“I’m sure,” Bliss stated positively. “Santa wouldn’t miss stopping for you. You’ve been the best little girl in the world.” Even if Darcy couldn’t have her mother back for Christmas, Bliss promised herself she would shower the little girl with the other things she had glued down on her paper. She had already purchased the majority of them.
“Really?”
“Really. I should know, you made my Christmas wish come true.”
“How?”
Bliss wiped the tearstains away from Darcy’s flushed cheeks. “You smiled at me when you opened your eyes. Your smile is the only Christmas present I need.”
“Can you stay with me?”
“I’m not going anywhere,” Bliss promised.
“I can’t find my blanket.”
Bliss turned to find Drake, already knowing it was another problem he could fix.
“I’m on it.” Drake reached out, squeezing Darcy’s toes through the blanket. “Cal’s here to see you.”
“Bubby’s here?” Hope filled the little girl’s voice.
Bliss was going to get Drake to talk to Darcy’s social worker about increasing how much time Cal could spend with his sister each week.
“I’ll get him and bring him here.”
“Okay. Don’t forget my blanket.”
“I won’t.”
Darcy looked up at her after Drake left. “I like him.”
“I do, too.”
Darcy dozed off not long after she saw Cal, and Bliss sat by her bedside for the rest of the night, refusing to leave even when Drake told her that he and Cal would stay. He didn’t argue, having a nurse bring in a small cot for her to sleep on.
“You go to a hotel with Cal,” she told him. “I’ll be all right here with her.”
“Jace is outside. They can get a room and come back in the morning.”
“You’re staying?”
“Bliss, I keep on telling you I’m not going anywhere without you.”
The conviction in his voice tempted her to believe in him. Just once, she really wished she believed in miracles.
Chapter 16
“Are you sure she’ll be all right?” Bliss could see her breath in the cold air as they stood in the patient loading area in front of the hospital.
Darcy was going home after a week in the hospital. The little girl had been happy to hear she was leaving until Bliss had explained it would be after Christmas before she would be able to see her again.
“For the thousandth and one time, yes, I’m sure. She has to go back to the new foster home the State placed her in. We can’t stop it.”
“I know.”
It didn’t make it any easier as Bliss waved good-bye to Darcy, who was waving at her from the car window.
“It won’t be for long,” Cal vowed, also waving at his sister. “As soon as I get back to town, I’m going to try to get guardianship of her. The semester is over, so not only am I done with school but I’m eighteen now.”
“What about going into the service?” Drake’s surprise showed it was the first time Cal had mentioned the plan.
“Darcy is my sister. Family comes first.”
“You’ve been dreaming of going into the service for the last two years,” Drake replied.
“You don’t always get what you want. I was being selfish by thinking I could leave her behind. I was hoping she would be happier with the Wests, since they have more than I could ever offer her. Now she’s at a different home, and I’m not going to sit back and watch her being moved from home to home. It’s not going to happen. I won’t take the chance on anything else happening to her.”
“Have you told Jace?” Drake asked.
“I’ll tell him on the way back to Treepoint. He’ll understand.”
“Yes, he will.” Drake patted him on his shoulder. “I’ll see you back in town.” He left to get the car as Jace pulled up to pick up Cal.
He stepped forward to get in, but Bliss stopped him.
“Cal … I wish there was something I could do. I would take her, but the courts would laugh in my face if I applied to be a foster parent.”
He looked at her in shock. “You want Darcy?”
“More than anything in the world. I love her, but the State will want character references, and I can’t give many that would convince them to trust me with her.”
Cal leaned down, placing a kiss on her cheek before getting into the car. “I can think of several people who would give you a great character reference, but I won’t let her go to another foster home. The next home she goes to is going to be her forever home.”
“That takes me out.” Bliss hid her disappointment. “I haven’t even found my own.”
The house she lived in was just that: a house. Ginny had given Willa a down payment, so it was Ginny’s forever home, not hers.
Drake pulled up behind Jace’s car as Cal rolled down his window.
Bliss leaned down into it. “You two be careful driving back. It’s a long drive for your junker.”