Obsidian Faith (2 page)

Chapter Two

Trevor and Shanice were in the common room a few months later, when Brenda Bailey came to them. Trevor was manipulating a screen of computer code, and Shanice was sitting in a comfy chair not far from him reading a book. She smiled at them. Brenda loved how he and Shanice had bonded and had told Trevor as much, but he knew her too well. She was about to give them some news he wasn’t going to like.

“Thought I’d find you two out here,” Brenda said.

Trevor and Shanice gave her their undivided attention.

“Hey, Ms. Brenda,” they said almost in unison.

“Would you two come to the office? Isaiah and I have some news for you.”

Trevor was sure it wasn’t to tell him he was adopted. The older he got, the less likely it was to happen. Shanice stood a greater chance, because she was adorable and still young enough to luck out. But he wasn’t sure how he would feel if that happened for her. She’d taken Natalie’s place, and there wasn’t anything he wouldn’t do for her.

When they entered Pastor Isaiah’s office, David Kyle and another woman were there.

“Trevor, Shanice, you know David Kyle, and this is David’s wife, Elena.”

Elena Kyle looked happy to meet them. But even though the Baileys were cool, after what his mom did, Trevor still didn’t trust adults until they’d earned it.

Isaiah smiled and said, “In a couple of weeks, Brenda and I are leaving the home, because I’m accepting the pastorate at Trinity Baptist Church in Orlando, but we’ve begun proceedings to adopt Shanice, so she’ll be going with us.”

Shanice ran to Brenda, who had her arms waiting to receive the new addition to their family.

“Oh, Ms. Brenda,” Shanice said. “You’re going to be my mommy!”

“Yes, I am,” Brenda said.

Then she stood back and said. “Are you and Pastor Isaiah going to be Trevor’s mommy and daddy, too?”

The question caught them briefly off guard. Then Pastor Isaiah finished the rest of his news. “Trevor is going to be adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Kyle.”

To say Trevor was stunned was an understatement. The Kyles seemed like decent folks, especially David, but Trevor would reserve judgment until he got a chance to know them better as his foster parents.

“But I don’t want to leave Trevor,” Shanice said, her bottom lip trembled, as her eyes filled with tears.

Brenda kneeled in front of Shanice so they were on eye level. “You won’t have to. Not really. The Kyles live in Orlando right down the street from where we’ll be living. You’ll see Trevor all the time.”

Trevor tried not to smile. To stay cool. But he couldn’t. He felt his face break into a grin. The best he could do was to dial his smile a little lower than Shanice’s.

Getting a new family was a dream come true for Trevor. All he’d ever wanted was someone to care about him, to truly care what happened to him. To love him.

When Trevor entered the two-story Tudor house with the red brick, white trim, and red shutters, he finally felt as if he was home. When the Kyles wrapped him in their arms, he knew it was what he’d been waiting for all his life. He grabbed his duffle bag and unpacked it in what would be the first room he’d had to himself, ever. Then he went to explore the rest of the property. There was a huge backyard with a screen-covered pool and the greenest grass he’d ever seen. He couldn’t wait to play catch with David, as if he were a regular kid.

Like any other kid in a place that was almost perpetually sunny, Trevor played sports. Oddly, he found he was good at them, despite being the biggest geek alive. Growing up in Orlando was the best. It was an orphan child’s wildest dream. Disneyworld was practically in his backyard, and there was never a lack for anything to do.

As time went on, Trevor realized the Kyles were almost as nice as Pastor Isaiah and Brenda. Sure, they had to get through some rough parts, mostly because of his trust issues, and the Kyles had to set him straight about what they expected from him. Even though David was a former marine, he was as much a computer geek as Trevor. And Elena was kind of a pushover.

Trevor settled into a routine that resembled family life for the first time. Just as the Baileys promised, if he wasn’t at their house, Shanice was at the Kyles. He and Shanice got to play and swim together with the other neighborhood kids, to go to Trevor’s games with the Kyles, and to Shanice’s dance recitals and other activities. The summer flew by, and he and Shanice were enrolled in a school affiliated with Pastor Isaiah’s church, rather than Orange County public schools, so this meant they were able to go to the same school for a change. Brenda and Elena took turns driving them.

The night before the first day of school, David came into Trevor’s room to talk to him. He was already in his pajamas and about to go to sleep.

“Ready for your big day tomorrow, son?”

“Yes, sir.” Trevor said. He’d learned David appreciated the title of respect, because he’d been in the Corps for so long.

David reached into his wallet and pulled out a twenty. “Here’s lunch money and pocket change. Elena will set up an account once you bring home all your paperwork, so you won’t have to carry cash.”

“Thanks.” Trevor took the twenty and put it in the nylon wallet Elena had purchased for him with all his other back-to-school stuff. Small gestures like that made him happy but still afraid he somehow didn’t deserve it. He tried never to take anything for granted.

David fidgeted with the parts of a model car they were working on together. Trevor could tell he wanted to speak to him about something else. Finally, he turned around and straddled the desk chair facing Trevor, who yawned widely.

“You’re tired, so I’ll say this and let you get to sleep.”

“Okay, sir.” Trevor sat up so he could pay better attention.

“You have unique skills in math and computer science that surpass those of many men I’ve known in the field. You have a God-given talent for it, and some day you will be able to hold your own among the best in the world.” David smiled, and Trevor could see the pride in his eyes. It made him get a lump in his throat, but he tried not to show his emotion.

“I love working on computers more than anything. Thank you so much for letting me have one in my room.”

“You’re welcome,” David said, then he seemed to think about it.  “As long as you don’t abuse the privilege.”

“I won’t. I promise.” Trevor said, trying to sound as sincere as he could.

“I’d like you to not call any attention to yourself by showing off at school. Elena and I are doing this to protect you, because if some academics or branches of the government learned of your abilities, they might exploit you in ways you’re not ready for. Do you understand, Trevor?”

“You mean they might try to study me like they’d do if they ever discovered an alien on the planet?”

“Yeah, like that and worse. They could likely label you as a threat to every computer system in the world and stop you from practicing what you love.”

That frightened him. “I won’t be a show-off, Mr. Kyle, I promise.” He still wasn’t ready to call them “Mom” and “Dad” yet, but he wanted to someday, just like Shanice already did with the Baileys

“Oh, I want you to do well and to get good grades, but don’t go above and beyond what they’re teaching in your grade level. We’ll do the extra-curriculars at home.”

“Okay, I’ll remember.”

David stood and put the chair back under the desk. Then he turned as if he remembered something. “I’m sure this goes without saying, but don’t forget to watch out for Shanice. You’re the only big brother she’s ever known and first grade can be scary.”

“I’ll make sure no one picks on her,” Trevor said.

“Don’t try to handle it yourself, though. Report it to a school official. I won’t have you fighting at school.”

Trevor felt every bit like the protective big brother where Shanice was concerned, but he knew he couldn’t disappoint David. “Oh, all right.”

David looked like he was trying to keep himself from laughing as he turned to leave. “Goodnight, Trevor.”

“Goodnight, sir.”

Chapter Three

At school, Shanice would sometimes ask Trevor to do embarrassing things. Like asking him to carry her
Hello Kitty
backpack when her arms were full, or loaning her lunch money when she bought extra stuff and used up all the money in her account before she should have, and the worse, having him talk to her teddy like he was human sometimes.

Trevor never denied her when it was something he could do. When she got it into her head that she wanted to join in an activity at school, she came to Trevor at the end of the day and asked for his help. He was waiting in the car pickup area when she joined him later than usual with a flyer in her hand.

“What you got there, ‘Nice?” Sometimes he shortened her name when he was lazy.

“It’s a flyer about the Fall Festival. And guess what?”

He laughed. When she got excited about something, she got everyone excited about it. “What?”

“I’m going to sing in the talent show.”

He folded his arms. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“And what’re you going to sing?”

“This Little Light of Mine.” She’d been singing in the children’s choir at Pastor Isaiah’s church, and that song was by far her favorite. Then she said, “And you’re going to play the music for me, like you do at church.”

Trevor did work the sound board on Sundays with David. Then he remembered how David said he didn’t want Trevor to call attention to himself, so he didn’t know whether he should agree.

“I don’t know. I’ll have to ask David and Elena about it.”

“They won’t mind,” Shanice said. She had become such a confident little person. The Baileys had done that.

Of course, when Trevor asked David about the talent show, David not only said Trevor could do it, he introduced him to the
Garage Band
application, and Trevor used it to accompany his surrogate sister during her singing debut at the Fall Festival. Trevor dared any of his friends to give him any grief about it.

The Kyles and Baileys had a huge block party when their adoptions of Trevor and Shanice went through. The cul-de-sac where the Baileys resided was chock full of people, and Isaiah, being a sucker for a captive audience, took a few moments to say a few words.

“As many of you know, the position I held prior to taking on my role at Trinity was as a house parent at a Baptist Children’s facility. During our stint there, Brenda and I had the honor and privilege of taking care of some wonderful, and some not-so-wonderful children.” The crowd laughed. “However, we loved them all and did everything we could to prepare them for whatever fate the Lord had in store for them. While there, David and I fell in love with the two most amazing children known to man: our daughter, Shanice, and the Kyles’ son, Trevor.”

“What are Elena and I, liverwurst?” Brenda yelled.

“I’m getting to that part, sweetheart,” Isaiah said. Then he beckoned to Trevor and Shanice, who joined hands and walked over to their adoptive parents. “Trevor was this serious little guy who always had his nose in the dilapidated old computer, and Shanice was this breath of fresh air who charmed everyone. Brenda got the ball rolling when she came to bed one night and confessed she had a favorite among the children. Shanice had wormed her way into Brenda’s heart, and she got it into her head that she was now unfit to be a house parent because she wasn’t objective anymore.” Brenda glared playfully at him, and he continued. “After I counseled my wife and talked her out of stepping down from our posts immediately, we discussed the prospect of adopting. Of course, knowing how close Shanice was to Trevor, we realized we simply couldn’t take her and leave him there. David was already mentoring Trevor, so it only took a suggestion from me to get him to take his plea to Elena. And the rest, as they say is history.”

He then called the wives over. “Brenda, Elena, come share with our friends what you have in your hands.”

Brenda grabbed the mike and held up the legal document. “Elena and I have in our hands the adoption decrees and pristine birth certificates of our children. Isaiah and I are the proud parents of Shanice Anderson Bailey.”

Elena said, “And David and I are the proud parents of Trevor Landon Kyle.” Their adoptive parents had decided to use their original names as their middle names, so they would always remember their origins, just in case sometime in the future they wanted to find some of the members of their families.

The crowd cheered as the Baileys and Kyles shared hugs with each other, and then their friends and family.

Trevor and Shanice were formally introduced to all the neighbors and the extended families of the Baileys and Kyles. He also met David’s younger brother, Philip. Trevor noticed he looked sleazy, and had his arm around a woman who had almost nothing on and too much makeup. He could also tell Philip didn’t like children, even though he gave Trevor and Shanice a bunch of gifts.

“Trevor this is my brother, Philip. Your uncle.”

“Hey, Trevor,” Philip said. “Try not to become the black sheep of the family like me, eh?”

“Phil... ” David shook his head. “He’s only eleven.”

“It’s all right, sir,” Trevor said. “I was the only sheep left in my family until now.”

Shanice grabbed Trevor’s hand. “C’mon Trevor, let’s dance.” Brenda had put Shanice in a dance class and dancing was all she wanted to do at the time.

Trevor didn’t consider himself any good at dancing, but Shanice seemed happy with his moves, so he didn’t mind making a fool of himself. For the next four years, they had the best family lives any kid could ask for, and despite their age difference they remained close.