AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“She was. They’d offered to adopt both of us. Wren said yes, and I said no.”
Rita seemed to tense. “Why did you say no?”
Kit thought this question might have been part of what had driven Rita to hide in the barn. Harlan had shared that they’d asked Rita if she wanted to be adopted the week before and she’d stared at them like a deer in the headlights before bolting to her bedroom. They hadn’t mentioned it again, hoping she’d approach them to talk about it after she’d had a chance to consider it.
“I didn’t think that the McKittricks were real,” Kit said. “I’d been in ten different foster homes by then, and I didn’t think this would last, me living here. Them being so nice. I guess I didn’t want to get my hopes up because I figured they’d get tired of me and make me leave.” She stroked Rita’s hair again. “But they never did.”
“Were you mad at Wren because she said yes?”
“No, never. Wren was everything sweet and kind and good. I figured she deserved a good place like this. I’d done…Well, I’d done some things that I wasn’t too proud of when I was being moved from foster home to foster home. I figured that when the McKittricks found out, I’d be tossed back into the system.”
Kit thought that Rita would ask what she’d done, but she didn’t. The girl dropped her gaze back to the carved names and traced them with her fingertip.
“When did you let them adopt you?” Rita whispered.
“A year after Wren died. I realized one day that Harlan and Betsy were real and that they were going to love me even when I was a disagreeable brat. I think I finally got tired of being angry and mad.” She chuckled. “They waited me out. Out-stubborned me.”
Kit returned to the hay bale, wishing she’d covered it with a blanket first, because the hay was pricking her through her jeans. How Harlan sat here, carving his little wooden figures for hours on end, was a mystery.
Rita didn’t look up, continuing to trace the carved names with her finger. “Did they ever find out? About the things you did?”
“Yes. I came clean before the adoption was finalized. I figured I’d give them one more chance to change their minds before we signed on the dotted line, but they already knew. They’d always known.” Her eyes stung, remembering. “They loved me anyway.”
They sat quietly for a few minutes. Kit could be patient and Rita was worth it.
“Do you still miss Wren?” Rita finally whispered, her question tentative.
Kit’s throat tightened. “Every single day,” she whispered back.
Rita’s shoulders heaved in another sob. “I miss my mom.”
“Oh, baby, I know you do.” Kit rubbed Rita’s back gently. “How could you not? I felt guilty, you know? After Wren died, I didn’t want a sixteenth birthday party, but Pop convinced me that Wren would be happy if I had one. That celebrating birthdays was part of going on after her death. But I came in here right afterward and cried because the guilt really hit me hard. Wren was dead and I was eating cake and opening presents.”
Rita said something that sounded like It’s not fair, but she was crying too hard for Kit to be sure.
Kit sat there, stroking Rita’s hair. “It’s not fair that they’re gone, Rita. Not your mom or my sister. But they are and we have to go on. We have to live. We have to make them proud of us. Although I think you’ve already made your mom proud. You make me proud of you, too.”
Rita covered her face with her hands, her body shaking as she cried. “I didn’t do anything good. Not like you. You’re a cop. You help people. You get justice for people like me and my mom.”
“I wasn’t a cop when I was fourteen. I wasn’t good then. I wasn’t kind. I was too scared of being hurt to be kind. But you do good every day, Rita. You’re smart and funny. But most important, you’re kind. To people, to animals, to everyone.” Rita just shook her head, so Kit tried a different tack, saving the pep talk for when the girl was better able to listen. “From what you’ve told me about your mom, she would have wanted you to have the best life. Wouldn’t she?”
Rita nodded. Her face was still hidden behind her hands, but her tears had slowed. “She always said that.”
“Well, that’s what you’re going to have. Pop and Mom and I and all the others out there are going to make sure of it. You’re going to have a good life, Rita. But that doesn’t mean you’ll stop missing your mom. And if you don’t want to join the party, nobody will be mad. You can stay out here as long as you want to.”
“I don’t want to hurt their feelings.”
“See? You’re kind. But they really will understand. It’s days like this that you miss the one you loved the most. They all know that.”
The girl was quiet for another full minute before sighing. “Did Mom and Pop McK tell you they offered to adopt me?”
“Yes. They said you kind of freaked a little.”
Rita’s laugh was shaky. “Yeah, that’s fair. I was rude.”
“You were taken by surprise. No shame in that.”
Rita dropped her hands to her lap. “Do you think I should let them?”
