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“I wish I could bring them all home with me,” Riley mused, not sure what she’d do with a bunch of boys, but knowing she’d smother them with love.
The knowledge stunned her. Johnny hadn’t wanted kids and she’d agreed. Having been a child put through the agony of losing a parent had left her thinking she’d rather not, so going along with him had been easy.
Maybe because she’d never trusted that Johnny wouldn’t leave.
Justin’s gaze cut to her and he grinned at what she’d said. “Better not let Kyle hear you say that. He might offer to grant your wish. Rumor has it that his birth mother plans to sign away her rights and he’ll be available for adoption.”
How could someone not want a kid as precious as Kyle? “She’s giving him away?”
“Honestly, since she’s unable to take care of him, it’s the best thing she could do for him. I can’t imagine it’s an easy decision for her or any parent, though.” Justin’s face tightened a little. “Kyle’s not been back with her for over a year and has only seen her once during that time.”
Riley couldn’t imagine that giving up parental rights would be an easy decision. Nor could she imagine not seeing her own child more than once during a year’s time. But maybe it wasn’t nearly as difficult as she thought, since her own father had had no issue with walking away andnever looking back.
Kyle had no stability and apparently he never had. And he had a mother who didn’t want him or wanted him but couldn’t provide care for him.
Riley preferred to think it was the latter. Maybe because it was what she’d always wanted to believe of her father. That he hadn’t left because he hadn’t wanted her, but that he hadn’t been able to take care of her and her mother.
She’d never believed it. Maybe in Kyle’s case it was true, though...
“Is his foster family planning to adopt him?” She hoped that, like Stephen, Kyle would find a family to love him.
Justin’s eyes darkened a little and he started to say something, then changed his mind. “Not that I’m aware of. They’re nice people, with two grown kids of their own, and have been taking in foster children for about ten years now.”
Riley had grown up without her father, but her mother had always been there, had always wanted and loved her. Not once had she ever felt alone or unloved as a child.
Just as an adult.
Now, where had that come from? She was not unloved as an adult. But the truth was since her mother’s death she hadn’t felt connected to any other person than her friend Cassie.
She’d wanted to be—acknowledged that her engagement to Johnny, and her unwillingness to see what had been so obvious, had mostly been about that desire to love and be loved. But she’d looked in all the wrong places.
Maybe, despite knowing how much her mother had loved her, the fact that her father hadn’t stung more than she’d ever admitted.
Maybe she had more in common with the boys than she’d thought.
“I want to be a pirate.”
At her blurted comment, Justin raised his brows. “Really?”
“Can I join your club?”
Because the more she thought about it, the more she knew she needed to be a part of these kids’ lives. On the surface, it was for them, but the reality was she needed to be involved for her—to make a difference in their lives the way her mother had in hers.
“Are women allowed?”
“Allowed and welcomed,” he assured her, looking pleased. “The more the merrier. And you wouldn’t be the sole female. Stan’s wife would have been here today except something came up last-minute with one of their other foster children. You took her place.”
“They still foster children even after adopting Stephen?” She wasn’t sure why that surprised her—maybe because of all his accidents—but the fact that they did made her happy. “How many do they have?”
“Currently they have one birth child and two foster children in addition to Stephen.”
Looking around at the group, already seemingly completely recovered after Stephen’s accident, probably because it was par for the course, Riley felt warmth fill her.
“Thank you for inviting me. Today has been a very good day.”
“It has, hasn’t it?” Justin grinned as he reached out and gave her hand a gentle squeeze. “And the best part is that it’s not over.”
