Steve began to realise that his wife might never accept the idea of adopting his former colleague’s daughter, Heather. But after a few weeks, things took an unexpected turn.
“Only my wife could put me, a police officer, into a state of panic with just one text message on my phone,” Steve said jokingly to his colleagues at the police station.
The joke came to his mind one sunny afternoon as he looked at his phone, wondering how to respond to a text message from his wife, Alice, asking where he was.
“Is that your wife?” asked Heather, taking another spoonful of ice cream and chewing gum.
“Yes. She’s going to be so mad at me! I should have been home an hour ago. It’s Saturday and I’m the one who cooks dinner on Saturday.”
“She makes you cook? I love her already!” giggled Heather.
“Oh, what about you, Heather? How long have you been at her side?”.
“Well, she’s a lot like my mother. She was punctual, she had everything scheduled, and she was the only one my father was afraid of. Oh, and she was beautiful… so beautiful!”
The last sentence left Heather and Steve speechless. Steve takes the girl’s hand when she thinks of her mother, who died when Heather was only two years old.
Another cruel twist of fate was that Heather’s father died two years later.
Steve still remembers his last conversation with his former colleague and police friend Jack.
“Mate, you and I have seen quite a few dark days in our police careers. And the severity of all those hard times was halved because you and I stuck together. Life has thrown me a lot of tough times. But you always knew what was wrong before I told you. You were always there for me – with money, words of encouragement, or even a bag of groceries at my door.”
“That’s right. Where do I send the bills to get a refund?” – Steve asked, giving Jack one last chance to laugh.
“I must be a terrible friend because even though I know I’m dying, I have nothing to give in return; just one last request.”
Steve knew what his friend was going to say.
“Steve, mate, my daughter has never had an easy childhood up until now. I did everything I could for her. But now she’s going to be all alone in this scary world. I have no family to take her in, so she will live in a local orphanage. She will be taken care of, but I am afraid that my girl will grow up not knowing what it is to be loved.”
“So I want you to promise me that you’ll be there for Heather. Just like you’ve been there for me. She’s going to learn very quickly that life can be tough, and I want you to be there for her as much as you can. She’s your daughter now, mate. Promise me you’ll be there for her…”
“I will, Jack. I promise.”
A gentle kiss from little Heather brought Steve back to the present moment.
“Go on. You need to make dinner… Daddy!”.
Steve never forced Heather to call him Daddy. Smiling at the innocence in her voice, he wished his wife had finally agreed to adopt her.
***
A week later, Steve and his wife Alice were on their way to their weekly visit to check on Heather. “That’s not fair, Steve,” Alice said. “You know I loved Jack and his wife. But you also know there’s a reason I don’t want to adopt Heather. I’ve worked hard to build a career, Steve. You know how much I want to bring responsibility and integrity back into the daily news.”
“This is my vocation and it hasn’t changed in the 12 years of our marriage. Why should it change now?”
At that moment Steve realised he had a choice to make: accept his wife’s decision or keep his promise and adopt baby Heather as a man of his word. “Oh, hello Heather!” Alice changed her tone when she saw Heather behind her, hoping the girl hadn’t heard her. “How are you, dear?”
Heather can’t help but wonder at Alice’s gentle manners, frank laughter and kindness.
“This,” Alice says, handing Heather a large bag, “is a pile of new clothes for you, darling. Steve tells me you like bright colours. I think you’ll like what you find inside!”
An hour passed, and Steve took out his car keys, preparing to leave.
“Thank you… Mom!” Heather said the last word nervously, keeping her eyes on the woman she adored.
Alice was speechless for a moment, because she never imagined that she would be called mom. She took a deep breath, pulled herself together, and kissed Heather goodbye.
Heather’s voice echoed in Alice’s head for the rest of the week. She thought something had changed, but she was too frightened to admit it.
Steve had never seen Alice in such a quiet reverie. Her uncertainty and thoughtfulness made him wonder.
The following week, Alice was sorting through her wardrobe at home when she noticed that a folded piece of paper had fallen out of one of Steve’s uniform trousers.
“What is it?” Alice took the paper.
Steve looks surprised. “Oh, this? It’s just a little drawing Heather made when I visited her two days ago. I thought I’d lost it, but I’m so glad you found it! Have you seen the drawing?”
Alice opened the piece of paper. There were three figures holding hands against a sunset sky. The figures were titled ‘Mummy’, ‘Daddy’ and ‘Me’.
At first it seemed as if Heather had drawn her own dead parents. But as she looked more closely, the drawing became much more meaningful to her.
The mother’s figure had short hair, a green watch, high-heeled shoes and a small suitcase. Alice felt her heart melt when she realised it was her.
Steve was silent as Alice wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. “She’s such a sweet girl, Heather. It’s not that I don’t think of her or don’t like her. It’s just…”
Steve seemed to have given up on his desire to adopt Heather. But all Alice could think about now was how she could try to find a place for the girl in her life.
She was making imaginary schedules in her head. She imagined picking Heather up from school, taking her to fencing practice, eating her favourite ice cream together…
However, it was all still in Alice’s head. It’s a whole other wonderland you’ve created in your head, Alice!” – she giggled, thinking of her own stupidity.
She tried not to talk about her new dream. She even avoided visiting Heather for weeks, hoping it would help her forget. Then one day, out of the blue, Alice showed up at Steve’s police station in the middle of the work day.
“Hey, I was thinking,” Alice said as calmly as she could, “I haven’t seen Heather in a while. Why don’t we pay her a surprise visit tomorrow? We could take her out for ice cream at this new place…”
“You came all this way to ask me that? Doesn’t your show start in fifteen minutes?” Steve thought he was hallucinating as it seemed more likely than his wife skipping work.
“Yes, but don’t change the subject. Do you think we could go tomorrow?”
Steve, still in shock, mutters, “Yeah, sure. Of course we could go to her place.”
Alice was very excited to meet the girl who loved her so much. In her excitement, she went too far and bought another big bag of clothes, shoes and books for her.
As Alice got out of the car outside the shelter, Heather got into another.
“Where are they taking her?”
At that moment one of the shelter staff spotted Alice and Steve.
“Oh, hello, Steve! Hi Alice! You’re just in time to say goodbye.”
Alice’s heart clenched as she saw Heather looking at her through the car window with tears in her eyes.
“Heather is a lucky girl. A wealthy young couple might be interested in taking her into their home. Heather will try to spend the day with them today, and if all goes well, she will soon have a foster family. At least for a while.”
Steve could not concentrate on the staff member’s words. He too was broken by the forced smile on the little angel’s face.
As the car began to pull away, Heather wrote the word ‘Mum’ and a heart on the fogged up window.
Alice couldn’t hold back tears as she watched Heather disappear at the end of the road, sending them air kisses.
“I can’t do this anymore. Steve, we can’t let Heather go!”
“Alice, honey, are you sure?” asked Steve, wiping away his own tears.
“Yes. I know that my career will take a back seat for a while. But I can’t pretend I don’t see how much she needs me to love her as a mother.”
“I can’t turn a blind eye to her adoration, to her searching gaze. I just… find out the rest. We have to get her home, Steve!”
Steve and Alice have created a perfectly warm, loving and cosy home for their new family member. Alice has decided that she wants to be near them while Heather gets used to living with them. So one ambitious local TV presenter decided to take a few weeks off to get to know her daughter better.
On a beautiful afternoon Heather came running to Alice with a drawing in her hands. “Look, Mummy!”
“Ah, it’s exactly the same as the one you drew for Daddy a few weeks ago. And you’ve come a long way since you drew stick figures…”.
“Stick people? I never drew any figures. And I never gave Daddy any of my drawings…”.
Alice and Heather stood looking at the old drawing they had hung on the fridge.
And a moment passed, but Alice turned and looked at Steve. He was staring into the abyss, whistling, trying desperately to look like he had nothing to do with this little lie.
Alice hugged her bewildered daughter and met Steve’s gaze. “Well done, officer!” – she whispered, grinning.
