Chapter 3 #2
Tossing back the covers, she slipped out of bed and padded out into the kitchen where her phone was charging on the counter.
“Shit,” she muttered as she saw the name flashing on the screen. The guilt at not answering the first call intensified in her. “Hey, Daphne, what’s up?”
“Hi, Cerise, I’m sorry to bother you so early. But . . .”
“Finn’s been dropped off again?”
Daphne’s sigh was audible down the line. “Yeah, Poppy dropped him off at the home last night. The superintendent called me first thing this morning.”
Cerise gripped her phone a little tighter, anger replacing the guilt. “I’ll be there in twenty minutes. This has got to stop.”
“I know. I know. It frustrates me that she continually does this, but she’s his guardian.”
“When it suits her,” she retorted as she strode back to her room.
“He’s got you though.”
“It’s not enough. He can’t keep going back and forth like this. It’s not good for his mental well-being.”
“I’m aware. Look, I’ve got to go. I’ve got another call. I’ll see you soon.”
Cerise disconnected the phone and tossed it on the bed.
When Nadia moved out to be with Mitch, she’d thought about getting another roommate but ever since the tornado, and her near-death experience, she’d been restless.
Wanting to do something more. Then it had hit her, she could be a foster mom.
As someone who’d grown up in the system, she was aware that so many kids slipped through.
No one had wanted to adopt her and the foster homes she’d been placed in hadn’t been the best.
She’d known in her bones that she could give back and create a loving environment for any child that came through her door. The process had been long, and she hadn’t breathed a word of it to Nadia until she’d been approved as a foster mom. Final approval had come in just before Halloween.
When she’d gotten the call a few days later to see if she was able to have her first foster child, she’d been so excited.
Her heart had exploded when she laid eyes on Finn Brown the first time.
He was the cutest boy who didn’t deserve the life he’d been handed.
His Aunt Poppy only wanted him when she was between boyfriends.
Cerise would bet her house that when she got to the Kerrville Boys Home today, Poppy had a new boyfriend and that said boyfriend had told her to get rid of Finn so it could just be the two of them.
This would be the third time that had happened since she first fostered him in November.
Prior to Finn being placed with her, he’d been shuffled around from foster home to foster home over the past two years.
She couldn’t believe CPS hadn’t done anything to prevent Poppy from continually doing what she was doing.
But the system was slammed and, as she knew, kids fell through the cracks.
Finn called out to all her mothering instincts, and she’d wanted to protect him as much as possible. After she gave him back the first time, she’d informed Daphne that if it happened again, she would take him in without question. Each time she’d had him for a month.
There had to be something she could do to prevent this from happening again to Finn.
She didn’t know what though, but it would come to her.
Good ideas always did if she freed her mind.
All she knew was, the little boy deserved stability in his home life.
He didn’t need to be a rubber ball in his aunt’s world.
If she didn’t know what a great kid she had in Finn, then it was her loss.
The poor kid was still grieving the loss of his parents.
He needed love and hugs—and Cerise would give them to him.
Twenty minutes later she pulled into the parking lot of the red-brick building housing the boys’ home. Like most government-run facilities, it wasn’t much to look at, but then again, most of the money was put into providing food and clothes for the kids. It didn’t need to look good on the outside.
She locked her car and made her way up the stairs and into the building. Cerise spied Daphne talking to a man at the counter. She looked up when Cerise walked in.
“Cerise, thank you for coming.” She walked over to her and held out her hand. Cerise took it and gave it a quick shake.
“Of course, I told you that I will do anything for that boy. I take it Poppy has a new boyfriend?”
Daphne sighed. “Yes. I told her she can’t keep doing this and if she comes back wanting him, I’m not going to just hand him over this time.”
Cerise bit her tongue to stop herself from saying the case worker should’ve done it a year ago, but the last thing she wanted to do was get on her bad side.
Besides, she was well aware that most social workers had too many cases on their plates to deal with.
Plus, Daphne was married to Gene, another HVFD volunteer.
Gene was a good guy, and Cerise knew Daphne did the best she could.
“Well, you know I love Finn, and he can stay with me as long as he wants.”
“I appreciate this and I know Finn will love to see you again. I’ll just go get him.”
“Great. I’ll be here.”
Daphne headed down the hallway and Cerise tamped down her excitement at seeing Finn again.
She wanted to scoop him up and hug him tight, but she also recalled that each time she’d gotten him back from his aunt, the last thing he’d wanted was to be hugged.
Finn was too young to be building up his defenses against people.
However, given how he was being treated and the fact he’d lost his parents at a young age, it was understandable.
The sound of footsteps had her looking up and she couldn’t stop the smile from breaking out when she spied the little boy walking beside Daphne.
As they got closer her heart cracked a little, taking in the rounded shoulders, the tired look in his eyes and his downturned lips. Defeat surrounded him like a dense fog.
Nope, no way was she going to let this keep happening. Poppy couldn’t keep taking him back whenever her latest man walked out on her.
Cerise would find a way to keep Finn this time. No matter what it took.