After we parked our little family car and shut off the engine, I gave Violet a moment to compose herself for as long as I could hold a joke in. She was firmly gripping the steering wheel and breathing in a way which reminded me of sis when she was going into labour.

“Careful dear, you might pop out a baby and make us coming here void,” I said, having finally given up after five seconds of holding back, leaning closer to her and slightly forward to better see her reaction as I tapped her belly.

She almost choked as I made her laugh when she was breathing in before facing me.

“Are you not nervous too?” she asked.

Oh, I was, and she could see that by how I kept shifting in place and rubbing my knees together for the whole trip, the fabric of the jeans miraculously not having combusted yet.

“Come on! You’re great with kids!” I told her.

“No, I’m good with my sister because she’s my sister,” she corrected, despite that—for me—it wasn’t an exact correction.

People were waiting for us, however, so there was no time for us to be arguing about it, so I told her to come along as I unfastened the seatbelt.

We’ve been driving for four hours to get here, so I was hoping there wouldn’t be much sitting around for our interview at the orphanage. After a couple of months of sending our submission and needed paperwork, it had finally come the time to be interviewed. They wanted to see what kind of people we were in person, and hear about what kind of child we were looking for in a better detail.

A baby would be nice, since they’d be bonding with us from a very early age. With us being both girls—or rather, women, the talk about them being adopted would have to come sooner, so there wouldn’t be that “you lied to me!” feeling later on. Yes, there could be other issues, but we thought that’d be the worse one.

“You must be the Evergreens!” a smart-casually dressed, ebony-skinned lady who stood in front of the orphanage said as she extended a hand towards us. “I’m the director.”

We greeted Mrs. Crawford and Violet made a fine job introducing us with our names switched around. Not only did I have her family name, but now also got her given name.

I laughed and reintroduced her to our names in the right ownership, Mrs. Crawford laughing as she said she was worried she was remembering our names wrong.

“If you’d please follow me, I’ll guide you to my office so we can talk more privately,” she told us before turning around and started walking with us on her tail.

I took the chance to peek at Violet to see how she was doing. As to be expected, she was already looking like she wanted to burry her head in the sand as she walked very stiffly and with her eyes on the ground. I couldn’t really tell her Mrs. Crawford knew and understood she was very nervous since I was the one keeping the chit-chat with the lady, but I could still hold her hand and offer a smile.

She briefly looked at me before something in the distance caught her eye and she interrupted Mrs. Crawford.

“S-sorry, but there’s a child sitting alone over there,” she said.

Me and Mrs. Crawford looked at where she was pointing.

Sitting on a swing was a little girl, completely alone like Violet had pointed out and having a very sad aura surrounding her.

“Is everything ok with her?” Violet asked.

“She’s a new arrival at the orphanage,” Mrs. Crawford explained. “I’m sorry, but we are a bit understaffed at the moment, so would you mind if I went to check on her for a minute?”

Not only didn’t we mind, we also tagged along because Violet followed her seemingly on reflex.

“Hey there,” Mrs. Crawford called out softly as she crouched down in front of the child. “Why aren’t you inside with the other kids?”

The girl kept quiet and motionless like she didn’t even hear a single word.

“Did something happen?” Mrs. Crawford insisted.

Again, there was no reaction from the child.

Violet gripped my hand and when I looked at her, I knew she wanted to do something about it. With a small bump and a smile, I silently told her to go for it.

She let go of my hand and crouched down by Mrs. Crawford. My wife introduced herself and removed from her bag a small box container with cookies she did for any kid she got to talk with. I thought that wouldn’t be needed today and I’d end up eating them as a snack, but now I was happy she was so fussy.

“Would you like a cookie?” Violet asked as she offered one, her soft voice trembling a bit. “They have chocolate chips and are homemade.”

The small girl shyly glanced at her before silently accepting the cookie and started nibbling it.

“Is it good?” Mrs. Crawford asked.

This time, they got a reaction from her, a small nod followed by a ‘thank you’ after Mrs. Crawford asked if she wasn’t forgetting anything.

“Would you like another?” Violet asked, holding said cookie.

The little girl looked at her this time before taking the treat and looking back down, allowing us to briefly see her face. Despite how sad she looked, she had a very cute face.

“Mrs. Crawford?” someone approaching called out. “Sorry to interrupt, but something happened that needs your attention.”

“Can’t it wait?”

“I’m afraid not.”

The director sighed and rubbed her forehead, apologising for having to leave us, but we understood her situation. She did tell us a minute ago they were understaffed. Running an orphanage and taking care of the kids surely had to be lots of work. We also didn’t mind when she asked us if we could keep the child company while she took care of whatever it was since the woman who called her also had other things to attend.

“By the way,” I started as I joined my wife in the crouching down. “I’m Abby, Violet’s wifey. What’s your name?”

“…Charlotte.”

What a coincidence, right?

Well, to Violet it was quite the shock. She was looking at Charlotte like she was some sort of ghost. I had to close her mouth with my hand for her to realise what face she was making. Luckily, Charlotte was still staring at her knees, so she didn’t see Violet’s face. As beautiful as my wife is, she’d still have likely scared little Charlotte.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

“I thought you had to be a boy and a girl to get married,” Charlotte said, sounding confused.

“Hmm… most of the times, that’s how it goes, but… well…” Violet started, looking at me, silently asking if she was doing a good job explaining our situation.

“It’s a bit complicated to explain, but sometimes, when growing up, some girls realise they like girls instead and even some boys like boys too,” I concluded, finding it equally as hard to explain as Violet despite having had a similar talk with my own high school students a couple of times when Violet came to my work to deliver something I forgot or just visit me and Evelyn. It was a topic of conversation we both thought we’d have a few more years before having to figure out what to say to a child this young though.

“Are you here to adopt me?” the girl suddenly asked, making us snap our necks towards her. She sounded deeply sad about it. “Papa said I’d be adopted by a good mama and papa if I stayed here.”

I almost asked where her papa was, were it not for Violet to have moved and catching my attention. She had passed me the cookie container and moved her hands to rest them on Charlotte’s knees, the small child looking up to her gentle, smiling face.

“Me and Abby are looking for a child, but whether or not we adopt you… I’d like it if we got to know each other better before the three of us decided to become a family.”

I liked her answer a lot. It wasn’t a straight confirmation or denial, and it gave her space to feel like her own feelings were validated. It must be scary for a child the idea of not liking the adults for one reason or another and still being adopted by them.

“Do you think you’d like to have two mamas?” Violet asked next.

Charlotte grew a thoughtful face that I found amusing and got me very curious to hear what was going on her mind.

Violet’s question also gave me pause. Charlotte had been left there by her dad, and she did no mention of her mother, so I was wondering if he had been a single dad who couldn’t support her for some reason. It felt like it was the right assumption because what he told her sounded like it came from someone who still cared about his daughter and had some regret leaving her here or even self-loath.

“How about we play together for a bit?” I suggested to lighten the mood.

She shook her head and looked down to her knees as she rubbed them together. I thought she was being shy, but Violet thought different.

“Do you need to use the toilet?” she asked, sounding slightly alarmed.

Charlotte nodded and without a single moment of hesitation, Violet picked her up and started looking around.

“Over there!” I pointed, having seen a sign showing us the right direction to go.

We hurried there, going down the hallway and finding the visitors’ toilets.

We asked Charlotte if she needed help, but she said she could do it alone and that got me—and Violet, wondering how old exactly she was. We were guessing around three while waiting outside when she popped her head out.

“All done? Did you wash your hands?” we asked in stereo.

“…I can’t reach it,” Charlotte asked.

No problem, I’d just hug her from behind and hold her up the correct height while Violet washed her hands on the sink since her short arms still couldn’t quite reach it. And since Charlotte was being such a cute and well behaved girl, we gave her another cookie as we headed back to the swing while telling her about our old cat Oliver, me showing her pictures of him since Violet was holding Charlotte on her lap.

Stepping outside, we saw Mrs. Crawford standing by the swing set and looking around in search of us.

When she asked where we had been, Violet apologised if we broke some rules before explaining what had happened.

Understandably, Mrs. Crawford asked Charlotte if we touched anywhere or did anything she didn’t want us to.

Charlotte innocently shook her head before saying that we took her to the toilet and helped her wash her hands before bragging about being a good girl and having gotten another cookie from us for it.

“Well, you make sure to thank the nice ladies,” Mrs. Crawford said with a smile as she patted Charlotte’s head, the girl still being carried by Violet. “Me and them need to go have a talk in my office, so say goodbye to them for now.”

“But… we were going to play,” the tiny girl whined, clinging to Violet.

The face Violet was making was absolutely priceless. It was the exact same she did when it was me pleading her to play with me, minus the naughtiness.

“I’m sorry, but would it be possible to play with Charlotte after we are done with our interview?” I asked as a compromise.

“Have you two perhaps gotten interested in her?” Mrs. Crawford asked, looking slightly worried.

I knew we had come thinking about adopting a baby, but I had seen the face Violet made once she knew Charlotte’s name. We both were finding the small, doll-like girl very charming. In a word, yes. Yes, we were. It hadn’t been love at first sight between me and Violet, but between us and this child? It was almost like that.

“What about you Charlotte? Would you like to get to know these ladies better?”

“They are nice,” Charlotte said, hugging Violet who was making a very embarrassed but delighted face. “Papa said a nice papa and mama would adopt Charlotte if she was a good, well-behaved girl, but I wouldn’t mind having two mamas instead. They also have a cute kitty.”

Ah, the innocence of a child. I sometimes envy how they can simply become friends from sharing a few laughs together with another kid instead of having to spend a lot of time with them, showing and getting respect, making time for them, the inherent distrust we feel when someone is “too nice,” and all that. I haven’t thought about it before, but maybe that’s one of the reasons why having kids is so heart-warming. You get to experience a simpler time all over again by merely watching them interact with the world. As happy as I am now, even I have to recognise that the “sense of wonder” had been getting a bit duller over the years.

“In that case, our conversation will only take a few minutes,” Mrs. Crawford stated. “Can you wait for them for about ten minutes or so?”

She was still reluctant, but I promised her we’d play lots together once we got back, my words finally getting her to detach from Violet.

We waved each other goodbye and we followed Mrs. Crawford to her office.

On our way, we had to walk by many rooms, and we got to see plenty of children of all ages and sizes, some even taller than me. I know, I know, that’s not really a feat since pretty much all my students already do that, but those were highschoolers, while some of these were, like, twelve or something.

I also took the chance they were so noisy to tease Violet about her fears of causing a good impression on the children. I was waiting for a witty comeback, but she only apologised. As to what for, I only got to know once we sat in Mrs. Crawford’s office and she asked if we were sure about Charlotte since we had shown interest in adopting a baby and not a toddler.

“Yeah… I’m sorry for having single-handedly decided for both of us to adopt Charlotte.”

“I mean… I don’t know how else I’d have answered Charlotte if it had been me talking,” I told her. “It was a very good answer you gave, and quite frankly, after seeing how cute she is, I’m also looking forward to take her home with us.”

“I still think we should have talked about it first…”

“It’s fine! At least this way we won’t have to wake up three times during the night to feed her or change diapers or fret over telling her one day that she's adopted. It might even make the time of waiting shorter.”

“About the waiting time… I'm afraid it won't in her case,” Mrs. Crawford interrupted.

The reason why was simple, yet complicated in its essence.

Like I had figured out, she had been dropped off by her father, but not in the “correct” way. He simply knocked on the door, told the person answering it to “take good care of her” and left running. They gave the police his description, but they didn’t know his name and before Charlotte could formally be put in the adoption system, that whole investigative process had to be taken care off. The reason why was because it had been only one of her parents dropping her off without the proper paperwork, and about her mother, all they knew was that “she’s away somewhere.” It sounded like a euphemism for being dead, but it could also be a case of divorce, abandonment, working overseas, or even that Charlotte had been kidnaped by her father.

“I understand you might not want to wait that long when there are plenty of kids here who’d take less time to finish the process, but… I’ll leave it up to you.”

Violet looked at me with a very conflicted face, but not because she had issues with having to wait.

“Nope, it has to be her,” I said. “After that talk, we’d only be breaking her little heart all over again. She even has the same name as my wifey’s late mother.”

I heard a sob coming from Violet as she thanked me and I told her not to cry as I whipped away tears because Charlotte would worry when we got back to her for our playtime.

“I see,” Mrs. Crawford said, sounding pleased with our answer. “As soon as we can advance with the adoption process, I’ll personally call you. In the meantime, feel free to come and spend as much time as you want with her. That’ll help you three bond better, and speed up the process once we start it.”

After that, we went back to play with Charlotte, her face lighting up when she saw us walking towards her. I don’t know if it had been the cookies, the talk about having two mothers, Oliver, or simply us being nice to her, but seeing her smiling face… yeah, we both knew right there and then. We made the right decision.