One of a Kind Elijah and Unprecedented Ava
Tony felt his heart nearly break the first time little Elijah held up his thin arms for Tony to lift him into an embrace. Small for his age, Elijah's topaz eyes regarded Tony with the serious expression of one who had no background with strong familial bonds.
Tony marveled at the little boy's distinctive looks. Olive skin combined with high cheekbones while blond hair threaded itself liberally with copper highlights to set him apart from other children.
Of course little Elijah should discover life as a typical toddler.
At three years old, the little boy had only experienced life as a tragedy, though.
He and his biological sister Ava, also sent to Tony, just had each other. Their father had died in an automobile accident before Elijah's birth. That left their mom as the single parent and sole provider. To support two small children their mother unwittingly took a job as housekeeper to a Black Widow Cartel member.
Unbelievably, the employer fell from favor and the Black Widow Cartel executed his family in his residence before torturing and executing him.
The Black Widow Cartel wanted him to witness the deaths of his loved ones and household staff.
Thus the housekeeper's murder unfolded as bloodthirsty collateral damage.
Authorities speculated Ava and Elijah escaped the bloodbath because their mother had kept a picture of the Virgin Mary with the Baby Jesus above their beds in the nursery and the executioners feared the destruction of that sanctity.
By the time Tony accepted Elijah and Ava the pitiful little ones had resided in three foster homes. Those foster families expressed the same united fear of the Black Widow Cartel's reach and vengeance and made it clear that the presence of those particular siblings made them nervous.
So did relatives on the mom's side of the family who had expressed a desire to take the kids as well. However, they would not consider adopting the children when the Black Widow Cartel still existed.
Honestly, who could blame them? The Black Widow Cartel struck terror deep because of its savagery.
Little Elijah's excellent appetite resonated with Tony, who had coincidentally spent his childhood smaller than his age group though he ate voraciously. At mealtimes it pleased Tony that Elijah never balked at investigating new foods or sampling different tastes and Tony assured him daily that he would grow into a big man one day.
The tyke grinned shyly at the promise.
A white hospital gown festooned with cartoon characters served as the sole comfort object the little fellow owned and the tiny boy often clutched it when apprehensive, upset, or scared. From the account shared with Tony, the little boy had gone to the hospital for a bad fall and the hospital had changed him into the gown. Elijah had refused to consent to their dressing him back into his own clothes after his exam, and the staff allowed him to keep the gown rather than risk traumatizing a hurt toddler further.
Tony discovered the tyke idolized firefighters and quickly ensured that Elijah possessed clothing, toys, and books featuring firefighters and fire trucks.
One of Tony's favorite photographs from Athens highlighted a beaming Elijah perched in the driver's seat of a fire engine. Two firefighters flanked him. Near their Athens house stood a bona fide fire station and Elijah pointed out the building with glee each time he passed it. Finally one workday at lunch Tony carved out time and surprised the child with a personal tour and visit of the station. The firefighters generously posed for photos and allowed Elijah to climb inside and outside of the massive truck. Further, they granted Elijah permission to feel and hold the hoses and fire fighting tools and provided explanations of how all of the equipment worked. They even allowed him to slide down the fire fighter's pole and gifted Elijah with a plastic child's fire helmet.
The visit so enamored the little boy that he talked of it constantly afterwards and still remembered the spectacular occasion after he left Athens.
Miss Talia helped Elijah write a thank you note and draw a picture for the fire station. By himself Elijah slid the envelope in the mailbox and later watched from the yard as the postal carrier whisked it away. The thoughtful fire fighters responded with a card of their own thanking Elijah for his visit and included stickers and a large refrigerator magnet emblazoned with the fire station's logo and equipment.
Elijah sorted the recycling for his daily chore at Tony's house and he performed the categorization diligently. Tony had selected the task wisely, noting that by justifying the purpose of recycling to the serious little boy the child would comprehend the overall benefit of the duty. Elijah requested Tony also allow him to help roll the recycling bin to the curb for its weekly pickup and the child loved joining forces to pilot the large container. Nothing could quench his delight, though, at actually witnessing the huge recycling truck grab the bin and empty it the next day. Elijah had learned the names of the people in charge of the operation and he waited excitedly for them to appear with the truck every Thursday morning.
As with Vivi, Tony's bike supported a bike seat for the child and Elijah rode in front. However, Elijah adored the tricycle Tony bought for him because it boasted a large attached wagon. The toddler spent hours pretending to drive a firetruck or loading and unloading toys and items all around their fenced back yard.
Tony couldn't resist Elijah's quiet trust in him and loved him intensely.
Five- year- old Ava shared her olive skin and high cheekbones with her brother Elijah, but her hazel eyes and honey blond hair created an ethereal look all her own.
An absolute beauty, Tony met her as a scared and apprehensive preschooler who regarded him with a resigned and guarded expression.
As days transitioned into weeks and weeks into months, she absolutely thrived under Tony's care, however. The little girl responded well to the structure provided in their Athens home and to Tony's genuine affection for her and for the other Black Widow casualties.
Of the five children, she clung to Tony the hardest and most often.
Tony enrolled her in kindergarten and breathed a sigh of relief at the discovery she had been assigned a young, warm teacher named Ms. Rhodes. Slowly Ava began to socialize in the new environment of elementary school and even made a friend in a classmate named Jackie.
Neither shy nor gregarious, Ava possessed a wonderful attention span and instinctive ability to quickly assess a person's character.
Her desire to achieve perfection in all of her tasks proved problematic at times. Tony patiently devoted hours encouraging her to accept hard work and excellent effort even if she didn't achieve a perfect score.
Ava's picky eating nearly drove him to distraction, though. Left to her own wiles, Ava would subsist on two or three food sources. With Tony she began to sample and try, and gradually added to dishes she enjoyed. Tony congratulated himself on turning Ava into a gyro enthusiast (since he loved them!) though he did so by insisting to her Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer loved gyros and consumed them year round.
He felt a twinge of guilt at the blatant lie but shoved the feeling to the side as he watched her enjoying the dish.
Ava declared the Daddy's French toast the best in the world because he substituted powdered sugar for syrup when he fixed it for breakfast. Tony did what he could to entice her to eat.
Tony assigned Ava the job of working with Levi to unload and load the family's dishwasher and her meticulous approach proved a good foil to Levi's devil- may- care approach to the task. They certainly completed the job by working together. Admittedly, not every venture proved peaceful and occasionally an argument would erupt over where to place a plate or not putting cutlery back in the drawer correctly but overall, the two kids did well.
Over her protests Tony signed Ava up for gymnastics at the local YMCA, as much to hone her physical skills as to hone her social ones. Once Ava acclimated to the class and schedule she began to enjoy the routines and spent far more time than the others practicing her gymnastics moves.
Tony would watch his little perfectionist gymnast with pride from the viewing area.
Ava proved possessive when it came to Tony's attention, especially when the family attended events. She hovered near him at church, kept him in her sights at ball games and sports practices, and skipped beside him on hikes or at parks.
Much to Tony's chagrin, should a potential female approach him Ava would swoop in and seat herself by Tony, remaining ensconced until the woman gave up trying to flirt.
Tony provided the only security the little girl had in the world and she clung to him.
As the weeks passed and her confidence sprouted it encouraged Tony to note that she had begun to venture a bit further from him.
Ava's presence in his life transformed Tony for the better. He couldn't resist loving her.
Ava and Elijah had a maternal uncle named Holden who lived in Hill County, Texas. He and his wife Cecile had waited patiently to add Ava and Elijah to their own family of two teens. Tony approved of them at their first encounter because of the way they responded to the kids. Though the little ones did not warm up to their aunt and uncle at once, Holden and Cecile remained patient, and empathetic, and affectionate with them.
At the second meeting their children joined them and Tony watched the interaction of the older cousins with Elijah and Ava with interest. If anything the teens appeared thrilled to have little ones to entertain and enjoy.
Ava, the child most clingy toward Tony, eventually slipped from the safety of his lap to stand right beside him, one tiny hand clutching a section of denim from his jeans. She watched her male cousin perform some simple magic tricks for a delighted Elijah and followed the process of the tricks closely. The other teen, a sixteen- year- old young lady, finally coaxed Ava into learning the lyrics and hand gestures to Sing, Sing, My Playmate, a hand clapping game. Ava's attention span and focus always impressed Tony and he beamed with pride when she caught on to the synchronized words and movements within minutes.
So Elijah and Ava joined their aunt, uncle, and cousins in Texas, having gained a real family who genuinely treasured them.
To Tony's relief, Holden and Cecile had additionally promised to allow the children to visit Campeche for a week each summer.
Tony had visited their Texas home also, and pronounced it nurturing and loving when he described it. Ava and Elijah grabbed his hands and pulled him from one room to another, and from one plaything to another, excited to show off their permanent surroundings.
He spoke to the children regularly, and went to bed each night satisfied that family love surrounded Ava and Elijah.