The Yellow Sock: An Adoption Story

The Yellow Sock: An Adoption Story Read Online Free PDF Page A

Book: The Yellow Sock: An Adoption Story Read Online Free PDF
Author: Angela Hunt
to her lips. Could she ask? Or would she be prying personal information from a perfect stranger?
    “My husband and I,” she began, looking at her hands, “are thinking about adoption. But I’m not sure I’m ready to give up the idea of having a baby of my own.”
    “Your own ?” A thread of reproach filled the woman’s voice. “I hate to tell you this, dear, but no child is truly your own. Children may come from the wombs of women, but all of them spring from the hand of God. They are only placed in our safekeeping for a little while.”
    Megan nodded, reluctantly agreeing. “But you know what I mean—I wanted a natural child.”
    “Look at that boy there.” The woman waited until Megan lifted her gaze. “Do you see anything unnatural about him?”
    Again Megan felt the sting of rebuke. “That’s not what I meant,” she whispered, feeling as awkward as a baby taking his first tottering steps. “I wanted to be pregnant. To experience everything.”
    “Dear lady,” the woman answered, her eyes darkening with emotion, “adoption is a life experience, just like childbirth. You’ll have a time of waiting and a time of hard labor. You’ll feel every pain and every joy. And when the child finally comes home, you’ll call yourself blessed.”
    Andre came toddling forward now, his mouth spread in a gummy smile and a long-necked dandelion clenched in his fist. This flower he gave to his mother, who knelt and accepted it with a kiss, then drew him into a tight embrace.
    As the woman made cooing sounds in the boy’s ear, Megan lifted her head.
    “May I ask what motivated you to adopt?”
    The woman stopped cooing as the little boy laughed, then she released him and stood. Before leaving, she paused by Megan’s bench and looked at her with eyes filled with compassion.
    “Why did we adopt? Partly because of selfish reasons—my husband and I wanted a child to love. Partly because we knew there are children who need homes, and partly because we believe people ought to do more than talk about the ideals of racial reconciliation.”
    Her eyes softened. “But mostly because I realized that if I am faithful to teach and train, my children are the only earthly things I can take to heaven with me.”
    Those words remained with Megan long after the last of the dandelion fuzz blew away.
     
     
    The house was dense with silence when Megan came home from work. Knowing that Dave must have stayed late to help a student, she moved into the kitchen, pulled a frozen dinner from the freezer, and put it in the microwave. After punching in the numbers, she leaned against the counter and stared at the cozy room—a space that should have been cluttered by a high chair, with baby bottles in the dish drainer and a bib hanging over the edge of the sink.
    She had a choice—she could whimper and moan and mourn her losses for another week or month or year, or she could move forward with her husband. After her encounter at the park, the former option seemed petty and selfish. Andre’s mother was right—life was a cafeteria of rich experiences. Her tray would simply be filled with different choices than the average woman’s.
    She ran her hand over the spotless counter, then caught sight of Dave’s photograph. He had snapped the picture as Daniella sat on Megan’s lap at the child-sized book table. Their heads were a study in contrasts, one blonde, one brunette, but the same joy lit their smiles.
    After pulling a marker from the junk drawer, Megan wrote the date on the back. Then she rummaged for the tape dispenser, found it, and pulled off a piece. Carefully wrapping the tape into a sticky circle, she applied it to the back of the picture, then pressed the photograph to the refrigerator.
    She was standing before the fridge when Dave came in and wrapped her in a bear hug. “Something smells good.”
    “Something looks good,” she answered.
    “Whaddya mean? You can’t see me.”
    She pulled her arm free and pointed to the
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