I know this is moving slowly, but the story will be picking up soon! Thanks for sticking with me!
The next two months passed faster than I’d have ever thought possible. Every morning I’d wake up, having breakfast, and take a leisurely walk to the bookstore. At noon I’d come home and have lunch, and then Caitlin and I would go swimming or riding if Caitlin didn’t have some work to do. Nick and Meghan came over nearly every afternoon, swimming or walking the property or town.
Caitlin never pushed to learn about me, but eventually, I decided to tell her. We were up on the small open area on the roof, sitting in lawn chairs with mugs of hot chocolate and a book each. I cleared my throat as Caitlin plopped four mini marshmallows into her steaming mug. “So…I wanted to say…thank you…” Even in two months, it still wasn’t easy to say. “For taking a chance on me. I mean, if I were you I wouldn’t have. So thanks.”
Caitlin knew exactly what I was saying. She gave me a warm smile. “I haven’t regretted a second of it.” She reassured me.
I smiled back at her, taking a sip of my hot chocolate and burning my tongue. “Well…I figured that you should know a little about me.” Now it was too late to back out, I had to go along with this. “I, um, was put in an orphanage when I was three months old. I don’t know who my parents are or were, and I don’t care either. I stayed in the same orphanage until I was seven years old, and then a woman named Margaret adopted me.”
I hesitated, unsure whether I wanted Caitlin to hear this or not. With a sigh, I decided to just spit it out. “She was a complete drunkard, so I don’t even know how she managed to get her hands on me. Long story short, she beat me when she was drunk—so pretty much all the time. That went on for six months, until a social worker came to check on me. She took me out of Margaret’s hands and put me in another orphanage.”
Caitlin’s gaze was hard as she listened, as though she was glaring at Margaret, wherever the horrid woman was. “I stayed there until I was thirteen, when another woman adopted me. She was nice, but she passed away four months later from a heart attack—I was at school when it happened, so I never got the details.” I flash backed to the shock when a police officer came for me at school to tell me that Janet had died.
“After that, I didn’t get adopted for another year. This time it was a prissy woman who drove me insane. I left her and got put in the orphanage where you found me six months later. I was surprised that you even bothered—most people go for little kids, not teenagers.”
Caitlin nodded silently, not saying anything. Of all Caitlin’s characteristics, this was my favorite: she knew that you didn’t always have to speak to communicate. I took a couple deep sips of hot chocolate, glad it wasn’t burning my tongue any more. Caitlin drank from hers too, and then slowly spoke. “You like it here, don’t you?”
I nodded silently, wondering where this was going. “Do you think other kids would like it too?” Caitlin continued, meeting my eyes.
I sighed. “What are you saying?” It wasn’t normal for her to not say something straight out.
“I’m asking if you’d like it if I adopted more kids. Maybe a little younger than you?” Now Caitlin gave it to me straight.
More kids? Actually, it kind of sounded nice. “Sure. I mean…” I looked around the huge property. “This house is huge for just two people.”
Caitlin’s smile dimmed the stars above us. “Great! Maybe tomorrow we can go check out an orphanage in Detroit? It’s really not that far from here.” I thought of the orphanage somewhere in Detroit with a bunch of kids in it and wondered if the kid Caitlin would adopt had any idea how lucky they were going to be soon.
“Okay. I’ll call Ms. Franks to tell her I won’t be at work tomorrow, then.” I got up to go call her, knowing that the old lady only came in the afternoon when I worked.
I was almost inside the house when Caitlin stopped me. “Max?” I turned around to see that Caitlin looked very nervous. “Could you…if you want, you can call me Mom.” She told me quietly.
I went still, looking at Caitlin in surprise. She fidgeted, looking away from me. Mom? To my surprise, I kind of liked the idea. I took a breath. “Okay…Mom.” Caitlin looked up, surprise and joy on her face. I gave her a small smile before I ducked into the house. I calmly called Ms. Franks and explained about tomorrow before calmly hanging up and going to bed—but inside, I was being filled with a kind of happiness I hadn’t even known existed.
~~~
I tried to calm my unexpected nerves as I sat next to Caitlin—Mom—in the head of Detroit’s orphanage’s office. This place was considerably better than the Bee’s, and a lot nicer as the two I’d lived in before I went to her. Right now Mom and I were waiting as the head, Mr. Von Stein, went to look for two children he thought might fit us well. Apparently they were eight year old twins, and very nice.
The door to the office opened and Mr. Von Stein appeared, blocking the entrance for a moment. His stomach was wide, but so was his heart, something people could tell as soon as they looked at him. Following behind him were two adorable kids: a girl and a boy. The girl had long black ringlets of hair that cascaded down her back. Her coal dark eyes sparkled as she smiled, flashing her white teeth against her mocha colored skin.
The boy looked much the same, only his black hair was short and straight. “Hi!” He greeted us, shaking hands with an adorable attempt to act grown up. I was most definitely not the type to coo over little kids, but these ones were an exception. “My name is Zachary, but people call me Zach. This is my sister Angelina.”
Angelina bounced forward and shook hands with us too. “No one calls me Angelina, Zach! My name is Angel.”
Mom smiled at them. “All right. Zach and Angel. I’m Caitlin, and this is Max.”
Both kids looked at me curiously. “You’re pretty.” Angel decided, making me smile. “But isn’t Max a boy name?”
Zach poked her in the arm. “Angel, be nice!” He whispered.
I laughed. “Don’t worry, its fine. My name’s actually Maxine, but I like it to be shorter, just like you two. People call me Max.”
“Oh…” Zach trailed off, nodding in understanding before turning to Mom. “So you want to adopt the three of us?” He asked innocently.
Mom and I looked at Mr. Von Stein in surprise. “Three?”
He shifted, looking uncomfortable. “Well, they have a fifteen year old brother, and they refuse to be separated. We could try, if you want, but…”
“Nonsense.” Mom cut him off. “Of course he can come with us.”
Mr. Von Stein looked uneasy. “Well… he’s not the same as these two. He’s not troubled, per say, but he’s a handful if he doesn’t like you. These two lived for a year with him on their own, and he did what he had to in order to scrape a living for them.”
I raised my eyebrows curiously at Mom, who shrugged. “Well, I’d like to meet him.” She said.
I intervened. “Actually, maybe it would be better if I met him first, since he’s my age. We might communicate better.”
Mom nodded slowly. “All right. But please, be nice to him, Max.”
I nearly laughed. “When am I not nice?” She just rolled her eyes at my sarcasm.
Mr. Von Stein wore a wary smile. “All right, I’ll take you to the room he shares with these two. Come on.” He led me down a hallway and stopped in front of a plain wooden door. “His name is James—and mind you, he’s got an attitude.” Mr. Von Stein warned. I choked back a laugh, knowing that the Bee had said the same thing about to me to anyone who might have been interested. I could deal with attitude.
I walked into James’s room to see a boy my age lying eagle spread across his bed, hands behind his head. His short hair was dark, and his mocha colored arms had occasional, thin scars. James turned his head in my direction, his dark eyes piercing through me.
“Hey.” I nodded at him, going for a friendly tone. “My name’s Max. My mom and I want to adopt your little siblings, Angelina and Zach, but we heard you’re not letting yourselves get separated, so—” James didn’t let me finish. He moved so fast I barely saw him move, but suddenly he was standing up and giving me a dark glare.
“Listen, Max.” He spat my name like dirt. “I really, really don’t give a shit about you and your mom. I’m staying with Angel and Zach, so don’t even bother trying to dissuade me.” I tried to intervene and explain that I understood, but he talked over me. “And if you’re hurt, I don’t want to hear it. I can already see who you are.”
My back stiffened at his tone, my gaze hardening the tiniest bit. Sure, I was supposed to be friendly to this kid, but no way in hell was I taking this lying down. “Your name is Max, huh? It’s probably short for something prissy. You’ve probably lived your whole life comfortably with your mom, and now she’s decided she wants to adopt. So you, being your wonderful, self sacrificing self, tag along and try to get along with the ‘poor orphan children’.” Now I was giving James a death glare, which he was returning with interest. Who the hell was this kid to judge me?
“Well, this ‘poor orphan kid’ is going to tell you something. I don’t need to be pitied—neither to Zach and Angelina. We stick together, and we always have. If you want one of us, you take us all or no deal. That’s it. No compromise. And if you try to take them away, then they’ll give you so much hell you’ll gladly give them back. Believe me, people have tried to separate us before.” James kept his glare strong, thinking he’d cowed me, the naïve, spoilt little princess.
“Okay, James, let me talk.” I spat right back at him. “You’re dead wrong, in every way. So much so that it’d be funny if your condition weren’t so worrying.” I took a step forward so that we were almost nose to nose, glaring at each other. James tried to freeze me with his look, but I just ignored it. “Yeah, Max is short for something: Maxine. If you’ve got a problem with my name, go talk to someone who cares. As for my whole life story, which you so accurately described, I was put in an orphanage when I was three months old.”
James’ glare flickered for a second, stilled by surprise, but he recovered quickly. I didn’t let him speak. “And believe me, it was a lot worse than this place. I wasn’t adopted until I was seven. I stayed with my foster mother for six months, during which time I think she was sober maybe a week total. When she was drunk, she came at me with her hands or with a belt—whatever she could get her hands on. That’s when someone came along to see how I was doing—and back to the orphanage.”
I gave James a cynical smile. “The people who came to see if they wanted to adopt me were all chased away because I was rude and didn’t even try—I didn’t want another of the same episode. Then, someone came for me and decided they liked me. They adopted me. That lasted four months, until the woman had a heart attack while I was at school and died.” I made my face fierce and cold, blocking out any feelings that would provoke sympathy.
“I was thirteen then. I got adopted one more time, but this woman was the overbearing type that drove me insane. I left her and went back to an orphanage—and six months later, Caitlin came by and adopted me. I didn’t believe it was going to end well, but she drew me in quickly. Now she wants to adopt some other kids too. I was coming here to ask if you wanted to come with us.”
Now James was unable to hide his surprise. When I smirked, he snapped a bored expression into place. I nearly laughed: how many times had I used that before? It didn’t work on me. “Say we decide to go with you. What then? Where do you live? What are the details?” He asked, looking like he could care less.
I matched his expression, shifting back so that we weren’t right in each other’s faces anymore. “We live here in Michigan, in a town called Ari. You’d come with us. We’d be going to the public school there—I haven’t been yet, but school starts in a month. Angel and Zach would love it there.” I told him, blank-faced.
James lifted an eyebrow sardonically. “And I wouldn’t?”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Give it a chance and you’ll see. I guarantee you won’t regret it.”
James was silent for a long moment, looking down at me from his height of almost six feet. “Angelina and Zach want this bad, don’t they?” He asked, sounding defeated. I nodded. “Fine. Off to Ari we go.” He muttered darkly.
I followed him from the room, smiling a little bit. James didn’t seem half bad—actually, I liked him. He definitely wasn’t the doormat type I hated, and we seemed to share common views. “Oh, by the way.” James stopped before we got to the room where Mom, Angelina and Zach were anxiously awaiting his word. “People call me Blade, not James.”
I snorted. “Blade? How extremely badass of you.” I told him sarcastically.
James—or Blade, rather—gave a half smile. “I know. I didn’t pick the name, my mentor did.” His face darkened a little and I raised an eyebrow.
“Mentor?” I had to admit, I was curious.
Blade’s smile turned cynical. “Angel, Zach and I lived on our own for a couple years, here in the city—but in a far less reputable part. I scrapped enough money for us to live on by being a fighter—most of the fights were perfectly legal, but some weren’t, and those normally had knives involved. Thus the name, and the scars.” My jaw dropped for a moment from surprise. Before I could recover, Blade sent me one last smirk and pushed through the door.
Zach and Angel immediately ran over to him. I had to smile when he got down on one knee so that they could both hug him. It was just so adorable. Oh, god, I’m going to become a marshmallow. I thought to myself.
“Blade, we’re getting adopted! And Max and Caitlin have a big house with a pond and horses and lots of open space and we’ll be going to school—”
“Woah, woah.” Blade calmed both of his siblings, giving them a loving smile. So maybe he was only cold and angry whenever he felt threatened. “That’s cool, guys. But are you sure?” Both Zach and Angel hesitated, looking over at Mom.
She smiled at Blade. “Hi, I’m Caitlin. Mr. Von Stein told me that your name was James, but I’m guessing you want to be called Blade?”
Blade’s face dropped its kind, happy look and became guarded and wary. “Yes. Is what Zach and Angel say true? You’re adopting all three of us?”
I moved so I was standing next to Mom, facing Blade, Zach and Angel. My smile was warm—I really did like all three of them. “Yes.” Mom told him seriously. “Is this what you want?” Blade glanced at Zach and Angel, who were both giving him pleading looks. His gaze drifted over Mr. Von Stein and Mom, landing on me.
He raised an eyebrow, and somehow I understood what he was saying, though his face was impassive. He was asking me to confirm—honestly and without bias—if I thought this could work, and if I thought this would be good. I gave a small nod, glad he was valuing my opinion. Then again, I wasn’t surprised either.
Blade and I were a lot a like even though we looked completely different, what with his black hair and eyes and my brown hair with blond streaks and brown eyes. We connected because we completely understood each other. I got that he needed his family because they were all he had, and that he wasn’t ever going to let someone walk all over him. He understood that I’d protect my own the same way and that I wasn’t going to break.
“Yes.” Blade said, a tiny smile on his face as he looked at me and then down at his siblings, who jumped and squealed with joy.
Mom let out a relieved breath. “I’m glad.” Was all she said. And so was I.
