The Barefoot Girl

Chapter 39

The minute Ben looks at my tear stained face, he goes protective-big- brother on me.

"Bridget are you ok?" he asks, looking at Luke as if he had caused me some sort of pain and making a move to wrap me in his massive arms.

"I'm fine!" I laugh.

"More then fine!"

Ben stands up straight and looks at me curiously. He gives Luke one more suspicious glance before saying,

"Alright ummm... Ready to go?"

"Sure," I reply. I steal a quick smile at Luke and he playfully salutes at me.

Ben and I make our way out of the hospital and begin the trek home.

"So uhhhhh... What was that all about?" Ben asks, unable to contain the questions that are practically tangible in the air between us. I keep on staring ahead of me, trying to decide how to answer that.

"Well... It's kinda a long story..." I start.

"It never takes that long to explain whenever you use that excuse," he teases.

I laugh, a little more than he excepted me to and push my hands into the back pockets of my jeans. Instead of answering with a straight forward answer, I decide I want to take him for a little ride, so to speak.

"Weeeellll.... What would you think of having another sister?" I ask.

"What does that have to do with anything?"

I open my mouth to tell him it has everything to do with... Everything. But before I can get the words out, I notice he's suddenly stopped walking. I corn to a halt and twirl around on my heels to face him.

He looks terrified but in an oddly funny way.

"Ben, what are you doing?" I chuckle.

"Is there something else Mom and Dad and the rest of the family decided I shouldn't know??" he asks, forcefully.

I furrow my eyes and cock my head to the side, wondering what the heck he's talking about. We just stand there for an awkward amount of time. He's staring at me like we won the lottery and didn't give him a cent and I'm looking back at him as if he broke into a random song and dance routine in the middle of the street.

It takes me way too long for me to realize that he thinks Mom is pregnant.

I don't know why I find that so funny, but I do. I start snickering and before I know it, I'm full out cackling.

"You... You should... See... Your face!" I pant between laughs. My knees give way and I find my rear end on the pavement while my laugh attack continues.

Ben throws his hands in the air and walks in an awkward little circle.

"I give up! What the heck has gotten into you?" he demands.

I slowly get myself composed enough to stand back up. I walk up to him, getting on my tip-toes to try and put my hand on his shoulder.

"Yes Ben, we hid the fact that Mom's gonna have a baby," I mock him.

"We had decided to completely hide the news till she was born, but I felt bad," I tease, adding a puppy dog lip for effect.

He looks down at me like I have five arms and two heads.

"Well, what else could you mean by 'new sister'?"

I get back down on my flat feet and say,

"Adoption! Duuuuur!"

He looks at me like he's ready to throw me in a bush but then lets himself laugh a little. Then his face goes back to being hurt.

"That's still big news. Why didn't this ever come up?"

My giddy mood gets pulled down to earth and crashes. I kick at the ground nervously.

"Cause it was... Kinda my idea that no one else knows about yet," I mumble.

I except Ben to start lecturing me about something or other but he just chuckles, scratches a spot on the back of his head, and says

"Oh."

Then he starts strolling again as if nothing happened. I stare for a second, before running to catch up to him.

A little offended that he he didn't want to know anything after hearing it was my idea, I give him a light kick on his shin.

"What was that for?" he asks.

"For making me feel like a baby!" I retort.

"Bridget, hate to break it to ya, but adoption isn't exactly something you can just decide for Mom and Dad."

I give him the evil eye and stuff my hands back in my pockets.

He's right though. I suddenly worry that my head is too far up in the clouds, wanting to be some sort of savior for Genevieve.

"But... She really needs a home... And she's the reason Lacy's alive soooo..." I mutter, more to the ant on my shoe than to Ben.

It still recaptures his attention. He turns his head my way for a moment before turning back just so he can see where he's going.

"How old is this kid?" he asks.

I shrug, realizing I'm actually not sure.

"Can't be older than me. I'd guess she's probably... Twelve?"

His eyes go wide at that.

"Wow. Who the heck paid for it? The orphanage?"

"That's the thing Ben, she doesn't even live in the orphanage. And she saved Lacy's life we owe her," I insist.

I decide to ignore the question about who paid for it, though I don't really know why.

He scratches his head again.

"Huh. Well don't look at me. I'm heading back to Iowa soon. Holy crap, it just hit me how far behind I'm gonna be," he says with a nervous laugh.

We walk in silence for a little while. Then, Ben looks at me with a thoughtful expression on his face.

"Buuuuuttt..." he starts

"Before I go," he continues, pointing a finger at me,

"Maybe, I can help you plead your case and we'll get ourselves an adopted sister. I wanna meet the kid and hey I guess if she gave up a kidney then we do owe her sooooomething," he says with a twinkle in his eye.

I lift my eyes from the ground and get a dopey grin on my face.

"Key word: Maybe!" he warns, laughing, probably at how stupid I look.

We round the corner to our street.

"What's her name?" Ben asks.

"Genevieve."

I can only hope my parents can find it in their hearts to see the situation the same way he does.