Heart of the Family

Terry hurried forward. “I got to see a baby giraffe! Giraffes are my favorite animal.”

“I’m not sure I can pick just one favorite.” Out of the corner of her eye she followed Jacob’s progress toward her. He spoke to the guys around him, and they all headed toward the concession stand. “You’d better go get what you want for lunch.” Hannah nodded toward the departing boys and Jacob.

Terry whirled around and raced after them. Ten minutes later everyone was settled on the blankets and stuffing hamburgers or hot dogs into their mouths.

Nibbling on a French fry, Hannah thought of the trip this morning to the zoo on the other side of Cimarron City with Jacob driving. Not too bad. She’d managed to get a lively discussion going about what animals they were looking forward to seeing.

Quite a few of the children had never been to a zoo and were so excited they had hardly been able to sit still in the minibus. Andy literally bounced around as though trying to break the restraints of the seat belt about him. Since his accident he had gone to school every day and the minute he returned to the cottage he would head to the barn to help with the animals. Last night he had declared to her at dinner that he wanted to be a vet and that he was going to help Peter and Roman with “his pets.”

“May I join you?”

Jacob’s question again took her by surprise. She swung her attention to him standing at her side. She glanced toward the other two blankets and saw they were filled with the children. “Sure.” She scooted to the far edge, giving the man as much room as possible on the suddenly small piece of material.

“How are things going so far?” Jacob sat, stretching one long leg out in front of him and tearing open his bag of food, then using his sack as a large platter.

“Good. The girls especially liked the penguins and the flamingos.”

“Want to guess where we stayed the longest?” Jacob unwrapped his burger and took a bite.

“The elephants?”

“Haven’t gone there yet.”

“We haven’t, either.”

“Why don’t we go together after lunch? They have a show at one.”

“Fine.” Her acceptance came easier to her lips than she expected. He’d been great on the ride to the zoo. He’d gotten the kids singing songs and playing games when the discussion about animals had died down. Before she had realized it, they had arrived, and she had been amazed that the thirty-minute trip she had dreaded had actually been quite fun. “So where did y’all stay the longest?”

“At the polar bear and alligator exhibits. Do you think that means something? The girls like birds and the boys like ferocious beasts?”

Her stomach flip-flopped at the wink he gave her. Shock jarred her. Where had that reaction come from? “I had a girl or two who liked the polar bears. One wanted a polar bear stuffed animal.”

“Let me guess. Susie?”

She shook her head. “Nancy.”

He chuckled. “I’m surprised. She’s always so meek and shy.”

“She’s starting to settle in better.” Nancy had only been at the refuge two weeks longer than Andy, and being the youngest at the age of five had made her adjustment to her new situation doubly hard on her.

“That’s good to hear,” he said in a low voice. “Her previous life had been much like Andy’s, except that her mother doesn’t want her back. I heard from Peter this morning that she left town.”

Hannah’s heart twisted into a knot. How could a mother abandon her child? Even with all that had happened in her life, she and her mother had stuck together. “I always have hope that the parents and children can get back together.”

Jacob’s jaw clamped into a hard line. He remained quiet and ate some of his hamburger. Waves of tension flowed off him and aroused her curiosity. Remembering back to her second night at the cottage, she thought about his comments concerning Andy and his mother fighting to get him back. What happened to Jacob to make him feel so fervent about that issue? Was it simply him being involved with the refuge or something more personal? And why do I care?

For some strange reason the silence between her and Jacob caused her to want to defend her position. She lowered her voice so the children around them wouldn’t overhear and said, “I was up a good part of the night with Nancy. I ended up in the living room, rocking her while she cried for her mother. It tore my heart to listen to her sorrow, and I couldn’t do anything about it.”

“Yes, you did. You comforted her. Her mother wouldn’t have. She left her alone for days to fend for herself.”

“But her mother was who she wanted.”

“Because she didn’t know anyone else better.”

The fierce quiet of his words emphasized what wasn’t being spoken. That this conversation wasn’t just about Nancy. “But if we could work with parents, give them the necessary skills they need to cope, teach them to be better parents—”

“Some things can’t be taught to people who don’t want to learn.”

“Children like Nancy and Andy, who are so young and want their mothers…I think we have to try at least.”

“Andy wants to go home. He never said he wanted his mother. There’s a difference.”

Hannah clutched her drink, relishing the coldness of the liquid while inside she felt the fervor of her temper rising. “Maybe not in Andy’s mind. Just because he doesn’t say he wants his mother doesn’t mean he doesn’t. The biological bond is a strong one.”

“Hannah, can we play over there?” Susie pointed to a playground nearby with a place to climb on as though a large spider had spun a web of rope.

All the children had finished eating while she and Jacob had been arguing and hadn’t eaten a bite. A couple of the boys gathered the trash and took it to the garbage can while Terry and Nancy folded the blankets. “Sure. We’ll be done in a few minutes.”

“Take your time.” Susie raced toward the play area with several of the girls hurrying after her.

When the kids had cleared out, Hannah turned back to Jacob to end their conversation, since she didn’t think they would ever see eye to eye on the subject, and found him staring at her. All words fled her mind.

One corner of his mouth quirked. “Do you think she heard?”

Granted their words had been heated, but Hannah had made sure to keep her voice down. “No, but I’m glad they’re playing over there.” She gestured toward the area where all the children were now climbing on the spiderweb, leaping from post to post or running around. “While in college I helped out at a place that worked to find foster homes for children in the neighborhood where their parents lived.”

“I’m sure that was a complete success.” Sarcasm dripped over every word.

“Actually they had some successes and some failures, but those successes were wonderful. They went beyond just placing the children near their parents. They counseled the parents and tried to get help for them. While I was there, several made it through drug rehab and were becoming involved in their child’s life again. The children still stayed in their foster home while the problems were dealt with, but the kids didn’t feel abandoned by their parents. That went a long way with building up their self-esteem.”

“What about the child’s safety and welfare when that parent backslides and starts taking drugs or abusing alcohol again?” Jacob pushed to his feet and hovered over her.

His towering presence sent her heart hammering. She rose. “You can’t dismiss the importance of family ties.”

He glared at her. “I’ve seen too many cases where family ties meant nothing.”

She swung her attention to the children playing five yards away, but she sensed his gaze on her, drilling into her. “Family is everything.”

“I’m not saying family isn’t important—when it is the right one. When it isn’t, it destroys and harms a child.”

She noticed Andy say something to a woman. “I can understand where you’re coming—”

“Don’t!”

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Jacob pick up the blanket they’d been on and begin folding it. When she looked back to the children, she counted each one to make sure everyone was there. Shoulders hunched, Andy, now alone, sat on a post and watched the others running around and climbing on the ropes.

Jacob came up to her side. “I was in foster care. I got over it and moved on.”