by Zoe Matthews
“We are allowing the children eight and older to make the decision whether they want to go with a family. If they feel uncomfortable in any way, we will not force them to go. The final decision is theirs. There will be a one-year waiting period between child placement and legal adoption. We will be sending out a representative a few times in the next year to check on the children. If at any time we feel dissatisfied with the child’s care, we will remove the child from the home. Please be aware that even though this is rare, it has happened.”
Mr. Carver paused in his speaking to pull a handkerchief from his pocket to wipe perspiration from his neck and brow.
“In order to avoid mass confusion, we will call each name that has a letter of recommendation in random order. Once a choice has been made, please move over to where my wife is sitting and she will help you complete the paperwork.” He pointed to a table that had been set up to one side of the room with Mrs. Carver sitting behind it.
Lydia’s heart sunk even further when she realized how they were choosing the families to come to the stage. She waited anxiously, but just as the Town Council had warned her and Clinton, the two available babies were placed almost immediately.
“I would like to go home,” she whispered to Clinton, trying to stop the tears from gathering in her eyes. “We’ve lost our chance to adopt a baby.”
Clinton stood up and led Lydia off to the side of the room where they could talk without being overheard. He turned her to face him, placing his hands on both of her shoulders. He looked at her very seriously.
“I would like you to consider something.” He looked directly into her eyes. “Would you consider adopting an older child?”
Lydia started to shake her head in denial of his request, but something in his eyes stopped her. She could tell he desperately wanted this. He wanted to add a child to their lives. She reminded herself that this likely would be the last chance she could have to be a mother. Hoping she was making the right decision for herself, for Clinton, and for the child they might adopt, she nodded her head in the affirmative.
Clinton’s eyes lit up with joy and drew her close in a hug. Lydia had learned to treasure his hugs. When he hugged, he did it with his whole heart.
“I will let you choose the child you will be comfortable with,” he promised her.
“No, we will choose the child together.”
Suddenly, they heard their names called, and they turned and walked towards the stage. Most of the younger children had already been placed. Her eyes were drawn to a young boy who looked to be around eight years of age. He was very scruffy looking. His clothes looked too large for him and his hair desperately needed a good cut, but when she caught his eye, he smiled shyly at her. She walked towards him, leaving Clinton to follow.
“What is your name?” she asked him. He looked down and did not answer.
“His name is James, ma’am,” an older boy said who was sitting next to him. “He’s my younger brother.”
“Oh, my,” Lydia said. The young boy had a brother. The last thing she wanted to do was split up two brothers.
“Are there just the two of you?” Clinton asked the older boy and he nodded. “What is your name?”
They learned that the older boy was named Joseph. He was ten years old and his brother, James, was six.
Lydia and Clinton talked to the two boys for a while. They learned that their last name was Gray. They had been living in the orphanage for a little over a year. Joseph answered most of their questions willingly enough, but when Lydia gently questioned him about his parents, he refused to talk about them.
Lydia finally stood back and watched as Clinton interacted with the two boys and she instantly knew that they should try to adopt both boys. When Clinton looked at her to see what she was thinking, she pulled him aside and whispered, “Let’s take both of them. They shouldn’t be split up.”
Clinton nodded his head in agreement and walked over to Mr. Carter to see if that would be an option because their papers said they could only adopt one child. He soon received permission to adopt both. The two boys agreed to come with them and James seemed very interested in the idea of living on a ranch with cows and horses. Joseph didn’t seem to show any emotion, although he readily agreed to live with them.
The paperwork for the two boys was soon finished and the four of them walked out of the Town hall as a new family. They quickly spent some time in the General store and purchased a few complete changes of clothes for both boys.
****
Lydia helped Clinton load the wagon with their purchases and then he helped the boys climb into the back. James had started to talk more, so Lydia could tell that he was starting to feel comfortable with his new situation. Joseph was polite, but distant. He only talked when he was spoken to. It seemed to Lydia that he was not happy with his new circumstances.
On the way to the ranch, Clinton and Lydia did their best to get to know their new sons. They asked them what they liked to do, what their favorite food was, what they enjoyed doing the most at the orphanage. James always answered their questions with detailed answers. Joseph answered them only when pressed. Lydia hoped that in a few days he would feel more comfortable with them.
At the ranch, Clinton dropped them off at the front of the house and Mrs. Young came out of the house to greet the new arrivals. She had been very supportive and excited to have a child around the ranch again, and she expressed her happiness when she learned that they had adopted two older children. Mrs. Young had raised three children of her own, but they had all moved away from Maple Grove. When her husband died, she decided to sell her home, and take the job Clinton had offered her as housekeeper and cook for Clinton’s family.
James took to Mrs. Young immediately. When she offered cookies and milk for a snack, he took her hand and willingly followed her. Joseph’s eyes showed interest in the idea of cookies, but he immediately stifled it. Lydia noticed that he did follow Mrs. Young, though. When both boys were in the house, Lydia turned to pick up some of the purchases.
“Life is going to be very different,” she commented to Clinton with a smile. “I hope Joseph is going to like it here. He seems so reserved.”
“We just need to give him time. He’ll adjust.” Clinton picked up the last box and nodded to a hired hand who offered to take care of the wagon and horses. He followed Lydia into the house.
They walked into the kitchen and set their purchases on the table. Lydia started to put some food that they had bought away, while Clinton sat down at the table with the boys to enjoy a cookie. When they were done with the snack, Lydia turned to them.
“Would you like to see your rooms?” she asked the boys.
James jumped up, showing excitement with the idea of seeing something new, but Joseph just sat there, looking very hesitant to follow.
“You know,“ Clinton drawled, staying at the table with Joseph. “If there is a problem or something is wrong, it is better to talk about it and let us know then sit and suffer in silence.”
Joseph nodded, showing that he understood. “Would be okay if James and I shared a room?”
“Of course,“ Lydia agreed. “We have a room that has two beds. We can put you both in that room.”
Joseph almost smiled at her words and got up to follow them.
Lydia wanted to put them in a room that was close to her and Clinton’s room, but she did not want to put them in the room she had planned for a future baby. She was not quite ready to use that room for something else yet.
The room she led them to had two beds with a chest at the end of the beds to hold clothes. There were also hooks that lined a wall and bookshelves with a few children’s books on them. In fact, Clinton had placed some of his belongings in the room that he had had as a boy, like some of his toys and books as well as a few games. Lydia was already planning to make two new quilts for the beds in the near future.
When they entered the room, James immediately chose the bed closest to the window and sat on it, bouncing j
oyfully. Joseph placed a small bundle he had brought from the orphanage on the other bed.
“Would you like me to help unpack for you?” Lydia offered, but Joseph refused, putting his bundle under the pillow. She wondered what was in the bundle, yet knew she would need to be patient with Joseph, so she changed the subject.
“Maybe we can show you both around the ranch,” Lydia suggested and Clinton agreed with her.
“Yes, that’s a fine idea. We can show you the barn and some of the animals.”
“Will we get to see horses and cows?” James asked with excitement as he jumped off his bed and headed towards the doorway.
“Horses, cows, and other animals,” Clinton said. “Let’s go.” He led the boys from their bedroom, through the kitchen to the outdoors, with Lydia following.
CHAPTER 11
Lydia could tell Clinton enjoyed showing the boys around the ranch. They slowly walked towards the barn, and on their way, Clinton showed them the large vegetable garden. Lydia pulled some small carrots from the garden to let Joseph and James taste. James was fascinated with the idea that all the vegetables he had eaten his entire life really came from the ground instead of the grocer in a city. She could tell Joseph enjoyed the carrot because he ate the entire vegetable, but he did not say anything.
Clinton pointed to a large oak tree near the house and showed them the remains of a treehouse he had built when he was a boy.
“Can we fix it up?” James asked him. “How did you get clear up there?”
“There used to be pieces of wood that led up the truck to the tree house, kind of like a ladder,” Clinton explained. “Maybe we can work on making the house sturdy to play in.”
Again, James was the only one who expressed any type of excitement to the idea. Joseph just listened and looked around.
When they finally arrived at the barn, both boys hung back as Clinton showed them the large animals inside. There were a few horses and a cow in its own stall.
“I didn’t know cows were so large,” Joseph commented with fascination as he looked at the cow. Clinton had explained that this cow had cut its leg and was in the barn while the leg healed. Most of the time, the cows spent time out on the open range.
The cattle dog greeted Clinton and allowed the boys to pet her. She then laid down on a bed of straw in the corner of the barn.
“She’s due to have pups any day now,” Clinton told the boys. “She doesn’t really want to move around much.”
Lydia watched as James slowly walked up to one of their smaller horses. He seemed fascinated with all the animals that were in the barn, but he couldn’t take his eyes off the horse. It was a brown spotted Indian pony that Clinton kept around for some of the ranch hands’ children. It was a good horse to learn to ride on.
“Would you boys like to ride a horse?” Clinton questioned them.
“Yes!” James shouted and even Joseph showed interest even though he still did not say anything. The boys watched as Clinton led the horse out of her stall.
“What’s his name?” James asked.
“This horse is a girl. Her name is Butternut,” Clinton responded as he started to saddle her.
“That’s a weird name,” Joseph scoffed.
“I guess it is,” Clinton smiled at him. “This horse used to be owned by a family that lives on the other side of the valley. The kids probably named her. We just inherited the name.”
Lydia and the boys watched as Clinton finished saddling the horse. He led Butternut out of the barn. “Who wants to go first?”
“I do!” James shouted as he jumped up and down as if he could not contain his excitement.
Okay, then,” Clinton agreed and swung the boy up on the horse’s back. He led the horse around in a large circle all the while quietly giving instructions to James and cautioning him to sit still so he would not scare the horse. A few minutes later, Clinton let Joseph have a turn. After a while, he allowed Joseph to ride the horse on his own and Lydia noticed that he smiled the entire time.
After about an hour of horse riding, Clinton showed the boys how to care for the horse and saddle after a ride. Then they continued the tour of the ranch.
While they were walking towards a large herd of cattle that was held in a huge meadow surrounded by a fence, Joseph finally asked his first question.
“What are we supposed to call you?” he asked.
“Well, that’s a good question,” Clinton said. “I guess since you already had a pa and ma, those names have been taken?”
Joseph nodded as he shuffled along looking at the ground.
“Why don’t you call us by our given names for now?” Lydia suggested. “When you both feel more comfortable with us, maybe you could call us mom and dad. Those are different names than what you called your ma and pa.”
Joseph did not respond and Clinton changed the subject. “Do you want to see some baby calves?”
They spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around on the ranch. The boys were introduced to some of the ranch hands. They met the foreman, Devon, who was fixing a fence where some of the calves were kept. When they finally started to head back to the ranch house, they stopped at Emily’s small home and introduced the boys to Emily and her children.
The next day was Sunday and Lydia and Clinton took the boys to church that was located just outside of Maple Grove. Lydia could tell that Joseph and James were not used to sitting for a long periods since they both were very restless. She was glad then the sermon had finally ended and the boys could go outside because she had such a hard time keeping them still.
Lydia allowed the boys to run around for a while before they needed to head back to the ranch. She saw her good friend, Amanda, and discovered that she had been able to adopt a little girl named Grace. Craig Parker had adopted her brother, Jeremy. She was pleasantly surprised to hear Amanda and Craig had chosen to marry in order to keep the children together.
“I would like to hear the story about that decision,” Lydia exclaimed to her friend as she hugged her and expressed her congratulations.
“We felt it would be best not to separate them,” Amanda explained, but she blushed at Lydia’s words.
Lydia noticed Joseph talking to Jeremy. “You two obviously know each other,” she commented to Joseph.
“We slept in the same room at the orphanage,” Joseph explained.
“We should get our children together sometime soon,” Lydia suggested to Amanda.
“That’s a great idea,” Amanda agreed. “They can also see each other when school starts in the fall.”
The two women continued to talk while the boys started a small game of tag. Lydia noticed while they talked that Amanda kept glancing over at her new husband, Craig, who was talking with a group of men nearby. She blushed when Craig noticed, smiled at her, and winked. Lydia was glad that her friend was able to find happiness again.
CHAPTER 12
One morning, after the boys had been at the ranch for about a week, Lydia was in the kitchen helping Mrs. Young make breakfast. She had heard the boys talking as she walked past their room and she wanted to have everything ready before they came to eat. They had a busy day today and she wanted to get breakfast over quickly.
She planned on going over to Emily’s house with the boys to do some quilting. Joseph and James seemed to enjoy being around Emily’s children and playing with them, even though they were younger than the boys. She could tell that they were used to being around younger children, and she assumed it was because of living in the orphanage.
She looked up as the boys came in noisily and they both immediately sat at the table. They had dressed and she could tell they had washed their faces and combed their hair because water looked like it had dripped down the front of their shirts.
James felt comfortable living with them right away. He loved to go out to the barn and see the animals and was always asking permission to do so. The cattle dog had had puppies the day after they had come to the ranch, and he had already claimed o
ne for his own, with Clinton’s permission. The day before, he had spent the entire afternoon in the barn watching the mother dog taking care of her puppies and holding the puppy he had chosen, when she would let him.
Joseph was showing signs that he was feeling more comfortable around them, also, although he still was very quiet. He was a very serious boy, acting like a miniature adult, not a child. She hoped that, as he felt more comfortable living with them, he would start to act like the 10-year-old boy he was. He did not talk very much.
Lydia and Clinton had decided that they needed to find out what they could about their previous life and had planned to try to talk to Joseph alone today while James went to the barn to check on the puppies. They had already tried to talk to both of them, but Joseph had shown anger at their questions and had refused to let James answer.
