Family Love

“Mommy, why do we have to go to this local foster home? Why can’t we go to the St. Mary’s Home on High Road?” whined six year old Leah. She was buckled into one of the seats of her parents car.

“Leah, I have explained this to you multiple times. We have decided to adopt a baby from here. After all it does not make a difference, a baby is a baby, no matter where it comes from.” Leah’s mother Rachel responded kindly yet firmly from the front seat.

“Fine!” Leah remarked grumpily with a scowl, and continued twirling a lock of her straight brown long hair. 

“I don’t think that bringing Leah to the orphanage was such a good idea. Maybe we should leave Leah at the day-care and then return. She does not seem to be taking this news well,” Asher whispered worriedly to his wife as he took his eyes off the road for a few seconds. 

“She needs to see what life is like at the orphanage. We can’t just show her all the joys of life,” replied Rachel with a comforting smile that was directed towards her husband. 

“Rachel always knows what to say at the right time.” thought Asher as he smiled back at his wife. He shook all the thoughts that appeared in his head with great determination. 

“There is nothing that can’t be solved.” he said to himself. He fixed his eyes on the road and continued driving towards his destination.

Asher and Rachel along with their six year old Leah were the happy Parker family of three. They recently shifted to Richmond, Virginia from Chicago due to the job transfers.  Rachel always longed for another child. They went to multiple doctors, but none of them were able to help conceive another child. This only wasted their money and they gave up visiting doctors and having another biological child. When they shifted to the new neighbourhood Rachel’s eyes were drawn to the community orphanage named Hope. So they decided to visit the place and adopt a child. They were currently on the way to Hope’s foster care.

Very soon, a moderately large house with a garden came into view. The house seemed to be kept in an excellent condition from outside, and the garden was more like a kid’s park.  

The family of three exited the car and proceeded towards the entrance.

“This seems like a wonderful structure. I wonder what the environment will be like on the inside,” wondered Asher.

Suddenly the door opened and women who seemed to be in her mid-forties appeared at the entrance.

“Hello Ma’am. I presume you are Mrs. Rhea Smith, the owner of Hope’s orphanage?” questioned Rachel. “I’m Rachel, this is my husband Asher. We had called you last night to confirm our presence for today,” she said with a bright smile on her face. She pulled Leah to the front, from where she was hiding behind her parents, and made the introduction.

“I am Rhea, yes. Thank you for paying a visit here. I will give you a tour”, Rhea said with a half-smile. It was as if she had memorized this line multiple times before, speaking like an automatic robot. This gave Rachel and Asher an eerie feeling.

Rhea showed Rachel and Asher around the foster home. The children’s dormitories were separate for both  genders, the dining room big enough to fit thirty people at once and the tiny kitchen where two cooks were preparing today’s meals. They passed the study room where each child had an allotted place to complete their work or do some reading. All the children attended the local school which Leah would be attending in the fall. 

Leah tagged along with her parents but half-way through the tour she got bored, so they told her to go and play in the play area which they had passed by during the tour. Leah complied and happily skipped towards the play area.

“I’m sure you want to meet the kids. Currently, there are twenty-five kids residing here, ages one to eight. They are all in the play area, as it is their play time,” said Mrs. Rhea robotically, with a mild undertone that could almost be mistaken for annoyance.

Rhea led them towards the play area which they had passed during the tour. They saw Leah playing happily with the kids of different ages, jumping, giggling and running around as any six year old would do. 

However, Rachel felt a little bit weird looking at the kids. Something wasn’t right and she could not put her finger on it. Suddenly, Her eyes caught a pair of twins who wished to play with the other kids, but their advances were rejected each time. The girl had not given up and tried to get involved with the rest of the kids, but the boy just sat there woefully in a corner. His eyes were filled with tears. That broke Rachel’s heart. 

“This is totally unfair. Why aren’t they doing something about this,” thought Rachel angrily.  She then decided to voice the opinion swirling in her head. After all, she was going to adopt a child from here.

“Mrs Smith, why are those twins kept separate from all of these kids? Why are the other kids not including them in their games?” questioned Rachel angrily, as she tried, yet failed to control her outburst. 

“Oh, those things,” scoffed Mrs Smith. “They don’t deserve to be here in America. They are black. Their mother gave birth to them when she was thirteen. I hope someone comes to take them away soon. I cannot wait to get rid of them.” 

“Mrs Smith, that is not right of you. Don’t you dare call them things. They are human beings and deserved to be treated equally as everyone else. They have names. I hope you shall address them by their name. It is not their fault that their mother was thirteen at the time of their birth…”Rachel angrily bursted as words kept tumbling out of her mouth.

Asher was uncomfortable with this conflict and took Rachel aside and calmed her down. After getting herself under control Rachel apologised for her outburst. 

“The next time we visit, I hope to see you behave in a civil manner with those kids, and not being racist” remarked Rachel coldily as she walked past Rhea to leave. Rhea was still in shock, as it seemed that no one had ever spoken to her in this manner. Asher called Leah over, who bid adieu to her newly found friends, and they all returned home

Later that night as Rachel tucked her daughter into bed, Leah told her mother about the fun she had while playing with the kids in foster care. 

“Baby, I hope you had fun today playing with the kids. We shall be going again next week and we are hoping to select a kid to adopt by the next month” Rachel informed Leah kindly.

“Mommy, I want to go tomorrow. I have made new friends. We will have a lot of fun.”  said Leah sadly with a pout on her face.

“We do have work to do, Baby,” Rachel replied with a gentle smile. “But, I will take you tomorrow if you promise to do something for me.”

She then proceeded to tell Leah about the pair of kids who were lonely and had no friends to play with. She asked Leah to include the twins when she would play with the other kids. A deal was struck between them. Leah would go to the orphanage every alternate day to play with the kids, as long as she included the twins, and Rachel and Asher would accompany her thrice a week.

**********************************

Days turned into weeks and weeks into a month. An entire month had passed since the family of three decided to visit Hope’s orphanage to adopt a child.

Asher and Rachel had finally come to a decision regarding whom to adopt. It was a three year old boy with a tuft of blonde hair named Dylan. He was of Spanish descent, and his mother had passed away during his birth.  He was a cute little guy who was very talkative. Leah and him got along quite well. 

Asher was quite confident about adopting Dylan, while Rachel was a little hesitant on adopting him. She was not sure if her daughter would accept him, she had a feeling that she would not want him as a brother, so they decided to ask Leah and then come to a final decision. 

“Leah, we have decided to adopt Dylan. We know that you will be a wonderful sister to him,” said Asher as he tucked Leah into bed. He was confident that Leah would agree to them adopting Dylan.

“No. I don’t want Dylan”, said Leah angrily.” I will not share my toys with him, and he will not come to my room.” 

“But Leah…” Asher trailed off, at a loss of words. He looked at Rachel hopefully.

“Leah, we all had agreed that you would be getting a younger sibling right?”, said Rachel immediately as she sat on the bed. “So why don’t you want Dylan as your brother?” she asked pensively.  

“I want Zain and Zuri as my siblings”, said Leah confidently. Asher was shocked, but Rachel had a feeling that it would be the case. Zain and Zuri were the twins with whom Leah had bonded with at the orphanage.

“If I can’t get Zain and Zuri as my siblings then there will be no one else. I will not change my mind,” said Leah with a huff. “Goodnight, Mommy. Goodnight, Goodnight, Daddy.”  The six year old pulled the blanket over her head. Leah and Asher knew that it was an indication for them to go away, as Leah was not willing to talk to anyone in this mood.

Asher gave Rachel a blank stare before walking into their bedroom.

“What are we going to do? We know how stubborn our daughter can be. We cannot make Leah’s life uncomfortable by bringing in someone she doesn’t want,” said a worried looking Asher, a frown marring his face. 

“The solution is simple. We adopt Zain and Zuri,” stated Rachel with a hopeful look on her face.

“But we can’t. I don’t know if we will be able to take care of two children. Plus look at us, we are fair, while Zain and Zuri are bl...I mean, they have a darker complexion. I am not being racist here. It’s just that because of the differences in the colour of their skin they might always be considered adopted and might never fit in. I would not like that to happen to any child,” said a woeful looking Asher as he sunk to the floor.

Rachel sat on the floor beside Asher and laid a hand on his shoulder as a form of support. “Asher, when we decide to adopt Zuri and Zain they will always be our children, no matter the differences in them, we will be their family and they will be a part of us. We will love them all equally and will never make them feel adopted. And we will definitely be able to take care of them, we have to. We cannot separate them, that is not right,” said Rachel firmly. 

“I need some time to think about it,” said Asher and he got into bed. Rachel agreed and switched off the light.

A week passed, and Asher and Rachel had come to a mutual agreement of adopting Zain and Zuri. Leah was extremely happy when they broke the news to her. She immediately began to make space for the twins in her room and was set to divide all her stuff into three equal parts so that there would be equality among all of them.

“Mommy, Daddy, when will Zain and Zuri come home to stay with me forever?” questioned Leah with her mouth full of peas and mashed potatoes that very night.

“Leah, don’t talk with your mouth open,” scolded Rachel. “Probably in nine months.”

“That is so long” said Leah with a look of horror on her face.

“It might take less time Leah,” said Asher mysteriously. “You never know.” He raised his eyebrows mysteriously when Rachel looked at him with a questioning look on her face.

Asher managed to pull some strings, and within six months, Zuri and Zain were officially welcomed into their family, finally completing the Parker family. 

After all, a family is not defined by genes, but it is built and maintained through love.