“No…”
Clara erupted into a fit of giggles. “Yes!”
“We’re not watchingSilence of the Lambs!”
Derek took me by the shoulders and pushed me down onto the couch. “It’s time to become a man, Taylor.”
Clara reached over and laced her fingers into mine. “I’ll hold your hand the whole time.”
Jordan fell into the recliner to my right with a bowl of popcorn. “Is everyone ready?”
Derek was rummaging around in the kitchen. “Start the movie, I’m just checking my mail. Hey. Clara. You got a letter. From the…” He paused. “California Department of Social Services?”
Clara jumped up from the couch. “Oh! Gimme gimme gimme!” She grabbed the letter out of Derek’s hands. “I have something to tell you. All of you.”
I snatched the remote off the coffee table and paused the movie. “Yes! A distraction!”
“Clara?” Derek asked. “What is it?”
She took Derek’s hand and pulled him down onto the couch with her. “The last year has been amazing. Raising Anthony with you. Withallof you.” She nodded at me, then Jordan. “It’s like we’re one big, happy family. We work really well together.”
“We do,” I agreed.
“I never knew I could be this happy,” Jordan said.
“What’s the letter, Clara?” Derek asked.
She held it up, still unopened. “I applied for us to become foster parents.”
Derek gasped. “What?”
“I’ve thought about it a lot,” she explained in a rush. “You all know that I want to eventually have my own family. I haven’t kept that a secret.”
A feeling of warmth spread in my chest, like a flower blossoming and reaching for the sun. I felt that way whenever Clara talked about having kids, because I wanted the same thing. Over the past year, I was absolutelycertainthat I wanted her to have my children. And I suspected that Jordan and Derek felt the same way.
“But there are so many children out there who need good homes,” Clara went on. “I called your sister last week. There are currentlyeight hundredchildren in California waiting for new foster families. We can’t help all of them, but we can help some. That way nobody has to be stuck in a bad, or overcrowded, foster home. The way we were afraid Anthony might be.”
She cupped Derek’s cheek. “And the way you were, growing up.”
I had never seen Derek Dahlkemper cry before. The mereideaof that was insane, like being told the ground was made of chocolate cake. But now tears shimmered in his eyes, and he sat very still while looking at Clara.
“You would do that?” he asked. “Be a foster mother for kids in need?”
“Of course I would,” she replied gently. “As long as you’ll be a foster father with me.” She glanced at me. “And Taylor and Jordan, too.”
Jordan and I shared a look. We both knew we were on the same page. “Of course we will,” Jordan said.
I let out a more enthusiastic, “Hell yeah!”
The four of us crowded together on the couch in a big hug. Derek neveractivelysobbed, but tears ran down his cheeks, and he didn’t trust his voice to speak. He just smiled and hugged Clara.
That was the measure of a good woman. The ability to bring out the best in a man, and the more sensitive, vulnerable parts too. I clapped Derek on the back and hugged Clara tightly.
“Don’t you have to be married to be foster parents?” Jordan asked.
“Woah, hey, let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Clara replied with a laugh.
Jordan smirked. “We can raise foster kids together, but discussing marriage is a bridge too far?”