Chapter 10

Still Bill Carmody’s turn:

I regarded the lady sitting across the desk from me. I’ve had enough dealings with government agencies to know that how she felt about me would make a huge difference in the stress level and the ultimate outcome.

So I smiled. Discounting any possible effect it might have on a female – I have that effect on Donna, she assures me – a smile indicates a willingness to listen.

“Obviously there’s the DNA test. Establish a real genetic connection.”

“I understand that. Mizz Watkins, please understand – one day I showed up at the apartment and she wasn’t there. Just a note – basically, ‘I’m gone. Don’t follow.’ – I followed. Got cut short. I did NOT know she was pregnant...”

“You said that.”

“Ma’am, I wanted to marry her...”

“I believe you. She went off track. I’ve read the record. You don’t need to. It was bad. Her mother basically took custody and raised the child. Angela, in her more lucid moments, put together that packet of her history. Your name...”

“But I wasn’t on the birth certificate...”

“Even if you were, we’d still have these hurdles,” Mizz Watkins said. “Maybe not the DNA test, but – background checks, at least.”

“Mizz Watkins,” I said, “you can do the background checks. Hell, I’ve worked on government sites in the last few years. I’ve passed federal background checks. I have perfect credit, not so much as a speeding ticket in the last ten years, employment history, you can call anybody you want, Bill Carmody’s okay.”

She smiled. “Oh, Mister Carmody, don’t get going. It’s the government. Denise Watkins has done her own assessment since you answered the phone. You’re not the kind of person we’re trying to catch. Still, I work for the state and the state’s got rules...”

“But that little girl out there – my daughter...”

“She looks happy. Denise’s goal, not always achieved, is for the child to be happy. You’re awarded provisional guardianship. I’m typing an email, we’ll have a form, you sign, she goes home with you.” She paused. “Mister Carmody...”

“Bill, please...”

“Bill, I wish that every time I brought some lost parent in, he’d look like you, sound like you ... For heaven’s sake, SMELL like you. It’s not the case. In three days a case worker will visit. She will expect to meet and have a private interview with Mandy.” She fixed me with an eye. “What will she find?”

“Mizz Watkins...”

“Denise...”

“Denise, she’ll find my daughter eyeball-deep in the damnedest assemblage of humanity I’ve ever seen. If she’s receptive to love, she’ll find it there. If she’s receptive to friendship, she’ll find it there. And my wife will love her like the daughter she missed growing up.”

“Missed?”

“Denise, I married my wife a couple of years ago. Before we married, she was, shall we say, off track. She had a daughter, basically did the bare minimum to be a parent to that daughter. She left town, left her daughter in the custody of her aunt.” I paused, looked at Denise’s face. She was paying attention.

I continued. “The daughter is Doctor Cindy Richards today. Youngest PhD in Auburn history. Her mom straightened up. I married ‘er. We have TWO kids, plus our Cindy, who’s my stepdaughter. Now we’ll have Mandy, who’ll be Donna’s stepdaughter. It’ll be wonderful.”

“Oh, come on, Bill, that’s...”

“Like a fairy tale? Tell me about it. I’m just an old engineer. I manage construction projects. I make good money. I have a wife who is a documents clerk for the same company. Look, I think enough about my situation – about Mandy’s future situation, to extend to you a personal invitation to come visit. You can do it during the week – normal business hours – call it job-related, or you can come on a Saturday afternoon, and call it social, but what I have going, I think it’s good enough to share and show off.”

“You’re serious...”

“I am. You have my card. You have Tina’s card. We’re for real.”

“I believe you.”

“You investigate, you’ll have proof. I’m an honorable man and I live and work with people of honor, as well.”

“Bill,” she said, “As soon as our admin clerk brings us the papers, we will execute them and then go get Mandy’s belongings. She’s with a couple of good people, but I know she wants to be something other than temporary...”

“Kids deserve a stable environment,” I said. “She’ll have that. Beyond belief.”

Her phone rang. She answered. “Yes, bring them up.” Pause. “Thank you.”

In a minute there was a knock at the door. “Come in,” she said.

A young black girl brought in a stack of papers.

“Wait while I get these signed and notarized, then you can file them,” Denise said.

I scooted close to her desk. I felt a case of nerves as I signed. It’s not often in a man’s life that his signature means so much. Same butterflies when I signed my marriage license to Donna.

“There!” I said.

She had a notary stamp in her hand, ready. Stamped the documents. “Here you go, Kendretta. Copies on file here, copies to the courthouse.”

“Yes, ma’am,” the young lady said. She wheeled and left.

Denise turned to me. “Okay, Bill. I’m going to drive Mandy to her foster home. We’ll get her things, then she goes off with you.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“So I’m ‘ma’am’ again?”

I grinned, “While you’re wielding that stamp...”

“Oh, yeah. I can do ‘official’. Let’s get this show on the road.”

“Okay...”

She paused. “Seriously ... you FLEW down here and that girl is your PILOT?”

I smiled. MY Tina. “Pilot. Also a bachelor’s in electrical engineering, and mom of a two year old...”

She smiled back. “Seriously...”

“Oh, ask ‘er. She’s got pictures...”

In the car, Tina was dying for details. “I didn’t hear screaming or cussing...”

“I never scream or cuss. Even if it’s total disaster.”

“This is not total disaster. I’ve seen ‘irate Bill’, like when that shipment didn’t show up.”

“Oh, come on, punkin,” I said. “LA, AL ... They sent my shipment to the middle of nowhere in LOUISIANA...”

“It was memorable,” she laughed. “I never saw you pissed off like that.”

“Nobody pisses me off like that, Tina. People do their jobs...”

“So this lady’s doing her job...”

“This lady’s going above and beyond ... interests of her charge over the rulebook. Intuition and observation over reports. We’re bringing that young girl home today.”

“She’s ... Bill, it’s like when somebody says ‘learn to swim’ and they toss you out of the boat into the lake.”

“I know. Aaron and Tara’s wedding. Not just a normal wedding, it’s a JEWISH wedding...”

“Well, if she doesn’t run off screaming into the veldt...”

“Veldt?”

Giggle. “You know what I mean. You’re Cindy’s grandpa. Intelligence is assumed.”

I laughed. “What am I supposed to do now, Tina? I have a red-headed teenaged daughter...”

Tina smiled. “Love ‘er. Daddy your butt off. Cindy believes in you. Donna believes in you. No way I’m arguing against those two.”

“Yeah, I guess...” I grinned. “I wonder who dumped cream on Shiva to get THIS to happen? You know, I wonder the same thing. I’m Christian, but that whole ‘Shiva’ thing...”

“Grandma Desai’s just entirely too decent and sincere,” Tina said. “God has to look at that and say ‘the prayers of an honest woman’.”

“You won’t get me off into a discussion of theology,” I said.

She grinned. “Still. You gotta ask...”

We followed Denise and the new daughter through the town, residential streets, finally pulled into the driveway of a very nice looking home.

Denise and Mandy got out of their car. I opened the door of mine.

Denise motioned me on. “They’ll be happy to see YOU,” she said.

We rang the doorbell. A nice-looking late middle-aged woman answered.

“Hello, Denise,” she said. “I assume good news?”

“Yes, Katy,” Denise said. “This is Bill Carmody, the man who’s referred to in Mandy’s papers. He’s come to take her home...”

Katy hugged Mandy. “Mandy, baby, I’m glad this is working out for you...”

“Mizz Katy, I am, too. Thank you so much for putting up with me.”

“It’s what we can do. I am just happy this ends well...”

Mandy looked over at me. “I think it’s ending well. I have your address. I’ll keep in touch,” she said, sounding amazingly mature for thirteen. “You have no idea...”

“Go get your things,” Katy said. “Don’t worry about the room. We’ll take care of details.”

Mandy bounded off. Katy looked at me and Denise. “She’s a breath of fresh air. Kept the room straight. Took care of herself and her things. Offered to help out around the house.” She rolled her eyes. “Even sat and watched TV with me ‘n’ Herman, and heaven knows my Herman’s got weird tastes in TV.”

I felt relief. “That’s good to know...”

“You’re her father?”

“Apparently so. Long story. Maybe this is a good ending.”

“I will pray so,” Katy said. “Denise, that last one...”

Denise sighed. “Yes, they don’t all look like Bill.”

My daughter bounced down the stairs to meet us, carrying a duffel bag holding, I assumed, all her worldly possessions.

“I guess I’m ready,” she said. “Miss Katy...” the goodbye needed a hug, complete with tears. “You ‘n’ Mister Herman were ... Thank you ... people like you ... I’ll see you in heaven, but I’ll keep in touch...”

I was observing, making notes. Favorable notes. Feeling less apprehensive. Better.

“Do that, dear. We enjoyed having you. If things hadn’t worked out...”

“I appreciate that,” Mandy said. She gave Katy a long tearful hug.

Turned to me and Tina. Said one word. “Onward.”

My mind went ‘Huh?!?’ and I got a mental picture of another redhead in my life.

Denise and I and Mandy and Tina said our goodbyes in the driveway of Katy’s home.

“It’s what they do, Bill,” Denise said. “Some people are called to be foster homes. I couldn’t do it. I already get too attached to every one ... Can’t think about having somebody like Mandy actually LIVE with me and then leave...”