Confused - Until Bart Met Noah - 9. The Decisions

Noah didn't take very long to make his decision. He trusted Bart and knew whatever child or children they opened their home to, they would make it work out. Two days after the previous discussion, Noah told Bart he agreed they should look for special needs children.

That decision being made, Bart and Noah began the long and arduous process to adopt. (2) Contacting Florida’s Adoption Information Center came first. That was followed by taking Orientation and Parent Preparation classes and having a Home Study completed. They were both happy when, four months after the process began, they were approved as adoptive parents.

They met with their adoption specialist to match their desires to a child's needs. Another month after their approval, they began learning about Mateo Diaz. Mateo was an 11-year-old boy from South Miami. He was a second-generation American whose grandparents emigrated from Cuba. Mateo had been in foster homes nearly his entire life. His most recent foster family had gone through some financial hardships, unrelated to fostering. So, Mateo was currently a ward of the State of Florida. His adoption chances were limited because he had been born with a partial left foot. He had a basic prosthetic foot and maneuvered fairly well with it. None of his previous foster parents felt the need to do anything more than the minimum for Mateo. Three times, he had been removed from the home due to physical abuse. Unfortunately, that abuse came from his foster siblings, twice due to his deformity.

Mateo also learned about Bart and Noah. He was curious about how two men could be married and could possibly become his parents. His curiosity did not dampen his desire to become part of a real family. Two weeks after finding out about them, Mateo was brought to their house for a visit.

Their adoption specialist, Marcel Wolf, rang their doorbell with Mateo in tow.

Bart opened the door, "Good morning, Marcel. And hello to you too, Mateo."

Bart reached out to shake Mateo's hand and welcome him into their home. Mateo tentatively gripped Bart's hand lightly, and simply said, "Hi."

"Come on in. Noah and I are ready. We've been looking forward to this day, and meeting you, Mateo."

The four of them sat in the living room and began to get acquainted. After a short while, Mateo became comfortable enough to start asking questions.

"Can I see the room where I'd be staying if I come to live with you?"

"Of course," Noah responded.

They walked into the section of the house where the bedrooms were located and showed Mateo the two empty bedrooms.

Bart explained the empty rooms, "We held off on buying any furniture until we knew who would come to live with us, so he or she could decide exactly what they wanted. We'll even let you pick the color for the walls if you come live with us."

"Really?"

Bart smiled, "Really."

Both rooms were corner rooms, with a window on two walls and a Jack-and-Jill bathroom between them. Although nearly identical, he said he'd prefer the back bedroom, so the sun wouldn't shine in on him in the mornings. After returning to the living room, Mateo asked another question.

"Why would you want to adopt me? Wouldn't you rather have a whole boy?"

That question caught both Bart and Noah completely off-guard. Noah recovered first, "Why do you say you're not a whole boy?"

"I'm missing a foot."

"That doesn't make you incomplete. Just different. Everybody has something they're missing. Usually, it's something you can't see. Like being afraid of the dark; missing a little bit of courage. You just happen to be missing something visible. It doesn't make you less of a person."

Mateo was touched by that answer, "Thank you, Mr... Sorry, I don't remember which is which."

"Hankins. And you're welcome."

"Um. So, you two are gay?"

Bart and Noah answered simultaneously, "We are."

"Doesn't that mean you like boys?"

Bart took the lead, "We liked boys when we were boys. Now, we like men, more specifically, each other."

"So, you won't try to, um..."

Bart replied again, "No, Mateo. We'd never touch you in an inappropriate way. Your body is yours. We have no right nor desire to harm you in any way."

"I had an older foster brother once that used to... well, try to make me do things."

"That won't happen here. We hope to get another child at some point, but it won't be someone who will bully you. Like you're getting to meet us, you'll meet him or her when that time comes. If you don't get along, we'll wait for someone you will get along with."

They ate lunch together and Marcel and Mateo prepared to leave, "We'll arrange another visit, if everybody agrees to it. It will last a little longer. Maybe we can include going somewhere together. Would you like that, Mateo?"

"Like a movie or something?"

"Yes, we can decide as the day gets closer. I'll take into account what you'd like to do. I'm sure Misters Hankins and Hamilton would be willing to go along with your wishes."

Bart and Noah both nodded in agreement.

"Okay."

"Then perhaps next Sunday, gentlemen?"

"That would be fine with us." Noah agreed. He'd need to arrange being off two Sundays in a row, but the reason was more than valid. His manager knew they were in the process of adopting a child.

It was early April, and the decision was to take Mateo to Anastasia Miniature Golf as part of his next visit. They all had a good time, and Mateo was happy to do something "normal" kids would do.

A few more visits and Noah and Bart were approved by Mateo. A week before the proposed move-in date, they took Mateo to a furniture and a home improvement store, to pick his bedroom set and wall color, respectively. After seeing the furniture, they let Mateo suggest where he wanted everything placed in his room. Bart gave notice at the Hotel, being told by his manager if and when he decided to return to work, he would work with Bart to get him back into a hotel.

Bart painted the walls with Mateo's chosen colors, a light blue for three walls and a darker blue for the fourth. The furniture was delivered, and Mateo became a permanent fixture in their lives.

After three monthly post-placement supervisory visits, a hearing was scheduled in St. Johns County family court to make the adoption official. The hearing was on August 4th, giving Mateo one week before he would start sixth grade at Palencia Elementary School. He would turn twelve three months later, on November 11th. Mateo Diaz Hankins Hamilton had made a number of friends by then and enjoyed his bowling birthday party at Anastasia Lanes. Noah and Bart agreed that since Bart was staying home, Mateo would take Bart's surname as his own. Mateo kept his original surname as a middle name and added Hankins as a second middle name. Nobody was interested in having hyphenated names.

But the family was not done growing. In February, Marcel Wolf called Bart.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Mr. Hamilton. Marcel Wolf here."

"Hi Marcel. Please, call me Bart."

"Sure thing, Bart. I remember you and Noah saying you were interested in possibly adopting two children."

"That's correct."

"Would another disabled child still be acceptable?"

"It would."

"Awesome. We've had another one join the ranks of orphan recently. He's currently at one of our group homes, but the understanding with the home is that it would be short-term, perhaps 3 to 6 months."

"Alright."

"I'd like to come over and discuss the opportunity with you and Noah, and Mateo too, for that matter. Is there an evening that is better for you in the next week or so?"

"Noah's working until six on Wednesday, is two days enough notice for you?"

"Yes, that will be fine. Shall we say seven PM then?"

"Yes, I think that will work."

"Great. I'll have a preliminary package for you with information about the child."

"Apparently, you don't want to share too much, you said he, but can I ask his age?"

"Yes. He's also twelve, Mateo's age."

"Fine, we'll see you Wednesday then."

"Thank you, Bart. Goodbye."

Wednesday evening, Marcel showed up right on time. After offering drinks, they sat down and got to business.

"Thank you all for taking the time to discuss this new boy. Mateo, some of what I have to tell your dads may be a little disturbing, so, if you feel like you want to leave the room, you may."

"Disturbing, like scary?"

"No. More like upsetting, hearing the things that Kryštof has gone through to come to our attention. I'll hand you each a photo first."

They all looked at their photo, quite shocked at what they saw.

"Kryštof Bartos was born with a deformed left arm. A month before he was born, his parents left the Czech Republic to come to America for political asylum. Kryštof's father was a leader in the wrong political party at the time. So, Kryštof is a natural born citizen. When he was 5, his parents started the process of getting him several surgeries to give him a little more use of that arm. While they were somewhat successful, he can perform basic tasks, but he doesn't have the strength in that arm to do very much.

"When he was 7, the political climate back home changed. Kryštof was still in the hospital, recovering from his third operation, so his parents felt it would be a good time to return to retrieve his half-sister, who had been living with her mother, Mr. Bartos' first wife. The former Mrs. Bartos had been sick and was apparently near death. I don't have those details, but Mr. Bartos was contacted to come get his daughter before the ex-wife died.

"Kryštof's parents arrived and picked up his daughter. Again, details are sketchy, but apparently, there was a bombing that killed the three of them, leaving Kryštof alone and orphaned. He's spent nearly five years in the same foster home, but, once again, his luck turned bad and while he was in school one day, his foster parents, who worked in the same office, were killed. Perhaps you heard about the shooting at Plastic Essentials last month?"

Both Bart and Noah indicated they had.

"So, that's Kryštof's story. He's had a run of bad luck and our attempt at finding another foster family that is able to take him has been unsuccessful as of this time. When his file crossed my desk, I thought of the two of you. Obviously, he'll need counseling and a lot of love and attention, but I believe the three of you would be a good match. Kryštof and Mateo would be essentially twin brothers, as he was born on November 11th, just like Mateo."

Mateo liked that, "Cool!"

Bart spoke up, "Well, Marcel, thanks for thinking of us and sharing his story. We'll obviously have to discuss this, so I won't even make any guesses as to whether we'll take him on or not just yet."

"Completely understandable, Bart. I wasn't expecting an immediate answer. But I am very happy you are at least willing to consider it."

Marcel left the three of them to begin their considerations.

Next up - "Kryštof's New Home?"