Read Online Leena’s Dream by Marissa Dobson - Free Book Online Page A

for.”
    “We’re not teenagers who need her approval.” He twisted toward her and took her hand in his. “There might have been a time when she could keep us apart but that time is over and we have to trust in each other. We’re not going to let her or anyone else drive us apart.”
    “I’ll have to deal with her, but not today.” She tugged her hand free of his, not because she didn’t want his touch but because she needed to twirl her ring. Round and round, she twisted it in circles.
    “Why do you keep twirling the ring on your finger?” He didn’t lay his hand over hers again. Instead, he placed it on her leg.
    “It reminds me of my sister.” She glanced down at the ring. “Mom had similar ones made for all of us. Dad and my brother, Lee, don’t wear jewelry but they wear this. It has all of our birthstones in it, with Meredith’s being the center and biggest. Inside, it says: Always in our hearts. ”
    “A symbol that connects the family and one that gives you a piece of your sister to carry with you always.”
    “A symbol of my family, of love.” She dropped her hands into her lap. “It’s more of a habit that I twirl it.”
    She sat there in silence, staring down at her ring before she let out a deep sigh and tipped her head to the side to look at him. “Since we’re being honest, there’s something you should know.”
    “What’s that?” he pressed when she quieted.
    “After I left the hospital this morning I couldn’t stop thinking of that little girl, Brandy. She broke something inside of me. So young and she reminds me of everything you and Meredith went through. She’s all alone and…” She let her words trail off for the moment and tried to keep herself from getting emotional. “I put in a call to her social worker.”
    “Why?”
    She twisted the ring again before forcing herself to look at him. “To express my interest in adopting her.” She stretched her legs out and rose from the sofa but there was nowhere to go. Never before had her tour bus seemed as small as it did then. “It’s stupid and I’ll never get approved, not with the career I have, but I couldn’t sit back and do nothing. She wiggled her way into my heart and I can’t see them keeping her locked up in the hospital because they can’t find a home that will keep her. She’s sick and maybe even dying, which is all the more reason she deserves a home and a family.”
    “It’s a heartbreaking situation.”
    “I’m not sure heartbreaking covers it. She doesn’t even know how old she is. She remembers her mother dropping her off at the police station with a note. Since then, she’s been tossed around from foster home to foster home and when she wasn’t there, she’s been here.”
    “I know.” He stood and closed the distance between them. “But she already has someone interested in adopting her.”
    “Then where are they?” she snapped, no longer able to control her temper. “She’s alone in that hospital bed and this adoptive family is where?”
    “Right here.” He laid his hand on her shoulder. “I put in the request to adopt her. I’ve gone through the steps, and I’m waiting on the final decision. I’m a single man, a lawyer for the hospital who works crazy hours, but they’re considering it. I’ve answered their questions reasonably and while I don’t have a wife or family I do have a strong support system within the hospital, so they are considering it.”
    “You?” She spun back toward him, her hip hitting against the small built in table. “You didn’t mention it when I said anything about her.”
    “What was I supposed to say? Oh, you were visiting the girl I hope to adopt? Or maybe, how’s my hopefully adoptive daughter doing?” He raised an eyebrow at her. “I’ve been visiting with her for the last few months but she doesn’t know.”
    “Why not?”
    “Why get her hopes up when I didn’t think they’d approve me? There was no need to disappoint her again. Like