Happy
Roberta knew how bad her niece's childhood had been. Several times when Calleigh was little she had tried to gain custody of her. She couldn't convince her sister to willingly sign over custody to her and the court would never grant her numerous requests because she wasn't married. Although her life would been much better and filled with memories of abuse and neglect, Calleigh did have good memories of spending time with Roberta on the many occasions her parents wanted to "feel free."
Roberta was so happy that Calleigh had found someone who loved her so very much. Roberta had been hearing about Eric Delko for seven years before the couple finally got together. She could hear the joy and pride in Calleigh's voice every time she talked about Eric's infant daughter who he was raising alone, after the child's mother had chosen not to be completely out the child's life. Roberta hoped that now the two finally realized how they were meant for each other. When Calleigh told her that the two were together, Roberta was overjoyed. From the first mention of the man's baby girl Roberta could detect the deep maternal affection Calleigh had for the baby.
"She's the most beautiful baby I've ever seen," Calleigh gushed to her aunt, just hours after she met the newborn at her place of work, before she had driven over to Eric's place and spent several hours. "Eric's so good with her. You can tell she's already so at ease with her daddy."
"What's her name?"
"Chloe. Chloe Gabriella. She looks just like Eric. She has this cute lil' tuft of black hair that sticks up like a Mohawk. It's adorable."
"You sound like a proud mommy," Roberta said. "You feel that way, don't you?"
Calleigh couldn't lie to her aunt; she did feel that way.
"Maybe she's what you both needed to come out and say how you both feel about each other. I've never met the guy but I have such a feeling that he feels the same for you."
When Calleigh's maternity leave expired Roberta was going to babysit for the couple. Ethan wasn't going to begin attending daycare till he was two, like his sister had. Chloe would be attending daycare for half the day five days a week when her mother went back to work. The rest of the time she would be with Roberta. Calleigh and Eric had chosen the option of not enrolling their oldest in kindergarten till she was six. They were still trying to decide whether they were going to enroll her in the Spanish Immersion program at Miami-Dade Elementary School. One of their neighbors was a teacher in the program where every subject was taught in Spanish. There was one hour class in English during the day. She told the Delkos, in her opinion, Chloe would be quickly accepted into the program because she were already bilingual. Some parents who enrolled their children in the program just wanted their English-speaking children to be fluent in the country's second language. Some children in the program spoke Spanish as their first language. For these groups, there was mandatory 4-week introductory Spanish and English programs for the children to learn the basics of the second language.
Some children were exempted from this if the selection committee were satisfied she or he was bilingual. Chloe fit that especially being she seemed to be able to switch languages at the drop of a hat.