#Chapter 479 – New Mom

I wait for a second, grimacing a bit, watching Jackson’s face for a reaction. But he just stares at me, completely blank. “I’m sorry,” I whisper, shaking my head, reaching for him. “I’m sorry, Jacks – I didn’t mean anything bad by it –“ “No, Ariel…” he replies, blinking out of his frozen state and clearing his throat. “I just – I just don’t understand –“ I frown at him, not getting what he doesn’t get. He narrows his eyes and leans closer to me. “How…how would you become her mother?” “Well,” I say, twisting my fingers together, feeling tense. “I would…adopt her. Legally, she would be mine as well as yours – I’d have all the rights as her mother and she as my daughter. And there’s a ceremony that you can perform at the Temple before the Goddess’s sacred pool – people do it all the time when they adopt kids. You ask the Goddess to bless the union so that the child is spiritually yours, as well as legally.” Jackson continues to just stare at me, though I can see his mind at w