God Bless The Broken Road (Jonathan Toews)

Helping Hand (Part Three)

Maisie

The boys go out back to play with Dagger while the little ones napped in their respective rooms. I found Jonathan in the basement setting up some new drills for Jackson since he mastered the last ones. The boy was getting better and better every day.

"Knock knock" I say and he smiles when his eyes meet mine. He walks over and places a deep kiss on my lips. His hands start to rub my back and I nearly forget why I came down here.

"We need to talk" I say softly s we break apart and he looks at me questionably. I assure him it's not the usual 'we need to talk' conversation but it's just as important. We sit down down on the couch we had downstairs and he pulls my legs into his lap.

"I talked to Sams dad today" I inform him and he raises a eyebrow at me.

"Did you now, how did that go" he asks.

"He's not a bad guy but he's not a good guy for Sam either. He wanted better for his son, and that's us. So I agreed that he would stay with us until it's safe for him to be home" I say. He furrows his eyebrow and I could tell he would be upset.

"Seriously Mae? Right now? We have three kids and jobs that require all our attention. You really think that was the best idea" he asks.

"For us, probably not. But this isn't about us Jon. You know for a fact that if I denied that boy a chance to be better I just killed a part of the future. He can do great things if we let him. I would not be able to live with myself if I went to pick Jackson up from school and had to watch that little boy get on the bus and sent home knowing that once he got there he would be hit and starved. Knowing that he no longer has to face that, he already looked a hundred times better. In fact I didn't even have to think twice about taking him in. And I would do it again in a heart beat" I defend.

"We're not some type of foster home" he sighs.

"And we're not the type of family that is too good to help people who need it. I refuse to believe that I can knowingly let that boy go home and question if he will come back again. Jon, that little boy needs us, whether you see it or not. He gasps at the fact we have a bathtub not covered in mold. He hasn't had more than three sets of clothes his whole life. He didn't even know what a automatic tooth brush was. I was able to bring all his belongings over in one tiny box. I've never seen a kid so small eat as much as he does. He needs us, why don't you want to help him?"

"I do. But I also know we still have three kids of our own. We're still just 25 years old and in one of the most demanding businesses out there. I just don't think adding another kid is a good idea."

"A kid isn't a burden. It isn't a inconvenience or a disadvantage. Sam is a human being just trying to make it to the next day at this point in his life. Something, might I add, no eight year old should be going through. We're not adding one more mouth to feed or one more person to clothe. We're helping out a kid who needs someone to look up to. Just the way you took Jackson in when we got together. This is no different. He needs us like I needed you and I am not going to walk away from him."

"You realize you can't save everyone right? We can't just invite every kid who needs help into our house."

"I didn't go out looking for him, he came to us. And if we're in a position to help we will. That's what family is about. Our family is based on making something out of nothing and Jon, this kid has nothing. Taking this kid in isn't to right the wrongs in my life or to make me feel good for being his 'knight in shining armor'. It's so that little boy doesn't become the next victim of something out of his control" I sigh. It falls silent as my head rests between my legs as I curl up into a ball. I knew he wouldn't be excited about this but I also thought he would understand why I did what I did.

"Look at me" he demands and I do what I'm told.

"I trust your decision. I always do. I just want you to know it's not as simple as saying he can sleep here. It's talking to him when people start asking questions about why he looks different than us, it's organizing his schedule with ours, it's teaching another kid the importance of life" he explains.

"I know this, in fact I've lived this. Nicole taking Jackson and I in when she knew little to nothing about us. Just blindly caring for us and teaching us everything we needed to know to be successful. That scary but the strong feeling is a good one, because like Nicole we know what's it's like to have everything we need but still want to do more. You could win every trophy in sports and still want to do more. Well here's something more" I say. He pulls me into his lap and wraps his arms around me.

"You ready for this. Because my parents will be in town next week for my birthday and now we got two kids they have to meet" he laughs.

"Yeah, I'm ready. But I think we should get Sam somethings to get him comfortable before throwing your parents at him" I suggest.

"Yeah, because he won't be spoiled enough when they get here" he chuckles. We go upstairs and find Jackson and Sam at the table with notecards spread across the table. They start quizzing each other and I raise my eyebrow. Maybe having him will actually help. I get the babies ready for the game and meet everyone downstairs.

"Hey Sam, you ready for the game" I ask.

"I'm going to another game" he asks.

"Yeah! You are part of the family now" Jon smiles. I smile at him as my heart flutters. Cute. He puts on his Toews jersey and we all head to the first playoff game of the post season.