Ellie sniffed back a tear. “I have everything I need, Jo.”
“Ellie, this is not a sacrifice for me,” Jo said softly, pressing her own hand against Ellie’s. “This makes me happy. I feel good with you and the kids around. I feel useful. Connected. Let’s lean on each other.”
“I don’t want to take advantage…”
“We’ve been over that,” Jo said. “It’s not like that. Now, do you want to wake your kids or shall I?”
Ellie pulled her hand back. “No, you do it. It’s your house, you’re their foster mother. I’m right here if they ever need me, but I’d like them to understand that you’re calling the shots here. I want them to trust you. Like I do.”
“You’re such a good girl,” Jo whispered. “If I’d actually had a daughter of my own, I doubt I could have brought one up so fine.”
Ellie helped Jo with the breakfast, talked with Danielle about another new school and washed up the dishes while Jo helped them dress. All the kids had to wear were the clothes in their backpacks, so Jo decided that she would arrange to go to Arnie’s house with an escort to pack up their belongings.
“Is there anything I can do about that?” Ellie asked.
“Yes, you can give me his work phone number. And then, stay out of it. You really can’t be involved with him at all, not in the least way. I’ll make sure Nick comes home from work early to supervise the kids while I go over there. I’ll take Nick’s SUV.”
“He doesn’t have to come home early,” Ellie said. “I could—”
“Ellie, you can be here with them whenever you want to be, as far as I’m concerned, but you have to let me act as guardian for the moment. I can’t rely on you to parent right now. Let’s do this by the book.”
“Yes. Right,” she relented. “Get a very big escort.”
“I’ve done this before, sweetheart. It’s been a while, but my foster kids tended to come from some very scary places. Usually with only the clothes on their backs.”
That was a thought that stayed with Ellie as she went off to work at the church. She thought about her own kids, sure, but it weighed even more heavily on her mind that too many kids grew up hard. She’d lived from hand to mouth with her grandmother, but they’d always managed. She’d had friends who hadn’t managed as well, some of whom were in the system, but they hadn’t had a Jo or a Nick. The ones she knew were placed in crowded homes where living was tough. It wasn’t unusual for them to be tossed in with a group of kids with an established pecking order and have to defend themselves or suffer abuse from either other foster kids or even the parents. Foster care was a big, scary monster among her crowd while she was growing up.
It was not a pretty, clean house like the Fitches’, with an experienced, kind couple prepared to give their hearts as well as their space.
By the time she got to the church, Noah was waiting in his office and the construction crew was already starting to work. Noah stood and went to her immediately, giving her a brief embrace and kiss on the cheek. “Good, you’re all right. You must not have had any problems last night.”
She laughed at him. “I bet you’re glad you didn’t hire Mrs. Nagel. Wouldn’t she be a sourpuss to kiss? Everything is fine or I would have called you. What’s on your schedule?”
“I have calls to make. You?” he asked.
“You’re the boss. But if it’s no big deal, I’d like to stay in town, in case Jo needs something to do with the kids. I think Vanni’s doing fine with her babies, but I’ll call her, explain what’s going on and be sure she can do without me for a couple of days. I’ll start painting your office if you like.”
“The noise is going to make you crazy.”
“Nah. I’m about as crazy as I’m going to get. Is George gone?”
Noah nodded. “But he’ll be back when the church is open.”
“Go on then. Go do your pastor thing. I’ll paint and answer the phone and be close by in case Jo needs me for the kids. She’s not going to need me, though. She’s got this situation wired—she knows exactly what to do.”
“You okay with that, kiddo?” he asked.
“Yeah,” she said in a breath. “I can’t believe what a break it is—having someone like her fill the bill. I don’t think all the court motions in the world could have worked out better. Sometimes I end up being so goddamn lucky.”
His lips quirked up and he shook his head.
“I guess you wouldn’t have exactly put it like that, huh?” she asked.
He leaned forward and gave her cheek a kiss. “No, I might not have. But I know you didn’t mean any disrespect. Remember, I’m the guy who saw you on your knees.”
“Who’d’a believed it would finally pay off, huh?” She grinned widely.
“I’m going to get out of here before I do something crazy and get caught by a construction worker or something. I’ll call to check in from time to time, make sure you’re doing okay and there aren’t any new developments. Call Brie first thing and ask for a restraining order. Arnie isn’t worth trusting.”
Ellie was back at the Fitch house before Jo had returned from fetching clothes for the kids from Arnie’s. Nick was in charge. The kids were watching a little afternoon TV and he was in the kitchen. “Jo told me to get started on dinner. I’m not trusted with anything more complicated than peeling potatoes and carrots,” he said.
“Would you like me to take over?” she asked.
“I’m almost done here. I expect her any minute. And she said no more than an hour on the TV, so I have my eye on the clock.”
“Nick, this is wonderful of you—watching out for my kids like this. I owe you an apology. That first day I met you, when I wanted to rent that room, I made some assumptions about you that were wrong. You haven’t been anything but respectful to me. I’m sorry I was so rude.”
He stood at the sink, peeling carrots. He glanced over his shoulder. “No apology necessary, Ellie. Your assumption wasn’t far off base. I’ve done some real dumb-ass things in this little town. I should be the one to go around apologizing, not you. But you and your kids are completely safe here. I’d never let anything happen to them. And, my God, it is good to see Jo so happy.”
She took a step toward him and spoke to his back. “Then why?” she asked. “Why did you get yourself that terrible reputation? I can tell you’re crazy about Jo. You’d be lost without her, I know you would.”
“You’re right. And I don’t know why. Lonely, maybe. Cross because I wasn’t getting my way? A couple of times I thought maybe Jo would be jealous and—” He shrugged. “It really doesn’t matter. It’s been a long time since I did anything as stupid as make a pass, and that’s when I almost came up against Jack Sheridan. Whew,” he said, shaking his head. “That was years ago, and if Mel hadn’t put me straight right quick, Jack would have killed me. That was before they were together, you know. But Mel was already his woman in his eyes.” He glanced over his shoulder again and smiled sheepishly at Ellie. “You’re old enough to know this, Ellie. Men can be very stupid.”
She took another step toward him. She put a hand on his shoulder. “Nick, listen to me. Don’t waste another minute. This thing with Jo has gone on too long. Fix it.”
He looked down. “I wish I knew how.”
“Beg,” she said. “Ask her forgiveness. Say you were stupid and wrong and that you need her. And, for gosh sakes, tell her how much you love her. It shows all over you when you’re within ten feet of her. The two of you have already wasted so much time.”
“It might not make any difference, you know. Jo might not want things back the way they were.”
“You have two choices, Nick. You can find out, or you can go on like this and never know.” She grinned at him. “By the way, I didn’t have a boyfriend, six-five or otherwise, and the only judge I know is my worst nightmare.”
He grinned back. “I know.”
Fifteen
Vanni was doing much better at keeping up with two little ones and a house, thanks to Ellie’s help. She’d even gotten pretty adept at putting two toddlers in car seats and carting them off for shopping errands. Her days were a bit more tiring, of course; there was no way to minimize the work involved, nor the amount of cleaning and laundry. And diapers? She was up to her eyeballs in diapers without the energy to begin potty training Matt. But Ellie promised to be back—she had just needed two or three days in town so she could be available to her own kids. Just one day of help from Ellie would probably put Vanni right again.
Much of the time lately, when Vanni was in the same room, the kids were set free. If Vanni wasn’t exactly doting on Hannah, little Matt certainly was. Hannah followed him around—he, toddling; she, crawling at top speed and pulling herself up to a standing position on any piece of furniture that she could reach. Matt would bring her toys; she would offer hers to him. It was when Vanni noticed Hannah taking a couple of tentative steps from her spot leaning against the coffee table that Vanni realized she would be a year old in a month.
Her first birthday.
When Matt was taking first steps, Vanni and Paul and anyone else within shouting distance would be coaching him, reaching out hands for him, praising him, taking movies. But Hannah was doing it on her own.
Was this because she was the second child, or because she was Terri’s child? Vanni asked herself.
When Matt was about to have his first birthday, Vanni and Paul and Walt were planning a wonderful big birthday celebration to include all their friends. But, with some shame, Vanni realized she was going to have to look at the documents that came along with Hannah to find out her exact date of birth.
“Mama!” Hannah said triumphantly. Then she went splat on her diaper-cushioned butt and laughed.
“Yes,” Vanni said, smiling at her, “you’re walking! Big girl!”
Thankfully the doorbell interrupted her thoughts and she went to answer it. It was a UPS delivery, a very large box addressed to Mr. and Mrs. Haggerty. She signed for it and brought it into the great room where the children played. She put the box on the floor in front of the couch and sat down. “What do you think we have?” she said to the kids, who migrated nearer, curious. She opened the box and found a letter on the top of the Bubble Wrap. “Hmm, a surprise, I think,” she said. She opened the letter and read:
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Haggerty,
Mr. Hanson told me you hadn’t made a decision about Hannah yet, but I thought maybe you could take care of these things. I have nowhere to store them and I don’t want to lose track of them. They belong to Hannah. If you decide she’s going to be adopted by someone else, please be sure her new family gets them. I’m in a nursing home now, my MS is pretty serious, so the nurse is writing this for me. I know it’s a lot to ask, since I haven’t done anything to help out, but if you or her new family can ever work it out, I would sure love a chance to see Hannah.
Thank you for taking care of her.
Roberta Bradford
“Wow,” Vanni whispered. She put the letter down and pulled aside the Bubble Wrap to reveal a box full of pictures. The one on top was an eight-by-ten framed picture of a baby that looked exactly like Hannah. She removed it and beneath it were a couple of shoe boxes full of snapshots. She fanned through a few and caught shots of Terri at a birthday party, Terri as a pudgy two-year-old in a bikini, grinning that big, huge-eyed grin, all dark curls. Terri with people Vanni would never know and Terri sitting on the same woman’s lap a lot—that must be her mother in younger, healthier times.
