Rising Sun (Book Two)

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Be Our Valentine?

***Nathan's P. O. V.***

"I advise you both to think long and hard about this," the woman on the other side of the desk says. "It won't be easy raising a child like Valentine."

"We're aware of that," I say.

We're meeting with Valentine again today, but first his therapist wanted to see us. It seems like she's trying to dissuade us from adopting him, but I know that she's only trying to make us understand Valentine's situation and be certain that we're up for the challenge.

"He's been through several traumatic experiences, he doesn't speak, and he seems to have other delays. We can't be exactly certain of what those delays are until he's older, but I suspect a low IQ and various other learning disabilities. He probably can't hear very well either which attributes to why he won't talk, but he can't handle having a long enough examination to really find out. He just doesn't cooperate."

I nod. It's nothing too unexpected.

"Also, I should warn you that he doesn't like to be touched. We're not sure why, but he has a real problem with having physical contact with anyone," she goes on to explain.

"That's understandable if he was abused or something in the past," Charlie says.

It seems like forever before me and my mate can actually go in and see Valentine. He sits on the floor next to a bin of Barbie clothes. He's holding a Barbie with long black hair. Charlie and I sit beside him quietly.

"What've you got there?" I ask.

He doesn't look up. I cough and ask much louder. He looks up for a split second and then he looks upset. He hides the doll under his shirt, crossing his arms over himself.

"No, no, I'm not gonna take it," I say loudly enough so that he can maybe hear.

I pick up a different one and hand one to Charlie. Charlie looks at me like "what am I supposed to do??". He's not good at things like this. I begin to put out an outfit for my Barbie, and Charlie doesn't the same. After a few minutes, Valentine takes his out from its hiding spot. He looks at my outfit choice and frowns, snatching away the skirt I have and giving me a different one.

"Oh, thank you. I guess you're right. That didn't really match," I say.

It seems boring and dumb, but I actually really like playing Barbies with Valentine. I just feel like I'm where I'm meant to be, you know? I have a feeling that Val will never be a rowdy kid, that he'll always like quiet playing the best. You knows, though? Maybe he'll change.

"Okay, Valentine, we have to go now," Charlie explains when it's time to leave.

The boy nods, not looking at us. What's his deal with not looking at people's faces? As we're about to leave the run, he runs up behind us and puts something into each of our hands. Then he goes back to playing all by himself. I open my hand to discover a little silly band thing. You know, those rubber bands in the shapes of animals and stuff. It looks like a dolphin.

"What'd you get?" I ask Charlie.

"I think it's an elephant. Cute. That means he likes us, right?"

"I don't know. Maybe he gives these to everyone."

Charlie shrugs. I immediately put the silly band on my wrist. I don't plan on taking it off until it breaks or gets too dirty to wear.

"I don't want him to be at that orphanage anymore," I tell Charlie. "He needs to be home with us."

"You know it's not all going to be sunshine and rainbows when we adopt him, right?"