Another idea popped into my head, so here we go on another Sam/Yvette adventure!

Redeeming the Time

By WritePassion

"Daddy, will you help me?"

"Sure, Espie. What do you need help with?"

"My math. I don't get it."

Sam smiled as he glanced over Espie's shoulder and scanned the page. After Sam and Yvette scaled the language barrier with their foster daughter, she thrived and soaked up knowledge like a sponge. They found some homeschooling resources in the Miami area, stocked up, and Yvette spent her days alternating between giving little Samuel individual attention and teaching Esperanza. The aim was to get her ready for second grade when next September rolled around, and it appeared that they were well on track. Whenever Sam wasn't working, he took over playing teacher. Espie seemed to respond better to him, and when he worked with her, his ability to pick up on her strengths allowed him to challenge her to overcome her weaknesses.

Math was not one of those strengths and was proving to be one weakness in which she was stubborn to progress. She sat at the dining room table with her head leaning on her right fist, her pencil in a death grip in her left hand, and her bottom lip taking a beating from being clenched between her teeth.

"I don't understand."

"Okay, let's take a look at this first problem. Just focus on it and nothing else, okay?" He took two sheets of paper and covered the rest of the equations on the page. "Now you've got a one and you have to add it to a four." He reached for the centerpiece, a bowl filled with glass weights shaped like flat stones that anchored a fake orchid plant. He grabbed a handful. "Okay, here's one." He set it on the table before her. "And here are four." He lay them in a line not far from the one. "So we take one..." He used an index finger to push it next to the single piece, "Two...three...four..."

"Five!" Espie exclaimed happily and clapped her hands.

"Yeah, five. Does that make more sense?" She nodded. "Now, write that down, and we'll go to the next one. We'll use these for a few of them, but then I want you to think about it without visuals. Put the picture in your head. Got it?" Her head bobbed and he smiled and hugged her. "Okay, I want you to do the next three by yourself with these stones, and I'll be right here watching. Then I want you to do the right side of the page without them."

"Okay." She glanced up at him briefly before working on the assignment.

As Sam watched, fighting with himself to not help her, pride swelled up inside of him. She was his smart little girl. Although she wasn't his flesh and blood, Esperanza and Sam had a lot in common. She favored her left hand in just about everything she did, she was a visual learner, and she liked to work with her hands, just like him.

"I'm done, Daddy."

"Alright, let's see what we've got." He quickly scanned her work. "Good job, Espie. Every one is correct! Now, I want you to fly solo on these." He uncovered the right side of the page that contained five more equations.

"Solo?'

"That means alone, no stones to count out and move around. No daddy to help you." He grinned. "I know you're smart enough, you can do it." He kissed the side of her face and got out of his chair. "I'll give you a few minutes, and I'll grab us a treat, okay?"

"Okay, Daddy!" She grinned at him and bent to her task.

At the door to the kitchen, he turned back, grabbed the glass stones and put them back into the bowl. "I'll know if you dig in there for help, kiddo, so don't even try it!" His words were stern, but the look on his face let her know he loved her. She needed that confirmation every day. Although she seemed happy and well-adjusted, sometimes a dark cloud passed over her features and she was less confident in herself. Those were the days he worked extra hard to remind her that they cherished and loved her no matter what.

As Sam prepared a couple glasses of milk and a plate of cookies, he glanced out the kitchen window. Yvette was in the back yard with Samuel. He was trying to help his mommy dig holes, into which she planted flowers. He was getting dirt all over himself, but she persevered and worked with him until he got one right. Then she showed him how she put the plant into it and covered it with the dirt scattered around the hole. She moved on to the next planting, and behind her, Samuel started digging up the plant she just set.

Even through the closed window he could hear her cry, "Samuel, no!"

Sam laughed at his son's antics. He was glad he wasn't out there working with him, but he also had to give the kid credit for trying. Someone knocked on the screen door and his attention strayed. He saw a shadow moving on the floor as he approached the door.

"Can I help you?"

"Are you Sam Axe?" The small Hispanic woman at the door asked.

"Yes. And you are..."

She smiled shyly. "My name is Angela Castro. I...I understand that you have my daughter Esperanza here. You're taking care of her."

On instant alert, Sam kept his composure. "I think there's been some kind of misunderstanding, Miss. Esperanza's parents are dead. The agency..."

"The agency lied to you. I'm her mother, and I can prove it. She has a scar on her hip. I should know, because it's my fault it's there." Sadness filled her eyes. "Mr. Axe, I'm sure the agency had a good reason to give you a false story. I was a drug addict, I was in prison..." She sighed heavily and leaned on the door frame. "I was a mess, but I've straightened out now, and I want my daughter back."

Unease set up residence in his gut. "I'm sorry, Miss Castro, but if this is true, you're gonna have to talk to the agency. We've already started the process to adopt Esperanza."

"No, you can't! She's mine, and I never gave up my rights to her!"

"Daddy?"

Sam turned and found Esperanza standing on the top step. "Espie, honey, it's nothing. Just go back and work on your math."

Angela said something in Spanish, and Esperanza stopped turning away. "Esperanza." She turned back, stepped down to the entrance and stared at the woman who stood at the door.

"Mama?"

"Si," Angela grinned and spoke to her. Her words came out fast, but Sam understood enough to not like what he was hearing. He pulled Esperanza up against himself and held onto her shoulders.

"Okay, that's enough. If you really are her mother, you'll have to contact the Department of Children's Services and talk to them. Now, I want you to leave."

"I have every right to see my child, Mr. Axe." She glared at him.

"No doubt under court sanction, with supervision. And you can bet either my wife or I will be there when it happens. Until then, I suggest you scoot on out of here, because I'm not afraid to protect my family by whatever means is necessary. Besides, Espie needs to get back to her studies." All the while he spoke, Sam gently pressed his hands into Esperanza's shoulders. Only over his dead body was this woman taking their child.

Anger shadowed her face. "Mr. Axe, you're going to be sorry. You're messing with the wrong people."

"Oh really? I only see you here." He glanced at the empty space around her.

"I have friends. Esperanza's father."

"If he's so supportive of you getting her back, then where is he right now? He should be here."

Angela shrugged and squirmed under his attention. "That's not important! He'll help me get her back. You just wait." Her features, which Sam could see had once been beautiful, were twisted in ugliness as she spoke. Then she turned her attention to Esperanza and her face softened, but it still bore the marks of addiction. She was still using. "Mi amore, I'll be back for you. I promise! I won't let these mean people keep you any longer!" She looked back up at Sam. "This isn't over."

"As far as I'm concerned, it is. Get off my property. Now."

Angela gave him one last threatening look, turned, and ran away from the door. Only when she was down the block heading toward Maddie's did he breathe a sigh of relief.

"Espie, I'm sorry you had to see that."

"Daddy, please don't make me go with her."

"Is she really your mother?"

She nodded. "But not anymore. Mommy's outside with Samuel."

Sam squatted down to her level, looking into his daughter's pleading eyes. "I promise, I will do everything I can to make sure that you stay with us." He picked her up and held her tightly to himself as she desperately wrapped her legs around him. Her body shook with sobs, and his heart broke for a little girl who was genuinely afraid of the woman who supposedly gave birth to her. He couldn't imagine how horrifying it had to be for Esperanza to see her again.

After a few minutes she settled down, and he sat her at the dining room table with the cookies and milk. He went over the math assignment as if nothing had ever happened, but inside, his stomach was in knots. He needed to find out more about this woman, if her claims were legitimate, and determine what they could do to make sure she never got her mitts on Esperanza. Ever.

"You did a great job, Espie. See, math isn't so bad once you understand it." He gave her a reassuring smile.

"Daddy, I like the number four." She doodled two stick figures side by side in the margin of her paper, added a smaller one, and then drew a figure with a happy face and a bow on her head. "See? Mommy, Daddy, Sammy and me. That's the best four there is."

Sam chuckled softly and held her close. "Yeah, I couldn't agree more."

Later that night, after he'd tucked Esperanza into bed, as he was leaving her room he noticed a drawing on her desktop. In the dim light from the lamp, he studied the picture of the four stick figures. Only this time, there were three others off to the right side. The corner of his mouth tipped up when he recognized that the figure with the pony tail and a rifle in one hand had to be Fiona with a big grin on her face. The other wore sunglasses and smiled. Michael. But what disturbed him was the figure lying flat, with red scribbling near it. The figure had long black hair and he had no doubt who it represented. Sam closed his eyes, and for the first time in his life, he regretted what he did for a living.