Chapter Fourteen

Adoption is a journey of faith, from beginning to end. — Johnny Carr

Later that week, Caitlin went to her uncle. He looked up from the paperwork and folders piled on his desk. “Good morning, Caitlin. How are you? I hope you don’t have a hangover like I do. I must slow down on the drinking. I can tell by your face that something’s on your mind. Do you need confession?”

“No. I need your advice and help.”

“What is it, child?”

“I want to adopt Tejan and take him back with me to Louisiana.”

“You don’t want to wait to have children of your own?”

“Perhaps later, but now I want to adopt him.”

Ambrose nodded. “I see. And what makes you think you are ready to raise a child? And why Tejan? Why not one of the other boys? Why not a girl?”

“I just know. I feel my heart is going to burst every time I’m around Tejan. If I can’t adopt him, I don’t want to adopt any.”

“You are not married. Do you intend to raise this boy without a father?”

“If I have to.”

“I hate to state the obvious, but the child is black. Do you think any prospective husband in Louisiana will be able to accept him?”

“If he can’t, then he’s not much of a man. Tejan and I will be a package deal. I’m not desperate to get married, Uncle Ambrose.”

“Good.” Ambrose stubbed out his cigarette and lit another. He blew smoke toward the open window. “I too love Tejan. I want to talk to him myself, then have a psychiatrist evaluate him. If those talks go well, I will help you adopt him if I can. There are some strings I can pull. We may not have much time. There are rumors of a coming evacuation of all foreigners. So, we must quickly find out which hoops the government will require us to jump through and whom we can bribe to speed things up. As the American embassy in Freetown only has a skeleton force, we will have to work through the ambassador in Dakar, Senegal. I’ll get right on it. Tomorrow, I will give you the I-600 form from the U.S. Naturalization Service. You will need to fill it out immediately.”

“Thank you so much, Uncle Ambrose,” Caitlin said. “This means the world to me. I’ve always wanted a son.”