Chapter 9: A Promise Kept

Shawn scowled as he flipped through the newspaper and saw where some reporter had written up an article about his father's activities over the holiday. It wouldn't have made him so mad if it wasn't for the fact that his father hadn't even tried to use the event as a photo op. No, he'd done it out of the kindness of his heart. Thinking about all of the money that his father had just blown on all of the snot-nosed, money-grubbing, rug-rats made his stomach turn.

Not only had his father wasted both time and money out at the hospital but he had also completely blown off the party that Elizabeth had planned to wine and dine the investors that he had lined up to help contribute toward his brother-in-law's bid for the Senate. Investors that had come on the promises and assurances that Ben supported his daughter's husband's bid for Office. As he and his sister had played their roles of host and hostess during the party, the disappointment of not seeing Ben Kyle with his children had been clear on the faces of many of the guests.

Already, Shawn had been trying to do damage control as the New Year approached. He had made calls to the right people, flattered until he was blue in the face, sent out cards of appreciation for their presence at his and his sister's party and made plans to join some of the most boring people that he knew for their own New Year's Eve celebration. His father's presence had once more been requested and Shawn hoped that the old fool could tear himself away from his charity work long enough to at least make an appearance this time.

Folding the Society Page back up and tossing the newspaper aside, Shawn figured that he'd better call his father and make nice for the moment. After all, after the Christmas Eve party fiasco, he needed his father there for the next event.

Ben walked down the hall toward the Children's Cancer Wing once more, this time clean shaven since Santa wouldn't make an appearance for another year. He'd come earlier in the week to drop off the books for the young girl that he'd met on Christmas Eve but she'd been asleep at the time so he had just left them behind and had let her sleep. Instead, he'd spoken with the head nurse, Susan, about the lone child in the cancer wing. The more that he heard about her the more he was intrigued.

Ben opened the door and smiled when he found the young girl inside the room reading one of the books that he'd left as her Christmas presents. So engrossed in the story, Kira never even looked up as he walked further into the room. Ben had made it completely into the room and had nearly sat in the single chair in the room before Kira looked up in surprise as if she didn't recognize him. Seeing as how the only time that she'd seen him had been while he'd been disguised wearing a red suit and long white beard, Ben quickly spoke up.

"I see you got my gift." The moment that Ben spoke he could see a spark of recognition in Kira's eyes. "I figured that you would like them better than some toy that you obviously are too old for."

Kira glanced down at the book of which she'd already read more than halfway through. Uncertain of just how to respond to the older man she just shrugged in response. She was actually at a very interesting part of the story and she hated to have to stop now that she had a rare visitor. A true visitor, not just one of the nurses coming in to check on her or one of the other staff going about their daily lives; nor was he a social worker doing their duty by coming out to see her once every two weeks.

"I wasn't really sure what a girl your age would like to read so I tried to get a few different kinds so you'd likely like at least one of them."

"Thank you," Kira mumbled as she closed the book and put it aside on the small rolling table that was at the edge of her bed. She then chewed on her lip, uncertain of just what she should do now that her visitor had returned to see her. She'd been so certain that he'd be just like anyone else in her life. Every individual who had promised to return to her had failed to follow through with such empty words. Yet here he was, back just like he'd said that he would be and this had actually been his second return visit since he'd come once before to deliver the books that she'd found on her table just a few days ago. But the question begged to be answered, why?

"I hadn't expected for you to come back."

"I said that I would," Ben smiled as he relaxed into the small uncomfortable chair next to the hospital bed. "I always keep my promises."

Ben looked in the teen's eyes and could see that the thought of someone actually keeping a promise, any promise, seemed like a foreign concept to her. Her life must have been filled with so many broken promises that she expected nothing else from others. Shaking his head, he asked Kira how she liked the book so far only to learn that this was the second of the books that she'd read since he'd brought them; she'd already read one of them all of the way through in the days since he'd dropped them off. Ben hadn't expected for Kira to be quite that fast of a reader since it looked as if she would likely finish the second book later on today as well. The two discussed the plot elements of the stories as well as the characters themselves. At times their conversation had become quite animated. Kira would make connections within the story that Ben would have never have made but then he had lived a life a bit differently than she had and many times life experiences color the perception of how one would read a story.

As the discussion of the book began to wind down, Ben noticed that Kira's eyes were beginning to droop which signaled that it was time for their visit to end. Kira realized that Ben was about to get up and had to ask something before her visitor left.

"This is the second time that you've come to see me but neither time you asked about my folks… Does this mean that you already know I don't have any?"

"I did speak with the staff and they told me, yes."

"So you're just here out of pity."

Ben's eyes took on a stern look to them before he responded to Kira's statement. "I don't do anything out of pity, Young Lady. I do like to help those who have suffered from circumstances not of their own making in their lives, however, and help them overcome them; especially when I see potential in them to rise above such impediments."

Kira eyed Ben, uncertain of just how she should respond. She had become accustomed to others, mainly the social workers, looking at her in pity (which she hated) or out of duty but Ben… His look held neither of those things. She couldn't figure him out. There was another look that she'd long ago learned to look out for from any man that appeared to want to help her, but again Ben's own countenance was devoid of that lecherous hue that would have had her recoiling from him as if he were a viper poising to strike. Could he really want to help her for no other reason than he saw a potential in her that no one else had ever seen?

Kira's mind continued to be a mass of unanswered questions as she began to succumb to lethargy that her illness always left behind. Even on days that she had no treatments, Kira remained inexplicably tired and ran down. At times she couldn't help but wonder if there was any real point to any of it. After all, remission was something that was really only a pipe dream for someone with her type of cancer.

Over the next few weeks, Ben became a regular visitor at the hospital. One thing that did bother him on his frequent visits was that he had yet to even see the girl's social worker out to see her charge even once. According to Susan, she had only visited the hospital a single time since Christmas and she hadn't even gone into Kira's room then. Instead she had simply spoken with the doctor before leaving once more. That meant that other than the hospital staff, he had been the only person that Kira had seen in weeks since she refused to spend time in the common rooms with the other children her age.

That was why Ben had left his number with a message that he wanted the social worker to call him the next time she had called in for a status report on Kira's condition. It had taken Sandra O'Connell three days to return his message and Ben had the suspicion that she had only done so out of curiosity. What reason did he have to want to speak with her?

Ben sat at his desk and spun his chair around to look out of his window at his flower garden that was just outside of his office as he began to fill the social worker in on his visits to her ward. He shared his concern for her since she had so little to fill her days (not even being given any school work to try to catch up on despite her absence from classes) and, in his opinion, was wasting away. She needed some stability and she wasn't getting any by just being locked away in a hospital room. She also needed a challenge presented to her, one that would feed her love of learning. Instead, she had been placed in the room and nearly forgotten about.

"Sir," Miss O'Connell started, "I have dozens of children that I have to watch after and to be honest, I'd rather put what energy I have towards them. The child has been in and out of the system so many times, it's clear that she'd rather be on her own. She's only where she is now simply because she happened to be sick when she was taken off of the streets this time. If she'd been healthy, I dare say that she would have already escaped back to the streets by now."

"Miss O'Connell, I thought it was your job to do your best to keep that from happening; to give kids like her a reason to want to stay off of the streets-"

"It's my job to see to it that kids like Kira are well fed and cared for as long as they are in the system. Kids like her don't want to be a part of the system and have made a life of knowing just how far they can go and still be able to slip off into the shadows once they've taken it for everything that they can. Right now she is the least of my concerns since we both know that she isn't likely to be leaving that hospital room again. Nor will her lack of schooling have any real bearing on her future. Kids just don't get better from-"

"If that is the case, then why bother with any form of treatment at all?" Ben gritted his teeth as he heard the social worker rattle on. It was clear that she didn't really care for the children placed in her care. And if she didn't care about them, then what hope did any of them have at finding someone who did? "If she is as hopeless of a case as you seem to think then why not just let her leave to go back to those streets that you are so certain that she prefers? Or better yet, if she is such a bother, then I'm sure you won't mind her being taken off of your hands."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I mean that I'll see to her treatment and care. I'm still licensed by the State from when I used to take in foster children."

"Sir, I really don't think that you understand just what you are talking about. A man of your advanced years, taking on a child as… as troubled as this girl is-"

"You let me worry about just how advanced my years are. I'll be in touch with your supervisor, then you won't even have to be concerned with just how troubled Kira is, either." Ben hung the phone up with a solid thud. He stared at it while shaking his head. How did a person who obviously didn't even appear to like kids get her job?

He began to think about the kids that he once fostered, none of them had been quite as damaged as it was clear that Kira was but he was sure that he could reach her. He just might be the only person who had ever tried. Clearly her own social worker hadn't. True, he'd given up fostering children years ago due to his frantic work schedule but he no longer worked quite as much as he once had. Instead he'd begun to let Tom, as well as Shawn, handle more of their clients' trials. Still, he had felt a connection with this girl and knew that she had a spark that if given the right nurturing could ignite an intense flame. And, perhaps part of it was that he felt needed. Needed by someone who didn't want to need anyone.

Ben smiled at the thought. He had promised that he'd take another book to the hospital (though at the rate that Kira seemed to read, it would probably be best to just take a whole library) and discuss the latest one that had been finished with the young teen today but first he had an errand to run. One that just might change both of their lives forever.