Samantha Silverfang's Arc

Chapter 2 of 2

Yara's backpack sat on the kitchen floor, still zipped shut. She hadn't unpacked yet. Samantha was pulling plates down from the cabinet when headlights swept across the front window. A car door slammed. Three sharp knocks hit the front door. Samantha opened it to find Marcus on her porch, holding a folded piece of paper. The fancy gold lettering caught the light from inside the house. He looked nervous, fidgeting with the edges. Behind her, she heard Rosie's footsteps on the stairs and Yara's quiet breathing from the kitchen doorway. Marcus glanced past her shoulder, then back at her face. "I wrote this last week," he said. "Before I knew about—" He stopped, looking at Yara again. The note read 'pick me and not yara' in careful script. Samantha's chest went tight. She'd been carrying around a doll from Rosie's room earlier, trying to figure out where Yara should sleep, and her fingers closed around it now in her jacket pocket. She stepped onto the porch and pulled the door mostly closed behind her. "Marcus," she said. "I can't pick one of you over the other. That's not how this works." He looked down at the note, then crumpled it in his fist. "I waited too long," he said. "I just—I thought if I asked the right way—" Samantha put her hand on his shoulder. "You didn't wait too long. You just think there's only one spot left. There isn't." Marcus looked up, confused. "But you said you wanted three kids." "I did say that," Samantha said. "And then I met both of you." She pulled the calendar from her bag hanging by the door, the one with adoption day circled in pink for next month. She held it where he could see it. "This was for one kid. Now it's for two. I'll talk to the agency tomorrow. It'll take longer. It'll be harder. But I'm not making you compete for a spot at my table." Marcus stared at the calendar, then at her. His shoulders dropped. "You mean that?" Samantha nodded. "Come back Thursday after school. Bring your stuff. We'll figure out the paperwork together." Marcus tucked the crumpled note into his pocket and left without another word, but he was smiling. Samantha went back inside where Yara was still standing in the kitchen doorway, holding her unicorn. "You didn't send him away," Yara said quietly. Samantha shook her head. "I don't send people away. Not anymore." She pulled down another plate from the cabinet. "Now let's eat. Tomorrow I'm calling about bunk beds."