phone away from my ear and ended the call. My feet started moving before I even thought about it. On my way down to the stage, I tried to think out how I was going to break the news to Louis.

I weaved around crew members backstage, off to the left wing. Louis was right in the middle of Habit. I stood in the wing, foot tapping anxiously, until he was finished. And then I walked out onto the stage like it was my job.