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“WOW!” Hugo exclaimed as they made their way into the city.
“The buildings are so tall!” Rose shouted, pressing her face against the window of the car.
“Have you never taken the kids into London or any other large city?” Tony asked Hermione.
She shook her head. “Not really,” she replied. “At least not since they were old enough to start remembering things. Besides, the buildings in London aren’t quite this massive.”
Tony smiled at his fiancee. They had gotten engaged at Christmas and were in the midst of finalizing marriage and adoption plans. And since they were going to be joining their lives together, he felt that it was finally time to bring his new family up to see the business. Besides, Happy had called him saying the lawyer had finished drawing up all the papers he needed and he needed to come sign them.
“Can we visit the Statue of Liberty?” Rose asked. “I’ve always wanted to see it!”
Tony shrugged. “Sure!”
Both kids cheered and looked back out the window as the limosine they were in the back of slowed to a crawl as they fully entered the city.
“There are a lot of cars!” Hugo exclaimed.
“Yes, there are,” Hermione agreed, looking out her own window. She turned back to Tony. “We’re not here because you’re going to try and convince us to move here, are we?”
Tony vehimently shook his head. “No, no no no. We’re here because I wanted to show you my building and I need to sign a few papers that I had the lawyer draw up. I think you’ll need to sign a few of them as well.”
Hermione’s face brightened. “The adoption papers?” she whispered.
Tony nodded, and his heart swelled to see the excitement Hermione was showing at this news.
After getting the divorce papers in the mail back in December, they decided not to tell the kids about Tony wanting to adopt them, at least not right away. They weren’t sure how long the process was going to take. Now, just three short months later, the papers were finished. They could move forward with the adoption, and the wedding.
Hermione excited shifted in her seat until she was facing Tony in the car. “Let’s get married.”
Tony laughed. “Dear, I think that pretty little rock on your finger is already indicating that we are getting married.”
“No, I mean, yes, I know that. But what I mean is, let’s get married now. Here, in New York!”
“Not that I don’t want to, because getting married to you is the ultimate goal. However, I thought you wanted to get married with Harry there? And back home?”
Hermione shrugged. “Well, Harry can come through whenever I call him,” she said. “And really the most important people are here. If the adoption papers are ready, and that’s what we’ve come all this way to sign, I want to just make everything official now. We’ve waited so long for this.”
Tony couldn’t control the joy that was rising within him. They had waited a long time for this. Over a year to be exact. He had wanted to join their family since he had crash landed in their woods.
“Okay,” Tony said. “Let’s do it.” He pulled out his phone and began texting Happy.
“What are you doing?” Hermione asked.
“Texting Happy. We’ll need a marriage license. I think there is a couple day waiting period before we can get married, but we’re here for a few days anyway. We can take the kids to the Statue of Liberty, and when we’re on the ferry, we can tell them about the adoption?”
Hermione smiled at him. “Let’s tell them now.”
“Right now?” Tony asked, confused. He had hoped they could make the adoption news special.
“Yes,” Hermione answered. “We’re already all together, and the kids are basically in a place they consider special. Let’s just do it.”
Tony looked at the kids. They were now on the same seat of the limo and had pressed themselves fully against the window, trying look up the length of the building they were basically parked next to.
“Okay,” Tony said. “You’re right. Let’s tell them now.”
Hermione leaned forward and captured Tony’s lips with her own, before quickly pulling back.
She turned herself around, before raising her voice a bit. “Rose? Hugo?”
The kids turned away from the window and looked at Hermione. “Yes, mum?”
“Tony and I have a bit of news for you, and we were hoping that you would be okay with it.”
Rose’s eyes widened. “Are you getting married, mummy?”
Hermione smiled. “We are.”
Rose and Hugo cheered.
“Finally!” Hugo said, dramatically.
Everyone laughed.
“There’s a bit more news,” Hermione said. “But I think Tony wanted to be the one to tell you.”
Tony felt himself growing nervous. What if they rejected him?
“Well, kids, I wanted to ask you both if you would mind if I became your dad. Officially.”
“Won’t you be our dad if you marry mum?” Rose asked.
“Well, yes,” he said. “But I’m talking about adopting you. And it’s fine if you don’t want me to adopt you. I’ll still be your dad even if I’m not legally your father.”
The kids were quiet. And the longer they were quiet, the more nervous Tony became.
“Will you be our dad forever, or will you leave us like our real dad?” Rose asked.
Tony felt his heart plummet. These kids had been hurt.
“I don’t want you to go away,” Hugo said, his eyes filling with tears. “Dads go away.”
“No,” Tony said. “Dads don’t go away. Dads stay. Dads help you with school. Dads tuck you in at night. And when you’re older, Dads help you with sports and give you advice and walk you down the aisle when you get married.”
“But—”
“No,” Tony interrupted. “I know that your father abandoned you, that he said some very hurtful things to you. But that’s not the way it should be. Or it will be. Things will be different. Rose, Hugo, I’m not going anywhere. I want you both more than anything I’ve ever wanted in my life.”
The kids looked at him, and then at each other, and then back at him. They were so young, but they had been forced to grow up based on what their father had done to them. And he didn’t blame them for having trust issues. He hadn’t been in their lives very long.
“Okay,” Rose said.
“Okay?” Tony asked. This was not the reaction or answer he had imagined all those times he had pictured this moment.
“Okay, you can be our dad,” Rose said. “But only if you promise to never leave us.”
“I promise,” Tony answered quickly. “I promise with my whole heart. I love you two, you know that right?”
“I love you, too, Tony.”
“No, Rose,” Hugo said. “We can call him dad now, we’re allowed to.”
“What’s this?” Hermione asked.
“We wanted to call Tony dad for a long time, but didn’t know if we were allowed. And we didn’t want to scare him away. We didn’t want him to leave us like our real dad,” Rose explained.
“How long have you wanted to call him dad?” Hermione asked.
“Since he came to live with us,” Hugo answered.
Tony felt tears come to his eyes. “Well,” and then he stopped, unable to talk any more due to the emotion building up in his throat. Instead he moved across the car, and gathered the kids up in his arms. “I love you both, very, very much.”
He settled the kids on his lap, and for the rest of the drive to his building, he pointed out all the buildings he knew the names of to the kids. His kids.