Woven Wishes (Whispered Wishes Book 4) (17 page)

“Don’t sell yourself short,” Ava said.

“Yeah,” Holly agreed. “As much as we’d love to take the credit here, you worked your ass off.”

“Mommy!”

“Sophie,” Tessa exclaimed happily, breaking away from the huddle. “What are you doing back here? Where are Grandma and Grandpa?”

“They’re still sitting out there with Jenna, Logan, and Ryan,” Sophie replied. “Nicholas said I could come back here to see you. I wanted to say good luck.”

“Thank you, sweetie.” Tessa knelt down to give her daughter a hug.

“You know, Sophie,” Holly told her, “in the theater, it’s bad luck to say
good luck
. You’re supposed to say
break a leg.”

Ava and Tessa looked at each other with wide eyes and cracked up laughing.

“Did I miss something?” Holly asked.

“No,” Tessa said. “But thank you. I’ll take whatever well wishes I can get.”

Peeking his head back in the door, Nicholas called into the room, “We’re ready, everyone. Time to head to your seats.”

Chapter 36 - Tessa

Tessa beamed as she stepped into the lounge, now filled with vases of roses and a bottle of champagne. The cast and crew, high on adrenaline, crowded around her—barely giving her room to breathe as they waited for her to speak.

“You all were amazing!” Tessa said, popping the bottle open and purposely spraying the contents over those who had helped make the night a huge success. “I knew you would be spectacular, but what I witnessed out there tonight was … I don’t even know. What do you call something that’s better than spectacular?”

“Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious?” Sophie asked, coming into the room on Nicholas’ shoulders.

“Yes,” Tessa laughed. “That’s exactly what tonight’s performance was. It was super … um, cali – fragil—”

“… isticexpialidocious,” Sophie said, finishing. “Mommy, can Logan, Jenna, Ryan, and I go collect all the flowers that were thrown on the stage?”

“Yes,” Tessa replied, “thank you.”

“Anyway,” she continued, watching her daughter leave the room, “I would like to extend my extreme gratitude to all of you. For as hard as I’ve worked, I know you’ve all worked ten times harder. That’s why my amazing husband arranged for us to have our cast party at Rocco’s tonight. We’ve got the entire place to ourselves. You all can head over, they’re expecting us with as much pizza and beer as you want.”

The cast and crew cheered as they high-fived and headed toward the door.

“But not too much on the beer side!” Tessa yelled over the roar of the crowd. “We’ve got another show tomorrow night, folks! Do you hear me? Hello?”

It was a pointless endeavor. By the time she finished talking, she was alone in the room with Nicholas.

“We’re going to have to go over there to babysit them, you know,” she murmured, wrapping her arms around his neck.

“I think they’ll be okay for a little bit,” he said. “Besides, I kind of like having you here all to myself.”

“I do, too. But where is the rest of my family?” she asked, looking around.

“Your parents and Ava are with the kids on the stage, and Holly’s with Ben still out in the audience. I asked them to give us a few minutes to ourselves. I have something I need to talk to you about.”

“Okay,” she said. “You sound serious. It’s not bad news, is it? This night is too amazing to muddle it up with bad news.”

“No, my love, it’s just the opposite.”

Nicholas pulled a document out of his pocket and handed it to Tessa. After studying it for a moment, she looked at her husband with a huge smile across her lips.

“Is this what I think it is? How? When?”

“Remember when I followed Scott out to the parking lot last time he was here?” Nicholas asked.

“Yes,” Tessa said. “Yes, you said you went out there to give him a piece of your mind, and that you decided not to prosecute, out of respect for Sophie.”

“That’s right. When I first told him I knew what he did with the money, he denied it, of course,” Nicholas explained. “Then I showed him the pictures and the receipt for the television … and I mentioned that I’d spoken with his boss. The same boss he’s had all these years.”

“You didn’t tell me that part. I wish I could have been there to see the expression on his face. I miss all of the fun!”

“It was pretty fun. Especially when he started blubbering. Right there in the parking lot, and admitted everything, begging me to forgive him. I have to tell you, Tess. He’s not an attractive man when his eyes and mouth scrunch all together. I really think you made a better choice with me.”

“For so many reasons,” she replied, laughing. “So what did he say exactly?”

“Well, that he only contacted you because he saw that you’d come into money. Then I asked him if he’d ever had any intention of being Sophie’s father.”

“And?” she asked, raising her brows.

“He said he didn’t even know you’d had a girl until he saw her in the wedding picture.”

Tessa nodded. All these years and he’d never even cared enough to find out. “So I’m guessing you told him that if he signed the papers you wouldn’t prosecute.”

 “No. It was never my intention to prosecute, and I didn’t want him to think I was blackmailing him. I was going to suggest he pay the money back directly to Sophie into a trust account we set up on her behalf. However, before I could get two words out, he said he was in no position to support her, and he could see she was happy having me around. He then said he wanted for me to adopt her, and was willing to relinquish all legal rights.”

“Just like that?”

“I was skeptical as well,” Nicholas said. “So I told him I’d have my lawyers draw up the papers and overnight them to him. He had them signed, notarized, and returned to me within the week.”

“And you never discussed prosecution?” Tessa asked.

“That’s the crazy part,” Nicholas said. “We never actually did.”

“So if he tries to contact Sophie again, we have that in our back pocket.”

“Exactly,” Nicholas said, “but I wouldn’t worry about him coming back again. He knows the evidence against him is stacked pretty high. Once the adoption goes through, I’d really like to just forget Scott Warren ever existed. I was dying to tell you, but I didn’t want to distract you until after opening night. My lawyer is drawing up the official adoption papers as we speak. That is, if it’s okay with you and Sophie.”

“Are you kidding?” she asked, jumping into Nicholas’ arms. “Of course it’s okay. It’s what I’ve wanted all along, and I happen to know for a fact that Sophie will be thrilled.”

“About what?” Sophie asked, coming into the room with an armful of flowers in every color possible. “Mommy, aren’t they beautiful? Do we get to keep them?”

“Well,” Tessa said, pulling out a pink daisy, tearing off most of the stem, and tucking it behind her daughter’s ear, “we have to share them with everyone who worked on the play. But, you and Jenna, and the boys if they want, can pick out a few to keep.”

“Okay. They’re still collecting flowers on the stage. Aunt Ava said we weren’t allowed to come back here yet, but I snuck away to show you these. I’m not in trouble, am I?”

 “Of course not, honey.” Taking the flowers from her daughter and putting them on the floor, Tessa knelt down with Nicholas next to her. “Actually, Nicholas and I need to talk to you. Do you remember what you said to me a while back … the last time Scott was here, right after he left? The part about who you wished your father was?”

Sophie looked a Nicholas and smiled before looking down at her fidgeting feet.

“It’s okay, honey. You don’t have to be embarrassed,” Tessa said, taking her hand. “We just want to be sure it’s what you really want.”

“You mean it can happen?” she asked, sounding confused. “You can make Nicholas be my real daddy?”

“If that’s what you want, then yes, we can,” she said, looking to her husband. “Is it?”

“Oh, yes!” she cried, throwing her arms around Nicholas’ neck. “That’s exactly what I want.”

Nicholas stood up and swung her around. “It’s exactly what I want, too, Sophie.”

Tessa wrapped her arms around her family. “It’s what I want as well. In fact, I think it’s the most supercalifragilisticexpialidocious idea ever!”

“Daddy?” Sophie asked, looking up at Nicholas.

“Yes, daughter?” he replied, his voice full of love and compassion.

“Do you think we can still get a puppy?” she asked sweetly.

Yup, wrapped right around her little finger
, Tessa thought as she hugged her family even tighter.

Chapter 37 - Holly

“Sounds like a party in here.” Holly entered the room with Ava, her parents, and the rest of the children behind her, all carrying armfuls of flowers. “Is it okay to come in now? Sophie! We were looking for you!”

“Yes, come in, come in,” Nicholas said, waving everybody into the room. “Sophie’s fine, we were just talking.”

“Tessa,” Holly began, “I know you’re probably getting tired of hearing this, but the show was incredible.”

“Nope, not sick of it at all,” she replied, grinning. “Thank you. In fact, feel free to say it as many times as you’d like for the rest of my life. Hey, where’s Ben? You didn’t leave the poor guy sitting all by himself in the empty audience did you?”

“Nah,” Holly said. “He’s making his way down the hall in his wheelchair. I offered to help, but you know how stubborn he can be. Mr. Independent is determined to get here all by himself. He’ll show up eventually.”

“The play was fabulous, honey,” Tessa’s mom said, giving her a huge hug and kiss on the cheek.

Her father and Ava followed suit with similar compliments and accolades.

“Guess what?” Sophie said, the smile on her face stretching from ear to ear.

“What, sweetheart?” Ava asked.

“Nicholas is going to be my daddy.
My real daddy.”

“Is he?” Holly asked, looking to Tessa for answers.

She held up the paper, even though there was no way they would be able to read it from where they stood. “Scott agreed it would be best for Sophie if Nicholas were her father,” Tessa explained, talking particularly slow, presumably in an attempt to let her family know she was choosing her words carefully while speaking in front of her daughter, “so Nicholas is officially adopting her. It’s all going to be legal very soon. I just found out myself.” Putting her arm around Nicholas’ waist, Tessa glowed. “My amazing husband surprised us with the paperwork just now. As you can see, Sophie is thrilled. We all are.”

“Oh, honey,” Ava said. “That’s wonderful news. Congratulations. To all of you.”

“It’s about time. I never did like that bast—” Tessa’s father started, but stopped when his wife swiftly covered his mouth with her hand.

“We couldn’t be happier for you,” she said, glowing.

Their dad vigorously nodded, hand still securely in place.

“Absolutely! We’re so happy for you,” Holly agreed, hugging each of them. She knew there had to be some amazing story behind it all, but she was practically bursting at the seams to show off her own surprise. There would be plenty of time to hear the Scott saga as they celebrated later once the children went home with her parents. Right now she had her own good news to share. “This night is turning into quite an evening, don’t you think? It’s just one surprise after another after another.”

“There’s more?” Ava asked.

“Well, now that you mention it …” Holly burst out into her own huge smile and said, “Wait here,” before running out of the room. Moments later, she returned, with Max behind her.

“Max!” Ava yelled, running up to her husband. “What are you doing here? I thought you said you had to work tonight.”

“I found a replacement” he replied, hugging his wife and children. “I snuck in during the first act and sat in the back. I didn’t want to cause a scene since I wasn’t expected. Get it?
Scene?”
He waited for non-existent laughter to end and then continued. “Amazing work, Tessa. Really great.”

“Thanks, Max,” Tessa said. “I’m really glad you could make it.”

“There’s no way I could stay away and miss your show. Besides the fact that you’d never let me live it down,” he said, “we’re family, and there’s nothing more important. Anyway, the party’s just getting started,” he added, sneaking a glance at Holly.

“Hey, did someone say something about a party?”

Max stepped to the side as all eyes turned to Ben,
standing
in the doorway.

“Oh my God! Ben! You’re walking,” Tessa screamed, running over to him.

“Well, it’s more like pushing and dragging,” he said, gripping his walker with white knuckles.

“I can’t believe you kept this a secret, Holly,” Ava said. “This is amazing. When did this start?”

“Earlier in the week,” she said, proudly. “Ben took his first step on Monday. Once he got going, there was no stopping him either. He’s been walking up and down the halls of the rehab center nonstop. His parents have been here with him the last few days. They told me to tell you they’re sorry they couldn’t stay for the show, but Ben’s father had a business dinner he couldn’t miss,” Holly said looking at Tessa. “Anyway, the therapist finally took his walker away to make him rest. He didn’t want him overdoing it the first week. He only gave it back to him for tonight so he could show you all, but Ben promised to take it easy and spend most of the night in his wheelchair.”

“Yeah, like that’s gonna happen,” he said with a smirk. They watched cautiously as he moved one leg at a time, making his way into the room at a snail’s pace. “Slow and steady wins the race, isn’t that what they say?”

“You’re doing great, babe,” Holly said, with the same amount of pride and encouragement she’d carried throughout each of his tedious therapy sessions. “By the time you start pushing the stroller, you’ll be a pro.”

“Stroller?” Ava asked. “Is that part of therapy?”

“No,” Holly replied, a huge smile crossing her lips. “That’s part of parenthood. We’re expecting!”

“But how?” Ava said. “I thought you didn’t want to do IVF again.”