by Sherie Keys
Delphine stared at it as she turned in a circle, taking it all in. “This is amazing! It’s perfect!”
“I know, right!” Justin was thrilled to see that she liked it as much as he did.
“We can definitely renovate this and do some updating work, and it will be functional as a greenhouse in no time! Then we can use the inside of the warehouse for shaded and cooling areas, as well as storage of seasonal plants! This is so perfect!” She was beaming and practically giddy.
Laughing out loud, she clapped her hands together and turned to face Justin. “I’m so glad that you got this! I’m so, so, so happy that you did this and didn’t wait for me! Great job, honey!” She rushed to him then, and they embraced in their excitement.
“Now, we just have to get Commissioner Pain In The Ass to sign off on our bids for property development, and we’ll be in the clear to move forward!” Justin said with a half laugh, half groan.
“We’ll get him. Don’t you worry about that.” Delphine grinned.
“With you on the case, I have no doubt!” He gave her shoulders a squeeze, and they walked back through the warehouse to the car.
“So, now that we have the place, we need to talk about renovation plans. I did insist on waiting for your return before we got to that. I was fine with taking the leap of faith to sign off on the place since we found it and there was an investor willing to pay for it for us, but I was adamant that we wait until you got back before we did anything with it. Not a single speck of dust has been touched,” he assured her as they began to drive away from it.
“You want me to start on the renovation plans?” Delphine asked, turning her dark eyes to him.
“Yes, if you would, please. You have the best head for that. I’d be glad to give you some ideas and input. We need them soon though. The investor is ready to get going on the renovations, and since he’s paying for them, we are kind of on his schedule.” Justin gave her a sympathetic look.
Delphine frowned slightly. “Who is this investor you’ve found? What do we know about him?”
“Oh, he’s great. A real good guy. I think you’ll like him. We’re meeting with him soon. I’ll double check scheduling with both of you, but it needs to be asap, so get started on the renovation plans as soon as you can and let me know when you have time to meet with him.” Justin gave her a smile. “Trust me.”
“I do trust you. It’s everyone else that I’m careful about,” Delphine told him with a smirk.
Justin dropped Delphine off at her brownstone home, and as she stood outside of it, looking up the short flight of stairs to her front door, she felt slightly odd and out of place. Part of her was relieved to be home, and part of her was disappointed that the fairytale fantasy daydream had truly come to an end once and for all. It was as if once she walked through the front door of her home, she would be permanently closing the door on the incredible experience she had had in Portugal. It was like a fading sunset over the sea, and she was at the part where the colors became muted by the night.
With a sigh, she walked up to the front door and let herself in. She set her keys on the little table by the door and set her bags by the staircase. She hung her purse on the coat rack and looked down at the answering machine on the long, narrow table in the hallway. She was one of the last people that she knew with a real answering machine. There were two messages on it for her. She pressed the button and listened as she slipped her shoes off.
“Hello, this message is for Delphine Bishop. This is Beth Downey from social services. Please call me back at your earliest convenience.” Beth rattled off her phone number twice, and the machine beeped. Delphine stared at it.
“Hey baby, this is Mike. I came by the house, but you weren’t home. I don’t know where you are, but I think we should talk. Call me back. Love you, babe.” The machine beeped again. She gave the answering machine a dirty look and deleted his message. She didn’t want to hear from him, especially after just having come back from such an extraordinary time in Portugal.
Jotting down Beth Downey’s phone number, she called the woman and wondered what in the world she could possibly be calling about.
“This is Beth Downey,” she answered after a few rings.
“Hello Beth, this is Delphine Bishop. You left a message for me. I’m sorry, I was out of town, and I just now heard it. What can I do for you?” she asked, curious about why the woman had called her.
“Oh, yes. Ms. Bishop. Thank you so much for getting back to me. You came into social services a couple of weeks ago and put in an application to adopt an orphan. I’m the social worker who received your application and processed it. You were approved immediately for a trial run, and we’ve got a child match for you. There’s a young boy, eight years old. He’s been in the orphanage for a while, and he needs a good home and a family. I was hoping that you could come down today to meet him.”
Delphine stood stock still. She had completely forgotten that she had gone off to social services in a rush of emotion and broken heartedness and submitted an application to adopt an orphan. Her memories came flooding back into her mind, and her mouth fell open as her hand moved up to cover it. Her mind and her heart reeling, she tried to take a deep breath and couldn’t get the air in all the way.
“Ms. Bishop? Would today work for you? He’s really a sweet boy. His name is Oliver. I can have him here any time this afternoon. Is that okay?” Beth sounded as if she was optimistically hopeful.
“Uh… um… yes. Yes, I guess I can come over this afternoon,” Delphine stammered, trying to wrap her mind around the situation. “I… I guess I’m a little surprised. I just got back from my trip, and I wasn’t expecting this call so soon. I’m sorry.”
“Is it a problem, Ms. Bishop?” Beth’s tone hinged on disappointment.
“A problem? No… no, of course not. It’s not a problem at all. This just seems to have gone through really, really quickly.” Delphine tried to force a smile onto her face as she reached her hand to hold the railing of the staircase. “I’m just surprised. It’s fine. Really, it’s perfectly fine. I’ll be down about four this afternoon, if that works. Okay?”
“That’s wonderful! I’ll make sure Oliver is here. So, the way this works is that if you and he get on at this meeting, you would take him home with you right away, and he would stay on a trial basis for one month. During the month, we come in to check on you both and make sure that the match will work for you both. At the end of the month, if it’s going well, you can make the adoption final.” Beth sounded pleased.
“Very good. I’ll see you at four,” Delphine agreed, and she ended the call, setting the phone down as if she was in a trance.
“An eight-year-old?” she whispered to herself. “An eight-year-old? What was I thinking?” She covered her face with her hands and sighed heavily. Reaching for her cell phone, she swiped her finger over the screen and held the phone to her ear with a trembling hand.
“Did you forget something in my car?” Justin asked with a light laugh.
“I am getting an eight-year-old,” she said it, not really believing the words that came out of her own mouth.
“You… you what? What did you just say?” Justin asked, sounding as if he knew he had misheard her.
“Remember the day you came over with the ice cream and the wine, and we did the masks, and I told you that I had gone down to an adoption agency to see about adopting a kid?” Her words came out in a rush, almost like a river of disbelief flowing from her lips.
“Yes…” he trailed off, listening to her intently.
“Well, I turned in my application, and then I forgot all about it. I got all wrapped up in the trip, and I didn’t give it a second thought. It seems that the application went through while I was gone, and some woman named Beth just called me from social services and told me that there’s an eight-year-old boy who is waiting to meet me this afternoon. I’m supposed to go see if we’re a good match, and if we are then I bring him home this afternoon. Justin, I’m probably g
oing to have a kid this afternoon.” Delphine’s voice was growing louder as the gravity of what she had done began to lodge itself in her mind and heart.
“Honey, you have to calm down. It isn’t a permanent situation right now, is it?” Justin asked evenly, trying to be some kind of voice of reason.
“No. I guess I have him for a month, and they check on us and see if it’s good for each of us, and if it is then we become official,” she answered as her heart nearly pounded itself out of her body.
“Okay, so take this a step at a time. You’re meeting him today, you try it out for a month, if you think it’s not a good fit, then take him back,” Justin spoke calmly.
“Justin! He’s not a pair of jeans! It isn’t like you try them on and take them home and then decide that they’re not the right jeans, so you take them back and exchange them or get a refund! He’s a child! A small human person! He has a brain and feelings and a life in an orphanage! This is going to be huge for him, trying to see if he can fit into a family with me! What in the hell did I just get myself into?” Delphine’s voice was much louder.
“I think you just got yourself into motherhood, which is what you wanted more than anything else. You wanted it enough to break up with your boyfriend of a year and a half,” Justin reminded her gently.
She sighed and closed her eyes, holding her hand to her forehead. “You’re right. I do want that. I did go into the adoption office with every intention of offering my home to a child. I just didn’t think it would… happen so fast. I guess I didn’t… think. I was running on pure emotion. Oh, and Mike called while I was out of town, too. He wants me to call him back.” She groaned, and her shoulders slumped.
“Don’t call Mike. Go meet the kid and give it a chance. It might work out. Do you want me to go with you?” Justin offered helpfully.
“No,” Delphine spoke softly. “I’ll go do it on my own. You can meet him soon. I think today it would be best if it was just him and me. What in the world was I thinking?”
“You were thinking with your heart. Now, follow it and go meet the kid. Then, call me later, and let’s meet up. I love you,” Justin told her, and she could hear a kind smile in his voice.
“I seriously don’t know what I’d do without you,” she said, resigning herself to the fact that she was going to go meet a child that she might be adopting.
“Well, let’s hope you never have to find out. Talk soon, good luck.” He blew her a kiss and ended the call.
Leaning her back against the front door, she looked heavenward, and a shallow laugh escaped her. “Well, I wanted to be a mom. Now, I’ve got my chance.” She sighed, reaching for her purse and the doorknob.
Chapter8
Delphine walked into Beth Downey’s office and stopped short for a moment in the doorway. There on a chair, sitting so far back that his feet were dangling, was a small, thin boy with short curly black hair, dark skin, and big brown eyes. He looked up at her through a thick fringe of black eyelashes and bit at his lower lip.
In his arms, he held a tattered teddy bear. His blue and green striped t-shirt looked a little too big, and as if it had seen better days. His torn jeans were too short for his legs, leaving a view of his skin above the line of his droopy socks and worn out, scuffed tennis shoes. The sole of one of his shoes had separated from the shoe and was tattered at the end.
The boy closed his fingers tighter around the bear and kept his eyes locked on Delphine. She saw so much about him in that first moment, and it made her heart break to see any child in such a state. Putting her best smile on and ignoring her racing heart, she walked over to him and knelt beside his chair so that they were eye level.
“Hi, you must be Oliver. Right? I’m Delphine. It’s really nice to meet you.” She held her hand out to him, and the boy hesitated a moment, searching her face with his rounded dark eyes, but then he let go of the bear with one hand and reached out to shake her hand.
“It’s nice to meet you,” he said in a very small voice.
“I’m Beth.” The woman sitting behind the desk stood up and gave Delphine a smile. She was a rotund woman with big arms, a big neck, and a big face, but Delphine strongly suspected that she had an even bigger heart. Beth’s straight brown hair was parted in the middle and fell to her shoulders where there was a bit of an under curl, and her glasses were out of date and worn, but her eyes were kind and her wide smile was welcoming. Delphine liked her right away.
“Hello, Beth. Thank you for calling me in today,” Delphine replied.
Beth nodded, and they shook hands before Beth walked around the desk and stood beside Oliver. “So, this is our young man. He’s been living in an orphanage in Harlem, and he’s had a rough time of it, but he’s a good kid. He hasn’t gotten into trouble, and when he can be in school, he gets good grades. He gets along with the other kids in the orphanage really well. He doesn’t have any health problems, though I think he could stand to eat a little more.” She gave the boy a smile and a wink.
One corner of Oliver’s mouth went up into an almost smile, and he nodded, glancing up at Beth.
“We’ve been trying to find the right home for him for a long time, but older kids are harder to place. We were so glad when you came in a few weeks ago and I’m lucky that one of the other workers who would normally have gotten your file is out of the office on a family emergency. I got your file because I’m taking her workload, and when I saw your application, Oliver came right to mind. He seems to have somehow fallen through the cracks of the system here. So, this will be his first home experience.” Beth smiled encouragingly at them both.
Delphine sat in a chair near Oliver. “Well, I’m glad to give it a try. Do you have any questions for me, Oliver? Is there anything that you want to know?”
Oliver bit at his lip again and then slowly raised his eyes to meet hers. “Do you have other kids?” His voice was still as small as he was.
Delphine’s heart pinched a bit. “No, but I want kids, which is why I came to the adoption agency.”
“Are you married?” he asked, seeming to grow a little more curious about her as he held fast to his teddy bear.
She shook her head. “No, I’m afraid it’s just me. How do you feel about that?”
He blinked in surprise. “You want to know what I think about it?” he asked as if no one ever asked him for his opinion on anything.
Delphine tried to be supportive. “Well yes, of course. Your opinion would matter in all things. Your thoughts and your voice matter. You matter, Oliver.”
The boy looked nothing short of astounded. “Wow,” he said quietly. “Well, I guess it doesn’t matter to me if you’re married or not,” he said timidly. He was still clearly amazed that any adult cared what he thought, felt, or said.
Delphine made up her mind right then about the month trial period. Looking from Oliver to Beth and then back to Oliver, she spoke gently. “Oliver, I would very much like it if you came to stay with me for a month, and we could see how things work out, if we get along and if we would be a good fit for each other. What do you think, would you like to give it a try and come with me today?”
His big eyes seemed to grow wider, and he looked at Beth as if to ask permission. Beth nodded at him, and he turned his head back to Delphine with something like an actual, real smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.
“Yes, ma’am,” he answered quietly. He looked a tangle of uncertainty, hope, and anticipation.
“I’m so glad to hear that. I’m looking forward to getting to know you.” Delphine stood up, and Beth reached for a stack of papers on her desktop.
“I just need you to sign these… here, here, here, and there, and this one. Yes,” she said, shuffling through them as Delphine signed her name across every page. “And then, you’ll be all set.”
With a deep breath, Delphine turned to face Oliver. “Do you have your things with you?” she asked curiously.
He pushed himself up off of the chair and reached beside it, lifting a small dingy
pillow case that was half full. He closed his hand tightly around the end of it and held his teddy bear close with his other hand. Looking up at her, he nodded.
“Is that… is that all that you have?” Delphine asked, trying her best to stem the shock that ricocheted through her. She knew that it was important not to appear to be judgmental in any way in front of Oliver.
He looked a little worried for a moment and nodded. Delphine swallowed and gave him a big smile. “Well, all right then. If that’s it, then we’re ready to go!” She felt tension grip her, and she wondered how an eight-year-old boy could have nothing more in the wide world than half a pillowcase of belongings. She was certain that the clothes he was wearing were hand me downs and that he was probably wearing the best of whatever he had, but it seemed to her that the system was definitely failing the boy before her.
