Cathy of the green prairie

Meeting the Faehearts

Mary Faeheart was a young woman who had married Max Faeheart about seven years ago. They had been classmates, and soon after Max had asked to court her. After a year or so of their courting, they got into Queens and had little time to see each other, which is why Max found himself thinking if Mary was the one for her.

It turned out she was.

Max found himself thinking of her every day, every time he studied, every time he had an exam, and every time he walked home from university. He was reminded of her, of how they had studied together, of how they got their tests and compared their grades, and of how he walked her home for three years before they got into Queens. He planned for months how to propose, he went to her house, and asked her father for her hand, just like he had asked him for permission to court her three years ago. That summer they got married.

They finished university and bought a house in Avonlea, close to both of their parents' houses and close to their workplaces. Mary taught music in a private school a few minutes away, whilst Max had a psychiatry consult just down the street. Their first three years of marriage went by in a blink and soon they decided they wanted to start a family. 

They had visited specialized doctors Max had met at medical school,  one after the other, until Max decided it was doing no good to Mary's mental health. 

It was a year ago that Max had brought up the idea of adopting a little girl, Mary cried for a whole week. Half of her cried because it had hit her, that she wouldn't be able to have children of her own, the other half cried because Max had brought up the idea she had been too weak to ask. 

So they began to look for orphanages and children that might need a home. They had agreed that they would get a girl, one that hadn't been in too much trouble and that could adapt to their life. The asylum had answered that a girl named Catherine seemed to suit their need perfectly.

Catherine was eleven years old, she had been left in a convent when she was about two months old. The Nuns took care of her until they sent her with some Sisters to another orphanage where she stayed until she was 4 years old. She had then been transferred into another orphanage with the Nuns and stayed there until she was 7. Finally, a Sister left her at the asylum with other Nuns. She was well-liked between the Sisters and the only reasons given for her transfers were that the Nuns were too attached to her to leave her behind, so they took her with them. She had been educated in music, needlework, religion, and cooking by the Sisters. 

"Oh, Max!" Mary had exclaimed as they read over her history. "She's perfect, raised in Christianity, by Sisters." She read over and over the letter and all the comments people had on her. "She seems bright and charming, and-" It was then, that Mary had gotten to the first file there was of her. Her parents had abandoned her after she was born a girl. They left her on the steps of a convent and left no tracks or way of finding them, they hadn't even named the child. "Oh, Lord!" Mary gasped her hand over her mouth. Max leaned forward to read what had made her effect pale as a ghost.

"They left her?" His face was unbelieving, he could not process the information. "Just because she was a girl?" He let the paper drop from his hand as if he was disgusted by what he had read. Mary was tearing up.

"Max, how could they have done something like that? They didn't even name the creature!" He clung to her husband, sobbing. "She's the one, Max." She whispered. "She needs us. It's a gift from the Lord, for our continued prayers." She faced her husband, who was crying too. "He has answered us, Max."

Mary was in the extra room. It was just across from her room, next to the library. It was as if God himself had planned this. It was perfect. For the first time in a few years, Mary was filled with joy, brimming with happiness. Soon a little girl they could call their own would be singing and dancing along these hallways, and they would love her, they would give her all the affection they had kept for their future child.