Continental Divide

CONTINENTAL DIVIDE

Dyanne Davis

Smashwords Edition

Copyright © 2012 by Dyanne Davis

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CONTINENTAL DIVIDE

Chubby arms curled around Tanya Reed’s neck
while wet, sloppy, baby kisses were plastered on her face. Tanya
held baby Jo Jo, aka Joseph Jermaine Warren tightly, wishing that
he were hers—that she didn’t have to turn him over to the waiting
arms that were stretched out reaching for him. But she did. The
baby didn’t belong to her. He was a ward of the state. And the
woman standing in front of her waiting for the baby was a foster
mother Tanya had begged to take the baby in temporarily. Still, it
wasn’t right that he was less than a year old and she’d had so much
contact with this baby that he knew her, cared for her, and gave
her kisses and hugs each and every time he saw her. It wasn’t right
at all.

It damn sure wasn’t right that each time she
turned him over to someone that her heart broke again.
One of
the dangers of the job
. She’d been taught empathy, not
sympathy, not in her job. As a social worker she couldn’t afford to
get emotionally involved. There were far too many children that she
was responsible for.

Yet somehow Tanya’s head must have been
absent on the day that particular lecture was given. How could she
not get involved? How could she not be angry that at this ungodly
hour one of her charges would without warning need a new place to
live? It made her angry at the birth parents, at God, at the system
and even at the foster parents who sometimes turned out to be worse
than the biological parents. Sure the department did what they
could in the screening, but if they were really good at their jobs
then this precious baby would not now be slobbering over her.

“Miss Reed, are you ready to hand me the
baby?”

Tanya looked into the face of the woman who
would take Jo Jo. She looked pleasant enough. She had three of the
state’s children in her care. She was nice to the kids. Actually
she seemed to care for them.

“Miss Reed?”

Tanya found herself rubbing the baby’s back,
not wanting to release him. That was the problem. Mrs. Glass was a
good foster parent. She’d adopted two of the state’s wards. And who
in their right mind wouldn’t adopt Jo Jo when the state terminated
his biological parents’ custody? That would be years down the line,
but as sure as she was standing there, one day it was going to
happen. And as much as she wanted Jo Jo to have a good, loving home
and stable parents, Tanya wanted him for her own. She sighed
heavily, knowing that was one dream that more than likely would
never come true.

Suddenly the baby’s head lifted from her neck
where he was slobbering and he pulled back to stare into her eyes.
He gave her a smile before gently patting her cheeks. If she didn’t
know better, she’d think the baby was comforting her, trying to let
her know that it was okay, that she could hand him over. Still, she
didn’t want to. She brought him back close to her and hugged him,
trying her best not to cry.

“Okay, big guy,” she said at last. “I guess
it’s time you go to meet Mrs. Glass. It’s way past your bedtime, Jo
Jo.” She kissed him one last time and handed him over. “He’s such a
sweet little guy. He’s a good baby and he loves to be held. I know
you have other kids, but if you could make him feel safe, just give
him extra hugs for me, I’d sure appreciate it.”

Tanya ran her hand down the baby’s back and
Mrs. Glass pulled him away from her. For a moment Tanya stared at
the woman.

“I give all of my babies’ hugs and love,”
Mrs. Glass replied with a distinct coolness in her voice. “If I
didn’t, you wouldn’t have brought him to me at,” she looked behind
her at the wall clock, “at four in the morning.”

Tanya had offended the woman. That had not
been her intent, but the baby wasn’t even a year old and he’d seen
way more in his young life than he ever should have. A chill hit
her and she wondered if in worrying about Jo Jo, she’d made things
worse for him.
God, please, no, don’t let that be the case.
She bit her lips trying to find the right words to soothe, to
assure. She’d had parents take out things against her and the
department before on their precious little charges. She didn’t want
that to be the case for Jo Jo.

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to offend
you.”

Tanya smiled at the woman and shrugged her
shoulders to acknowledge that she’d been in the wrong in the words
she’d used. “I’ve grown so attached to this little guy. He’s had it
harder than most, but he’s a fighter. And you’re right. I called
you because you’re the best foster mother that I have. I know how
much you do for the kids.” Tanya smiled again. “It’s just harder
with this one.” She moved closer and rubbed the baby’s back. This
time the woman didn’t move away. “I find myself wishing he were
mine,” Tanya admitted. She wasn’t surprised when the truth brought
out the smile from Mrs. Glass that her words didn’t.

“That I understand. Ralph and I fall in love
with all the kids you bring to us. We never want to let go of them,
even though we know it’s best if their parents get their lives
together and raise their babies themselves. If we could afford to,
we’d adopt every single child that the state would allow us
to.”

She smiled and Tanya smiled back at her. “I
know you would,” Tanya admitted knowing that was the truth.
“Listen, it’s really late and I want to thank you again for always
taking my calls. I know some of my foster parents ignore my late
night calls, so thanks again for not looking at your caller ID and
ignoring me.” Tanya grinned. “I’ll let you and Jo Jo get
acquainted.” She walked to the door, determined not to give the
baby another glance, but he started laughing and when she turned
back he waved at her and said, “Bye-bye.” Tanya laughed also; she
didn’t know he was making words. “Bye, Jo Jo,” she said. “I’ll see
you in a couple of days.”

Walking out into the still dark morning Tanya
sucked up her tears. In one more week she would finish the classes
for being a foster parent. The department played no favoritism that
way. Social worker or not, she still had to take the classes if she
wanted to take children into her home. But Tanya was going for the
bigger picture. She was investing in the dream of a friend of a
friend. A woman with clout, Sara Combs.

Tanya had met her at a charity event several
years ago and had seen the woman many times since. She liked her
and for a millionaire she didn’t have airs. In fact she was always
trying to find a way to give back. She considered her money a
blessing and was always trying to help those less fortunate.
Knowing Tanya was a social worker she’d eagerly told her of her
plans to build an entire community of brand new homes where foster
children would live with parents.

It was a kind of utopia. Tanya knew that the
idea hadn’t been all that original considering that SOS had been
doing that for years. It was Sara’s enthusiasm for the project that
had swept Tanya up into wanting to be a part of it. She’d already
donated her time and money to the project. She’d been saving all of
her money to give to the organization to buy more land as soon as
all of the plans were approved for the village. In fact, one home
had been built and furnished. With political clout and financial
backing from a major university, Sara had pulled some strings and
had become affiliated with several agencies that were willing to
allow the children to live in the homes.

She hadn’t asked why the state had approved
their plans but Tanya wanted in on this project. All of the
participants had undergone background checks. And had all taken the
foster care training classes. They were ready. The homework had
been done. The plans laid out would give these children a stable
neighborhood and a family. They would go to ballet lessons, learn
to play the piano, ski, play tennis, go skating, all the things
kids with two sane, loving parents would do. Tanya was all for
that. And every spare dime was going into a fund to help finance
the building of the next home. She’d already saved a little over
twenty-five-thousand dollars. She thought of Heaven and Hamid. If
she ran short, she knew she could count on Heaven.

A twinge of regret hit Tanya. She was taking
advantage of her friend and they both were aware of it. Still,
she’d never asked Heaven for money for herself, only for the kids.
Putting her key in the ignition Tanya’s gaze landed on the
dashboard. Almost five—much too damn early to be up, and definitely
much too early for a baby to be roused from his sleep. Jo Jo
couldn’t help it though. He was at the mercy of adults, poor little
thing.

In a way Tanya couldn’t help it either. She
just didn’t trust that anyone else would go in at whatever ungodly
hour to answer the calls. She’s heard the complaints and she knew
for a fact some of the workers waited a few hours to do their jobs
when it was more convenient. It didn’t mean that there weren’t a
lot of dedicated social workers out there. But it did mean that
there weren’t enough. And there were far too many abandoned, abused
kids without enough caring people to tend to their needs. The job
was that much harder if one had a family. Thank God, Tanya didn’t
have a family.

At that thought she felt an unexpected twinge
to her heart. She wanted a family and she wanted one badly. Ever
since Heaven had left Chicago for Pakistan, Tanya’s own biological
clock had begun ticking. At the least she’d thought she’d be able
to share in her best friend’s pregnancy. But noooo, Heaven had
talked some mess about following Hamid halfway across the world to
Pakistan to make her husband happy.

At her crazy thoughts, Tanya couldn’t help
but smile. She didn’t blame Heaven one little bit. If she had a man
who loved her as much as Hamid loved Heaven, she would follow him
also. And one that was that fine. Damn. Then to add to the pot,
Heaven got to Pakistan and found out her husband was loaded--,
filthy rich, a damn millionaire. If it weren’t that Heaven was
constantly sending her money when she asked for it to help out with
the kids, Tanya would have been even more jealous than she was.
Sure, she wanted her friend to be happy but she would be a liar if
she said she didn’t want the same things for herself. She’d
daydreamed more than once about having a millionaire husband. She
knew exactly what she would do with the money. She’d build a
community for her children without Sara or anyone’s help. She’d
make sure they never wanted for anything.

***

‘
It don’t matter if you’re young or you’re
old,’
Tanya sang along to the words for,
The Cupid
Shuffle
. This was exactly what she needed─a night out with her
girlfriends. She needed to dance and maybe, please God, meet a
decent guy. She was tired of sleeping alone.

Five dances later, Tanya was limping off the
dance floor. “I must be getting old. I’m tired.”

“So am I.” Ongela turned and smiled, and they
both watched Peaches who remained on the floor.

“Sassa, we didn’t expect to see much of you
and Isha once Hamid left the country. I’m glad to see that we can
all still be friends.” Tanya smiled at Hamid’s cousin then turned
to include his wife, Isha in her smile.

“Of course we can. Why wouldn’t we?” Sassa
questioned, his look one of curiosity.

“You know? We hung out because of Heaven and
Hamid.”

“That may have been true, but both Isha and I
enjoy going out with you. You’re all so much fun.”

Tanya sighed. “We do have fun, but I miss
Heaven. I’m still pissed that she didn’t tell any of us she was
pregnant before she left. That was so wrong. We didn’t get to throw
her a baby shower or anything. And we haven’t even seen the
baby.”

“You could all go to Pakistan for a visit.
Heaven has a very large home and would welcome a visit from
friends,” Sassa piped in. “Hamid told me that she’s a bit homesick,
that she misses all of you.”

“She missed us so much that she didn’t ask
any of us to be godmother to her baby. That was the plan. We’d all
talked about it. It was decided long ago that we’d choose from
among us for godparents.”

“Yes, Tanya, while that might be true, Fatima
is her sister-in-law.” Peaches chimed in. It had to be Tanya's
internal clock ticking. Why else would she be angry with her friend
for being happy, for having a baby? Surely it couldn’t be jealousy.
Tanya pushed the thought away and glared at Peaches. “So what?
We’re her friends, her family. She should have asked one of
us.”