“I was talking to him earlier. Turns out, he’s never been fishing. So, this weekend, we’re going to the lake.”
“Paul, it’s freezing, it’s winter.”
“You don’t get it,” Paul chuckled. “Winter is the best time for ice fishing. His eyes lit up when I told him how much bait to use. Can you believe it? He didn’t even know what a jig was.”
Susan just smiled, listening to her husband. Not long ago, he was insisting Alex was a stranger, and now look at him. He was their boy. And they would do everything they could to make him happy. Ellie, wherever she was, could rest easy. They would raise her son.
It wasn’t that Alex easily and immediately accepted Susan and her husband. At first, all he wanted was to hide, to be left alone with his thoughts and his pain. Everything in Susan’s house felt foreign. Even when Paul brought over his bed from his old room, it didn’t feel right. And the picture of his mom on the wall looked out of place against the strange wallpaper. But time heals. The raw wound in the boy’s soul began to scar over. He realized that Paul and Susan were good people, and he started to open up to them.
The first problems arose when Susan went to Family Services.
“We were about to place the boy in foster care,” the caseworker said disapprovingly. “On what grounds is he living with you? We lost track of him for a while.”
“He’s my best friend’s son,” Susan answered, flustered, realizing a new woman was sitting at the desk. “Where is Mrs. Davis?”
“I’m her replacement,” the woman snapped. “Here’s a list of documents you need to submit for your guardianship application to be considered.”
“We’ll get everything as soon as possible,” Susan said calmly.
“You do that. In the meantime, the boy will stay in a group home.”
“What?!” Susan exclaimed. “Please, don’t do that. He’s not used to that kind of environment. He just lost the only family he had. We’re all he has left, besides his friends at school. You’d be tearing him away from everything familiar. He’s only just starting to recover from the funeral.”
Susan pleaded, her words tumbling out in a rush of anxiety and passion. The caseworker just listened, a smirk playing on her lips as she studied the young woman.
“My, you’re certainly trying hard. I don’t get it, why do you want someone else’s kid?” she finally asked. “Especially a teenager.”
“Excuse me, but that’s not really your place to ask,” Susan said, taken aback. “I’ve known this child since he was born. He’s not a stranger to me.”
“Fine, let him stay with you for now,” the caseworker waved her hand dismissively. “But be warned, we will be monitoring your family.”
Susan just nodded eagerly. Of course. What did she and Paul have to hide?
As soon as the door closed behind Susan, the caseworker picked up her phone.
“Hello, Mr. Sinclair. This is Tamara Evans from Family Services. Yes, we’ve located the boy. The previous caseworker made such a mess of the files, so many errors. I didn’t realize at first which boy you were looking for. Good thing she was fired. Anyway, he’s living with his late mother’s friend. I didn’t remove him and place him in a group home because that could create other complications. It’s better to handle this quietly. But this isn’t a conversation for the phone.”
Tamara Evans continued talking, chuckling into the phone, then leaned back in her chair, satisfied. She had almost completed the task for a very important man. Michael Sinclair had contacted her for help finding his son. He claimed he had only recently learned that an old girlfriend had been pregnant, had the child, and had recently passed away. The boy was now an orphan. Surely, he couldn’t let his own son go into the system? Tamara had offered to help. Not for free, of course. She didn’t dwell on why a man who hadn’t thought about his ex-girlfriend for years was suddenly searching for her. Or why he was so sure the boy was his. It didn’t concern her. The text message confirming a large deposit into her account from Michael Sinclair was all that mattered.
Meanwhile, Susan and Paul hit a snag. They needed a certificate showing they had completed foster parent training classes. They hadn’t. To complete the course would take time, and Alex could be taken away at any moment. They went back to Family Services, begging them not to take the boy while they got the necessary paperwork. The same Tamara Evans just made a face and gave them a noncommittal answer.
That evening, the doorbell rang at Susan and Paul’s house. Susan couldn’t place the man at the door at first. He was older, heavier, but his face was familiar. Then it hit her like a jolt of electricity. It was Michael, Alex’s father. The boy even looked like him, though he had his mother’s large, blue eyes.
“Forgive the late visit without calling,” Michael began. “But this is an urgent matter.”
“What matter is that?” Paul asked, still not realizing who was standing before them.
“May I come in?”
It was a difficult conversation, and once they were in the kitchen, he explained who he was. Michael told them how he and Ellie had been in love, how happy they were, but he hadn’t been free. He claimed he’d said a lot of stupid things back then, and Ellie, hurt, had left him. With a sigh, Michael finished his love story and theatrically covered his face with his hand.
“So what stopped you from finding her later?” Susan asked, skeptical. “Ellie lived in her parents’ old apartment her whole life.”
“I couldn’t,” Michael shook his head dramatically. “After our fight, I moved abroad. I lived there for years and had no idea I had a son here.”
“What about your family?”
“My family?” Michael looked confused.
“You have a family, don’t you?”
“Yes, but my wife and I are practically separated. And our son lives with her. And then I found out I have another son, and that Ellie is gone.”
Real tears welled up in Michael’s eyes. Paul listened, his head bowed. He believed their guest. But Susan didn’t like this story. He was lying about not knowing he had a son. He knew. Ellie had called him after Alex was born. And he had been living in the country back then.
“I don’t believe you,” Susan said quietly. “I don’t know why you’re putting on this show, but you broke Ellie’s life and threw her away like an unwanted kitten. And you didn’t want her son either.”
“Sue, why would you say that?” Paul looked at his wife reproachfully. “Maybe the man has seen the error of his ways.”
“Has he? And what does he want now?”
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