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
