Building a Family (Love Inspired) by Cote Lyn

Author:Cote, Lyn [Cote, Lyn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin Enterprises
Published: 2011-10-01T00:00:00+00:00

Eleanor had hurried home from the Habitat site before the social worker, Ms. Green, arrived. I hope I let Pete know how much I appreciated his getting that tent. But if she hadn’t, she’d make up for it.

She walked through her house, making sure not a speck of dust remained. Though she tried, she couldn’t get her low mood to budge. Her mother’s dark presence seemed to hang over her, sucking out her bright hope to adopt Jenna, the little girl in the photo Ms. Green had showed her. Would this adoption separate Eleanor ever further from her mother?

Eleanor was just wiping down the gleaming kitchen counter one more time when the doorbell rang. Her heart bobbed up into her throat.

She opened the door and Ms. Green, dressed in khakis and a crisp blouse, greeted her.

Eleanor stepped back to let her in and tried not to show her agitation.

“There’s no need for you to be nervous,” Ms. Green said.

“Guess my nonchalant mask isn’t working.” Chuckling with the woman helped ease Eleanor’s tension. Still, her mother’s unhappy expression kept bobbing up, cinching a tight band around Eleanor’s lungs.

“Why don’t you show me around first?” Ms. Green suggested.

“I just bought this house end of last year. I had been living in a rented duplex, but wanted my own home.” Eleanor led her through the living room with its redbrick fireplace and then through the dining room and kitchen, her heart throbbing with her anxious desire to please this woman. “I chose this neighborhood because it is an established one. I don’t like living where the houses are taller than the trees.”

Ms. Green chuckled at this. “An interesting observation.”

Eleanor showed her the three bedrooms and two baths. “This bedroom is mine. The smallest one I use as a home office and this—” she paused at the doorway of the empty bedroom “—would be my daughter’s room.” Jenna’s room. “I haven’t done anything more than clean and prime it because I would want to decorate it according to her wishes.”

“Excellent.” Mrs. Green nodded. “Why don’t we go to the kitchen, and I’ll ask questions, and we can fill out the rest of your application.”

The interview process went quickly, and Eleanor found herself relaxing more and more.

“Now, it’s not necessary to have their approval,” Ms. Green said. “But I always like to know—have you discussed this adoption with your extended family?”

Eleanor nodded, her tension spiking again. “Yes, I did.”

“And what was their response?” Ms. Green prompted.

“My father and aunt are very supportive,” Eleanor continued even though speaking the truth clawed at her. “My mother is uncertain.” That was the best description that Eleanor could come up with.

“What are your mother’s concerns?”

“She doesn’t understand why I want a child. She thinks I should be content with my career.” Eleanor felt her hope to become a mother being sawed away from under her.

“That’s not unreasonable. Many in the older generation think that a woman should delay motherhood until she is married.”

Eleanor did not contradict Mrs. Green. How

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