Chapter Six
Eric made it to the eleventh floor of the hospital and walked to Ronnie's room. He could still feel his heart beating from the excitement as he stood outside Ronnie's room. Through the open door, he saw Ronnie was asleep and Annie was sitting next to her, reading from her Bible quietly. Eric walked into the room and Annie looked up. She immediately put her Bible down and followed Eric out of the room, shutting the door behind her.
"Did she call?" Annie asked immediately. Eric nodded.
"She had good news and she had bad news." He replied honestly. Annie closed her eyes, fearing the worst.
"Give me the bad news first." She said quietly.
"The bad news is that we can't adopt Ronnie before tomorrow." He saw Annie look as if she was about to cry, so Eric quickly gave her the good news.
"But the good news is that Alice pulled some strings and we can take her home with us until the adoption papers go through!" He exclaimed and he saw Annie's eyes light up immediately. Annie let out a little scream and dove into Eric's open arms.
"Oh Eric! That's wonderful!" She squealed. She pulled out of the embrace and looked at Eric seriously.
"How did the kids take it?" She asked worriedly.
"Are you kidding? They're thrilled. Mary and Lucy are already decorating Matt's old bedroom for a teenage girl." Eric replied, so proud of his daughters. Annie smiled as well, excited that her family was just as excited as she was.
"Eric, maybe we should buy her new clothes." Annie said, realizing Ronnie may not have as many clothes as she should, especially under the conditions she was living.
"Yeah, I'll send the girls to go shopping for her. I'll give them my credit card. They can go tomorrow morning. I'll go down to her old house with Officer Matthews to get her stuff from her bedroom, although I doubt I'll find much." Eric said sadly. Annie nodded slowly.
"That's going to change now that she's ours. Oh Eric things are going to change for her. Oh!" Annie stopped as she realized there was something she had to pick up.
"Eric, I need to go shopping tomorrow morning." She said.
"For what?" Eric asked curiously. Annie just smiled and turned to see that Ronnie was waking up in her room.
"Should we tell her?" Annie asked, grabbing Eric's hand for comfort.
"I guess we have to. How do you think she's going to take it?" Eric asked. Annie shrugged.
"I don't know. I would hope she would take it better than going to a juvenile detention centre." She replied. The two of them walked together into Ronnie's room, who had sat up, breathing heavily.
"Ronnie, are you okay?" Annie asked, as she sat next to Ronnie.
"Yeah, bad dream, that's all." Ronnie replied as she brushed a bead of sweat from her forehead. She winced as she moved from one side of the bed to the other.
"Did the social worker come yet?" Ronnie asked, almost desperately. Eric and Annie exchanged glances, fearing what would happen, but they knew they had to tell her.
"Ronnie, we need to talk to you about this." Eric said as he sat down in the chair next to her bed. They could see the fear rising in Ronnie's eyes, but she seemed to be trying really hard to hide it.
"Where am I going? I-I don't have to go back with...them, do I?" She asked cautiously, and she felt relieved when Eric and Annie shook their heads quickly.
"No, you aren't going back with your parents. Honey, you know they're in a lot of trouble right now. Nobody would allow you to go back there. They tried to k...hurt you." Annie replied, knowing better than to remind the young girl that her parents almost killed her; she already knew that.
"Well, if I'm not going with my parents, where do I have to go?" Ronnie asked, stuttering on her words, fighting back tears. Annie couldn't imagine the fear that Ronnie must be feeling. Not knowing where her life was going to go now that her parents weren't going to be around.
"Ronnie, the social worker talked to us and she wanted to send you to a juvenile detention centre. Do you know what that is?" Eric asked, as Ronnie's eyes widened.
"Yes." She answered silently, starting to cry.
"No, don't worry honey. We talked to Alice and we all decided it wouldn't be the greatest place for you to go right now. You don't have to go there." Annie said quickly. Ronnie seemed to be getting impatient, anxious to know what was going on.
"Listen Ronnie, we've really enjoyed getting to know you over the past week. I just wish we could have met under better circumstances. We've prayed about you a lot and, well, we talked to Alice and she's allowing you to come and stay with us until the adoption papers go through. We want to adopt you Ronnie. We want to show you what it means to be a part of a family who will never hurt you." Eric said as he kept his own tears back as he watched Ronnie who seemed shocked, and also scared. She didn't answer, or say anything, just stared at her hands in her lap.
"Sweetie, I know you're probably scared and confused, but I promise you nobody can ever hurt you again. Eric and I want you to be our daughter, and we want you to be a part of our family. So do our children. Oh Ronnie, they want to meet you so much. My oldest daughters, Mary and Lucy have been decorating your new bedroom, and they are just so excited to have you come home with us." Annie added, but Ronnie still couldn't speak. She didn't know what to say. Eric and Annie stared at each other, quietly waiting for Ronnie to say something.
"Ronnie? Are you okay? What are you thinking?" Eric asked, as he took Annie's hand in his own for comfort. Ronnie shook her head, and finally opened her mouth.
"I-I don't know what to say. Y-you've been so nice to me, I-I really don't deserve it." She said quietly
"Honey you deserve the best care there is possible. We may not be the best, but I can promise you that nobody will ever hurt you again." Annie replied. Ronnie didn't say anything else for the rest of the night. She seemed to be dozing off too, so finally Eric and Annie stood up.
"Well, we'll let you get some sleep. We'll see you tomorrow morning, and then we'll take you home." Eric said as they left the young girl alone. Once they shut the door, Ronnie began to cry like she had never cried before. It was true, she really liked the Camdens, but live with them? So many thoughts were going through her head. She felt guilty for leaving her parents, she felt guilty that they were on the run from the police because of her, she felt scared that the next day she would be moving in with a family she barely knew and starting her life over. Above all, she was terrified of being adopted. It was permanent. It was all too much for her to fathom. Only a week ago, her father had shot her. Now she was leaving the hospital with a family who wanted to adopt her. She couldn't believe how quickly her life was changing, and the fast pace scared her. She felt sick to her stomach, as she curled up in a small ball and tried to fall asleep, but failing as thoughts of the next day haunted her night.
