THE UNTOLD STORY OF CAROL DANVERS
CHAPTER FOUR: THE ADOPTION
The next morning, Marie and Joe got up very early and made their way to church. Each of them prayed that the adoption process would go smoothly. Joe had spent much of the evening getting the second set of paperwork done. He had made photocopies of the entire first package and was able to complete the process of filling out the second package fairly easily. The happy couple had decided to adopt Betsy as well as Carol. Betsy was a little older than Carol and they believed that she would be a good influence as a big sister to Carol. While in church, they had mentioned their adoption plans to their good friends, Sara and Tom Smith. Sara and Tom were another childless couple. Tom worked long hours as a fireman and Sara was a mortgage broker. Marie was very excited at the prospect of the two new additions to their family and it showed. She was constantly smiling all throughout the church service. When church was over, Marie and Joe invited Sara and Tom to join them at the orphanage. Perhaps, they too could adopt one of the kids. Tom and Sara readily agreed. The foursome left in the Danvers' mini van. About twenty minutes later they arrived at the orphanage. Angela had just brought the children outside to enjoy a rare break in the winter weather. She greeted Marie and Joe warmly and was introduced to Sara and Tom. Joe handed her the second folder with Betsy's name on it. Angela smiled at their choice. While they were talking, Tabitha, Betsy and Carol were busy running around the yard. They soon found themselves on the swings, each trying to outdo the other. Suddenly, Carol leaped out of her swing at the top of the arc. She soared about ten feet from the swing set before she landed. Not wanting to be outdone, Tabitha and Betsy both leaped from their swings as well. Each one of them soared about ten feet as well before crashing to the earth. Unlike Tabitha and Carol, however, Betsy landed awkwardly and turned her ankle. She screamed out in pain. The adults quickly ran over to the three girls, concern showing on their faces. Tom was the first to reach Betsy. Her ankle was already turning purple and starting to swell. He quickly scooped up the now sobbing child and carried her over to a bench in the yard. Setting her down, he quickly pulled off his tie and wrapped the girl's injured ankle. "It looks like the ankle may be broken," he said. Angela was beside herself. None of her kids had ever been seriously injured before. Marie and Sara calmed her down. "It's okay, Ms Lilos," Marie said calmly. "Let's get her to the hospital and get her fixed up. Sara and I will stay here and watch the other kids while you go with the guys to the hospital." Angela began to calm down. She went into the building and found the insurance information she would need to get Betsy examined. Tom and Joe put two of the three seats in the middle row of the van into a horizontal position and put Betsy into the remaining seat with her leg resting on the two horizontal seats. Then Tom sat down in the back row. Joe got behind the wheel as Angela slid into the front passenger seat. Soon they were in the emergency room of Boston General Hospital. As Angela checked Betsy in, Tom carried her into the examining room and placed her on the waiting bed. The doctor quickly examined the young girl and started an IV containing Demerol for her pain. He and Joe quickly wheeled her into the x-ray room. When the x-rays had been taken, Joe helped the doctor wheel her back to the examining room. A few minutes later, the doctor returned with the x-rays. He put them on the lighted screen. The ankle was clearly broken in two places. "The good news is that although the ankle is clearly broken, surgery will not be necessary." Joe breathed a sigh of relief. He did not want this young girl to have to undergo surgery so soon in her young life. Betsy had quit sobbing by this time. The doctor began soaking the plaster wraps in order to apply the cast to young Betsy's ankle. A few minutes later, he had the cast completely applied. "We will need to examine her next week," he said. "In the meantime, here is a prescription for a high strength Motrin. She is to take this every four hours as needed for pain. Give it to her with food so as to not upset her stomach. Betsy is free to go home." Joe was surprised that the trip to the hospital was over so fast. He had expected to be there for several hours but this trip was over in little more than and hour and a half. As Betsy was being place in a wheel chair to leave the hospital, Joe and Tom gathered up her shoe and sock and pushed her out to the van. Once again, Angela got into the front passenger seat and Tom placed her into the regular seat and took his position in the back row. As they headed back to the orphanage, Tom, Joe and Angela decided that they would order pizza for all the children. Tom used his cell phone and ordered 15 large pizzas of assorted varieties to be delivered to the orphanage. The pizzas arrived right after Joe arrived from the hospital. Angela, Marie and Sara ushered all of the children into the dining room as the deliveryman and Joe carried in the pizzas. Soon all of the kids were hungrily devouring the pizzas, even Betsy. All of a sudden, Betsy felt a tingling in her ankle and the pain just disappeared. When all of the pizza was finally gone, Joe, Tom, Sara and Marie watched the kids playing and talked to Betsy, Tabitha, and Carol. Tom and Sara decided to ask Angela for a packet of forms. They had made the decision to try to adopt Tabitha. Angela was pleased. It seemed that three of her precious charges were about to get new homes if all went well. Finally, the hour was getting late and the Danvers and Smiths had to leave.
The next morning a courier arrived at the orphanage. He was carrying the completed forms from Sara and Tom Smith. More importantly, he carried the necessary letters of recommendation for each of the prospective adoptive parents. For each family, there was a letter that was sure to be of great help to their cause. Each of them was a good lifelong friend of the current President of the United States. When Angela Lilos saw the letters of recommendation, she knew the investigations would be easily completed and that she would be losing three of her charges to new homes. She quickly filed all the paperwork and began the process of completing the investigation. It would not be long now. By the end of the day, she had the preliminary report of the investigation on her desk. The final hurdle was a home inspection and a background check of the prospective parents. Angela Lilos decided to wait until morning to let them know she would be coming to inspect their homes. She had to go see her kids. She stopped in the boys' room first. They were playing quietly when she told them that dinner would be ready in a few minutes. They all lined up to get washed for dinner. She directed them to get washed up and to head downstairs. Then she went into the girls' room to get them ready for dinner. She asked all of the girls except for Betsy, Tabitha and Carol to go ahead and get washed up for dinner. She told them that they had been selected for adoption. The application process was already complete and that they would have to prepare to leave the orphanage soon. The kids were both excited and sad. They were excited to be getting new homes and for Betsy and Carol, they were going to be together. At the same time, they were sad to be leaving their friends at the orphanage. Each one of them hoped that their friends would also get adopted into new homes as well.
The next few days went by very fast for the three girls. Angela had done her home visits and had received the results of the background checks. As she had suspected, there were no surprises. None of the four adults had so much as a parking ticket much less any criminal records. Additionally, there was no history of abuse in their families. They had neither been abused nor had they abused anyone else. None of them had been in trouble of any kind. She was glad for the girls. Their lives were about to change for the better. All that remained was the final waiting period of 5 days after everything was finalized. Angela began to plan the goodbye party for her three girls. Their last day at the orphanage would be that Friday. Before that glorious day would come, there was one little matter of a doctor visit for Betsy's broken ankle. That visit occurred on the Tuesday before she was to be adopted. Angela took Betsy to the doctor. She was still using her crutches even though she had not felt any pain since the first day she had broken her ankle. When the doctor removed her cast in order to change it over to a walking cast, he gasped in surprise. There was no swelling around the ankle whatsoever. Usually, a person who has had a broken ankle has swelling for several weeks afterward. The doctor decided to do additional x-rays on the broken ankle before he put on the new cast. He tried to convince himself that it was just to see how the ankle was setting. In reality, he wasn't sure that a new cast would be necessary. It seemed that Betsy's ankle had miraculously been healed completely. When he checked the x-rays, the doctor's suspicions were proven to be correct. "It is a miracle," he said. "Betsy, I have some good news for you. It has only been a week, but your ankle is completely healed. In other words, you won't need those crutches anymore nor will you need a walking cast. In fact, you won't need another cast at all."
Betsy and Angela were thrilled to hear the news. Neither one understood how Betsy had been so miraculously healed but the fact that Betsy would not need another cast
was really exciting. A few minutes later, the doctor wished them well and Angela and Betsy walked out of the hospital. When they got back to the orphanage, Betsy ran over to Carol. "Guess what, Carol? My ankle is healed. Look, no cast!" She exclaimed excitedly. The two girls went outside to play with the other kids. While they were running and jumping, Carol suddenly found herself floating in the air. Betsy grabbed her friend's legs and pulled her back to the ground. No one had seen the incident.
Finally, Friday came. The Smiths and Danvers arrived promptly at 6:00. They were ushered into Angela's office where the final papers were signed. It was official. Carol and Betsy were officially members of the Danvers family while Tabitha was now a Smith. "We have a farewell party for your new daughters," she said as they went into the large Dining room. All of the girls' belongings were packed and neatly placed by the front door. Inside the dining room, there was a buffet style dinner laid out for everyone. There was chicken, hot dogs and hamburgers. There was also potato salad, onion rings, and French fries as well as corn on the cob. Finally, there were various types of cookies. The kids were all excited as they lined up to get their food. When everyone had gone through the line and was seated, Angela stood up. "Tonight, we are here to celebrate," she began. "Betsy, Tabitha and Carol have been adopted and will be leaving us. Betsy and Carol will be going to live with Mr. and Mrs. Danvers, while Tabitha will be joining the Smith family. This is an exciting time for all of them. I know that each one of you have been their friends and will miss them." The kids all looked around at Carol, Tabitha and Betsy. Some of the kids began to cry at the thought of losing their friends. Carol had not been at the orphanage very long but all of the kids liked playing with her. Betsy and Tabitha had been there since they had been babies. Everyone knew them and enjoyed being with them. Mikey clutched his stuffed sea lion and sea horse as the tears began to flow down his cheeks. He had always been friends with Betsy and was really going to miss her. He also liked Tabitha a lot. They had come to the orphanage about the same time. He did not remember a day that Tabitha was not there to play with him. Now she was going to leave him. Tabitha walked over to her friend. "It's okay, Mikey. We will always be friends. I will never forget you, Mikey." Sara and Tom were watching the scene unfold. They were touched by the genuine emotion being showed by all of the children. Clearly, the three girls were very well loved and respected by their peers. Finally, the time came for all the children to go up to their rooms. Each one walked by and gave the three girls big hugs and said their goodbyes. When the last child had gone upstairs, Angela came over to the two couples. "It is time for you to take your new daughters home," she said as she wiped the tears from her face. Turning to the three girls, she gave each one a hug and said " Know that you are well loved here and please don't forget about your friends here. We will miss you. Be good to your new families." With that she turned away so that they would not see her crying and went into her room.
Joe and Marie both grabbed a pair of suitcases that belonged to the girls and carried them out to the van. When they returned, Carol and Betsy picked up their remaining things and followed them out to the van. Quickly, they ran back and gave Tabitha a big hug. "Good Luck" they all said simultaneously. As they got into their respective vehicles, the three girls looked back at the orphanage. Every window on the second floor had at least one of their friends in it. They were all waving goodbye to their three friends. Finally, they left the orphanage.
Joe and Marie each carried the bags for their new daughters. They went into their new home and were led up the stairs. Each of them would have their own separate bedroom. Carol's room was set in tones of green while Betsy's room was decorated in shades of yellow. Each room had a large canopy bed in the center. There were various types of stuffed animals for each of the girls along the walls and on the beds. There was also a green or yellow dresser, nightstand, and mirrored vanity in each room. There was also a bathroom between the two rooms with connecting doors from each room. Each girl was thrilled to have their own rooms after having to share one room with several girls.
Two houses down, Sara and Tom were also showing Tabitha to her new room. Her room was done in shades of blue. She had a twin bed and a dresser and vanity. On her nightstand were a blue lamp and a telephone. Tabitha ran to her bed and jumped on it. Soon she was bouncing up and down on her new bed and laughing with glee. After a few moments, Sara and Tom left her in her room and closed the door. A fem moments later, Sara peeked her head back into the room. Tabitha was lying on her bed fast asleep. Smiling, Sara turned out the light and closed the door.
Back at the Danvers' home, Joe, Marie, Carol and Betsy had moved down into the dining room and were talking and enjoying a cup of hot cocoa with marshmallows. Both Carol and Betsy were yawning. It had been a very long but exciting day for them. When they finished their cocoa, each girl gave their new parents a light kiss on the cheek and went upstairs to their rooms. Soon, both of them were fast asleep.
Well, what do you all think? I know that this chapter does not have a lot of action in it. There will definitely be more action and adventures in the next chapter. A few surprises are in order. As you may have noticed, Carol seems to be discovering a new power or ability each chapter. The fun is just beginning. Read and Review, please.