“The boy is scarred. There is evidence that he was beaten severely on his back, from knees to shoulders. Just barely healed, most of the lash marks.”
Jack spoke up, and Anna was glad because she could not.
“He was examined by a doctor?”
“Yes, our resident physician. Dr. Warren. He’s not here today, or you could talk to him directly. Tonino is better nourished now and less anxious than he was when he arrived, but not much less. We do what we can, but in cases like this—”
“We understand,” Anna said. “Far too well. I am on the staff at the New Amsterdam Charity Hospital, Mr. Timbie. We see children who have suffered every kind of abuse and degradation.”
Jack said, “You must agree that together we are well suited to care for a child with a history like Tonino’s.”
“In theory, yes,” the director said. “But it does bother me that the boy doesn’t seem to recognize you. You still want to take him?”
“We would like to take him,” Anna said. “Being reunited with his sisters is probably the best way to reach him, now.”
“Then there is paperwork to be done,” said Timbie, getting to his feet. “It must be handled according to the law. You may start while I’m checking in the new student.”
? ? ?
MR. TIMBIE SENT for a notary, arranged for paper and ink and pens, collected forms to be filled out, and went off to greet his new student. Anna paced the room while these arrangements were being made, stopping to look at framed diplomas on the wall. Mr. Ambrose Timbie had graduated from the National Deaf-Mute College in Washington, D.C., some fourteen years ago. His diploma had been signed by President Grant, which struck Anna as very odd.
“Our son, Ambrose,” said an older woman as she came into the office, followed by Miss Timbie with a tea tray. “He was in the first graduating class at the National College, and now he is the head teacher here at the school. Both our children are deaf, you see.”
“Rubella?” Anna asked.
Mrs. Timbie nodded. “We nearly lost them both, but you see how well they have turned out.” She put down the papers she was carrying and signed briefly to her daughter, who grimaced.
“I embarrass her,” said Mrs. Timbie with an affectionate smile. “Now, while you’re filling out papers, I thought you might like some coffee.”
? ? ?
ANNA SAT ACROSS from Jack, and they began to sort through the paperwork. For a good time the only sound was the scratching of pens.
“They want a statement of purpose. I think they are asking whether we plan to adopt him legally.”
Jack said, “That same question applies to Rosa and Lia.”
“Of course. I suppose I’ve been waiting to resolve the situation with the boys before raising the subject. It’s a little odd,” she said. “Not an hour ago we were talking about the possibility of a pregnancy next year, and now we’re talking about three children ages five, seven, and nine, all at once. I was aware from the start that it would come to this, but I made that decision before—”
“You fell in love with me.”
She forbade herself to flush. “Yes,” she said. “Before you fell in love with me.”
Jack smiled, a lopsided affair.
“Really,” she said. “This is a conversation we must have, for everybody’s sake, before we sign legal documents.”
“All right,” Jack said. “Write this down. ‘We are ready and willing to legally assume all responsibility for the care of Tonino Russo, as we have done for his sisters Rosa and Lia.’”
Anna smiled at him. “You sound like a lawyer when you want to.”
Jack’s whole lower face contorted. “You do know that coppers don’t take that as a compliment, right?”
She put down her pen and set the page aside for the ink to dry.
“Jack, what if he refuses? What if he won’t come with us?”
“I suppose we’d have to leave him here until we can come back with the girls. That might be the best way to handle it, even if they do give us permission to take him.”
“It might be,” Anna agreed, “but it goes against the grain.”
? ? ?
MR. TIMBIE WAS still busy with the new student and her family when they finished the paperwork, and so they went out to find the stable boy who had taken charge of the carriage. They retrieved Mrs. Lee’s basket and ate in the shade of a stand of dogwood trees, talking of nothing in particular. Because, Anna reckoned to herself, the most difficult decision had already been made. They would take the boy away with them, all the way to Greenwood where he would be reunited with his sisters and, at the same time, plunged into the Mezzanotte family summer party.
When she mentioned to Jack that the circumstances would almost certainly overwhelm the boy, it turned out he had been thinking the same thing.