Chapter 13
It was less than a week before Charles and Mary decided they wanted custody of Raven. The baby was becoming more alert. The boys were becoming more attentive, and as Charles said to Jarrod, "We feel a little bit more complete again."
"Jarrod," Audra said after the papers were filed, "I think I need to go back home. You won't need me here anymore."
"And you've bought out all the stores," Jarrod said with a smile and a kiss.
Audra took the family car home alone on the morning train, Jarrod explaining that he'd be home after the judge ruled on the custody application. "That shouldn't take too long," he told Audra as he escorted her to the train.
Audra turned before she boarded. "I hope they adopt her before long too. I'm so happy she found a home, I could bust."
Jarrod gave her a laugh and kiss, and soon she was off for Stockton. He watched the train go, saw her waving from the family car – and said to himself, she needs a baby of her own. I hope it's not much longer before she finds the right man.
Then he started thinking more about himself. This whole experience – finding Raven, naming her, finding her closest to him at first, then bringing her to her new home and now thinking about Audra someday being a mother - reminded him how much he liked being the big brother to a sister and brother more than a dozen years younger than he. The father in training, he thought at the time, but he got a little preoccupied on the way to family of his own and fatherhood. Establishing his practice had been the focus of his attention for a lot of years now. Yes, women had come and gone over that time, but he hadn't found the right one – the one with the right mix of intelligence, and poetry, and warmth in her soul.
He chuckled. The one like my sister.
XXXXX
Jarrod returned to Stockton as soon as custody was granted to the Johnsons, but before he went, he drafted the petition for adoption so it would be ready. He was certain it would be needed.
He hadn't told the family he was coming, so as soon he left the train in Stockton, he checked in at his office and dealt with a couple issues there before renting a horse at the livery for the trip home. He was tired from the train trip, but as soon as he was heading out of town, he thought of something and took a side trip to the town cemetery. He rode around the edge and stopped at the very back of the cemetery, where he dismounted and walked to the fence.
Her grave was right there, at the very back where they had buried her without a marker, but there was a marker there now. Nothing fancy, just a wooden slab with rather crude engraving that said just "Cissy 1877." No birthdate, no other name, in a place among other negroes with not much to identify them. Jarrod was pleased to see the marker, even if it was crude.
"Cissy, I think we found your baby a home," Jarrod said to her. "You did the right thing when you brought her to us. You were as good a mother as you could be. Rest in peace."
"Max Shane made the marker."
Jarrod was startled by the voice of his brother Nick. He hadn't even heard Nick coming. He looked around.
Nick had stepped up beside him. "Max put it there when Audra came home and told us the Johnsons were getting custody of Raven. We didn't tell him who was taking her, and he actually said he didn't want to know. He was just glad we found her a home and he knew Cissy would be happy too."
"I hope he can live with not knowing," Jarrod said.
"He said he could, and then he headed out for a job down toward Barstow. He said he needed a new start. I guess I can't blame him for that." Nick nodded toward the grave. "He really did love this girl, you know."
"There seems to be a lot of her you could love," Jarrod said. "She got handed an awful deal in life, but she did well with it. I'm hoping her daughter gets a better chance."
"You did a lot to see that she does," Nick said.
"Thank that bird that came and got me. Raven might have died out there on the porch before we found her."
"Maybe Cissy sent the bird," Nick said.
Jarrod smiled. "Maybe she did. We need to get her a proper stone."
"I'm already working on it, Big Brother," Nick said. "Max insisted on giving me five dollars to get one made."
"What are you doing here, by the way?"
"I was in town at the bank and saw you ride out of the livery," Nick said. "You should have wired us you were coming."
"I didn't think it would be today. I just finished up in San Francisco quicker than I thought I would."
"The Johnsons aren't adopting Raven that fast, are they?"
"No, no, but the custody order came through fast, and I drew up the petition for adoption quicker than I thought I would. The petition will be ready when the Johnsons are, and that probably won't be too long. They're having her baptized next week. I'll have to go back for that."
"Why?"
"I'm going to be her godfather," Jarrod said with a proud smirk.
Nick gave him a laugh and a slap on the back. "I always did like happy endings, Godpappy."
"Me too," Jarrod said. "And I think we got one."
The End