A Family To Cherish by Carole Gift Page Page A

“Ma’am, maybe you’d like to fasten the wings on your daughter’s dress.”
    â€œOh, she’s not my—” Barbara began, then let the words die on her lips. What good would it do to explain? What difference did it make to a stranger that Barbara must play mother to a child she hardly knew? Barbara smiled faintly, took the pin, and said simply, “Thank you.”
    She fastened the pin on Janee’s dress, and the child gazed at it for several moments, running her fingertips along the edge of the long graceful wings. “Are these angel wings?” she asked softly.
    Barbara looked at Janee and for a moment no words came. Finally she managed to say, “I don’t know, honey. But I’m sure angels have very beautiful wings.”
    Janee’s face clouded and her mouth puckered. “I want to go home.”
    â€œYou’re going to your new home, Janee,” said Barbara, forcing a note of enthusiasm.
    Janee’s lower lip trembled. “I want my old home.”
    â€œI’m sorry, Janee.”
    â€œI want my mommy and daddy.”
    â€œOh, Janee, I know you do, but—”
    â€œMommy and Daddy are in my old house. They’re waiting for me. I want to go to my old house.”
    â€œNo, honey, we can’t. Your parents aren’t there.” Barbara groped for words. “They’re in heaven with Jesus, but their love will always be in your heart.”
    A huge tear rolled down Janee’s cheek. “I want my mommy.”
    Barbara started to slip her arm around Janee, but the child pushed her hand away and scooted closer to the window, hugging her teddy tightly to her chest. “We go home, Zowie,” she murmured. “We go home.” After a while her eyes grew heavy and she drifted off to sleep.
    Barbara looked at Doug and uttered a sigh of dismay. “Do we have any idea what we’re getting into? Janee’s never going to accept us.”
    â€œWe have no choice, Barb,” he whispered. “We’ve got to make it work.”
    She laid her head wearily on his strong shoulder. “I don’t know if I can, Doug. Look at us. We’re asbad off as she is. How are we going to help her heal, when after all these years we haven’t been able to heal ourselves?”
    She felt Doug’s shoulder tense. “What do you mean, Barb? We’re doing fine,” he said gruffly. “Why do you have to analyze everything to death?”
    â€œAnd why do you have to deny that our lives have been a mess since Caitlin died?”
    â€œBecause you’re wrong, Barb. Our lives are whatever we say they are, whatever we want to believe. I can’t help it if you insist on wallowing in the past.”
    Her tone thick with resentment, she retorted, “Maybe that’s better than shutting down my emotions and working myself to death like you’re doing.”
    Doug heaved a disgruntled sigh. “Let’s not get into this here. Not now. We’ve got enough to deal with. Right now, let’s just concentrate on the child.”
    Barbara didn’t reply. She put her head back against the seat and closed her eyes. It was another child, her beloved Caitlin, long gone, who haunted her waking hours as well as her sleep. How could she focus on someone else’s child when memories of her own lost daughter sapped her emotions and exhausted her energies? Heaven help her, what did she have left to give this needy, wounded child who wanted no part of her?

Chapter Five
    B arbara and Doug arrived home with Janee just after dark. A warm summer rain was falling, thrumming the roof with a steady rat-a-tat rhythm. The house was dark and silent, and smelled stuffy and closed in. While Doug parked the car in the garage, Barbara walked around the living room, switching on lamps. Janee stood in the entryway looking small and uncertain, hugging her teddy.
    â€œWhere’s the kitty?” she asked at last in a