“So, is Olivia going to have AHC donate money to this school?” Caleb asked.
“That’d be my bet,” Joshua answered. “I expected an anonymous donation from Chance to have already arrived by now.”
Caleb chuckled. “Yeah, no moss grows under that stone.”
“You’re one to talk! It took you and Leif less than four hours to buy out a sporting goods store after meeting Isabella.”
“Don’t you mean, after seeing such a worthy cause?” Caleb said, in his military commander voice.
“Nope, I said what I meant,” Joshua replied calmly, his eyes unwavering even as Caleb glared back at him steadily.
“This playground was in dire need of a renovation,” Caleb stated.
“I’m not disagreeing.” Joshua shrugged.
“This school has been passed over in the district’s budgets for maintenance repeatedly.”
“I agree.” Again, Joshua’s tone was mild.
“The kids are really enjoying the improvements,” Caleb pointed out.
“They sure are.” Joshua smiled.
“Fuck you, Parker,” Caleb said disgustedly. Joshua laughed.
“You know the building could really do with some renovations as well, but somehow I’m thinking you and Leif have already noticed that,” Joshua said as he continued to chuckle. Caleb began gathering up his tools and heading toward his truck, ignoring Joshua.
* * * *
When they got home that night, Ian called and they put him on speaker.
“How did it go at the school? Were they all sorry to see you go?” Ian asked.
“When are you coming home?” Olivia asked, totally ignoring his question about the school. There was a long pause.
“Fine, if you don’t want to answer the question,” Ian sighed. “Someone did hack into the AHC server. I’m going to be working on this over the weekend. It was a professional job. It’s going to take me three to four days to trace it back, so I’ll be here waiting for you both when you arrive for the board meeting.” Joshua watched Olivia clench both of her fists as she looked at the cell phone lying on the coffee table.
“Okay, Ian, I know you’ll be careful. Do what you have to do,” Olivia said.
“Joshua, are you still there?” Ian asked.
“Yeah…” Joshua answered carefully.
“Where’s Olivia?” Ian asked. “Some other woman was pretending to be Olivia. I knew it was an imposter, because the real Olivia would have told me I had to catch the next plane home,” Ian said in a teasing voice.
“Look, Buster, I’m trying to learn to control my controlling side—pun intended! But if you give me too much of a hard time, you’ll think Sherman just went to Atlanta for a glass of sweet tea, you got it?” Both men laughed.
“Ian, does this mean that somebody was physically on-site to have executed this hack?” Joshua asked.
“Being on-site definitely would have made the job easier. I pulled the tapes of the AHC floor corridors for the last couple of weeks. I’ve asked Adam to review them for people he doesn’t recognize. I’ve also given him the pictures of the two guys caught on video assaulting Olivia three months ago. If someone came in to mess with the servers, they could have just inserted some software on one day then removed it on the next. They wouldn’t necessarily have to be someone with a lot of techno savvy,” Ian explained. “Therefore, all three of our suspects are still in the running.”
“Are you still planning on trying to lie low? Or, does the fact that you’re there at AHC rather than InfoDyne mean that everyone knows you’re investigating things?” Olivia asked.
“I’m lying as low as I can at AHC, but pretty much everyone has guessed that I’m an investigator. I’m just praying that in the three days I’m here, I don’t cross paths with anyone related to InfoDyne. I shouldn’t, because I’m staying in the room with the servers, but you never know.”
“I was just thinking that you and Leif could stay at my condo while you were in Boston,” Olivia offered.
“I appreciate it, but we have a place we like that allows us to come and go at odd hours without anybody really giving us any sideways looks. However, as soon as your ass is in Boston, my ass will be sleeping right beside it. I miss you, Livvy.” Ian’s voice was husky.
“I miss you too, Ian. Stay safe.”
“I will. You, too.”
“I intend to,” she promised.
* * * *
“I’d feel a lot better if Caleb could come along,” Joshua said for the third time.
“I get that, but we’re only allowed to bring three people to visit Christopher,” Sam repeated for the third time. “Olivia is the one who wanted to see him. As the social worker, I’m non-negotiable, so it was either you or Caleb, and you said you were non-negotiable.” Sam dragged his hand across the nape of his neck, a sure sign that Joshua was beginning to annoy him.
“Sorry, man,” Joshua said. He looked into the back seat of the SUV where Olivia was sitting. She was looking out the window, doing her best to tune out the conversation. He didn’t blame her.
“Don’t sweat it. If it were Josie, I would be just as anxious,” Sam commiserated. Joshua glanced back at Olivia again. He prayed that Christopher was doing better than the picture Sam painted when he had picked them up that afternoon. Apparently, despite the reputation of the family that he was staying with, Christopher wasn’t responding positively. He wasn’t eating and he was having nightmares. It reminded Joshua of the state Olivia had been in just over a week ago, when he and Ian had descended on her in Boston. Sam and the Rhodes family were hoping that Olivia would be able to help break through to Christopher.
“How is everybody at your house holding up? Is it tough being on lockdown?” Joshua asked Sam.
“Not really. I don’t think we realized how busy the three of us have been. We have all been juggling our schedules so that someone is always with Lissa, but it’s been a long time since all four of us have been together. In some ways, this has really been a great thing for us,” Sam admitted. “Especially for Chance.”
“Why for Chance?” Joshua asked.
“Since he works from home, Josie and I have just taken him for granted. We always knew he would be there to take care of Lissa, and he never really gets a break. He’s really taken on the main role of parenting, and we didn’t even realize it. We’ve had some really great fights since Josie and I have started working from home, too.”
“Jesus, Sam, only you would say they were really great fights!” Joshua exclaimed.
“Well, they have been,” he said defensively. “Chance is upbeat all the time, but he needed to get this stuff off his chest. When Josie and I realized there was something wrong, it took days of us picking at him before he finally blew. Oh, my God, the fireworks!” Sam whistled. Olivia laughed from the backseat.
“Chance hardly ever loses his temper!” Olivia agreed.
“Yeah, but when he does it’s truly a sight to behold,” Sam said in awe. “Josie and I figured out how to take better care of him, instead of letting him do all of the caretaking like he wants to do. So, nothing personal, Olivia, but you being in danger has really helped to strengthen our marriage.”
Joshua loved watching Olivia throw back her head in laughter.
“Glad I could be of help, Sammy,” she said, calling her brother by his childhood nickname. He just grinned at her in the rearview mirror.
“Do you have any idea why Christopher isn’t doing well?” Olivia asked Sam.
“No idea at all. We’re really hoping he opens up to you. I told the Rhodeses that you were the one who got him talking at the school. If you can’t get him to open up, we’re going to have to get him in to a psychologist and possibly move him to another home.” Olivia groaned.
“What?” Joshua asked.
“It’s just that moving kids from home to home, even for their own best interest, just starts to eat away at their feeling of security. Even if the next home is a better fit, now they’re scared that they
can be taken away because it has happened to them. Therefore, they are even less likely to bond.”
“Did that ever happen to either of you?” Joshua asked, knowing that both of them had been in the foster care system.
“No, both of us were first placed with Butch and Betty, but other children who came to the Hutchinses had been placed in other homes first, so we got to see their problems. How much longer before we get there?” Olivia asked.
“About twenty minutes,” Sam said. Olivia pressed her head against the window again, watching the trees pass by. The car was silent, and finally Sam turned on the radio to a classic-rock station.
The evergreens had thinned out by the time they arrived. The landscape was mostly just green rolling grassland, punctuated with occasional fences and cows. The Rhodeses’ house was located about forty yards from the road, and had a golden retriever running in the fenced-in yard. As they pulled up in the drive, a young woman came out onto the porch, calling to the dog, which immediately came to her side.
Sam, Olivia, and Joshua exited the car and waved to the woman, who waved and smiled back.
“Hi, I’m Yolanda Rhodes, and this is Goldy,” she said, referring to the dog. As they trooped up the porch, Sam bent down to pet the dog, which wagged his tail in delight. “I know, Goldy the golden retriever is quite the stretch. But we let our daughter name him, and there you have it.” Yolanda grinned.
“Come on in, I know it was a long drive. Kira and Christopher are out back. I’ll pour you some ice tea or sodas and fill you in before you go see Christopher,” she said.
They followed her into a nicely furnished ranch-style house. She sat them down at the dining-room table, off the kitchen. Both rooms had great views of the backyard, so the children could be easily supervised.
“What would you like to drink?” she asked.
Joshua looked at Sam and Olivia, who shrugged, and said, “Iced tea sounds good for all of us.”
Olivia looked outside, and saw that Christopher was playing croquet with a little girl about his age, but he didn’t seem to be really enjoying the game. She watched as the girl showed him how to use the mallet, and it was the second time she had showed him since Olivia had come into the dining room. He seemed listless compared to the animated little girl.
“Have you fostered children before, Yolanda?” Olivia asked the young woman.
“Oh, yes. This is the fourth child we’ve taken into our home. My husband’s cousin grew up in the foster care system, and it wasn’t always a good situation for him. One of the things we discussed before getting married was the fact that Rick wanted to do this, and I totally supported him. So far we have been transitional foster parents, but when Sam told us about Christopher, he seemed like a child we could permanently foster.”
“What’s a transitional foster parent?” Joshua asked.
“Sometimes before a permanent situation can be found for a child, rather than put them into a group home, they will find a family that will take a child for a limited amount of time, knowing it’s temporary. We’ve done that with three other children.” Yolanda continued, “This time we wanted to look into permanently fostering a child, and from everything that Sam explained there is very little likelihood of Christopher’s father or any of his relatives who will take him, so he is a good candidate to move from fostering to adoption, which we are very willing to do.”
“That would be wonderful!” Olivia enthused.
“That’s what we thought, as well,” Yolanda said as she brought the iced tea to the table. “However, Christopher doesn’t seem to be adapting well, at all. We can’t seem to get through to him. Usually, if we can’t reach a child, then our daughter can, or Goldy can. He just isn’t responding to anything. When Sam explained he had formed a bond with you at the school, we were excited at the prospect of you coming for a visit, Olivia.”
“I hope I can help, but I’m kind of at a loss. I thought when he left the school with Sam that he was open to living in a new home.”
“So did I, Olivia,” Sam agreed.
“I’ll call him in,” Yolanda said as she got up to go to the sliding door.
“No, that’s all right. I think I’ll go out and see if they’ll let me join the game,” Olivia said. She went to the door, and the three of them watched as she approached the children. They couldn’t hear what was said, but Kira gave an enthusiastic nod and ran off to get another mallet and ball, while Christopher just stood there and stared at her. Finally, Olivia got down on her knees so they were of comparable height. Joshua had seen her do something similar at the school.
When Kira came back with the mallet and ball, Olivia said something and the girl left him with Olivia and headed into the house.
“Hey, Mom.” The girl greeted her mother as she slid open the door. “Can I have a sandwich?”
“Sure, honey, do you think Christopher is going want one too?” Yolanda asked.
“Dunno. Hi, my name’s Kira,” she said, looking at the two men at the table. Sam and Joshua looked at one another, charmed by the little girl who showed no fear at meeting two strangers.
“Hi, Kira, my name is Sam.” Sam held out his hand to shake it. Kira shook his hand and then held out her hand to Joshua.
“It’s good to meet you, Kira. I’m Joshua,” Joshua said.
“It’s good to meet you,” she said, repeating him. Then she bounded back to her mother to see what she was getting for lunch. Joshua and Sam turned their attention back to Olivia and Christopher and saw that they were still talking. Sam took that as a good sign. Finally Olivia got off her knees, and Christopher took her hand and they both started to walk solemnly back into the house. Yolanda was just putting Kira’s grilled-cheese sandwich on the table when she saw the pair, sliding the door open.
“Should Kira go to her room?” she asked.
“No, this concerns Kira, I think it would be great if she stays, Yolanda. We just have a misunderstanding we need to clear up,” Olivia said with a soft smile. Joshua watched as that smile put Yolanda at ease.
“Kira, honey, I have a question to ask you. Is that okay?” Olivia asked in an easygoing tone. Kira smiled around her mouthful of grilled cheese and nodded her head, her brown curls bobbing.
“Do you remember telling Christopher about the other children who stayed here before, but they left?” Everyone watched as she took a long swallow of milk and wiped her mouth with her sleeve.
“Kira Lee, use your napkin, please,” Yolanda admonished. Kira picked up her napkin and wiped her clean mouth.
“Yeah, I told him how all those other kids got taken away from us.” Everyone heard Yolanda’s sharp intake of breath, and they saw Christopher solemnly nod his head.
“Did you tell him why they got taken away, Kira?” Olivia asked.
“No, I didn’t know why. I just know they got taken away. I was sad. I really liked Teddy. He and I played croquet just like Christopher, but Teddy played better than Christopher.”
“Oh, Kira, I told you when they came to stay with us they would only be here for a little while, that they had to go live with a permanent mommy and daddy.”
“But I wanted them to stay,” Kira said, her bottom lip trembling, tears threatening. Yolanda went around the table to hug her daughter.
“Oh, sweetheart, it was like we were just having sleepovers. Your daddy and I told you, they were going to have to go away.”
“Like Christopher!” Kira accused.
“No, not like Christopher,” Yolanda said. “Remember Kira, your daddy and I told you that we were hoping Christopher might get to be your forever brother.”
“How do you know for sure I won’t be taken away?” Christopher finally spoke.
Yolanda looked up at the three other adults in the room, clearly at a loss. Sam immediately spoke up.
“Christopher, my job is to put kids like you with families. Me, and people like me, are the ones who take kids like Teddy away. Kira, do you want to know why we probably took Teddy away? Christopher
, do you want to know why?” Sam waited until both children nodded.
“It could have been that Teddy’s real mommy and daddy got better and wanted or needed him to come home. Or, it could be that another family wanted to make a permanent home for Teddy, and your mom and dad couldn’t right then. Sometimes we need people like your mom and dad to provide a temporary home, until we can find a permanent home. When we say ‘temporary home,’ we mean like a substitute home, just like Miss Olivia was a substitute teacher for Miss Belinda. She took Miss Belinda’s place until Miss Belinda could come back. That’s what we mean by ‘temporary home.’ It’s a substitute home until we can find one for all the time. That’s really important, and we told Teddy this was a temporary home. Honest.”
“But you didn’t tell me it was a temporary home,” Christopher said, his voice an accusing sob. Yolanda left her daughter’s side immediately to hug the little boy.
“That’s because we want this to be your permanent, all-the-time home, Christopher. We never ever want you to leave. We want you to live here with us forever, son,” she said as tears slid down her face.
“For real?” the little boy said, searching her face for a lie.
“I cross my heart,” Yolanda said.
“I want to live here. I like it here a whole lot,” the child admitted.
“I want you to live here forever, too. I can teach you to play croquet better,” Kira said. “Mom, can you make Christopher a grilled cheese, too?”
“Christopher, would you like a grilled-cheese sandwich?” she asked.
“And some cookies?” he asked hopefully.
“And lots of cookies,” she promised. She looked over at the other adults in the room with a huge smile on her face.
“Mom, I want cookies, too!” Kira self-advocated.
“You’ll get cookies, too,” Yolanda promised. “Does anyone else want a grilled cheese sandwich or cookies?” Yolanda asked.
Protecting Olivia [Fate Harbor 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Page 24
