HER RUSSIAN SURRENDER by Theodora Taylor Read Free Book Online

doorway.
    Pavel, Sam had discovered over the last forty-eight hours, was actually a very polite little boy. At least to her. Everybody else was a different story, and he seemed even less enthusiastic to watch the game with Marco than she was to invite him in after his Child Services pitch.
    “That’s okay,” Marco said, throwing Sam a puzzled look. “I’ve got some buddies I can watch it with at the bar. Go Polar!”
    Pavel just disappeared back inside, shutting the door behind him.
    Apparently he did not feel any solidarity with Marco whatsoever just because he was also a Polar fan.
    “Wow,” Marco said, running a hand over his spiky black hair.
    “He’s adjusting,” Sam said. “And he probably didn’t get much social training growing up the way he did.”
    “Yeah, but… Did I hear him call you Mama? You said you just met this kid, what? Forty-eight hours ago?”
    Sam cringed. She’d been hoping he wouldn’t ask her about that. Pavel had been calling her “mama” ever since they’d arrived at her apartment two nights ago, almost as if they’d formally agreed to the title change on the car ride over from the police station.
    “He’s not your kid,” Marco told her now.
    “I know that,” she answered, even as her heart kicked up a mutinous rebellion, pumping harder, as if to say, That’s a lie! Pavel is my son and I’m his mother. Obviously it was meant to be!
    But she brutally suppressed those thoughts and repeated, “I know, obviously he’s not my son. This is just a temporary arrangement.”
    “Then why is he calling you mama? You’ve made enough calls in these domestic abuse situations to know the deal. You’re not supposed to get too involved here. You pass these kids along to the foster system and that’s supposed to be the end of it.”
    “I know that, too.”
    “Is it because the shelter’s empty right now? Maybe you’re feeling like you need a project, and that’s why you took the kid into your custody?”
    “No,” Sam answered. Though she had to admit she’d been bored lately. The number of domestic abuse cases coming through Ruth’s House had severely dipped after the Super Bowl, but March Madness was right around the corner and the NBA playoffs after that. Sadly, the one thing Sam could guarantee was that the shelter wouldn’t be empty come spring.
    “No, that’s not it,” she assured Marco. “I’ve got plenty of paperwork and grant applications to keep me busy.”
    “Then why are we having this conversation? Why won’t you let me put this kid in the back of my car and take him over to DCS?”
    Sam couldn’t answer that without coming off as even more insane than Marco probably already suspected. She knew it wasn’t wise or healthy to let Pavel call her mama, but she couldn’t shake the feeling he was doing so because she needed to step up and be his mother now. At least until an appropriate one could be found for him.
    Sam chewed on her lip. “Okay, fine, I’ll sign off on Pavel leaving my custody as soon as you find a set of suitable parents and give me at least two weeks to thoroughly vet them with supervised visits.” She put a friendly hand to his back and started escorting him to his car, which she could see parked right next to the shelter in one of the intake spaces for Ruth’s House. “You have my word.”
    “Fine, I’ll get going. But don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing, Sam.”
    “Of course you know what I’m doing,” Sam answered, coming to a stop beside his car. “I’m doing what’s in Pavel’s best interest.”
    Marco folded his arms. “Let me finish, Sam. I know what you’re doing, but I’m not going to force the issue because you’re sort of right.” He rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. “The kid’s been through a lot, so I’m going to call in some favors and see if we can’t find some parents who meet your criteria. Until then, I guess this is as good a place as any for him. At least Ruth’s House is