In the end, adopting her had seemed the obvious thing to do.
When Joanna and Joelle returned from Colombia, Paul had called Galina and Pablo to explain as best he could what happened. That completing his part of the deal was now uncertain, and very much on hold. They were once his kidnappers. Now they were simply distraught grandparents. And two people who’d risked their lives to return his wife and daughter to him. He was eternally grateful.
He told them what their granddaughter was like, sent them pictures, described how unusually sweet she was, that she was blessed with the special gift of endearment.
She was facing a statusless limbo—an intercountry wrangling that was going to leave her back in Mount Ararat Hospital for quite a while. Maybe forever.
Paul visited her, visited her again.
One day he brought Joanna and Joelle along.
It became a weekly routine. So did Paul’s calls and letters to Ruth’s grandparents in Colombia. This time, of course, the letters detailing her life weren’t made up. They were genuine. So were the feelings of regret every time the three of them left Ruth at the door of the hospital. She’d stand there and wave at them until their car disappeared around the corner.
He honestly couldn’t remember who brought it up first.
Galina and Pablo? Or was it him?
Call it a tie. Colombia wasn’t necessarily any safer for Ruth than it was before. It wasn’t safe for anyone these days. Galina and Pablo were feeling their age. Suddenly, it was as if all parties involved knew the right thing to do. Where Ruth belonged.
Galina and Pablo gave their permission.
Paul and Joanna filed for adoption and were granted it one year later.
She wasn’t out of the woods. It was entirely possible she might never be. She attended group therapy on a triweekly basis, remained medicated, and occasionally lapsed into periods of heartbreaking desperation.
Most of the time she smiled, even glowed. Paul was convinced that her family nourished her, every bit as much as it nourished him.
He’d gone from no family to a full one in the seeming blink of an eye. He’d abandoned the safety of numbers for the uncertain possibilities of life. Odds are, he thought, it would be a good one.
“Come on, sweeties, let’s grab some lunch,” Paul told his daughters.
Joelle and Claudia.
Oh yes. On the day they officially gave Ruth their last name, she’d asked them if she might change her first one as well.
“To what?” Paul asked her.
What was my mother’s name?
Joanna told her.
“Claudia,” she said. “Claudia Breidbart. It’ll do.”
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2005 by James Siegel
All rights reserved.
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First eBook Edition: March 2005
ISBN: 0-7595-1335-X