A Family Name Read online

  A Family Name

  Title Page

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  A Family Name

  by Liz Botts

  Published by Astraea Press

  www.astraeapress.com

  Smashwords Edition

  Copyright © 2013 LIZ BOTTS

  This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters, and events are fictitious in every regard. Any similarities to actual events and persons, living or dead, are purely coincidental. Any trademarks, service marks, product names, or named features are assumed to be the property of their respective owners, and are used only for reference. There is no implied endorsement if any of these terms are used. Except for review purposes, the reproduction of this book in whole or part, electronically or mechanically, constitutes a copyright violation.

  A FAMILY NAME

  Copyright © 2013 LIZ BOTTS

  ISBN 978-1-62135-186-3

  Cover Art Designed by AM DESIGN STUDIOS

  Also by Liz Botts

  In the Spotlight

  Curtain Call

  The Hidden Door

  Believe

  Adopting Jenny

  Whose Wedding Is It Anyway?

  For my husband, who always encourages me.

  For my sons, who make me laugh.

  For my daughter, who never fails to make me smile.

  Chapter One

  Snow pelted the windshield along with pings of ice. The wipers swiped at the build-up ineffectively. Squinting through the haze, Charlotte Miller thought that the light was at least yellow, so she tapped her brake pedal to slow the car down. The wheels scrambled to find traction, and Charlotte's breath caught as she felt the car fishtail before righting itself. She eased herself to a stop just as the light turned red.

  Charlotte breathed a sigh of relief. Just as the air left her lungs the car jolted forward causing her to gasp as her head slammed back against the headrest. Her brain reeled in confusion as it scrambled to put together what had happened. Her foster father, Clark's voice filled her head, telling her to pull over to the side of the road and check the damage to the car.

  As she complied with the silent advice, she idly wondered if she would always hear Clark's words of wisdom in tricky situations. On the one hand, it comforted her, but on the other, it was… creepy. Charlotte maneuvered her car into a nearby parking lot.

  Cautiously stepping out of her car Charlotte glanced toward the other car, which had followed her. Even from where she stood in the driving sleet, she could see the other car was unharmed. Slipping slightly on a slick patch of pavement, Charlotte cursed her decision to wear high heeled boots when the forecast had called for this infernal weather.

  Her bumper was dented pretty badly but was still on the car, so she allowed herself a sigh of relief. Not wanting to risk breaking a leg hobbling across the icy parking lot, she decided that she would wait for the other driver to approach her. A burst of wind whipped powdery snow in a whirlwind around her causing Charlotte to wrap her arms around herself and stamp her feet for warmth. What was taking so long?

  "Miss?" Charlotte jumped and found herself looking up into the concerned face of the most handsome man she had ever seen. "Are you all right? I'm so sorry."

  Charlotte tried to collect herself but his eyes distracted her to no end. They were summer sky blue. And on this nasty, squally, wintery March day, those eyes were just what Charlotte needed.

  "I didn't see the light turn red," the man continued. He gestured back toward the intersection, and then rubbed a gloved hand along the neck of his coat. "We should probably exchange information. My car is fine, but I'll pay for any damage to yours."

  "M-mine's fine, too. Mainly," Charlotte said, stammering slightly. She felt her cheeks grow warm and burrowed deeper into her scarf so this handsome stranger wouldn't notice her embarrassment. "I'm sure it'll be easily taken care of."

  "Still…" the man said, reaching into the pocket of his coat and pulling out a business card. He handed it to her. "Call me when you get the quote."

  William Wright. Charlotte stared at the card. The name seemed too old for him. As if reading her mind, he said, "Most people just call me Will. And you are?"

  He let the question hang invitingly in the cold air. Charlotte smiled to herself. "Charlotte," she replied.

  "Well, it's been a pleasure to meet you, Charlotte. I wish we could have met under better circumstances." The smile that curved along his lips filled Charlotte with a burst of happiness despite the snow and ice.

  Charlotte's gloved hand shook slightly as she pocketed the business card. The wind was picking up again, and sleet was making its way down the collar of her coat. She couldn't figure out what had shaken her so badly: the accident or meeting Will Wright.

  She shook her head to clear her thoughts; Charlotte hurried back to her car and turned the heater up full blast.

  ****

  Charlotte's head had barely cleared when she arrived at the home of the visit scheduled for the afternoon. As a social worker, Charlotte saw so much heartbreak. Today's case seemed to be no exception from what she had read in the case file. As a supervisor, Charlotte hadn't been on a home visit in over a year, but with one of her case workers out on maternity leave, Charlotte was picking up some of the cases herself.

  The house was on the outskirts of Rapid City, and from the office took twenty minutes easily, but with the fender bender Charlotte was now twenty minutes late. She hated being late. Taking a moment to compose herself, Charlotte scanned the file one last time. A thirteen-year-old girl in her tenth placement. Tenth?

  She steeled herself for the drama that awaited her inside. Charlotte ducked out of the car into the swirl of snow and sleet. Her heeled boots slipped on an icy patch of pavement, and pain shot up her ankle as it wrenched to the side. After she limped up the rest of the walk, Charlotte raised a hand to knock on the door. Before her knuckles made contact, the door swung open and a frustrated looking woman waved her in.

  "You're late," the woman huffed by way of greeting. She turned away from Charlotte abruptly and marched down the short hallway.

  Charlotte followed, confusion and irritation warring within her. The house was sterile. That was the only word that Charlotte could think to describe what she was seeing. Every surface gleamed and was free of clutter or homey knickknacks. The furniture in the living room sported crisp slipcovers, showing not one crease. The woman, Carol Morton, gestured for her to take a seat on one of the nearby chairs.

  The seat crinkled as Charlotte sat. She slipped her gloves off, and spread the case file out over her lap. "How have things with Alexis been going?"

  "Lexi," Carol Morton said. "She prefers to be called Lexi, and don't you forget it."

  Charlotte licked her lips and nodded. She felt horribly out of practice at this all of a sudden. "How are things going with Lexi?"

  Carol sighed, and sat heavily down on the sofa. "She's a Cain raiser, that one. Still, she's been through a lot. I wish things could work out different. I wish I could keep her."

  The words in the file swam before Charlotte's eyes as unexpected tears pushed forward. So it was going to be one of those meetings. Something in Charlotte's heart squeezed, mourning the loss of this family for a girl she had yet to meet.

  "If you tell me what the problem is, maybe we can find a solution. So that Lexi can s
tay here." Charlotte hated the pleading tone in her voice.

  Carol shook her head. "My husband lost his job last week. He's heading up to the oil fields to look for work. I have to look for work too. If I need to leave, I can't have Lexi. This really has nothing to do with her. She's a trouble maker, but she's a sweet girl. She needs a family that can be stable for her."

  Charlotte shut the case file. Despite her desire to keep the girl in her current situation, she understood where Carol and her husband were coming from. "I'll need you to keep her for at least another week while I find a suitable replacement."

  "Of course," Carol agreed quickly. "I'll go get her now so you can meet her."

  The heavy footfalls of Carol's work boots echoed down the hall. Charlotte could hear low murmurs that didn't sound all that cheerful.

  Charlotte briefly closed her eyes. Her stomach tied itself into complicated knots. Dealing with a surly teenage girl would just be the cherry on top of an already stellar day. Reminding herself to be professional, Charlotte set the case file at her feet beside her oversized purse. She smoothed her damp hair away from her face and settled her hands on her lap.

  ****

  The woman sitting in the chair looked all prim and proper, and little Miss Prissy. Carol had warned her to be nice, but Lexi didn't feel like being nice because, well, she just didn't feel nice inside. Her whole world was crumbling and this woman was here to rip a bigger hole in it. When Carol had caught her using the computer to search for her birth mom's name, she had made up some bull crap about needing to look for work.

  Lexi just knew that if she could find her birth mom, everything would be all right. She could forgive the abandonment that created a hollow ache inside her chest with every breath she took. Maybe her mom had been young, just a kid herself. Now that Lexi was a teenager, she could understand why someone even a few years older than her wouldn't be able to take care of a baby. But now that Lexi was older, surely her mom would want her back.

  "Hello, Lexi," the woman said with a voice like warm honey. Immediately Lexi felt drawn in, despite her best efforts to keep her distance. "I'm Charlotte."

  Lexi felt her head bobbing up and down, and she stuck her hand out stupidly. As Charlotte shook it, Lexi felt the connection, and she wondered if Charlotte felt it too.

  ****

  Charlotte's heart squeezed as she saw the hopeful look on Lexi's face. How could she tell this girl, who despite her teenage appearance was very clearly still a scared little girl that she had to go to a new foster family? She quickly scrolled through her options, none of them coming up any better than the last.

  Finally Charlotte said, "Do you know why I'm here?"

  Carol hovered in the doorway while Lexi sank down onto the couch with an expression that hovered somewhere between bewildered and resigned. "They're getting rid of me."

  "Oh, honey, no," Charlotte said, leaning forward, dismay coloring her vision. "They have complications. We'll find you a fantastic family. I promise."

  Lexi slumped lower, and shot a quick look at Carol before fixing her stare on Charlotte. "I don't want a new family. I want to find my birth mom."

  Red flags and alarm bells filled Charlotte's head. She'd seen this situation played out years before, right when she had been a new case worker. That had ended so badly. The outcome still haunted her nightmares.

  Carefully Charlotte said, "Have you ever had any contact with your birth mom?"

  "No," Lexi replied sitting up a little straighter. "I know what you're thinking, but I know she'll want me. I'm thirteen now, not some little baby that has to be taken care of all the time."

  Charlotte fingered the manila file folder on her lap. Torn between the desire to look up the information in the file and her desire to build a connection with Lexi, Charlotte hovered on the edge of indecision. When she glanced at the girl again, she saw that her window of opportunity had passed. Something had shuttered across Lexi's eyes, and Charlotte had no idea how to bridge the gap.

  "I'll see what I can do," Charlotte said softly. She placed the file folder back into her bag. Looking directly at Lexi, she asked, "Do you have any questions?"

  Lexi shook her head, sending a spray of carefully styled brown hair spilling over her face. Charlotte studied her. The blunt cut made the girl look older at first glance, but once she opened her wide blue eyes, there was no doubt that she was still a child. When Lexi met her eyes, Charlotte could see the vibrato tremble.

  "I'll leave my cell phone number in case you think of any questions," Charlotte said, standing up and getting ready to go.

  Carol started to say something, but glanced at Lexi and seemed to change her mind. "I'll just give you two a moment alone. Can you see yourself out?" Carol didn't bother waiting for a reply. She simply gave Charlotte a curt nod, and disappeared back into the kitchen.

  Lexi blinked up at Charlotte from the couch, and for a moment the blueness of them seemed so familiar that Charlotte felt thrown off kilter. Where had she seen those eyes before? And just as the answer seemed about to form in her mind, the thought vanished into a haze. Charlotte shook her head to regain clarity.

  "This is my card," she said as she handed the smooth cream colored card to Lexi. "Call me if you need anything."

  The girl's hand trembled as she took the card, but her jaw was set and her resolve seemed firm. Charlotte couldn't imagine being in that position. Her own parents were still married, and she and her brother still attended weekly family dinners.

  "I won't have any questions." Lexi crumpled the card in her fist.

  Charlotte wanted to say more, comfort her… anything, but she just stood there at the edge of the living room, shifting her bag from hand to hand.

  The silence began stretching between them, thickening the space to an uncomfortable level. Finally Charlotte sighed and said, "Well if you do. I'll be back in one week unless we can find a placement before."

  ****

  The front door shut with a soft click. Lexi waited for Carol to come back in, to tell her some more about how sorry she was that they were getting rid of her. When Carol didn't come, Lexi dared to creep toward the front window. She parted the curtains just a fraction of an inch. The social worker, Charlotte, almost slipped on an icy patch as she neared the car. Lexi flinched. Carol hadn't been very good about shoveling or putting down salt.

  Charlotte seemed nice. Lexi absolutely hated to admit that. Life was so much easier when she could hate her social worker, and normally she could. But Charlotte had been different. She'd even given Lexi her card. Thinking about it now made Lexi smile slightly. She squeezed the wad of paper, feeling the sharp edges poke into the sensitive skin of her palm.

  ****

  Back at the office, Charlotte set the file on her desk with a sigh. With a trembling hand she reached over to the plain silver frame that sat in a corner of her desk. She examined the smiling faces of her silver-haired foster parents, Ruth and Tom. She had gone to live with them just after she turned eleven, and had stayed with them until she left for college. They'd retired to Florida a few years ago.

  "I miss you," Charlotte said to the picture, wondering if she should give them a call.

  Instead, she set the frame down, and returned her attention to Lexi's file. Charlotte opened the battered manila envelope to study the face of the little girl who needed her. The thought rushed down on Charlotte with such force that she actually let out a gasp of air. The girl needed her. Charlotte sat back in her chair, swiveling it back and forth as she let the idea settle over her like a fine mist. To be needed by anyone was truly something amazing, but to be needed by a child… the very hint of possibility made Charlotte shiver with delight. The work needed to set this idea in motion would be small, just some paperwork. Could she do it?

  As she considered the question, Charlotte picked up the file again. As she swayed with the chairs side-to-side motion, she scanned the contents that she had already read through earlier. The girl's mother had parental rights terminated when Lexi was bare
ly three years old, and no father had been listed on the birth certificate. Charlotte's heart squeezed as she imagined the fear the little girl must have felt. The reasons for Lexi's removal had been far more muddled than her own. Charlotte shuddered at the memory of her mother, high as a kite, heaving the glass vase at her from across the room. In her mind she could still see the blue-green glass shimmering in the sunlight as it smashed into her, shattering when it dropped to the floor. The smell of blood from the broken shards hitting her leg lingered in her nose even now. There was no way to out run such an event. Charlotte took several deep breaths, the kind she had practiced in therapy for years, and forced her mind to the present. She listened to the soft ticking of the clock that hung above her office door. The repetition soothed her.

  Lexi needed stability. After so many foster placements, the girl had to be weary of each new home. The fact that she was searching for her mother gave Charlotte pause. She knew how badly these things could go. Clearly the court had seen reason to terminate Lexi's mother's parental rights. And whoever the father was, well, he hadn't been in the picture anyway so perhaps they were all better off for it. Charlotte wished her father had stayed out of the picture. Most of the time he was the reason her mother had backslid.

  Charlotte wished that she could give the girl a two parent home. That would be the ideal, but she knew that she wasn't dealing in a perfect world. Sometimes things had to be good enough. Her thoughts briefly strayed to the handsome man from that morning. What had his name been again? Will. He had looked strong and solid, like someone who would make a good family man. The thought seemed so absurd that Charlotte laughed softly under her breath. He had rear ended her and their ensuing conversation had lasted all of two minutes, not exactly long enough to get a good sense of a person.