"Here it is, Lorelai." Julie smiled a she gazed out the window. "Wild and wonderful West Virginia. Anything like you remember as a child?"
"Exactly as I remember." Lorelai replied gazing out her window as well. "Only we never stayed in the city, we rented cabins in the hills."
"Huntington is hardly a city." Julie laughed. "More of a town. In my opinion anyway."
"It's much larger than Stars Hollow." Lorelai noted.
"But extremely smaller than Hartford."
The cab driver pulled up to the Pullman Square Hotel and helped the ladies with their bags. They checked into the hotel and both used the restroom to freshen up.
"This hotel is lovely. So quaint." Julie remarked.
"Wonderful view of the city … uh, town… as well." Lorelai gazed out from the 8th floor window.
"Well, are you ready?" Julie came up beside her.
"As I'll ever be." Lorelai turned to face her.
"Then let's walk over to the Huntington, West Virginia Adoption Agency."
It was an old brown stone building that looked as if it had been around as long as the town itself. Probably the first building built in the entire city, and Lorelai wouldn't have doubted it for a moment. The inside had creaky wooden floors and the doorways were large and ominous.
"This seems like an awfully depressing place to bring children." Lorelai commented as they walked through the halls.
"This is just the entrance way," replied Julie, "it gets much brighter on the other side and in the back yard."
They walked out into what Lorelai assumed was supposed to be a playground. Children were darting back and forth. Some were swinging. Some were sitting together in a circle. The younger boys watched as the older boys played basketball on a old rusty ball rim, but all the way in the corner of the playground sat Cheyenne. Her legs were dangling freely from an old picnic table as she concentrated heavily on the book of bible stories in front of her.
"There she is." Julie smiled. "No one has said anything to her about your arrival, so it may comes as a bit of surprise to see you. But that's the best way to do things, not let the child have any precognitive ideas about you or what may happen."
Lorelai didn't see any true logic behind that statement, but she wasn't concerned enough to question it.
"Well, let's go on over and say, hello." Julie started walking towards Cheyenne and Lorelai followed close behind.
"Sarah?" Julie stepped up beside the girl. "Sarah Walker, correct?"
"Yes, ma'am." Cheyenne replied as she looked up from her book. "But I go by Cheyenne."
Julie smiled. "Well, Cheyenne. I'm Julie Summers. I'm from an adoption agency in Connecticut. This is Lorelai Gilmore, she's also from Connecticut. Would it be okay if we sit and talk with you a little while?"
"Sure." Cheyenne closed her book and jumped down from the picnic table. "Do ya have information 'bout my mama?" Cheyenne asked as she sat down the correct way at the table.
Julie was hesitant to reply, but then answered, "No, darling I'm afraid we don't. We're here about you."
"What about me?" Cheyenne's eyes squinted in the bright sunlight.
"Ms. Gilmore here would like to spend some time with you today. Would that be alright?"
Cheyenne looked over at Lorelai who appeared very nervous and yet at the same time very confident. "Sure, I reckon that'd be fine." Cheyenne paused. "Are ya gonna adopt me? Mama said a good family would. Said they'd take me and buy me clothes and let me have a cat."
"Well, we can't make any promises…" Julie replied. "But there's a good chance that Lorelai may adopt you."
"Would it be okay with you?" Lorelai asked gently.
"Would you let me have a cat?" Cheyenne countered raising one of her eyebrows.
"Sure."
"Then I guess so." Cheyenne let a tiny smile go across her face. "You're pretty." She added.
"Thank you. You're very pretty too." Lorelai stared at the young girl. "Hey, I have an idea. Why don't we go shopping?"
"That's a lovely idea." Julie replied.
Cheyenne looked at Lorelai and then to Julie, and back to Lorelai. "Okay."
Julie stood from the table. "Let me clear with the Mrs. Akers before we leave." She walked away leaving Lorelai and Cheyenne alone.
"I think Cheyenne is a very beautiful name." Lorelai said as she folded her arms across the table.
"Thanks." Cheyenne paused. "I never met a Lorelai before."
"Well, there's three of us in my family."
Cheyenne giggled, "Why you need three for?"
Lorelai laughed as well, "I guess we're just not that great at coming up with new names." She winked.
"My mama said my granny was half Cheyenne Indian and that's why she gave it to me as a middle name."
"Wow, see that is very interesting." Lorelai replied. "My grandmother was just simply named Lorelai. I named my daughter Lorelai too, but she's always gone by Rory."
"You have a daughter?" Cheyenne asked in a peculiar tone.
"I do. She just graduated from college. She has a job as journalist right now in Iowa."
"College?" Cheyenne's mouth gaped open. "Wow, I never met no one who's gone to college."
"No one?" Lorelai asked a bit surprised.
"No, ma'am." Cheyenne answered honestly. "Did ya go too?"
"Eventually." Lorelai smirked. "I didn't graduate high school, so I went and got my GED and then took some business classes at a community college in Hartford. Rory on the other hand, is very superior compared to my educational record. She went to a prep school and then to Yale."
"What's Yale?" Cheyenne asked.
"Well, the college she went to. It's um… well… it's a very fancy and hard to get into school. You have to work really hard and be very responsible to go there."
"Oh." Cheyenne replied a bit gloomily. "I'd never make it into nothing like that there."
"Now, why would you think that?" Lorelai leaned across the table.
"'Cause I ain't very responsible." Cheyenne replied. "My Mama told me a hundred times that if it weren't for her I'd done killed myself by now."
Lorelai narrowed her eyes, "Sweetie, I don't mean to disrespect your mother, but I don't believe that's true. And that certainly wasn't a very nice thing of her to say."
Cheyenne shrugged, "I reckon it's true. Don't matter no how… She don't want me no more."
Lorelai suddenly realized this was going to be a lot harder than she had expected. Julie walked back over to the table.
"Well, Alice said it would be fine to take Cheyenne out for a little while. We just have to have her back in time for dinner." Julie looked over at Lorelai. "Should we go now?"
"Uh, yeah. Yeah. Now is good."
Julie had a cab waiting out font, and within a few minutes they were standing outside the Huntington Mall. Julie looked back at Cheyenne and Lorelai.
"Cheyenne, why don't you hold on to Lorelai's hand that way we're sure not to lose track of you."
Cheyenne looked up at Lorelai who had immediately switched her purse over to her other arm so that her hand next to Cheyenne would be free. Cheyenne hesitated for a moment and then slowly slid her hand into Lorelai's. Both of them smiled as they followed Julie into the mall.
Later that evening, after Cheyenne was dropped back off at the orphanage, Lorelai and Julie were resting in their hotel room.
"We've got to get her out of there." Lorelai sighed. "She doesn't belong in such a place."
"I agree with you." Julie nodded. "No offense to the West Virginia agencies, but they never put as much effort into the wellbeing of their children as we do in Hartford. Did you see that dress they were making that poor girl wear? Honestly…"
Lorelai didn't comment about the dress, but was a degrading sight. Brown with white lace around the collar. What Lorelai assumed to be a donation made by a local church.
"Do you think she really liked all the clothes we bought her today?" Lorelai asked.
"Are you kidding? She was thrilled." Julie laughed. "Did you see the look on her face when you bought her those jeans? Poor thing, I bet she's never had a stitch of brand name clothing in her life." Julie yawned.
"She's smart too." Lorelai added. "She doesn't realize it… she doesn't give herself credit but she is. I mean she was sitting on a bench reading while other children were playing all around her. That's exactly what I did as a child… it's exactly what Rory did as a child and still has a habit of doing…. It's all just so incredible. I'm so sure that I want her, Julie." Lorelai leaned forward. "What do I need to do to get her?"
Julie's face lit up, "Well, we can start tomorrow. We'll talk it over with the Dr. Larson. He's the head of the agency here."
"When can she come to Connecticut?"
"Well, given your excellent background and credentials, I may be able to convince them to give you what is known as a "trial period." You'd not have any legal guardianship over Cheyenne yet, but she could come and stay with you and you'd be responsible for her until the paper work is completed. It would be kind of like a foster home, only of course you'd eventually adopt her."
"And you're sure she'd be mine? No one else can take her?"
"Of course not. She's yours, Lorelai." Julie smiled. "All yours. Don't worry about it. You'll have no problems. I promise you things will run smoothly. I'll take care of everything."