“We do,” Addy promised.
Turned out Charlotte was pregnant with identical twin boys. When we told the kids we were adopting them, Adam and Abraham cheered. They were finally going to catch up with the girls. Charlotte had done everything in her power to have healthy babies. She carried them to thirty-seven weeks and delivered them both naturally. Aiden was six pounds five ounces and Andrew was six pounds six ounces. Addy cried and thanked Charlotte profusely, and we finally brought our little blonde fuzzy-headed boys home.
They were both healthy and took to formula well. I helped with the feeding and was happy when the other kids seemed to take a liking to the boys and willingly helped out. It was great that Gabby and Adam were both eleven, and we could trust them to hold a baby, while we helped out the younger kids with something. Adam would often steal their little bouncer and try and sneak them into his room, so he could just hang out with the babies himself. Addy caught him a few times, but when she saw what he was doing, she just smiled and let him have his time with his brothers.
I didn’t adopt the boys, and Addy didn’t adopt the boys, our whole family adopted them. Our family seemed thrilled and focused on raising the pair to be healthy and happy.
As I tucked the last of my kids in for the night, I couldn’t help but smile. Addy came in and stood behind me with her arms around my waist, both of us looking down on our sleeping twins.
“Did you ever think that getting into that truck with some strange, crazy woman who made you strip would lead you here?” she whispered, kissing my shoulder. “Under that bridge might’ve been cold and damp, but at least the graffiti wasn’t done in crayon,” she teased.
I turned and wrapped my arms around her. “I’d take crayon over spray paint any day,” I chuckled. “Besides, you wouldn’t have been there, so I doubt I would’ve ever felt at home, no matter how long I stayed there. My home is wherever you are. I love you,” I said before kissing my beautiful wife soundly.
I had experienced how horrible it was to be lonely, homeless and destitute. I knew I was truly blessed to have a home where I was loved and had everything I needed right here in my arms.
Yeah, I really was a lucky man.
Chapter 46 - All Grown Up
Eight, you heard me right, we had eight kids. We no longer drove a minivan, we drove a full-sized one, or as the kids called it, the Martin mobile. It took some time for Addy to get used to the size, and I had to have steps installed, so she could get in along with the kids, but she loved it now. The Martin mobile seated twelve, but we were not adopting two more kids. Our house was overflowing. If it wasn’t for the addition Jason had designed, I was sure lives would have been taken by now. Mrs. Baker and the addition, along with the Martin mobile, made having eight kids possible.
My mom was over a lot, as well as Leon, but he had convinced her to step back a little. Apparently, she had been stepping on my wife’s toes. I didn’t realize this, until Addy confirmed it. It was amazing how quiet she could be when she was upset. If something was bothering her, I could usually tell and just waited it out until she decided to talk. If she hadn’t been happy with my mom, though, I’d had no clue, and she hadn’t said anything to anyone. Thankfully, they loved each other enough to work things out between them.
Kids grew fast, and babies grew faster. Before we knew it, Aiden and Andrew were starting school with the rest of the kids. They said twins were close, but these boys were close with everyone in the family. They didn’t just have the twin bond, they had what we called the Martin bond. We were a family, and we looked out for each other and took care of one another.
Adam was senior class president (won with family-made signs) and played on the baseball team. Daniel was his biggest fan. Adam was doing great in school. Addy and I would help the four older kids with their homework, and they would help the four youngest with theirs. In the end, it made for good grades all round and a tightly-knit family.
Gabby was also a senior with great grades. She was very smart, but she found boys distracting, which was exhausting for Daniel and me. I was sure we had threatened every boy near her age and then some at least once. I even taught Adam how to do the “I’m watching you” sign that Daniel and I did, so they would know he would tell if he saw anyone messing with his sisters.
Adam and Gabby were both registered to go to UT next fall. The scholarship covered the cost of their dorm rooms and cafeteria food, as well as all books and tuition. They just had to maintain at least a “C” average, which I believed they could easily do. I was grateful they would be able to go to college, but I really wasn’t looking forward to my kids leaving. I couldn’t believe my babies were growing up so fast.
Genny didn’t have a problem with boys. Not because she wasn’t pretty, but because she was so different. She liked to make her own clothes and dressed in a modest but artistic way. Her painting skills developed, and she also got into sculpting. I would take her to the farmer’s market and the swap meets, and she would buy random things she could add to her art. She also started setting up a booth and would sell a lot of her stuff. She didn’t do just one type of art, but all types, so she had a little something for everyone. She was an amazing artist, and we were very proud of her.
Abraham turned into a little bruiser. He would sometimes get into fights at school, but Daniel really went out of his way to take him under his wing. He had eventually changed from wanting to be a fireman into wanting to be a policeman like his grandpa Daniel, and so he was well on his way to doing great things. He just had this sense of right in him, always wanting to defend the underdog. I knew I shouldn’t encourage fighting, but it was hard to tell your boy to back down, when you knew it was for a good cause. Like I said, when it came to the difficult talks, I’d often called Daniel in for help.
Grace turned out to be a dancer. Once the older kids were gone at school, she really started opening up and took to dancing, whether there was music or not. She would hum to herself and dance naturally with perfect form. At least that was what her dance teacher said. It was a small fortune, but she absolutely loved her class, and so we encouraged her to do whatever she wanted. She didn’t want to grow up to be a professional dancer, just a dance teacher. She loved working with children and would often assist her teacher with the younger classes.
Giulie, my little Giulianna. What could I say about her? She was not nearly as feminine as her name. I blamed it on growing up with two little brothers who always wanted her to play with them. She had decided she wanted to be an entomologist. Yes, you heard me right, she wanted to study bugs. She had several shadow box frames with all sorts of dead bugs pinned to boards. She knew enough about bugs to make a grown man, or even an exterminator, feel incompetent.
We did our own exterminating now, because she had corrected the local bug killer guy, making him look stupid. He still gave us dirty looks anytime we ran into him at the grocery store. Giulie suggested we get him a set of insect encyclopedias, so he could learn his trade better. She was a little brain and a bit of a know-it-all, but she did it so innocently. She didn’t understand why others would get offended, when she shared her knowledge freely, and Addy never made her apologize for being smart. She did draw the line at her trying to start an earthworm farm in her pockets, though. Josh had let it slip that Addy had tried that once. He definitely got chewed out for that.
Aiden was loud and boisterous. He loved telling stories and making up jokes. He craved attention, and luckily for him, he could usually find someone in the house to listen to him. I picked up the kids after school and dropped them home, but most days, the twins tagged along with me while I worked. I didn’t mind, because they were pretty well behaved. Aiden usually talked the ear off of our customer, and Andrew quietly handed me the tools I needed.
Andrew was just the opposite of Aiden. He was a quiet observer. He was really smart, but he didn’t say a lot. He spent most of his time at Addy’s side, being her little helper. That was one sure thing about Andrew, he was always ready to give you a
hand. You just had to ask.
When Aiden and Andrew registered for their first year at UT, Addy decided it was time to go back to school as well. She had finally healed enough to be able to handle being a social worker, and our two youngest boys were following in her footsteps. Andrew became a social worker as well, and Aiden became an attorney to represent the children in the system. He didn’t want what had happened to his older sisters, Gabby and Genny, to happen to anyone else. Much to our amusement, the boys married a set of identical twin sisters, Andrea and Adrian, which made for some interesting family photos.
Giulie went from bugs to organisms. She studied hard and became a microbiologist. She met a guy named Marvin Yelets while still in college. He was studying to be an entomologist. Yes, he was as nerdy as he sounded and thought my daughter’s knowledge of bugs was hot. At least he loved her for her brain, and she loved him for his in return. They were married their third year in college and lived geekily ever after.
Grace could have danced with any dance company in the world. She was amazingly talented and passionate about dancing. You could just see it and feel it when she was on stage. Of course, the only stage she ever performed on was the one at our new YMCA, where she taught classes to children of all ages. Her husband, Lance, an injured veteran, had watched her dance for months from the studio window, as he worked out at the center to regain his mobility. He finally got up the courage to speak to her, and they found their soul mates in each other.
Abraham graduated from high school and announced he was going into the police academy. I didn’t think it was a real surprise, but I would swear Daniel wiped a tear from his eye. Abraham was a wonderful cop, and I was not just saying that because he didn’t write me a ticket. He had a big heart and a clear outlook on life. He was great at defusing situations. I knew he had gotten that from his Grandpa Daniel. Daniel let us know he was grooming Abraham to take over as sheriff when he retired, and we couldn’t have been prouder of him. He still liked to roughhouse, though, but his wife, Celeste, whom he had met at the policy academy, kept him in line.
Genny, my little artist, we had spent most of our dates collecting things for her art, and it took her far. Her booth at the swap meet turned into a booth at a craft fair and eventually an art show. She didn’t go to UT, but to an art school in California. She had saved up all her money from her work and was able to pay her own way. She and Abraham had passed their scholarships on to Aiden and Andrew.
Genny met an artist named Maverick. I didn’t like him, until she brought him home to help with the construction of the YMCA. He introduced himself as John Madison and swore John was what his friends called him. The name Maverick was his agent’s idea. He thought the construction and work on the YMCA was art itself. I thought he was full of crap, but he ended up painting several inspired pieces honoring it. He and Genny designed and painted murals and taught an art class there on the weekends. He asked if he could marry my daughter a year after I had first met him. Luckily for him, Addy was beside me and just hugged him, while I pulled myself together enough to say yes.
Gabby would always be my hell raiser. She went to school to be a teacher and fell in love with a man whose parents didn’t approve of her, since she was not from a family with status. Her senior year of college, she became pregnant and came home to have her baby as soon as she graduated. To his credit, Nathan wised up and followed her.
I had to admit, the boy obviously loved my little girl, but I didn’t like his snooty family. Turned out he didn’t, either, and ignored their threats to cut him off. He and Gabby married and moved into the home Mrs. Baker had left us when she had passed away. They now had three kids. They were poor but happy. Nathan worked with me, and I was grooming him to take over the family business, when I did decide to finally retire.
Now Adam, I didn’t think anyone would have ever imagined the little boy I had taken in at the worst time in my life would have turned out to be the most powerful. He went to UT and majored in Political Science. He served in the governor’s office right off and worked his way up. He helped us get funding for the YMCA and pulled strings to make sure we had the land and permits. He was the most loving and down to earth politician you would ever hope to meet, and his wife, Caroline, was just as sweet. They were always looking for a way to give people a hand up.
With the help of the family, he ran for Governor and won. Genny designed his campaign posters and gained national recognition. It was pretty funny that once Adam became Governor, Gabby’s in-laws suddenly wanted to rub shoulders with our family. Adam just politely forgot to mail their invitations to the Governor’s events. They eventually ended up blacklisted from all major society events, because word had gotten around how badly they had behaved, and everyone knew and loved the Martin’s.
I mean don’t you?
Our family never did get rich, though everyone was doing well for themselves. We never adopted any more children. As our kids went away to school and our nest emptied, we did occasionally offer temporary foster care, when Ms. Jordan would come to us between a rock and a hard place, needing emergency help. I was proud of all my kids, because they all did the same, having firsthand knowledge of the need for good foster homes. Between the kids they had adopted and the ones they had all had, we now had eight grandkids, no doubt with more on the way. Yeah, eight was a good number after all.
My Addy was still as beautiful as ever, even though her hair, like mine, was lighter than it used to be, little streaks of silver making it glow, as we sat on the porch swing in the moonlight. I reached for her hand, and she took mine in hers, as we swung slowly back and forth.
“You ever wish your life had been different?” she asked quietly, deep in thought.
“There are some things I think I’d rather not have had to go through at the time they happened, but no, I don’t wish anything had been different now. Everything that happened brought us here, and here is pretty wonderful,” I answered her. “What about you?”
“Same. I wouldn’t want anything to be different than it is right now,” she smiled softly at me, and I pulled her closer, wrapping my arm around her shoulder, as we continued to swing.
I couldn’t think of a thing I wanted that I didn’t already have, and I had the woman in my arms to thank for it all. Yeah, my life was pretty wonderful indeed.
THE END
Home Is Wherever You Are Page 30
