Chasing Down a Dream

  “I’ll get it,” Wyatt said. He returned with Bernadine.

  Gemma introduced her to the children as the town’s owner, and Bernadine said, “Pleased to meet you, Lucas and Jasmine. Wish it was under better circumstances. This being such a small town, word’s already spread about you being here and our kids are anxious to meet you but I told them to let you settle in first.”

  Jasmine asked, “How many kids live here?”

  “Nine,” Wyatt said.

  “That’s all?”

  Wyatt shrugged. “It’s Henry Adams. Not Chicago.”

  Bernadine shot him a small smile.

  Jasmine asked warily, “Does this mean we get to stay here?”

  “For the time being.”

  “Good,” Jasmine said firmly. “We don’t want to go back to foster care.”

  Gemma got the impression that their foster care experience had not been a good one. She knew from the foster parents who’d lived in her building back in Chicago that many were wonderful people and it saddened her that these kids seemed to hold bitter memories.

  Bernadine said to Jasmine, “We’ll talk about what might happen next in a day or two. In the meantime, welcome to Henry Adams.” And in a soft voice added, “I’m very sorry for your loss.”

  “Thank you,” Lucas replied.

  “I’ll see you soon.”

  Gemma walked her to the door and out to the porch.

  Looking concerned, Bernadine said, “Poor babies, there’s no telling what might have happened to them had you not been driving by.”

  Gemma agreed. “This might sound weird but I feel like I was supposed to find them. Does that make any sense?”

  “Yes. God works in mysterious ways.”

  “But I’ve never been a religious person.”

  Bernadine gave her a shrug. “Doesn’t matter. God still gets it done. So, tell me. If you think you were meant to find them, do you want them to stay with you if I can arrange it?”

  “My heart says yes, but, I’d like to talk to Wyatt about it first. This will affect him, too.”

  Bernadine nodded understandingly.

  “To become a foster parent, I’ll need to be certified, won’t I?”

  “Yes, but because of all the other fostering we’ve done here, we might be able to put you on a fast track. The state will want to do a background check and schedule a visit to make sure your house is safe and that you have adequate space. Which you have of course.”

  The house had four bedrooms so that wouldn’t be an issue, and she had smoke detectors in case of a fire. She had no idea what else might be needed, but she’d do whatever else was required. “Thanks for sending the sheriff and Reg. Let me go back in and get them washed up and fed. Reggie wants them to rest up. They’ve had quite a day.”

  “I’ll start making calls on their behalf, I’ll also give Judge Amy Davis a call and let her know what’s going on, just in case we need judicial assistance while we work things out. I’m heading back to my office. Call me if you need anything.”

  Back inside Gemma found the three young people still standing in the same places. The silence felt awkward. “Lucas and Jasmine, let me show you where you can shower and sleep. Wyatt, I’ll be right back.”

  He didn’t respond but watched their ascent intently. Yes, she needed to speak with him. If he didn’t want the Herman kids to stay it would present a problem.

  She led them down the hallway to one of the unused bedrooms. Lucas glanced around the interior. “I don’t want Jazzy to be by herself so is it okay if we sleep in the same room?”

  She mentally applauded his protectiveness. After all they were in a strange place. “Sure. That’s not a problem.”

  “I can sleep on the floor.”

  “That won’t be necessary. We’ll drag the mattress off the bed in the other room. You can use the shower in here,” she told him. “And your sister can use mine.”

  His trash bag in hand, he went into the bathroom while she led Jasmine across the hall to her bedroom with its connected shower.

  Gemma asked her, “Will you be okay in here alone?”

  “Yes, I think so.”

  “Towels are here and remember to wash those cuts good.”

  “I will. Can I wash my hair? It feels dirty.”

  “Sure. There’s shampoo right there. I don’t have any hair dressing for you, but I can get some from Ms. Bernadine. Would that be okay. She just lives across the street.”

  “I have a little bit but I’ll need some more.”

  “Can you do your own hair?”

  “Yes, when it’s in a fro like this, but I can’t do cornrows. I have my own comb and brush.” Jasmine then eyed her. “Can you do cornrows?”

  “Yes.”

  “Really?”

  Gemma smiled. “Yes, I used to do the hair of the two girls who lived upstairs from me when I lived in Chicago. They were about your age.”

  “You’re really nice.”

  “Thanks Jasmine. You’re pretty nice yourself.”

  That earned Gemma the first smile and her heart swelled. “You and Lucas come down when you’re done.”

  On her way back to where Wyatt was waiting, she gave Bernadine a quick call about the hair dressing. She also called her job to let store manager Gary Clark know why she hadn’t shown up. After verbally applauding her for rescuing the kids, he told her to take the rest of the day off to get them settled in. Thanking him and knowing she was going to catch grief from the assistant manager Alma House because of Gary’s largesse, she put Alma out of her mind for the moment and stuck her phone in the side pocket of her black slacks.

  In the kitchen, she dropped into a chair. Wyatt watched her silently before remarking, “They look pretty messed up.”

  “They’ve had it rough.” Because he hadn’t been privy to all the details, she shared what she knew of their story.

  His dark eyes widened. “The guy who adopted them was killed in the tornado last night?”

  “Yes.”

  “That sucks. Are they going to stay with us?”

  “I’d like them to if Ms. Bernadine can arrange it. How would you feel about that?”

  “Do they have any other place else to go?”

  “For now, no.”

  He shrugged. “Then they should stay here.”

  “You don’t mind?”

  “No, Gram. Will they stay, like permanently?”

  “That I don’t know. We’ll have to wait and see if the uncle’s wife still wants to go through with the adoption and if not what the court and social services say. Would you mind if they did?”

  He shrugged. “I guess I’m okay with it as long as they don’t turn out to be jerks. Gets lonely being the only kid here sometimes.”

  She found that telling. He rarely shared his feelings. “Miss your Chicago crew?”

  “Yeah. I was never by myself there, or at least not during the daytime.”

  There were eight other children his age in their housing complex and they were all close. “You have friends here.”

  “I do, but we’re not as tight.”

  “We’ve been here less than a year, Wyatt. That may change.”

  “I know but they already have their alliances. I need my own. Especially now with Eli moving to Cali.” Eli was the son of teacher Jack James. He’d taken Wyatt under his wing a few months ago, and would be heading to California to attend community college. She knew Wyatt would miss him a lot.

  “Can I ask you something?”

  “Sure.”

  “Are you happy here? Should we have picked another place to live?”

  “No, this is fine. The people are nice. I have a good school. Mr. James is an awesome teacher and the kids let me be myself. I don’t want to move again if that’s what you’re thinking about.”

  “I’m not.”

  “Good. It’s okay by me if we add Lucas and Jasmine to our crew.”

  “Okay. Just needed to get your opinion. After they lost their parents they were
put in different foster homes and they just got back together. Be nice if they didn’t have to be separated again.”

  “I don’t have to share my room, do I?”

  “Not if you don’t want to. We have two extras.”

  “I don’t want to.”

  “Nothing wrong with you stating that up front.” She was glad they were having this talk.

  He added. “The room I had in Chicago would fit into my closet now. I like having space.”

  “So do I.” Their tiny two-bedroom place in Chicago served them well but this gorgeous home with its four bedrooms, beautiful kitchen, and the rest was more than she ever imagined living in, let alone having the opportunity to purchase.

  The doorbell rang.

  “I’ll get it,” Wyatt offered.

  Gemma quickly turned her mind to dinner. Her guests probably hadn’t eaten since yesterday and were for sure starving. She was eyeing the contents of the fridge when he returned with Crystal, Bernadine’s eighteen-year-old daughter. “Ms. Bernadine said you needed something for the little girl’s hair.”

  “I do.”

  “She can use this. Do you want me to help her with it?”

  “No, she says she can do it herself. She has a fro now, but I can do braids if she needs me to.” Seeing the obvious skepticism on Crystal’s face, Gemma told her what she’d told Jasmine.

  “The girls were Black?”

  Gemma saw Wyatt smile.

  “Yes. Their mother Audrey had to be at work at six a.m. so I did their hair before they went to school.”

  The skepticism was replaced by approval. “Okay,” Crystal said, grinning, and handed her the jar of dressing.

  Gemma added, “I’ll make her an appointment with Kelly for later this week, though. She could use a little pampering. I’ll have Mr. Curry give her brother a haircut, too.”

  “Mom told me a little bit about what happened. Hope they get to stay. Anything else I can do?”

  “Yes. If I call in an order to the Dog can you go pick it up?”

  “Sure.”

  Gemma made the call and Crystal said, “Be back as soon as I can.”

  “Thanks, Crystal.”

  “No problem. This way when I bring the food back I can meet them.” She was the town’s big sister and although sometimes known for putting the fear of God in the other kids, her heart was in the right place.

  After leaving the shower and drying off, Lucas looked through the bag holding his clothes for something clean to wear. He knew he should be thankful to have anything to put on, but all the clothing he’d worn for the past two years had been worn first by someone else and he was so sick of hand-me-downs. Back before his parents died everything he and Jaz owned, from clothes, to toys, to the shoes on their feet, had been brand new. Dressed, he checked himself out in the oval mirror hanging on the wall. Growing up he was often told how much he resembled his parents. He supposedly had his dad’s chin and mouth and his mom’s eyes and coloring, but all he saw now was just a sad-faced ten-year-old boy beat down by life. Death had taken his parents and Uncle Jake and now he and his sister were in the house of strangers. Admittedly, Ms. Dahl was nice, as was everybody else they’d met so far, but he was so tired of being sad and scared of what might happen next. He wanted to hear his dad’s big laugh, and missed the way his mom would sometimes hug him for no reason, even though at the time he found it embarrassing. He missed his room, their dog Bowser, the family camping trips, and seeing his dad all dressed up in his suit and tie when he left the house in the mornings to go off to work. Lucas thought back on the friends he’d had in his subdivision and at school, his teachers, and the members of his soccer team. He wondered if they ever thought about him. Why was all this bad stuff happening? Was he being punished for something? If he prayed and told God he was really sorry, would it stop? The boy in the mirror had tears in his eyes again and he wiped them away. This is so hard, he cried inside, but he needed to man up and be strong for his little sister.

  He walked down the hall to the room where she was and knocked on the door. “Jaz. You okay in there.”

  “Yes.”

  The door opened and she looked up at him. She had on a red tee and a pair of green shorts. Her hair was wet but looked better. She smoothed her hand over it. “Miss Gemma said she’d get me some more stuff for my hair.”

  “How do you feel?”

  Instead of answering she asked, “How do you feel?”

  “Okay, I guess. Head still hurts but not as much. Did you put the medicine on your cuts?”

  “I did,” she said, then added in a soft voice, “I wish Mama and Daddy were here.”

  “I know.” Grief bubbled up in his chest so he changed the subject. “Ms. Gemma’s nice.”

  Jaz nodded. “Do you think Aunt Leslie will still want to adopt us?”

  She was Uncle Jake’s wife. “I don’t know.”

  “If she doesn’t, I want to stay here.”

  Lucas wasn’t sure what he wanted other than to have their old lives back, but that wasn’t happening. He held out his hand. Together they walked to the stairs.

  In her office in the red architectural beauty of a building the locals dubbed the Power Plant, town owner Bernadine Brown sat at her desk thinking about Lucas and Jasmine Herman. Sending Crystal to Gemma’s with hair dressing had been an easy task, but she sensed going forward might be more concerning. Both children looked incredibly sad and had good reason to. One minute they’d been on their way to a new life in California, only to have it cruelly snatched away and cast adrift once again.

  Lily Fontaine July, Bernadine’s right hand and the wife of town mayor Trent July, stuck her head in the door. “How are the children?”

  “Whole, at least physically. Reg checked them out.”

  “Such a sad story.”

  “I know. Hopefully things work out so we can give them some good news soon. They’ve had enough bad. Will Dalton is going to call the uncle’s wife to see where she stands on the adoption. If she’s still willing, I’ll have Katy fly them there as soon as they get rested up.” Katy was the pilot of Bernadine’s personal jet.

  “Does Will know if the kids and the wife are close?”

  She shook her head. “But we’ll keep a good thought.”

  “Okay. Shifting gears. The pool people just conducted their final water quality tests so we’re good to go. The Astrid Wiggins Memorial Pool can officially be opened this afternoon.”

  That made Bernadine smile. The opening had been highly anticipated. There’d be a ribbon cutting ceremony, a short speech from Mayor Trent July, and after that the fun would begin. She then thought about town nemesis Astrid Wiggins. “When she finds out we named the pool after her, smoke will be pouring from her ears.”

  “You told her we would.”

  “I’m sure she didn’t believe me, though.” Bernadine couldn’t think of a better way to reward a bigot than to name something after her in a town founded by freed slaves. Astrid would undoubtedly gnash her horsey teeth and curse them up and down, but she’d be too busy ringing up diesel and jerky to do anything else.

  Lily’s voice cut into her thoughts. “I still think the sign on the pool gate should read: ‘The Astrid Wiggins Memorial Pool. Named for her because she hates Henry Adams and everyone in it.’”

  Bernadine chuckled. “I do too, but Reverend Paula talking us out of that was probably a good thing.”

  “I suppose,” Lily agreed grudgingly.

  “Does your hubby have his speech ready?”

  “Yes. All three minutes of it.”

  “Good. I can always count on him to be short and sweet.”

  “And it’s going to be real sweet having him all to myself while the boys are gone.”

  “When are they leaving?” Lily and Trent were adoptive parents to two sons—eleven-year-old Devon and fifteen-year-old Amari.

  “Both leave Sunday. Devon’s going to Mississippi to spend a week with his grandmother’s friend, Ms. Myrtle.”

 
“Will he see his mom while he’s there?”

  “Not sure. I told Ms. Myrtle to play it by ear. If he wants to go, she said she’d arrange it.”

  Devon’s mother, Rosalie, was developmentally challenged and had resided in a state facility most of her life. Devon’s birth was the result of her being sexually assaulted by a still-unknown man who took advantage of her childlike state.

  “And when does Amari leave?”

  “Same day. He’ll be gone for two weeks, though. He’s spending the first week on the Lakota Sioux reservation with his grandmother Judith Windsong, and then who knows where he and Griffin will take off to. Griffin’s promised me and Trent that Amari will wear a helmet, but I’m still scared to death at the thought of him being on the back of Griffin’s motorcycle.”

  Griffin July was Amari’s biological dad and Trent’s cousin, and now that Bernadine knew Amari’s vacation plans she was going to be worried about him being on the bike, too. “Your boys will be gone. Preston’s going down to Florida to hang with his mom, Margaret, at NASA. Gary’s girls will be visiting their mom, Colleen. Ronnie and Zoey are touring South America and South Africa, and Alfonso and Maria Acosta are off to Mexico with Abuela Anna to hang out with family. It’s going to be pretty quiet around here with all the kids gone.”

  “We hope. This is Henry Adams after all.”

  “True.” In the five years since purchasing the town off eBay, there’d been enough drama for a town three times its size.

  Trent appeared in the doorway. “How are the new kids, Bernadine?”

  “Doing good. Gemma has them at her house.”

  “If they need anything let me know. I’ll stop in to see them later. Pool ceremony in one hour.”

  Bernadine replied, “We’ll meet you there.”

  He winked at his wife and disappeared. Bernadine was amused by the dreamy look on Lily’s face. They’d been madly in love since high school. “I assume you and Mr. Mayor have big plans for being home alone.”

  Lily grinned.

  “Enjoy it.”

  “Oh, we will. Don’t worry.”

  Laughing, Lily exited and Bernadine turned to her laptop to send Will Dalton an e-mail with hopes he had good news concerning the Herman kids.