The Family They Chose

by Nancy Robards Thompson

  The boy stared straight ahead and shrugged, a quick, it-was-nothing hitch of the shoulders.

  “I mean it,” Olivia said. “Pam and I didn’t know what to do. We didn’t know how to help him, but you did.”

  The boy looked up at her, his expression very matter of fact. “He likes shiny things. Not all shiny things, but I thought he’d like the truck because he likes shiny things that spin around.”

  Olivia nodded. “He’s so lucky to have a big brother like you.”

  Kevin’s face clouded and he turned away and looked out the window. “Are you really going to make me and Danny go live in separate houses with different families?”

  The question knocked the air out of Olivia. “What makes you ask that, Kevin?”

  Another quick rise and fall of the shoulders.

  The light turned green and Olivia drove through the intersection with a death grip on the steering wheel.

  “The kids said you’re gonna send me and Danny far away from each other and we wouldn’t be brothers anymore.”

  This time, his sad words forced a gasp from Olivia.

  “Oh, sweetie, have they really been saying that?”

  She slanted a glance at him in time to catch his quick nod. In turn, she steered the car into the first parking lot she came to—a doughnut shop. As she put the car in park, she weighed her words. The sad truth of the matter was that she couldn’t guarantee that the boys wouldn’t be adopted out to different families. She didn’t want to lie to him, but when she looked into his haunted brown eyes, she knew she couldn’t tell him that the chances of them going to the same family were very slim.

  “Kevin, you and Danny will always be brothers. And I want you to know that Pam will do everything in her power to keep the two of you together. Okay?”

  He didn’t say a word. He simply sat stock still, staring out the side window. The sight of him broke her heart.

  Say something to make him feel better, she chided herself. She glared at the neon sign of the doughnut shop. She couldn’t just blow sunshine at him, because if her thin promises ended up falling through, they would do more damage to him than the moment of temporary happiness she’d manufacture right now was worth.

  “I’m really hungry,” she finally said. “Will you go into the doughnut shop with me so that I can get a snack?”

  Kevin nodded solemnly.

  “Okay then,” Olivia said. “Let’s go.”

  On the way back to the house, Olivia called Jamison.

  “Good morning,” he said.

  “Good morning,” she returned. “Do you have a moment?”

  “For you, I have all the time in the world.”

  His voice made Olivia smile as she turned the car onto Berkeley Street.

  “I have a nearly impossible task that I need your help with,” she said. “In fact, it’s a cause so important to me that I’m going to be rallying everyone I know. Jamison, we have to find a good family that would be willing to adopt the Kelso boys. Both of them. How do we do that?”

  Chapter Eleven

  Later that month, Jamison and Olivia attended a reception following the President’s State of the Union address in Washington, D.C. It was their first official public appearance as a couple since the trial separation, and at functions like this, it was so clear why they were good together.

  Olivia knew how to charm the crowd. Seeing her in action, he knew that someday, she’d make a perfect first lady—that the country would fall in love with her as deeply as he had.

  As he stood listening to a junior congressman who was concerned about the direction of one of the committees Jamison chaired, he watched his wife across the room.

  She wore her brunette hair twisted up off her neck, adding to the elegance of her black dress and pearls.

  She’d been working tirelessly trying to find the Kelso boys a home together. In turn, she’d been spending every spare minute that she was at home in Boston with them. If it wasn’t that she seemed so happy lately, he might worry that she was getting too attached to them herself.

  But then again, that was his wife. Always putting her heart and soul into everything she took on, always looking for the win-win solution. Another case in point of why she’d be a good first lady—she was the ultimate humanitarian.

  Tonight, she seemed to glow from within as never before. Their gazes snagged and held for a moment. He could read the “I’m ready to leave whenever you are” look in her dark eyes, even though the message would’ve been missed by anyone else. Even in a crowd they’d always been able to communicate wordlessly across the room.

  Jamison smiled at her and the congressman stopped mid-sentence and turned to see who he was looking at.

  “Gorgeous, isn’t she?” the congressman said. “I noticed her earlier tonight during the President’s address.”

  Jamison snickered. “Did you?”

  The other man nodded.

  “That’s my wife,” Jamison said. “I’m glad you approve.”

  The young man’s eyes widened. “I hope I didn’t offend you. It’s just that she’s stunning. I couldn’t help but notice her because she’s the spitting image of Audrey Hepburn. You’re one lucky man.”

  “Indeed, I am,” Jamison said. He excused himself and made his way over to Olivia, who was just finishing a conversation with a former first lady.

  When there was a break in the conversation, Jamison whispered to his wife, “Come on, let’s get out of here.” He whisked Olivia away, helped her into her coat, and hand in hand they walked outside to the waiting limousine. After they were settled in the car, he said, “Was she giving you pointers for 2016?”

  Jamison put his arm around her and pulled her in close.

  Olivia smiled up at him and his heart turned over in response. How did he get so lucky to be blessed with her? They may have had their ups and downs, but they always rebounded, stronger every time.

  “She was lovely,” Olivia said. “Very warm. And so interesting.”

  He rested his chin on top of her fragrant hair, loving the feel of her tucked in so close to him. “Of course, you could probably teach her a thing or two.”

  She laughed, tilting her face up so that he was able to capture her lips with his. She tasted faintly of mint, and a lingering honeyed sweetness that made him thirst for more.

  “I don’t think there was a head in that room that didn’t turn when you walked by.” His voice was a hoarse whisper. “I had to get you out of there before someone decided to steal you away.”

  She shook her head, a seductive smile coaxing up the corners of her mouth.

  “Really?” she said. “What on earth would anyone else want with a powerful political gentleman’s pregnant wife?”

  Jamison blinked, unsure that he’d heard her correctly, but cautiously optimistic. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

  “I’m pregnant, Jamison. Dr. Demetrios confirmed it this morning. I wasn’t going to tell you until we were back at the apartment, but I couldn’t wait another minute.”

  His mouth fell open, but too many emotions were converging for him to say anything.

  “Can you believe it?” she said, smiling. “This time, I really believe everything is going to be okay.”

  He hugged her and kissed her tenderly on the lips. Feeling like a protective papa bear, he said, “But should you have flown today? Will the air pressure hurt the baby?”

  She shook her head. “That’s one of the first things I asked the doctor. He said I’d be fine. He said it was important for me to keep doing all the things I normally do. To be careful of adding too many new things, but that I should live life as normally as possible.”

  He gazed down at her, thinking that in the amber glow of the street she was the most beautiful woman in the world. Not only was she beautiful, but she was giving him the best gift a wife could ever give her husband. She was having his baby. How could he have doubted that he wanted this? It was simply fear of the unknown. Fear that a baby would change t
hem, when in reality Olivia had been right, a baby seemed to be exactly what they needed.

  “Liv, I want you to stay with me here in D.C. I don’t want us to be apart. I want to take care of you. I want to experience every stage of our baby growing inside of you.”

  “But, Jamison, my doctor is in Boston. I just don’t think it would work.”

  Of course he wanted what was best for the baby, but he also wanted his wife.

  “I need you by my side,” he said. “When is your next doctor’s appointment?”

  “Two weeks.”

  “How about this? Why don’t you stay in D.C. with me until your next appointment and then let’s see what Dr. Demetrios says. If he thinks it’s safe for you to move down here with me, then maybe he could refer you to a specialist.”

  The look on her face hinted that she wanted to say yes, but something was troubling her.

  “What is it, Liv?”

  She sighed. “It’s the boys—Danny and Kevin. I can’t just abandon them, Jamison.”

  It was getting easier to forget that the child growing inside her wasn’t really hers. Part of it was because she already felt attached to the baby. Another reason was her rationalization that what she’d done couldn’t be too terribly wrong since the pregnancy had taken and seemed to be thriving. Even she had to admit that she had a glow about her. She looked and felt good. Better, in fact, than she had in years. Not even a hint of morning sickness.

  Curious as to why this pregnancy seemed to be working while the others with her own eggs hadn’t, she’d done some research. Apparently, in early onset menopause sometimes the eggs could be damaged or not as high quality as those from a woman whose body was more typically in tune with her chronological age. There was no way she could confirm this with her doctor since he had no idea that the eggs he’d implanted weren’t really hers, but it made sense.

  And if this pregnancy gave them their child, well, then this was the child—the gift from God—that they were meant to receive.

  Jamison seemed so earnest when he asked her to move to D.C. with him. After she thought about it—and received the all clear from her doctor, who had no objections as long as she was able to make it back for her checkups—she couldn’t deny her husband. Things were going so well with them, and she wanted that time with him. Though the time apart had made them realize how much they loved each other, it was the time together that was helping to heal and nurture them as a couple and move them forward into this next exciting chapter of their life.

  There would’ve been no question about what she should do, if not for Danny and Kevin. But Jamison had been right when he reminded her that the boys were in good hands with Pam. Still, Olivia felt an overwhelming need to see them and explain to Kevin that even though she’d be away and visiting less frequently, she’d still be there for them.

  It was an eight-hour train ride—and even faster by plane, she told herself as she arranged the football and new toy truck she’d gotten them on the backseat of the car. She’d grown so close to the boys since they’d arrived at the Children’s Home, and she couldn’t help this urge she felt to shower them with love—and gifts—so that they knew that they weren’t alone in the world.

  Kevin greeted her enthusiastically and helped her buckle Danny, who was clutching his dump truck, into the car seat that had become a permanent fixture in the back of her Jaguar.

  “Who does that belong to?” he asked, eyeing the football.

  Olivia smiled at him. “Oh, goodness, how did that get in my car?” She winked at him. “I don’t suppose you know anyone who’d like to have that, would you?”

  The boy beamed and hugged the ball to his chest. Danny was less excited about the new truck, clinging to the tried and true dump truck for which he’d traded in his pearl. But that was okay. Kevin’s gusto was enough.

  Today, she was taking them to Public Gardens. It had become one of their favorite spots—even in the cold of winter. Today she’d packed a thermos of homemade hot chocolate and a batch of freshly baked cookies. Sometimes on weekends, when it wasn’t too cold, they’d bring a picnic and find a patch of sunshine where they could spread their blanket and eat their lunch. Other times, they’d seat Danny in an umbrella stroller and she and Kevin would walk the grounds. This, she’d discovered, was the best way to get the older boy to open up. And he would, sometimes going on for a solid hour about his friends at school, his teacher and the classes he loved most. But never a word about his parents or his feelings about the tragic loss he’d suffered.

  Olivia didn’t push him. She figured he’d open up in good time—if he wanted to. All that was important now was that he always seemed glad to see her.

  When they got to the park, Kevin asked, “Do you know how to throw a football, Olivia?”

  “No, I don’t. Will you teach me?”

  He tried his best. While Danny sat on the blanket bundled up in his winter coat spinning the wheels of his truck, Kevin and Olivia tossed the football. She dropped it more than she caught it, she wasn’t able to throw the ball into the distance when he ran long, and she broke two fingernails, but she tried her hardest. Even so, Kevin seemed to tire of her efforts quickly and decided he needed to check on Danny.

  They sat down on the blanket and she poured him a cup of hot chocolate.

  “Why don’t you offer Danny a cookie?” Olivia suggested. “He can eat that while his cocoa cools.”

  Olivia’s heart swelled as she watched the younger boy respond to his older brother and take the cookie. It was such a beautiful moment. What a shame that she’d have to spoil it with the news that she was leaving, but she needed to tell him while they were sitting here. She dreaded it, but the longer she put it off the harder it would be.

  “Sorry I’m not very good at football,” Olivia said, buying a little more time.

  The boy lifted one shoulder to his ear and let it fall, then stared down at the football in his lap. “It’s okay. My mom wasn’t very good at it, either. It was something my dad and me used to do together.”

  Olivia’s skin prickled. It was the first time he’d ever mentioned his parents. She wondered whether her telling him that she was leaving would affect his progress. On one hand, his opening up could mean that he was starting to adjust to his new environment. On the other, her leaving might cause him to retreat back into his shell.

  I can’t leave him now.

  The possibility danced through her mind, but she shoved it out as quickly as it appeared. Jamison and the baby were her family. As much as she loved the Kelso boys, her family had to be her first priority.

  Still, it didn’t erase the sick feeling of dread that washed over her.

  She reached out and smoothed his bangs off his forehead, relishing the silky softness of them.

  “You miss your parents, don’t you?”

  He nodded, still not looking at her.

  “It’s okay, Kevin. You know that Mr. Mallory and I are here for you, don’t you?”

  He bobbed his head again, just barely this time.

  “I wanted to let you know that I’m going away for a couple of weeks, but I’ll be back.”

  Kevin looked up at her, alarm widening his chocolate brown eyes. “That’s what my mommy told me and she never came back.”

  “Oohh…” Olivia choked back a sob. “Come here, sweetheart.”

  She pulled the boy onto her lap and held him tight for a long moment. He didn’t cry, but he held on to her as if she were his lifeline.

  “I’ll see you again in two weeks. And when we get home, I’ll mark the days on a calendar for you so that you can see exactly how quickly I’ll be back. Would that make you feel better?”

  The boy didn’t answer her. He simply tightened his hold on her. Olivia sat there, hugging him back.

  “If it would make you feel better, I’ll call you every day after school so that you can tell me about your day. Would you like that?”

  Still no answer.

  “I’ll even give you my cell phone num
ber so that you can call me whenever you’d like to talk. Because I want you to know that Mr. Mallory and I will do anything in the world for you and Danny.”

  The boy released his grip and looked up at her.

  “Anything?” he asked.

  Olivia nodded. “Anything. You can call me anytime of the day or night.”

  “Will you take Danny and me with you? Will you be our new mommy?”

  Jamison went with Olivia to her next prenatal appointment, which happened to be on Valentine’s Day. The best Valentine she could’ve ever asked for was to get the news that she’d checked out fine, that the baby was growing and that everything seemed to be textbook perfect. They celebrated with lunch at Salvatore’s down on Boston’s South Port waterfront.

  After ordering lunch—Jamison chose the lobster ravioli and her mouth watered in anticipation of their famous salad with gorgonzola, walnuts and green apples—he presented her with a pearl bracelet from Tiffany’s. It had a heart-shaped diamond dangling from the clasp.

  “Oh, Jamison, it’s gorgeous. Thank you.”

  He smiled. “I thought it was significant. The diamond represents our baby. Just don’t wear it around your little friend with the pearl obsession.”

  The thought made Olivia smile, too, as she slipped the bracelet on her arm. She missed her little guys. She hadn’t seen them in two weeks. Two weeks during which Kevin’s question had haunted her—“Will you be our new mommy?”

  She’d managed to sidestep the little boy’s question by using the excuse that he and Danny couldn’t come with her to D.C. because Kevin had to go to school. She told him that she wished it were as easy as agreeing to be his new mommy, but that the situation was…complicated.

  He had no idea exactly how complicated it really was.

  The excuses hadn’t meant anything to him, and Olivia saw him cry for the first time when she marked off the days she’d be gone on his calendar and said goodbye to him and promised him she’d come see him her first day back.