“Yes.”
She tilted her head. “Why?”
His answer never changed. “Because they belong together.”
Gloria’s gaze narrowed. “That’s a beautiful sentiment,” she said, “but sentiment doesn’t buy formula.”
Richard didn’t flinch. “I have a job. Savings. I’ll do what it takes.”
Then Gloria asked the question most people avoided saying out loud.
“You’re a white man adopting nine Black girls in America in 1979,” she said. “Do you understand what that means?”
Richard swallowed. “It means people will stare. It means they’ll face things I’ve never faced. It means I’ll have to learn.”
Gloria studied him a long time. “Learning isn’t optional,” she said. “It’s survival.”
“Then I’ll learn,” Richard replied.
The home inspection wasn’t hard because the house was messy. It was spotless. It wasn’t hard because he lacked space—he had two rooms converted, cribs borrowed, supplies stacked like he was building a fort. It was hard because it made love stand trial in a world that demanded credentials.
“Do you have help?” the inspector asked.
Richard hesitated. Vague promises weren’t help. “Not yet,” he admitted.
Gloria’s eyes didn’t soften. “Then get a plan,” she said. “A real one.”
So Richard built one. He went to church—not for comfort, but for logistics. He asked for volunteers with a voice that felt too raw to be proud. He expected polite sympathy.
Instead, an older woman stepped forward with silver hair and a steady gaze.
“I’m Mrs. Johnson,” she said. “I raised five. I can raise nine. You got a schedule?”
Richard blinked. “You’d help?”
Mrs. Johnson looked at him like she’d been waiting for someone to ask. “Babies need love,” she said. “And they need somebody who knows how to braid hair without hurting feelings.”
Richard swallowed. “I don’t even know how to hold a comb.”
Mrs. Johnson smiled once. “Then you’ll learn.”
By the court date, Richard arrived with a binder thick enough to make the judge blink—income statements, childcare schedules, pediatric appointments, emergency plans, the whole war map. Still, the judge looked at him like he was either a saint or an idiot.
“Adoption is permanent,” the judge said.
“Yes, Your Honor.”
“Nine children will change your life completely.”
Richard thought of Anne. Thought of the emptiness. “I’m counting on it,” he said.
When the papers were signed, Richard didn’t cheer. He just sat there, stunned, like someone had been handed a mountain and told to carry it. Outside the courthouse, Gloria handed him the documents.
“You did it,” she said.
Richard looked down at nine lines under his name. Nine daughters. He exhaled like he’d been holding his breath for years. “Now I just have to keep them alive.”
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