Forever Family

By Michael Bracken

Sarah Myers had assisted with many adoptions during the seven years she had worked as a paralegal for a family law attorney. More often than not, her firm represented married couples adopting children who had been placed in the state’s foster care program. So, having Dexter Bainbridge—a single man in his late twenties seeking to adopt his two-year-old niece Britney—as a client was unusual.

“Hunk at the front,” Glenda the receptionist told Sarah when she called to let her know Dexter had arrived for his eleven o’clock appointment.

Glenda wasn’t exaggerating, Sarah discovered when she walked to the reception area to greet Dexter and escort him back to the attorney’s office. Though they had spoken on the phone several times, this was Dexter’s first visit.

After Sarah introduced herself, Dexter smiled and clasped her hand in his. She felt a warm tingle course through her entire body as he said, “It sure is nice to finally match a face with the voice.”

“Yes,” Sarah told him, “it certainly is.”

“Have you worked here long?”

“Oh, yes,” Sarah said. “I was hired right out of school. The ink on my associate’s degree was barely dry.”

“So you’ve been involved with a lot of adoptions?”

“Far more than I could ever begin to count,” she said.

They had reached Mr. Chetham’s office by then, so Sarah introduced the two men and returned to her desk to complete a filing. Dexter was still meeting with her boss when Sarah left for lunch.

As Sarah headed out, Glenda stopped her at the front desk. “Who’s the hunk?”

“Adoption client,” Sarah said. She didn’t elaborate because Glenda was the firm gossip, sharing tidbits of information with anyone and everyone.

The law office occupied the fifth floor of a building downtown. Two restaurants and a bank occupied the ground floor. Sarah was sitting in one restaurant, picking at a salad, when she spotted Dexter standing with a tray in his hands and looking around. There weren’t any open tables, so without thinking she waved him over.

“Was Mr. Chetham able to answer your questions?” she asked after Dexter settled into the seat opposite her.

“Yes, he’s been quite helpful,” Dexter said with a smile, “and so have you.”

Sarah listened while Dexter told her how hectic things had been since his niece moved in, and then he started to tell her what had happened.

“My sister and her husband—” His voice caught, and he took a moment to gather himself. “They were in an accident and—”

Sarah told him she had read his file and that he didn’t need to repeat the details of their passing.

“I’m the only family Britney has now,” he said, “and I need to make it permanent.”

Sarah had outlived her parents and had no other family, so she knew how happy children felt on adoption day when they became part of a forever family.

“The thing is, I don’t know anything about raising girls.”

“Nobody does,” Sarah said, “until they have one.”

As they ate, Dexter told Sarah about all the work he’d done to turn his home into a child-safe environment.

“Seems like you’re off to a good start, then.”

Even though Dexter only needed to visit the office once more to drop off a copy of Britney’s birth certificate, he manufactured excuses to visit twice more during the process, and each time he only met with Sarah.

“You realize we can do all of this over the phone,” she told him as they sat in the conference room going over paperwork that he clearly understood without her assistance.

“I know, but—” He stopped and drew a deep breath. “But I couldn’t think of any other way to see you.”

“You just stop in to see me?”

“The way you smiled when we met made my heart melt,” Dexter explained, “so as I was leaving that first day, I asked Glenda about you. She told me you’re single.”

The company gossip had shared personal information with a client. Sarah should have been angry, but she wasn’t. She was glad that Dexter knew she was single and that he was interested in her.

“Britney’s adoption will be finalized this Saturday,” Dexter said.

Sarah knew all the details because she had scheduled the adoption on National Adoption Day, an event held every November that her attorney celebrated with as much enthusiasm as the newly minted families did.

“Will you join us and help us celebrate afterward?”

“I—” Though Sarah had attended several adoptions during her years working in family law, she had always attended as part of her job duties and never at the invitation of the adopting family. “I would love to.”

That Saturday afternoon Sarah sat in the courtroom as Britney’s adoption was finalized. She knew Britney had found a forever family with her uncle Dexter, and Sarah thought that maybe she had, too.

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Michael Bracken (www.crimefictionwriter.com) has written romance and women’s fiction published in True Love, True Romance, True Story, and many other publications.