Judge Thompson approved the adoption papers in April. All seven children officially became Hawthors. They celebrated with a party that drew half the valley. Tables groaning with food, fiddle music, dancing until the stars came out. Jonah, now legally Jonah Hawthorne, stood a little taller, carried himself with more confidence.
He'd started helping Silas with the heavier work, learning everything his new father could teach him. Eliza had begun teaching the younger children their letters, using a slate Silas had bought in town. She was patient and kind with Mara's gift for making lessons feel like play. The twins, Clara and Catherine Hawthorne, were inseparable as ever, wild and free and full of laughter that rang across the valley like bells. Thomas Hawthorne, no longer afraid of shadows, had started following Silas everywhere, asking a million questions about everything.
And Abigail, sweet Abigail Hawthorne, had finally started talking again. real sentences, real thoughts. She bloomed like a flower in the sun, secure and loved and safe. But the biggest change came in May. Mara woke one morning feeling strange. Not sick exactly, just different.
Her body felt foreign, soft in new ways, sensitive. It took her 3 weeks to realize what it meant. She told Silas one night after the children were asleep, pulling him outside to the porch where they could talk privately. I'm pregnant. Silas froze.
You're what? Pregnant? I'm going to have a baby. Our baby. For a long moment, Silas just stared at her.
Then his face crumpled and he pulled her into his arms, holding her like she was made of glass. Are you sure? Very sure. How do you feel? Terrified, excited, happy.
She laughed shakily. All of it at once. Silas pulled back, cuped her face. We're having a baby. We're having a baby.
He kissed her then, deep and reverent and full of wonder. When they pulled apart, his eyes were wet. I never thought I'd get this chance again, he whispered. After I lost my daughter, I thought I thought that part of my life was over. It's not over, Silus.
It's just beginning. They told the children at breakfast the next morning. The reaction was immediate and chaotic. The twins squealled and jumped up and down. Eliza cried happy tears.
Jonah grinned like he'd won a prize. Thomas asked if it would be a boy or girl, and Abigail wanted to know if babies liked cookies. "We'll find out," Mara said, laughing through her own tears. "In about 6 months." That night, Jonah pulled Mara aside while Silas was outside with the younger kids. "Ma, this baby, it's going to be a real Hawthorne, right?
Not like us. Mara's heart clenched. Jonah, honey, you are a real Hawthorne. All of you are. But we're adopted.
This baby will be Paw Silas's actual child. Mara knelt down, took his hands. Listen to me. Family isn't about blood. It's about choice.