Eternal Flame

Chapter 16

A few months later

"Hey guys," Lauren says when she walks in and we get up to greet her, "How are you?"

"Good, thank you." Ezra replies as we return to our seats, "How are you?"

"I'm great, thanks." She replies and sits down in front of us, "You know why you're here today so let's go straight to the point." She says and gives us a file with a photo of a young boy on top, "This is Ben."

"How old is he?" I ask, still looking at the picture, and Ezra takes my hand in his.

"He turns 6 in a few months." Lauren replies, "He's been with us for a few months now. His mom... well, she was really young when she had him and while she clearly wasn't ready for the responsibility, she managed to take care of him. Things changed when his father died in an accident. His mom started consuming drugs and neglecting him and he had to be removed. She went to rehab for a while and after a few months everything was going great. She seemed fine, she even started seeing him from time to time but then one day, she relapsed and there was nothing the doctors could do when they found her."

"Wow." Ezra says.

"Yeah... It's not the first time he's with us. A few months after being removed from his mother's care, he was put under the care of a foster family that more than once said they wanted to adopt him. He spent a little bit over a year with them but then around the time his mother came back, they found out the wife was pregnant and I guess they didn't want to bother anymore. Just like that, they told us they couldn't have Ben with them anymore and he came back here. His demeanor changed drastically after that. He used to be this happy, full of life, chatty child and now he barely says a word and I can't remember the last time I saw him smile."

"I can't imagine hard it was for him." I say

"He's hurt. He doesn't trust anyone, never wants to leave the room or play with other kids." She sighs, " It's been almost 6 months since he came back and we've been working hard to find the perfect family for him and I'm going to be honest with you, there are a few couples interested in fostering and even adopting him and I've been waiting for you to be formally allowed to foster to talk to you about him because I believe you are exactly what Ben needs to go back to his old self and have the best and happiest life he can have."

"Why us?"

"I've been following your journey since the begging and I know you're here for the right reasons. You want to have a family and I know for a fact that you are more than capable of loving a child, even if they're not your flesh and blood." She says, "You obviously don't have to say anything right away, take your time and think about it. But please don't forget that I would never recommend this match if I didn't believe it was the best for all of you."

"Thank you, Lauren." I say.

"Yeah, thank you. We'll think about it and get in touch with you as soon as we make a decision."

"Of course. Thank you for coming here today." She says and shakes our hands.

"No, thank you for calling us." I reply, "We'll see you soon."

None of us says anything on our way home but we don't let go of each other's hands. I'm still kind of in shock, trying to come to terms with everything that happened this week.

Our eyes meet when we leave the building and the biggest smiles spread across our faces. "I can't believe this. We did it!"

"Yes, we did." Ezra replies and cups my face in his hands before giving me a quick kiss on the lips.

After assessment plans, home plans, preparation groups and courses and many restless nights, we are finally approved to foster. Not only that, but we also feel as ready as we'll ever be to do this.

The process was hard and I'd be lying if I said I didn't have doubts... a lot of doubts, but we also learnt a lot throughout the last few months. We got to know other couples who, just like us, had fears and doubts and having the opportunity to talk with them every week was, in my opinion, one of the most important parts of this process. As someone who isn't particularly fond of sharing her feelings, having at least an hour every week where I had to share what was going through my mind was almost therapeutic. Knowing that we were not alone and that there were a lot of other couples sharing our fears and doubts instantly gave an incredible sense of security and I'm not sure we'd be here today if it weren't for that.

"We should probably get going." I tell Ezra, "We still need to have lunch before we go shopping and it's getting late."

"Yeah, let's go."

One week ago, I would have never thought that Lauren was going to call us so soon with such great news and that we would be here right now, with one of the biggest decisions of our life to make.

"Aria!" Ezra says, taking me back to reality.

"What?"

"We're here. What were you thinking about?" He asks and I take Ben's photo from the file Lauren gave us.

"What are we going to do?" I say, still staring at the picture of the little boy.

"I'm pretty sure you and I both know what we're going to do." He replies, smiling and I smile back at him, knowing that our lives are about to change forever.

I know it won't be easy, especially after everything that happened to Ben but Laura was right when she said that we are capable of loving a child even if they're not our flesh and blood. All we want is to have a family and now that we were given the chance of having one, we will do our best to be the best parents we can.

A/N
Hey guys,
How are you? I really hope you liked this chapter (surprisingly enough, I kinda love it hahaha). I have tons of things to do (surprise, surprise🙄) so please forgive me if I don't update next week. I'll my best to though :)
Anyways, please send me some feedback on this chapter.
Hope you have an amazing week. See you soon! Xx