Ivy in the Shadows (19 page)

“Your cousin!” I said.

Everyone chuckled but Uncle Sonny's booming laugh was the loudest, warming me clear through.

“What are you talking about?” I said.

“Caleb tells me that you know the Bennetts are his guardians, right?” Pastor Harold said.

“Yeah, I mean, I thought they were his mom and dad,” I said. “Hey, wait a minute, Pastor Harold. You knew?”

“I admit to not knowing until you prompted me to look into the situation.”

“Why didn't you tell me?” I put my hands on my hips.

“Whoa, young lady,” Mama said as she joined us on the porch, carrying JJ. “Before you get too angry, it wasn't a secret. I knew. I thought you did, too.”

“Well, I didn't!” I said. Then I realized why. “But I guess I never asked him, either.”

“The point is, Caleb's guardians want him taken care of and provided for but it's hard at their age. They weren't expecting to raise another child.”

I suddenly felt very protective of Caleb. Everyone deserved to be wanted.

“So, stay with us, Caleb,” I told him. “We want you.”

“Yeah, Caleb!” JJ jumped down from Mama and wrapped his arms around Caleb's waist. “You can stay here forever!”

“Actually, Pastor Harold is going to talk to the Bennetts about transferring guardianship to your uncle Sonny and me,” Aunt Maureen said. “We have to meet with them, get their approval, become certified as foster parents and all. But…” She gazed at Caleb and she looked so soft and pretty, longing for the chance to be someone's mother. “But he'll be worth it.”

And I looked at Caleb. Still tall and gangly. Still having to push his glasses up on his nose. Still a little different from anyone I knew.

“Yeah,” I said. “He'll be worth it.”

And that's the truth.

Acknowledgments

I have been fortunate to know the Don and Jane Marshall family of Indiana. While Jane kept the home fires burning, Don traveled as a missionary in northwest Haiti. In 1996, he took one of their daughters, Donja, then fifteen years old, with him on her first mission trip. Among the many mission trips the girls participated in, Donja made eight such ventures to Haiti and her sister, Amanda, made six journeys there. Both girls kept journals of these trips, portions of which were previously published in their local newspapers, the
Fountain County Neighbor
and the
Review Republican
.

A few of their tales worked their way into my book, such as the outdoor shower story that Caleb tells JJ, as well as the story of the boy with no poles for his tent. Thank you, Donja and Amanda, for giving me a glimpse of your time there and for sharing your stories with me (and Caleb, of course).

Also by Chris Woodworth

Double-Click for Trouble

Georgie's Moon

When Ratboy Lived Next Door

Farrar Straus Giroux Books for Young Readers

175 Fifth Avenue, New York 10010

Text copyright © 2013 by Chris Woodworth

All rights reserved

First hardcover edition, 2013

eBook edition, February 2013

mackids.com

The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:

Woodworth, Chris, 1957–

Ivy in the shadows / Chris Woodworth. — 1st ed.

     p.   cm.

Summary: To make ends meet, twelve-year-old Ivy's mother goes to work as a waitress and takes in a boarder, a strange boy named Caleb who Ivy is sure is a liar.

ISBN 978-0-374-33566-3 (hardcover)

ISBN 978-0-374-33618-9 (e-book)

[1.  Single-parent families—fiction.   2.  Family life—Fiction.   3.  Friendship—Fiction.   4.  Indiana—Fiction.]   I.  Title.

    PZ7.W8794Iv 2013

    [Fic]—dc23

2012003224

eISBN 9780374336189