Anders furrowed his brow, looking serious, just like Larry Tate. After all, they are related by blood. Anders doesn’t know about everything between me and his father yet, so he might refuse. I was about to give up on the idea of changing his last name, but to my surprise, he said, “Sure.”
“I don’t know what’s going on, but Mommy seems really troubled.”
“As long as Mommy is happy, then Anders is happy too!”
His small hand gently brushed over my furrowed brow, and I immediately pulled him into my arms. Having Anders was the only decision in my life that I’ll never regret.
The next day after lunch, Kevin Branch drove us to the nearby police station. Anders seemed to really like him. Last night, he stubbornly wouldn’t let Kevin leave, and now even took over the front passenger seat.
“We can’t process this.”
The staff member only glanced at our household registration booklet before pushing the documents back.
“Why not?”
“You need a divorce certificate.”
It seems that, seeing no other family members listed in the household registration, she assumed Anders was from a divorced family.
“You’ve misunderstood. I’ve never been married.”
I looked apologetically at Anders, my tone a bit helpless. The staff member glanced at me, then at Anders, and finally took the documents back.
I breathed a sigh of relief, about to thank her when I realized she was staring at Kevin Branch.
“Son, you need to step up. The child is already this big, and you’re letting this young lady wait for you all this time?”
Oh no, she mistook Kevin Branch for an irresponsible deadbeat dad. He must be furious at being forced into this role of a stand-in father.
“I…”
“The lady has a point,” Kevin cut me off, smiling at me, while Anders, thrilled, nudged us even closer together.
Once the paperwork was done and we were finally back outside in the fresh air, I felt like I could breathe again.
“Kevin, I’m really sorry for taking up so much of your time. You should go handle your own things now.”
“You seem awfully eager to get rid of me.”
Caught off guard, I scratched my head, “No, it’s not that…”
“Mommy! Let big brother come with us to the reunion!”
I quickly covered Anders’ mouth and scolded him, “Don’t talk nonsense. We’ve already troubled him enough.”
“Isn’t that right, Kevin?”
Kevin smiled and agreed, but his smile seemed somewhat forced.
After dropping us off at the reunion, he left. Seeing Anders looking a bit disappointed made me feel guilty, but being around Kevin Branch always made me feel awkward.
“Summer Cooper! What are you doing here?!”
The moment I walked in, I heard an old friend’s voice, shocked.
I was momentarily confused.
“Weren’t you the one who called me last night and asked me to come?”