healing-hearts (14 page)

“Go ahead with Miss Andrea, everything will be fine.”

“Okay...” two little hushed voices agreed. They let go of Yasmine’s hands and walked into Andrea’s office and sat on the couch, close enough to each other to appear joined at the hip.

“I’ll be right with you two, okay.”

Yasmine assumed the twins nodded or something because Andrea gave a comforting smile in their direction and pulled the door until only a slight gap was left. “Thanks for bringing them to me. I figured after the fair they would need to talk about it. Things just get a little crazy here afterwards and it’s hard to get to all of the kids.”

“No problem.” Yasmine paused for a moment. “I know you can’t say who’s adopting them or anything, but just so you know I told the kids that you would try your best so they wouldn’t be split up.”

“I appreciate that. We try and make it a policy here not to allow children to be split—they lose enough already without that happening. That’s what I had to explain to the couple yesterday.”

“So, how long before they leave?”

“They decided on another little girl.” Andrea confirmed.

Unexpectedly, Yasmine was just as hurt about this news as when she thought they were leaving. After talking with the twins and knowing how unhappy they were about being at the orphanage and having to go through more fairs, and possibly as much rejection; her heart ached for them.

“Well, let me get in there. See you next time.”

Yasmine said good-bye and left, with the echo of sadness in her steps.

~ML~

Jason paced around his home office, working on anything that would keep his mind busy, waiting for his brother to get online. Standing at the window now he stared down at the hustle of night activity of Town Center clientele. He had come home early and cooked himself a meal from one of the healthy recipes Yasmine had given him. He was surprised it had turned out so well, it had actually been edible.

Earlier from work he had e-mailed Teddy, saying he needed to talk to him about something and he would be on line by nine that evening.

Bee-boop.

Jason moved back to his desk as the messenger on his computer signaled his brother was online.

polarbear
: Jay, What’s up?

jayatwork
: Made a mistake, I think.

Jason responded to his brothers’ inquiry.

polarbear
: You think??

jayatwork
: Yeah

polarbear:
What’d you do?

Jason exhaled. He knew this question was coming—it was the reason he had e-mailed his brother. All day he had been contemplating what he was going to say and he still didn’t know how to bring up what he had done.

polarbear:
Jay?

jayatwork:
I asked her out

polarbear:
Assuming—diet girl

Jason smiled at the nickname.

jayatwork:
Ya, diet girl

polarbear:
And?

jayatwork:
Dinner/Fireworks

polarbear:
And?

jayatwork
: Went well

polarbear
: I’m pulling teeth here

Not processing what he was going to type Jason spilled it.

jayatwork
: Marriage

polarbear:
For who?

jayatwork:
Me

polarbear:
What? How did that happened?

jayatwork
: Long story

polarbear
: Better be a good story and hopefully it was a better night

jayatwork
: No night

polarbear
: So she’s not pregnant

jayatwork
: No

polarbear
: Then what in the Hell

jayatwork
: Pressure at work

polarbear
: I’m not a dentist, SPILL IT

jayatwork
: Not really much to say

Ring, Ring.

“Hello?” He picked up the phone shocked that someone had called him so late.

“Okay, little brother, what is going on?”

“Teddy?” Jason couldn’t help but laugh that his brother was calling him.

“Look, my hands were starting to hurt. How about you take this story from the top and don’t stop to take a breath. And don’t start with that B.S. about it’s nothing, really.”

Jason did what he was told. He explained the situation to his brother the best way he could from his limited understanding of why he had even done it.

“So, you proposed to her because your boss wants you to get a life and because she wants some kids she can’t have...” Teddy’s voice faded away into roaring laughter. “You’ve got to be joking?”

Already agitated about the situation, Jason spoke through gritted teeth, “No, I’m not.”

“Hold on, Lisa’s got to hear this.”

“Teddy, don’t call Lisa.” Jason shouted into the phone, but he was too late—silence greeted his outburst as his brother put him on hold to call his sister on the three-way.

When he connected back, there was one quick ring before the line was picked up.

“Hello,” came the sleepy sound of his sister’s voice on the other end.

“Lisa, wake up. You won’t believe what’s happened.”

“Teddy?” Lisa sounded more awake.

“Yeah it’s me, and Jay is on the line, too.”

“Jay...what’s going on?” His sister’s voice was laced with hesitant curiosity.

“Lisa, I hope you’re sitting up, because you’re going to need to be wide awake for this one.”

Jason could hear rustling around, he was sure his sister was probably arranging herself in a more comfortable position in bed.

“Jay, what’s Teddy talking about?”

“I’ll let him explain—I’d hate to ruin his fun.”

“Jay asked a girl to marry him.” Teddy bellowed with humor.

“That’s great.” Lisa squealed ecstatically.

“Wait, Lisa, I’m not through yet. He only asked her because his boss is pressuring him about having a personal life,” Teddy clarified.

“Is that true, Jay?” Lisa questioned.

Jason wasn’t sure if that was disappointment in his sister’s voice or not.

“Not completely. Yes, about my side, but also I did it to help her out. She wanted these kids pretty bad. Well, that’s how it sounded to me.” Jason took a moment to explain the vague details his brother had told her.

“So, what did she say?” Lisa asked.

“Basically, I made her angry as hell. She walked away—no—more like ran away and told me to stay away from her.”

“Have you spoken to her since then?”

“I haven’t tried to get in touch with her, the next morning she stopped by to talk to me briefly. Nothing came of that except she politely told me no that time. It’s been a few weeks now and nothing.”

“I don’t know what to say, Jay—except that it was very noble of you to try and help her out,” Lisa commented.

“Jay’s nobler than I am, that’s for sure,” Teddy mumbled aloud.

“Well, I may have been too noble for myself.”

“What would you have done if she said yes?” Lisa voice was hushed.

“I don’t know, I guess I would’ve had to marry her.”

Lisa guffawed into the phone. “That’s almost a guarantee.”

“I figured that, but it’s irrelevant now. She said no.”

“You going to ask someone else?” Humor still bubbled in his brother’s voice.

Jason rubbed his free hand down his face. “No way. I’m just going to have to continue to bust my tail at work and make sure Mr. Coleman leans completely to my side.”

“That would’ve been my plan from the beginning,” Teddy clarified.

“Don’t listen to Teddy, he’s just feeling guilty because he doesn’t have the sense enough to take Crystal to the altar,” Lisa accused.

“Okay, it’s about time to end this conversation,” Teddy jumped in.

That comment gave Jason and Lisa a chance to laugh.

Jason cleared his throat. “You know you’re right, big bro, it is time to go. I have early meetings tomorrow.”

They ended the call with endearments and then all three lines of the Richardson children were disconnected.

~ML~

“Hey, Yasmine, Dennis Belle called this morning, he wants to reschedule a follow-up session that he missed with you last week.”

Yasmine could hear Leigh as she walked behind her into the office.

Yasmine went behind her desk, dropped her purse in the side drawer she kept it in when she was at work, then sat down.

Leigh walked silently to the chair next to Yasmine’s desk and sat down, then quietly she asked, “What happened? Please don’t say that it’s nothing, because the only time you get that vacant look on your face is when you’re hurt or something bad has happened. By the dark burgundy circles under your eyes I’d also guess you’ve been crying.”

Yasmine focused her eyes on her friend. “Well, you’re right on all fronts.”

“What happened at the orphanage yesterday? I figured it had to be something pretty upsetting when you didn’t answer your phone last night, then you called this morning and said you wouldn’t be in until noon. Racking my brain, the only thing I could come up with was that the twins had gotten adopted?”

Yasmine’s eyes began to well up again, as if she hadn’t just dehydrated herself all last night.

“Part of me wishes that they
had
gotten adopted.”

“Why?” Leigh asked as she got up, grabbed the box of Kleenex from the credenza shelf, and placed them on the desk in front of Yasmine.

“Because then at least they would be in a good home. They hate it there, Leigh.” A single tear slid down and Yasmine quickly wiped it away.

“I’m sure as nice as the staff is there...nothing can beat having your own parents and things. It’s a feeling of security.”

“Well, they definitely don’t feel they have that...” Yasmine’s voice drifted off as she grabbed a water bottle from the floor behind her desk, opened it and drank liberally.

“What did you find out that has you so upset?”

“When I got there I found out that there was an adoption fair this weekend and I guess a couple wanted a little girl, but they didn’t want two children. They had the nerve to ask Jessica if she want to come live with them
without
Joshua. What kind of insensitive people are they?”

“What happened?” Leigh prompted.

“Jessica told them no, and Andrea said the couple chose another little girl. Well, the twins were extremely hurt—they were still crying about it yesterday.”

“Did you let the staff know?”

“I took them to Andrea and explained.” Yasmine idly fiddled with the label on her water bottle. Something she did without thinking when she was upset or confused.

“I’m sure she did a wonderful job of calming them down, Yassi.”

“I don’t doubt that.” Yasmine blinked repeatedly as she looked up to the ceiling in an attempt to control her tears. “Leigh, if you could have seen their faces. The way they looked at me.” Yasmine lost the battle; the tears began to spill out.

“Oh, Yassi...”Leigh reached out and placed a comforting hand on top of Yasmine’s.

“What am I supposed to do with that, Leigh? How am I supposed to get that image out of my head?”

Leigh shook her head, saying, “I don’t know what to tell you, Yassi. What choice do you have, except to be there for them and pray that some nice couple comes along soon?”

Yasmine sat quietly for a moment, taking the time to wipe the tears from her face.

“What if that’s me and I let the opportunity slip out of my hands?”

“What are you talking about? Don’t start blaming yourself, you tried. It’s not your fault there are a bunch of laws and rules to stop you from having them and giving them a great life.”

“Do you really think I could give them a great life, Leigh?”

“Please, you love kids. I could never understand how in college you would rather baby sit kids on Saturday night for one of the faculty members, instead of going out and partying like the rest of us.”

“You know, Leigh, there’s something I never told you...” Yasmine’s voice faded away as she focused her gaze back on the bottle in her hand.

“Should I be offended?” Leigh asked, arching a perfectly sculpted red eyebrow.

“No. The reason I didn’t tell you before was because I didn’t know what I was going to do with it. I’m still not sure if I made a mistake.”

“Well, if you want to talk about it, I’m listening.”