The Village

Seth’s Perspective

I snuck out of the house Sunday morning after breakfast to go to the Hall’s villa and see what Zach had found from the kids past (I felt a Little guilty about leaving him alone with the three kids… three were definitely more work than two). I parked in front of the Hall’s villa and opened the garage door with the code. When the big door opened, I was greeted with that familiar stench of cigarette smoke, pot, and mold that covered Freddy and Izzy when they first showed up on our doorstep. It was faint, but there; the scent brought me back to the night we first met the two stinky little creatures that changed our lives forever. The floor of the garage was covered in stuff, Zach had sorted things out and made piles for each of the kids, Karen, etc. In the middle of it all was the Christmas stuff, Harold the Angel stood out from the rest. I took a deep breath as I looked around at the seemingly endless task of sorting and cleaning, then went to work. I put a load of clothes in the washer (and stole a coke from the fridge). First, I polished Harold and put him aside, then for the next couple of hours, I cleaned and sorted, and did laundry. I took a break to run to the nearest U-Haul store to pick up some new boxes then packed some things up. There was a lot to go through, but I put a good dent in the pile.

While I was going through their things, I found a box with photos and documents. I found the kids birth certificates, baby photos, and even a half-started baby book for Freddy.  Oh my god those kids were beautiful babies, I felt bad that we had missed that part of their lives, but I was grateful as hell for the fact that they were with us now. As I continued to lament and rummage through the box of someone else’s memories, I found a pic of Karen, and a man holding a tiny baby Freddy. I assumed the man was the kids father, he was a handsome man, both kids favored him. There were pics of Karen and Freddy, some of Karen and Izzy, some of both kids, and several of the three of them… I put the pictures and the birth certificates in a smaller box. As my time in the garage came to an end, I packed up the Christmas ornaments and pictures in the Atlas to take home with me. I locked up the beachy little villa leaving the quiet behind for the chaos of my own, loud, love-filled farmhouse.

I called Zach on the way home; he was laughing when he answered the phone. “Hey Seth, what’s up” then he laughed louder.

“I’m on my way home, what’s going on?” I asked smiling at the fact that it sounded like he was having fun.

“We’re all playing ‘got your nose’ with Ali…. god Seth, he’s giggling and running around. It’s so much fun.” Zach said. “How’d it go?”

“Good, I got a lot of it cleaned up and organized. I’m bringing home the Christmas stuff and some of the pics. I think we should put Harold on the tree” I suggested.

“Totally. Beats that cheap bargain bin piece of crap angel we’ve had forever” Zach said.

“HEY!” I protested. “That cheap bargain bin piece of crap angel is from our first Christmas tree and I love it.” We bought it at Walmart, damaged, on the clearance rack our Sophomore year when we were living in the duplex, were broke, and bought our first tree together. It meant something to me, now Herald meant something to our new family.

Zach chuckled at my response, “time for new traditions” he said before changing the subject. “Hey, we were waiting for you before we ate lunch… why don’t you pick up McDonald’s or something on the way home?” Okay, that may not sound weird, but we hadn’t had McDonald’s in forever and we’ve never took the kids there…. Literally NEVER (I think).

“I’m passing one now, Happy meals for the kids and Bic Mac’s for us?” I asked.

Then Zach rattled off a bunch of other crap he wanted, “And fries, McNuggets with all the sauces, and a quarter pounder…” and ended by yelling, “See you in a few, I gotta go ALI TOOK MY NOSE!!!!” then hung up. It was obvious that he was the one who wanted McD’s. God, I loved my man-child of a husband. I pulled into the drive thru and ordered three happy meals and… well freaking everything else. Like fifty bucks later I had a shitload of fast food and was on my way home. The smell wafted through the Atlas and brought me back to our first date, and then to the night Zach proposed… shit when I agreed to spend my life with him, I didn’t picture this life. Fuck, who could’ve pictured this life? We had an incredible life filled with friends, family, and two (now maybe three) amazing kids to keep us entertained. I frigging loved our world! Happy thoughts filled my head and before I knew it, I was parking the Atlas in front of the barn. I lugged the small fortune’s worth of fast food into the house through the kitchen door. I could hear Zach and the kids running and giggling and screaming in the living room as I put the bags of food on the counter.

“I’m home” I yelled as I walked through the dining room and into the middle of all the action in the living room.

“He gonna get us” Izzy yelled through her laughter as Zach chased behind her with Ali tucked under his arm. Freddy was hiding behind the couch.

“Daddy Zeff is home, it’s time to eat!” Zach yelled as he wound up the game.

Freddy darted into the safety of the kitchen and saw the familiar brown bags on the counter. “McDonalds!!!!” He yelled. He’d obviously had it before. Zach got everyone set up around the Island while I dished out the food. Freddy had already grabbed the 6 piece McNuggets meal I got for him, grabbed a packet of sweet and sour sauce (he knew exactly what he wanted) and dug in. He took the first bite and let out an overly dramatic “MMMMMMMMM I LOVE McDonald’s!” Who knew? We were still getting to know our kids. Lunch was lively and I think Zach was loving it as much as the kids were.

“Did you know that I asked Daddy Zeff to marry me when we were eating McNuggets at McDonald’s” Zach said to the kids, Freddy thought that was hilarious and Izzy asked if I wore a crown and a big dress (because apparently princesses wear crowns when they marry princes and apparently, I was the princess). After that we just at McDonald’s, talked, and laughed as a family… Ali was in the middle of it all, the sadness seemed to be gone (at least for now). After lunch I went out to the Atlas and got Harold and the box of ornaments and brought it into the living room. “Hey Freddy” Zach said, “look at what we found.”

“What is it?” he asked excitedly.

“Open the box” I said, and he did. The first thing he saw was….

“HERALD!” Freddy yelled. “YOU FOUND HIM!”

“Your mom told us where he was” Zach said. Freddy was beside himself with excitement as he went through the box and recognized the things from Christmas’s past. “Can I put him on the tree? PLEEEEEEEEEEASE?” he begged. Zach lifted him up and told him to take the old angel off. I took it from him and handed him Harold, with Zach holding him steady he carefully put the angel in his rightful spot atop our first family Christmas tree. We all looked up at Harold The Angel shining atop the tree, Me, Zach, Izzy, and Ali just looked at him, but Freddy… Freddy admired him. That angel was meaningful to the six year old with a heart of gold.

The five of us played together for the rest of the day, then cuddled up in front of the TV watching Elf for the umpteenth time. Ali Sat on my lap and Izzy sat on Zach’s while Freddy sat between us and giggled through the entire thing. All three kids fell asleep during the movie (even Freddy this time), so Zach and I carried them upstairs and tucked them in. Everyone slept through the night… including us.

Monday morning the kids woke up and Izzy and Freddy went on the search for Bob The Elf (Ali followed the crowd although I don’t think he had any clue why). It took them a while to find Bob, and Freddy yelled with excitement when he finally spotted him, “Bob and Harold are friends!” While we were sleeping, Bob The Elf had moved to the top of the tree and wrapped his felt arms around Harold The Angel in a welcoming hug… a new tradition met an old one and we all embraced it.

It was a usual morning at our house… Freddy fed Petunia, I fed the kids, Zach got them dressed, and we dressed ourselves in between, then loaded everyone up for carpool. Man, parenting got so much more difficult when the kids started to outnumber the adults. We picked up Teddy, dropped the boys off at school, then went to Mrs. Mavis’s to drop Izzy. Ali played (under Izzy’s watchful eye) while me, Gina, and Mrs. M had coffee. “So, is he staying with me today?” Mrs. Mavis asked of Ali.

“Totally up to him” I said. “I can work from home if I need to.”

Gina chimed in, “He seems so much more comfortable. Look at him, he’s got DJ mesmerized.” Ali was sitting on the floor playing with building blocks while DJ laid in a playpen a few feet away watching his every move.

“Yeah, he’s definitely getting more comfortable, he hasn’t asked for his mommy yet today” I said.

“Poor little guy” Gina said empathetically. “Any word on his family?”

“Nothing yet as far as we know, I’m going to call Ms. Elkin later today. Last we heard is that they had a positive ID on his mom, and thought they had the father’s name… but no contact with anyone.” I answered. “We’re planning on him being with us a while.”

“Good! Another kid at Christmas” Gina said clapping her hands, and spinning his sad situation positive. It’s weird how our little, group… or village… okay, our FAMILY was so elastic and ever evolving. Our love was unlimited and there was aways room for more.

“Freddy already told us he would share his presents” I told the two ladies and got a collective ‘awwww.’ “He’s a natural big brother” I added.

“How’s Princess Izzy adapting to sharing the spotlight?” Gina asked with a knowing grin.

“On the surface she finds him annoying, but she’s been watching out for him in her own Izzy way” I replied then told them about a few of the things she had done (like let him put the ornament on the advent calendar). I got a laugh from my audience.

“Well, I gotta get to school” Gina said then went to kiss her two kids (and mine) goodbye.

“I should probably head out too… let’s see what Ali says” I said to Mrs. M. “Hey Ali, do you want to stay here and play today?” I asked. Oh my god, he almost shook his head off telling me no. Then he stood, ran to me, and hugged my knees… my heart melted.

“Well, maybe tomorrow” Mrs. M said. “He’ll get there, sometimes it takes a while, he’s been through a lot.” I agreed, lifted the little man at my knees, kissed Izzy goodbye, then headed home to work. On the way Ali and I stopped at Riley’s favorite spa to buy gift cards for Mrs. Mavis and Ms. Elkin, those two were always taking care of everyone else and both deserved a little me time. I went to the counter with Ali perched on my hip to buy the gift cards.

The receptionist was sweet, Ali smiled at her then she said in the sweetest voice with a strong southern accent, “Hey sweetie pie are y’all givin’ mommy a spa day for Christmas?”

Ali’s eyes went wide and he looked desperately around the room, “Mommy?” He said quietly at first, then louder hoping she was there.

“She’s not here buddy, but I am” I said, “It’s just us guys” I said in a happy voice as I bounced him on my hip hoping to divert his attention… no such luck as his lower lip quivered and he repeated “mommy” between sobs. Shit! He had been doing so well.

“Did I upset the little darlin’? I am so sorry; I didn’t mean to…” the receptionist said trying to redeem herself. She was actually very sweet, and how the hell could she have any clue that her innocent question would set him off.

“He’s just having a rough day” I said trying to play it off as I paid for the gift cards. You could tell the poor women felt awful. I walked Ali around the plaza a little while before we got in the car, he was still sniffling a little, but seemed better.

When we got home, we baked cookies (I baked, he ate), then I read him a couple of stories. As I read Rudolph to him, he’d point to the pictures and try to talk, but his vocabulary was limited. The stories took his mind off mommy for a while. After I put him down for his nap, I called Ms. Elkin to see if anything had changed.

“Well, I have no real progress to report” Ms. Elkin Said. “A friend of Ali’s mother identified her body and gave the police his father’s name.” She paused, “We were told his father moved back to India, but we don’t have any contact information, and there are literally thousands of people with his same name. We also had a lead on his grandmother, but the woman just hung up on the police when they contacted her, they’re trying to contact her by other means, but at the moment, we’re still nowhere.” Ms. Elkin said sounding defeated. “How’s he doing?”

“Well, he’s down for his nap right now. He seems to be getting more comfortable with us, and hadn’t asked for his mommy all day, until…” then I told her about the well-meaning woman at the store (although I was careful not to mention where I was because I didn’t want to ruin the Christmas surprise… yeah, I know. It was a stretch). “Honestly, I have no idea how to even approach her death with him, when he asks for her, I just say ‘she’s not here, but I am’ that’s all I got.”

“That’s about all he can understand, Seth, just keep letting him know that he’s got you and he’s safe.” Maureen said.

“He can stay here as long as he needs, Maureen” I answered.

“I hate to say it, but it might be a while” She responded. We talked a little more and before she hung up, she said, “I’ll see you on Christmas Eve at BroMax Farm. Brody and Max invited Jim and I.” I hadn’t realized the guys invited her, and who the fuck was Jim?

“Jim?” I asked.

“My husband” she said in a tone that said “duh.”

I laughed out loud, “oh my god, I freaking know nothing about you! I didn’t even know your first name was Maureen until the judge said it in court” I said still laughing.

“I’m used to keeping things vague in my line of work” she said. “But I think we’re way past that now. I look forward to Jim meeting you all, I talk about your two families enough” she chuckled. We talked a little more, then I hung up and got a little work done before Ali woke up from his nap.

Once he was awake, he seemed happy again, I hoped it would last. In the afternoon, I got Ali bundled up (it was chilly out), then we went on our carpool duties. He was clapping in the backseat of the Atlas when he saw Freddy and Teddy run through the crowd of kids and jump in the car. Freddy greeted him with an enthusiastic “hi Ali!”

Ali giggled and said “hi” in that sweet little voice. Freddy and Teddy got buckled up and then talked to Ali the entire trip to Mrs. Mavis’s. The kids stayed in the SUV while I got Izzy.

As always, Gina was picking up her kids and I talked quietly to her and Mrs. Mavis about our day. Gina was determined to make Ali happy, “What are you guys doing this weekend… we should go do some family stuff.”

“Can’t. We got Zach’s office Christmas party on Saturday; Santa will be there for the kids” I replied.

“Well, that will take his mind off things, and of course Kelly will distract him when she gets here,” laughed Gina. “Then Christmas Eve at BroMax Farm, then Santa comes. He’ll be too busy to be sad.” I hoped she was right.

The next couple of days were smoother and on Thursday morning at Mrs. Mavis’s Izzy looked at Ali and said, “Dat baby, stay n pway bwocks” (Izzy to English: Ollie, I insist that you stay with us at daycare today. We can play with blocks; you’ll have a great time).  Ali just sat down and played with the blocks… well “played” is a loose term. Izzy and Maggie stacked blocks, Ali knocked them over, and DJ giggled with delight from his nearby playpen. When I picked them up later that day, he was still smiling. He did good his first day without me… thanks to Izzy.

Saturday came and it was time for Daddy Sach’s big office Christmas party, The kids were so excited! Izzy and Freddy were dressed perfectly in hand-me-downs from Maddox and Brooklyn, and Ali had on Green and red plaid pants with a matching bowtie and white button down shirt I had picked up at Target. As we entered the overdecorated venue, several of Zach’s coworkers greeted us before we even had our coats off. Dan, the attorney who helped with the adoption was all over the kids and had a million questions about Ali; he offered his help with Ali if we needed it (that was still TBD).  The atmosphere was one of friendly chaos, but Izzy and Freddy only saw one thing… Him. Santa. There he was by a giant Christmas tree, on a red velvet throne, with two of his elves helping to keep the peace. Zach’s firm was only about thirty people, but once you add spouses, a few clients, a few allies, and kids it got crowded fast.

“Can I go see Santa, Dads?” Freddy asked.

We had just walked in and weren’t sure of protocol, but Dan knew the plan, “he knows your name and will call you when he’s ready.” Apparently, Santa had the name of every kid and a gift for each. He had his list and his elves were calling the kids up one by one. “He knows all three of you are here” Dan said. I guess Zach had signed the three kids up in advance, this shit was organized.

It was a Saturday afternoon, there were appetizers, snacks, and drinks everywhere. Santa for the kids, and a few speeches from the Partners. During one of the speeches, all the partners thanked the employees and announced two new Junior Partners… one of them was Zach. They praised him for the way he cultivated the partnership with David’s firm (David was Benji and Joel’s uncle. His firm had brought Zach and his firm in on several high-profile, financial lucrative cases. Thanks to Zach, the firm was basically their legs on the ground for any work in NC, and they had a lot of work in NC), they talked about how he had been invaluable on several cases. They called the two new partners the “future of the firm.” Zach stood up and said a few words of appreciation then came back to where we were.

“Did you know about this?” I asked.

“Yeah” he said with a proud grin. I gave him a hug and kiss in front of everyone (no one cared). I was so damn proud. “I wanted to surprise you. Oh… and it comes with a raise and equity bonuses” he whispered. I had no clue what that meant financially, but Zach was excited so I assumed it was a lot. As the night went on, Freddy and Izzy got their time with Santa. Freddy was hilarious as he sold Santa on all his good deeds, doing his chores, taking care of Petunia, keeping his room clean, etc. What he didn’t mention was what an amazing big brother he had been to Izzy and now Ali. I heard him end his conversation with Santa by reminding him that Ali would be at our house on Christmas. Santa promised not to forget (god, he was such a thoughtful kid). Izzy babbled incessantly, I heard the words “bowbie dow” (Barbie Doll) and “good guro” (good girl) several times as she pled her case…. I also heard her mention, Bob. Ali sat quietly on Santa’s lap holding his beard as Santa talked to him. He had a smile on his face the whole time. Zach got it all on video.

After they had taken their turn with Santa, Freddy (who got an art set) and Izzy (who got a Princess Jasmine doll) found other kids to play with. Meanwhile, Ali held tightly onto the stuffed rhino Santa gave him as he was passed around to every woman in the office. One of the paralegals got him first, then he moved to Dan’s wife, and so on… he was so damn sweet.

While the kids were pleading their cases to Santa and making friends, Zach’s coworkers were coming up and congratulating him on his promotion. We sat with a group of Zach’s coworkers and got to know them, there were so many great people. I really clicked with Cheryl, one of the partners wives. They had six freaking kids! Three biological, and three adopted… and on top of that they were currently hosting two foster kids. She was a font of knowledge! She Set me up with several online resources, including a couple of foster-parents groups. She said the shared everything from clothes to cribs, of I needed anything to put it out to the groups… they were like an online Foster-village. I was so glad I met her.

As the afternoon festivities were coming to a close, one of the partners came up to Zach and I. He sang Zach’s praises to me and told me what an invaluable asset Zach was to the firm. He slipped him an envelope, and said, “We’re happy you’re on our team, Zach. You’ve got a good future here. Merry Christmas, to you and your lovely family.” Then he patted Zach on the back and walked away. Zach peeked in the envelope when the guy left and his face lit up.

“Year-end bonus?” I asked.

He nodded then whispered, “$20,000.”

“Bullshit” I whispered back involuntarily. Zach just grinned. I was so proud of my husband; he worked his ass off and was getting noticed.

Our entire family had great time at the party. Christmas was a week away. The Hall’s called while we were on the way home to let us know that they were on the road from Wisconsin and would arrive Sunday morning. The kids told them every detail about the office party and their discussions with Santa.

The Christmas season was officially upon us and our family could not be more excited!

 

To be continued…