The Forbidden Woods

Chapter 6 Going Home

Chapter Six

Adoption

Later on, when she woke up, Herald was not in bed. She looked at the alarm clock and realized she had slept until two in the afternoon. It had been several hours since Sarah last ate, so she grabbed her robe and headed to the nursery. It was empty, and as her heart began to race she heard familiar voices coming from downstairs.

One voice was definitely her husband, but she wasn’t sure about the other one. She followed the sound downstairs and around the corner. In the living room, she saw Herald with Sarah, and sitting across from him was Mrs. Watkins. He appeared to be listening very intensely to whatever she was saying. The topic seemed to be very serious.

“Good morning Mrs. Deary, I hope you slept well.” Mrs. Watkins said, forcing cheerfulness in an apparent gloomy situation.

“What’s going on? Is everything okay with Sarah?” Amy asked, slightly worried.

“Mrs. Deary, I have come to give you an update on Sarah’s case concerning her welfare here. I’m afraid you’d better have a seat.” She said grimly.

“Okay, please tell me what’s going on.” Amy pleaded, while taking a seat next to Herald and Sarah on their love seat.

“I am afraid we have located the child’s mother.” Mrs. Watkins said.

“And, does she want Sarah back? She, wants her, back doesn’t she? I knew she would as soon as we got settled.” Amy burst out loud with tears in her eyes.

“It’s not like that at all.” Reassured Mrs. Watkins.

“Then, what’s going on?” Amy asked, straightforwardly.

“Like I said, we have located the child's mother, I mean, what's left of her.” Replied Mrs. Watkins. “What do you mean?” Amy wanted to know.

“Late last night a woman’s skeleton was found at the edge of the woods not too far away from where you discovered Sarah. A missing person’s report concluded that her name was Betsy Roberts. She appeared to have been dead for quite some time.” She told Amy.

“Are you sure? Because, if she had Sarah Friday morning, on the 13th of June, but was found dead less than 24hrs later, I doubt that she would be, that badly decomposed. I don’t understand, how is that possible?” Amy asked.

“We’re not sure about the answers ourselves. All we know is that some new advances in the field of DNA testing has become available. This case fits the profile and testing was done as a means to identifying unidentifiable body. We were able to have her DNA compared against the blood that the hospital took from Sarah. It was a perfect match. Yet the preliminary autopsy revealed the woman hadn’t given birth recently, due to the fact that her body was so badly decomposed. They said she’s been dead for about thirty years, but this is the year 1980. Her birthday is August 6, 1962, so. She would have only been 22 years old.

Apparently, a close friend of Betsy’s reported her missing earlier yesterday. She stated that Betsy was in her last stage of pregnancy and relocating to a new job. When she didn’t call, her friend got worried and began calling every police station all the way to Betsy’s destination. This is a very confusing case.” Mrs. Watkins explained.

“Wow. This is heavy stuff.” Amy replied.

“Yes it is.” Mrs. Watkins said.

“But what about Sarah? Does her mother’s family want her back or something?” Amy asked.

“Well, here’s the thing. Betty was an only child and so was each of her parents, and they both died in a car accident two years ago. So, there’s absolutely no living relative to take Sarah in, which means she is now an orphan.” Mrs. Watkins said.

“Will she have to leave here? We bought a lot of stuff yesterday and her room is a sight to see. I also think she is well adjusted here.” Amy told her.

“I ran another, more thorough background check on both of you, and again it came out squeaky clean. You both have made it clear you are willing to rearrange your lives around this child, and you have the finances to support her. I have also determined that since Sarah likes you both so much, there’s no reason to delay an adoption, if that’s what you would like to do. This way, you wouldn’t have to worry about someone coming in and taking her from you guys.” Mrs. Watkins explained with a smile.

“Are you serious?” Amy asked with a smile.

“This is all happening so fast.” Herald said.

“I know. Since Sarah has no living relatives, no one will be coming to claim her. Therefor she has no other place to go to. The state foster homes are already so over crowded. It would be heartbreaking to unnecessarily, put a child into a place like that.” Mrs. Watkins told them.

“I agree. So what happens now.” Amy wanted to know.

“Well, I have a close friend whose a family court Judge. His name is Judge Baker. I have explained the situation to him. He has agreed to handle your case. I called in a favor, and he cleared his schedule just for you. If you really want to adopt her, all we have to do is bring Sarah to the Judge’s chambers in the big city.”

“Can we do it today?” Urged Amy.

“He’s waiting for my call. I’ll do that now, while you get Sarah ready.” Mrs. Watkins said.

Herald, already had the diaper bag packed and all they were waiting for was Amy to get dressed. She ran upstairs and took a 5minute shower. Then she grabbed a pair of nice looking jeans and a white T-shirt. She did a quick makeup job and towel dried her hair as best as she could. With comb in hand, she ran downstairs to see Herald waiting by the door. Amy grabbed her jacket and they headed out to the car.

Once they had properly secured the car seat, they got into the vehicle themselves and followed Mrs. Watkins. Since they didn’t know the way, they figured it would be a better to stay close.

Two hours later, and 70 miles north, they arrived in Bangor. It was a larger city than what they were used to. Traffic was heavier and there tons of buildings and side streets. It would be easy to get lost, so they stayed extra close.

A few minutes later minutes later they arrived at the circuit court building. The Judge was waiting to greet them at the door. They all shook hands and followed him to his privet chambers. Once there, he pulled out the adoption papers and explained everything to the Deary’s. When he was sure they understood all the details, he gave them the pen and showed them where to sign. After they, had signed, in the appropriate places, Judge Baker and Mrs. Watkins signed it as witnesses. Then, the document was stamped and they were done.

Amy and Herald were absolutely thrilled as they drove home. They couldn’t believe how fast things had happened. Now they were a real family, and they both felt at ease with the world. As soon as they got home, Amy got on the phone and called everyone she knew and planned a ‘welcome to the family’ party for Sarah. It was scheduled for a Saturday in two months. Everyone said they would attend and were all excited that Amy and Herald had finally gotten a child, to raise, as their own.