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Anne Marie gasped and covered her mouth with her hand. “Did…Ellen find her?”
“Apparently she overslept because her grandmother didn’t wake her for school. According to what I learned, she made her own breakfast and decided to let her grandmother sleep. On her way to school she met a neighbor who inquired about Dolores. Ellen explained that her grandmother wasn’t feeling well and that she was still in bed. A short while later, the neighbor went to check on her and when she couldn’t rouse Dolores, she called 911.”
At least the child was spared the trauma of discovering the body. Anne Marie thanked God for that. But this probably meant Ellen didn’t know yet.
“Is she here?” Anne Marie knew how hard Ellen would take the news. Although she dreaded telling her, Anne Marie thought she was the best person to do so. Poor Ellen.
“I’m afraid not,” Helen Mayer said.
Anne Marie barely heard her. “I’ll make arrangements to get her things and bring her home with me.” She wondered if Dolores had made funeral arrangements; she’d have to find out.
After burying Robert, Anne Marie had some experience in such matters. The staff at the funeral home had been both kind and respectful. Anne Marie would like them to handle the arrangements for Dolores, too, if that was possible.
“I don’t think you heard me,” the other woman said. “Ellen isn’t at school.”
Anne Marie stared at her, uncomprehending. “Where is she then?”
Helen Mayer placed her hands on the desk and leaned forward. “About an hour ago, Child Protective Services took her away.”
The words hardly made sense. “What? What do you mean they took her away?”
“I mean they came to the school, told us Ellen’s grandmother had died and that they had to find a home for her.”
“But…”
Helen Mayer gestured helplessly. “The only other relatives Ellen has are her mother, who has relinquished all parental rights, and her aunt, who is apparently incarcerated.”
Anne Marie was well aware that Ellen had no one else. That was the very reason the child had come to live with her while Dolores was hospitalized.
“She’s been placed in a foster home.”
Anne Marie couldn’t believe it. “Already?”
“Yes. I realize it’s a shock. I tried to contact you but you didn’t answer your cell. The woman at the bookstore said you’d be here soon.”
Anne Marie felt disoriented but she had to focus on Ellen. The girl must be terrified. She had to get to her, reassure her that everything would be all right. “I have the name of the social worker assigned to her. She gave me her business card.”
“What are you going to do?” Helen asked.
“I’ll bring Ellen back to live with me.” There was no question about that.
The counselor sighed with relief. “I’m so glad to hear it.”
Anne Marie was on her feet, ready to take action. She committed half a dozen traffic violations in her rush to get back to the bookstore. She prayed she hadn’t thrown out the social worker’s card. In her agitation she couldn’t even recall the woman’s name.
With Baxter at her heels, Anne Marie ran up the stairs. Heart pounding, she stood in the middle of her kitchen while she tried to remember where she’d put the woman’s card.
Suddenly she remembered. She hurried into her bedroom and jerked open the top drawer of her nightstand. Yes—it was there, and the woman’s name was Evelyn Boyle. She collapsed onto her bed and grabbed the phone.
Her hand trembled as she punched out the number. She listened to an automated system that requested the extension, which Anne Marie dutifully supplied. The phone rang five times before Evelyn’s voice mail came on.
“This is Anne Marie Roche,” she said. “I’m calling about Ellen Falk. Please contact me at your earliest convenience.” She gave three phone numbers—home, work and cell—afraid the woman would give up too easily if she couldn’t reach her on the first try.
The waiting was intolerable.
Anne Marie paced, she cleaned out drawers, then paced some more. When she couldn’t stand it any longer, she drove to Dolores’s house. The place was locked up. The neighbor who’d found her said the coroner’s office had already removed the body. No one knew anything about Ellen or where she might be. Anne Marie gave the woman her numbers, desperate to learn whatever she could.
When her cell phone finally did ring, it was after four and Anne Marie nearly ripped it out of her purse in her haste.
“This is Anne Marie Roche,” she said, the words tumbling over each other.
“Anne Marie, this is Evelyn Boyle returning your call.”
“Where’s Ellen?” she cried. The child must be frantic. Anne Marie was close to panic herself. Ellen needed her and Anne Marie needed to be with Ellen.
“It’s unfortunate, but the only thing I could do was place her in a temporary foster home. It’s a short-term solution until I can find a permanent home for her.”
“I’ll take her,” Anne Marie blurted out. “Bring her to me.”
“I wish I could. If you recall, when I visited the bookstore I suggested you apply for a license to become Ellen’s foster parent. I didn’t hear from you after that.”
Anne Marie wanted to kick herself for not following through. Had she been able to look into the future, of course, she would’ve started the paperwork that very day. How was she to know? Dolores had been doing so well.
“I promised Dolores Falk that Ellen would never go back into the foster care system. What can I do now? How long will it take to be approved?” Her fear was that the paperwork would still take months. By then, Ellen might have been moved any number of times. Ms. Boyle had said the home where she was currently placed was temporary, which implied that Ellen would be transferred soon.
She remembered Dolores Falk telling her it had taken a year to find Ellen once she’d learned she had a granddaughter, although Anne Marie didn’t know how much of that time had been spent searching in other states.
“We can have a background check done on you in twenty-four hours.”
“Then Ellen can come and live with me?”
“Yes. We want what’s best for Ellen and I feel that’s you.”
The relief was enough to flood her eyes with tears. “Thank you. Thank you.”
The social worker explained the process. Anne Marie tried to pay attention but her mind kept darting off in different directions. One thing that did register was that there’d be a home study, which hadn’t been scheduled yet. The apartment, small as it was, hardly seemed suitable. That would mean an immediate move. Anne Marie didn’t care. She’d do whatever was necessary.
“If everything checks out, I should be able to deliver Ellen to you sometime tomorrow afternoon.”
Anne Marie tried to recall any possible blemish on her record. She had a speeding ticket, but thankfully, nothing of any real importance.
All the next day, Anne Marie waited. The tension was almost more than she could bear. She left three messages for Evelyn Boyle, wanting to make sure there weren’t any problems with her background clearance. The social worker didn’t return any of the calls.
Had Anne Marie known where Ellen was staying, she would’ve driven there and parked outside the house.
When she hadn’t heard anything by five o’clock on Thursday afternoon, Anne Marie was positive something had gone wrong. She’d been useless the entire day, too nervous and jittery to concentrate.
Just as she was about to give up in despair, the door to the bookstore opened and Evelyn Boyle came in with Ellen at her side.
Ellen looked at Anne Marie and burst into tears as she bolted toward her.
Anne Marie fell to her knees, her arms open for Ellen.
They clung tearfully to each other. “You promised, you promised,” Ellen sobbed against her shoulder. “You said—you said…”
“It’s all right,” Anne Marie whispered, brushing Ellen’s hair. “You’re here now, and no one’s going to take you away from me.”
Ellen sniffled. “Grandma Dolores went to live with Jesus.”
“I know.”
“I don’t have anyone who loves me.”
“I love you, Ellen,” Anne Marie whispered, tears streaking her face. “You’re going to be my little girl from now on.”
“I can live with you?”
Anne Marie couldn’t speak, so she just nodded.
“I don’t have to go back to the foster house?”
“No, not ever again.”
Still sobbing, Ellen tightened her arms around Anne Marie’s neck. “Everyone I love goes away.”
“Not anymore, Ellen,” she promised. “Not if I can help it.”
“I loved my mommy and she…she did bad things and she left me and then Grandma Dolores d-died and then you left me.”
“I didn’t leave you,” Anne Marie insisted. “I would never leave you.”
They continued to hold each other until Baxter started to bark at the foot of the stairs. Anne Marie released Ellen who ran to open the door. The dog immediately did a dance of joy at the sight of his friend.
Wiping the tears from her face, Anne Marie stood to find Evelyn Boyle watching her.
“I believe we have a good placement for Ellen,” she said, her own eyes moist.
Anne Marie wasn’t going to make another mistake. “I’ve decided I don’t want to be Ellen’s foster parent.”
A look of shock broke out across the other woman’s face. “I beg your pardon?”
“I want to adopt her,” she said. “I want to make Ellen my legal daughter.” The child was already her daughter in every way that mattered. It was time to make that official.
Chapter 30
“Mom,” Anne Marie said, speaking softly into the receiver. It was late Monday evening, and Ellen had just gone to sleep. The poor kid still wasn’t sleeping well, so Anne Marie didn’t want to risk waking her. Every night since Dolores’s death, Ellen had ended up crawling into bed with Anne Marie and crying herself to sleep. The girl had suffered yet another loss. Being taken out of school, informed that her grandmother was dead and then shuffled off to a foster home hadn’t helped.
“Anne Marie?” her mother murmured. “My goodness, I haven’t heard from you in weeks. Is something wrong? There must be if you’re phoning me this late.”
“I should’ve called earlier.” Handling the funeral arrangements and looking after Ellen had kept her busy. But the truth was, it hadn’t occurred to her to contact her mother until that night.
Even now she hesitated, fearing her mother’s reaction once she learned that Anne Marie was going to adopt Ellen. Her mother had made her disapproval known when she decided to marry Robert. She’d been equally negative when Anne Marie purchased the bookstore. Laura wasn’t a risk-taker and she’d been convinced that Anne Marie would be throwing away her investment. She generally believed in living a cautious, conventional life, although she wouldn’t have put it in those terms.
Despite her mother’s reactions in the past, Anne Marie felt compelled to seek her out. Perhaps it had to do with becoming a mother herself….
Might as well just blurt it out. “I thought I should tell you that you’re about to become a grandmother.”
A strained silence followed her announcement.
“You’re…pregnant?” Once again, Laura Bostwick’s reproach was evident. “I know you want a baby, Anne Marie, but I don’t think you have any idea what life’s really like for a single mother. Oh, dear…”
“It isn’t…I’m not—” Anne Marie didn’t get the opportunity to explain before her mother interrupted her.
“If you don’t mind me asking, who’s the father? No, don’t tell me. Obviously there’s a problem, otherwise you would’ve married him. You aren’t secretly married, are you?”
“No, I—”
“I don’t need to know any more about him. He’s married, I suppose?”
“Mom!”
“Sorry, sorry. I said not to tell me and then like a fool I ask. It’s none of my business. Well, you’re going to have a child. When are you due?”
“It’s a bit more complicated than that,” she began.
“For heaven’s sake, you haven’t done anything stupid, have you?”
“What do you mean?” Anne Marie asked, a little taken aback.
“Artificial insemination, that’s what. I heard about it at the hair-dresser’s. Apparently a lot of women are using artificial methods to get pregnant. Please don’t tell me you went to one of those fertility clinics and—”
“Mother, I’m adopting.”
She’d finally shocked her mother into total silence.
“Remember Ellen Falk?”
“Who?”
“I was her Lunch Buddy. You met her the Saturday before St. Patrick’s Day. We had lunch with you.” Surely her mother hadn’t forgotten.
There was another silence. Then Laura said, “Let me see if I have this straight. This second-grade girl you agreed to have lunch with once a week is the one you’re going to adopt?” Her mother sounded incredulous.
“Yes, Mom. She came to stay with me, remember?”
“Well, yes, and I told you I thought it was rather nervy of that girl’s grandmother to call you in the middle of the night.”
“Dolores Falk died.”
