Chapter 73

Saturday morning Samantha was downstairs before Jenna and I got down there.

"Hey baby girl," I said. "What are you doing up so early?"

"Nothing. I just thought I'd make some breakfast," she said, smiling.

"Really?" Jenna said.  "What a lovely treat! What's for breakfast?"

"Uh, well, I made pancakes, because that's kinda all I know how to make, well, I can scramble eggs, but I didn't feel like eggs.  And I made coffee, and toast."

"What did we do to deserve this?" Jenna asked, smiling and giving Samantha a gentle hug and a kiss on her head.

"Nothing," she smiled. "I kinda heard you talking to Brendon and Sarah last night, and, well, you made me feel so happy. I don't remember when I felt so happy before in my life.  Well, maybe when my mom, my birth mom, was still alive."

"Oh sweetie," Jenna said. "I didn't know you overheard us. But I'm glad you're happy with what you overheard."

"I don't think I ever really got the chance to say thank you," Samantha said.

"For what?" I asked.

"Nevermind. It sounds stupid," she said.

"Come on sweetheart. What did you want to thank us for?"

"Well, I still think it sounds stupid, but... Thanks for adopting me. And dealing with all the stuff that my birth father did that messed me up. And helping me work through some of it."

Jenna had tears in her eyes, and I'm pretty sure I did too.  Both of us went up to her and gave her the tightest hug we felt comfortable giving her.

"Samantha, Tyler and I have said over and over that we don't know what it was but something spoke to us the night you landed in our backyard. Neither of us spoke to each other about taking you in as a foster, before we both agreed to take you as a foster. And when we found out your birth father's rights were going to be terminated, adopting you was just the next most natural thing to us. We didn't give it a second thought. Not once.  And you have amazed us day after day. Even when things get hard, either for you or for us, not once have we questioned our decision. Not once have we looked back on some of the tougher things we've dealt with with you and said 'what are we doing?'. We know we all have a lot of work with everything you've dealt with. I know sometimes you don't think you can get through some of the things you have, and that sometimes you have trouble accepting that things are very different for you now, but we love you. We really, really love you." Jenna said, tears falling from her eyes.  "And now I'm ugly crying."

I looked down at Samantha and tears were falling from her eyes too.

"I think I'm starting to remember what love is. What it means. And, and..." she broke down crying harder.

The three of us stood there hugging each other until Josh's voice broke us apart.

"What in the world? Are the three of you okay? Or are you trying to drown each other? What happened?" he asked.

"Nothing. Just our daughter being awesome," I said.

"I like how that sounds," Jenna said, looking down at Sam. "Our daughter."

Samantha smiled.

She had yet to call us 'Mom' and 'Dad', but that was okay. She may or may not ever become comfortable with it, but she knew we had her back, and that's what was important to me.

While we ate the delicious breakfast Samantha made, we sat around just talking.  Samantha asked who Jessie was.

"When did you hear about Jessie?" I asked.

"Brendon said something about Jessie yesterday when you told him about me getting beaten up at school.

"Oh," I said, and stopped and sighed. "Jessie was Brendon and Sarah's daughter.  They adopted her about four years ago. She died last May."

"Oh," Samantha said. "Is it rude if I ask what happened?"

"No. It's not rude. It's a little hard to talk about, but not rude.  Jessie was orphaned in a car accident when she was eight.  She was pretty badly injured and had some blood transfusions when she was recovering. She got AIDS from one of them. Because she was an orphan, she couldn't get the better medications that Brendon and Sarah were able to get for her. It gave her some more time, but not a lot. She lived with them for four years, like I said, and last year just kept getting sicker and sicker.  Until she died in May."

"That's so sad," Samantha said. "And they came out here still?"

"They're good friends. They're here to celebrate us becoming a family. Like Sarah said yesterday, just because Jessie is gone, doesn't mean they can't celebrate other people's happiness. I'm sure they're hurting, but they're here to celebrate us."

"Oh. How old was Jessie when she died?" Samantha asked. "Am I being rude?"

"No, you're not being rude. You're being curious. She was 16. She would have turned 17 in June."

"Oh," Samantha said, looking down.

"Are you sorry you asked?"

"No. Yes. Kind of. It's sad. And it kinda made me think that if I still lived with my - birth father - I might not see my 17th birthday either. And I don't now what to say to them about it, if I even should."

"Well," I said, putting my arm around her shoulders. "I know they love talking about Jessie. She was a smart kid. Just like you. Actually, between you and I, I think you might be a bit smarter than her. But don't tell them I said so."

"Can I tell them I'm sorry to hear about Jessie?"

"Sure. I think they'd love that."

After that discussion, Samantha asked to play some Fortnite with me, so that when Brendon came over, she would be able to keep up with him better. I had to laugh.

"I think Brendon created a monster with you and Fortnite, huh?" I asked.  She laughed.

We played for a while, then Jenna reminded her to check her blood sugar, which she did, and then she came back to the couch.  Jenna looked at her face.

"What?" Samantha said.

"Just looking at your eye.  Looks a lot better," she said.

"Oh. Yeah. I thought so, too."

"How's your chest? Your ribs?" Jenna asked.

"Mmm, still a bit sore, but okay," Samantha said.

"You sure?"

"Yep," Samantha said, readjusting herself to get more comfortable.

We continued playing for a while until, before we knew it, the doorbell rang and it was Brendon, Zack, Sarah and Kala.

"Hey, hey, hey, Josephs and Josh!" Brendon said coming into the living room.  "Awww! You guys played without me?"

"I had to practice, so I can keep up with you," Samantha said.

"Fair, fair. Gotcha. Well, we're all awake and starving. You all ready to go out for lunch?" Brendon asked.

"Well, we had an absolutely delicious breakfast, but I think we could all manage some lunch, hey Samantha?" Jenna smiled at her.

"Well, I should probably eat, you know, because diabetes," she shrugged, but smiled.

"What a compelling argument for nourishment," Brendon laughed.

Samantha went over to Brendon and Sarah and took their hands and asked them to come closer to her. She whispered something to them, and I saw both of them get tears in their eyes and hugged her.

"Thank you, Sam. That means a lot, really." Brendon said, wiping his eyes.

The seven of us went outside and got into our separate cars and drove to the restaurant we'd agreed on.

Brendon and Sarah were incredibly attentive to Samantha, and insisted she sit beside them. They talked to her, and joked with her. It was nice to see the two of them smiling and laughing after the past few months.

Back at the house, Samantha and Brendon took over the TV and played Fortnite together. Sarah came into the kitchen and sat with us while we had some coffee.

"Samantha's amazing," Sarah said to me. "She's so compassionate, and so, so smart!"

"She is an amazing kid, I have to admit," I said. "And she amazes us every day."

"She told us she was sorry about Jessie, and she was just, so, compassionate. So sensitive. It was so touching."

"She asked me about Jessie this morning. Since you mentioned how you'd gone after the kids' parents after her, uh, incident at school.  So I told her."

"What did you tell her?" Sarah asked.

"The truth. That she'd been orphaned in an accident, that she'd gotten blood transfusions and had gotten AIDS from one. That she'd lived with you for four years almost, before she died."

"How did she take it?"

"She was really sad for you guys," I said. "That was about it."

"She's really funny, and so smart!" Sarah said. "We loved talking to her at lunch. Honestly, she reminded me of Jessie, just a bit. It was kind of like having a little piece of Jessie back. Just for a minute. Now, don't think I'm being all crazy and thinking that Jessie is somehow reincarnated in your daughter. That doesn't make sense. But it was like talking to Jessie when she first came to live with us again. It felt really, really good."

We watched Samantha and Brendon playing Fortnite and laughing together with each other.

"I think Samantha is a good thing for Brendon. He's really been hurting since Jessie died. He felt so bad about the time he had to spend away from us. He was by her side pretty much her whole last year. But he didn't get the best time with her, when she was her healthiest. Don't get me wrong. He got a lot of really good time with her after his tours ended. But the time he was with her the most, was her last year, when she declined. When she stopped being able to talk, or walk.  I think this weekend with Sam, is going to do him a world of good."

I smiled. I was happy that our daughter could provide our friends with some healing from their loss.