A Love in Darkness by Dean Henryson - HTML preview

Chapter 48

Adriana felt sad. She wanted to live in the same group home as her friend, but the staff there wouldn’t allow it.

Laif and Sharon drove her from her group home to the group home for autistic children almost every day, where they visited Cindy.

Adriana held Cindy’s hand, spoke to her threw tears, combed her hair. It didn’t matter to Adriana that the girl didn’t respond; it didn’t matter that her eyes didn’t blink, that she felt a million miles away. Adriana loved her friend. She believed love could help.

Month after month, she believed.

Sometime after the third month, when she talked about how they used to push each other on the tire-swing in Aunt Jenny’s backyard, she noticed little blinks from her friend. She saw little flickers from her friend’s mouth when she talked about times they used to sit on the grass by the flowerbed and make up stories of castles in clouds.

After four months, Cindy held Adriana’s hand, sometimes tightly. She was able to look at Adriana and tears fell. After five months, she began talking. It wasn’t long afterwards that she was almost back to her good old self again, a little sadder but wiser.

A nice couple stopped by and asked Cindy if she wanted to be adopted. They promised her that she could visit Adriana as often as she liked. Adriana felt happy her friend had finally found a safe place to live, a permanent home, and they both promised to never stop talking with each other.

The staff at Adriana’s group home thankfully allowed Fred the gecko to stay in her room. Uncle Creo—she called him uncle by choice—had given Fred to her. She knew the gecko meant a lot to him, and she treasured Fred. She liked how agile he was and that he could crawl just about anywhere he wanted. He was like a bird without wings.

She was very thankful for having him.

But what made her even happier was that Laif and Sharon had come to the group home one morning and asked, “Would you like to come live with us?”

“For how long?” she asked.

They both smiled and said, “Forever.”

She was so excited it felt like her heart would pop out of her ribs. But her mouth seemed to have frozen shut.

They told her the county finally gave them permission to adopt her. A family she could stay with forever. This was a dream come true. She couldn’t stop crying, didn’t know why, and hoped they wouldn’t think she didn’t want to be with them.

Even with no words, they understood.

She wasn’t sure what about Laif she liked most, his handsome face, his kindness, his treating her like an abled person not a disabled person, or just the way he made her feel when he was around—like a princess. But she knew she liked it when he and Sharon said they were getting married.

The wedding had a fifties theme, with Johnny Cash’s song Ring of Fire playing as they walked down the aisle, hand-in-hand. The cake was shaped like an old Cadillac with candied bride and groom in the front seats. Champagne was poured from a container picturing Betty Boop, though Adriana and Cindy drank only punch.

Adriana was so happy, she tingled inside.

One thing she really valued about her new family was that she could tell them anything about her feelings. She never needed to hold back like she used to do. It made her feel centered and sane.

They listened to her, and she felt unconditionally accepted and loved.

Laif and Sharon always made it easy to live in the truth.

The End