"Take Me Out to the Ball Game"

Chapter 7

Charity checked the address again, and knocked on the door. Julie had called her cell phone in the middle of her walk home from work to ask her to come to Alex's. The woman had been quite vague on the details, and she'd insisted it was an emergency. The door was flung open by a frantic looking Alex, who's brown eyes registered surprise when he saw her.

"Hi Charity, what are you doing here?" he asked, momentarily pulled away from his panic, apparently.

"Julie called, gave me the address, said it was an emergency." she explained, sure it sounded like a weak excuse, but it was the truth.

"Great, I really could use you, if you don't mind. Julie's daughter is ill, she had to rush to get her to the hospital. I need to get to a meeting between my lawyer and my sister's, she's trying to get the kids back. But, I really don't want to take them, and you can see my dilemma, right?" he crammed both hands into the pockets of his dress pants.

She nodded, "I see it, and I can help. Is there anything I should know about? Allergies? Special foods?" Her head swum, his sister was trying to get the kids back? Immediate pity welled up inside of her, what a terrible situation for he and the little ones.

"No, there are no allergies to anything. Bed time is at nine o'clock, just in case. Basically everything you need they can show you where it is, or how Miss Julie does it. Or how I do it, though I most likely do it wrong." nervous energy made him blabber on and on, she noted.

Nodding her head yet again, she smiled encouragingly, handing him his briefcase. "Great, then I'll see you when you get back. I'll be praying for you, and everything will be just fine. Don't worry about a thing, Alex."

"If only I could do that," he shook his head and leaned down to kiss a stunned looking Cole and Ava on their tiny foreheads. "I'll be back as soon as possible, thank you so much, Charity."

Charity watched the door close behind Alex, and then let her eyes travel down to the wide-eyed children. "Well, what sort of games do you guys like to play?" she said and signed to them.

"Miss Julie plays puppets with us." said Cole, his eyes downcast as if waiting for Charity to dismiss the idea.

"Ooh! Puppets! I love puppets. What kind of puppets do you have, Cole?" she smiled, kneeling down in front of him.

A slow smile spread across Cole's face, and he took hold of her hand, allowing his sister to grab the other. Together the two introduced her to their favorite games and toys, transforming from frightened children to happy children in a matter of minutes.

After two hours of play and a pretend picnic, both kids were fighting sleep. With a smile, she guided them to their designated bedrooms and got them changed into pajamas. Overseeing the brushing of their teeth, and made sure they both had a drink of water before bed. Sighing, she watched as they slept peacefully and wondered what it would be like to have children of her own. Just as she was mulling it over, the door creaked open behind her.

--

Alex smiled at Charity as he lay his briefcase on the counter beside a basket of apples she must have set there. "Hello." he whispered, taking a seat on the couch.

On stocking feet, and looking quite at home, Charity tiptoed toward him and sat beside him. "Hello yourself, how did it go?" Her blue eyes held concern and that seemed to go straight for his heart chipping away more of the ice that held there.

"Well, the lawyer seems to think I've got a pretty fair shot of keeping them, better than fair. With my holding down a job, having Miss Julie for them, and steadily keeping custody for four years now. He doubts Gloria has a chance for anything, aside from supervised visitation." he could feel the heaviness of worry and doubt slip away with her quick smile.

"That's great Alex." he was so focused on her smile he didn't notice her tiny arms had come to pull him into a hug. "Oh, sorry, I come from a huggy type family." she grinned and blushed pulling away.

"No, it's okay, it was..nice." he admitted, unsure of what he was doing. Inevitably, he was going insane. Just earlier he'd been thinking about making a real family for Cole and Ava, even for himself. Now he was admitting her hugs were welcome. Next he'd be proposing and buying a little farm house, getting a dog....don't go overboard, Alex. He cautioned himself still staring into those endless blue eyes.

She looked uncomfortable in her own skin as she watched him as well, neither seemed willing to move nor did they seem to want to stay. Finally, she got to her feet and crossed the room, "Well I suppose I should be going, it is rather late, and my sister will be wondering what happened to me."

"Oh, I hope I didn't cause you any trouble, thank you so much for bailing me out Charity. Can I write you a check?" he fumbled with his wallet hoping she'd take something, though something in her eyes told him no.

"Not a chance, I loved watching them, they were such fun. Anytime you need help, call Alex. Don't worry so much." with a wink and a wave of her hand she was gone and he was left staring after her.

"Uncle Alex?" the tiny words had him spinning toward the door to Cole's room.

Cole stood bleary eyed, and covered a yawn with a chubby hand. In a blue pair of pajamas covered in tiny trucks he looked up at his uncle.

Smiling, Alex crossed the distance between them and hefted the boy to his hip. "What is it, Cole?"

"I really like Charity." he said with a small smile, "She's nice, and pretty."

Alex found himself smiling wider as he conceded to the boy, "Yes, that she sure is, Cole."

"Do you think she could be our new mommy?" the boy asked, a frown marring his normally smooth forehead.

Feeling like he'd been kicked in the chest, Alex walked into Cole's room lying him on the bed and pulling the covers up over him. "I don't know, Cole, we'll have to wait that out." he whispered as the boy fell back to sleep. But the words clung with him echoing over and over in his mind all night long.