"Rose." I spoke to get her attention as I walked into the kitchen. "Have you heard from Damon? He was supposed to call last night but he never did."
"No dear. He probably just got caught up in some work." She responded.
I nodded in response. "Okay. Thank you. Do you have any cookies I can take with me?"
"Ah, yes. Taking a treat to the young man today?" She smirked.
I had shared with Rose the information about Sterling after I dropped him off at the orphanage the other night. I needed someone to vent to about the situation and she already knew most of it. She knew Damon had a child before but was just as in shock to hear the boy was still alive. I probably shouldn't have told Rose but she was bound to come face to face with the boy. I was determined to bring him to live here with us.
"Yes. I figured it would be a nice little pick me up for him." I responded.
She dished some cookies up into a tupperware container. "Well, this is a special recipe. I made these for my children all the time and my grandchildren love them. I hope he likes them just as much."
"I'll let you know." I smiled as I took the container from her hands.
I headed outside with the cookies in hand to go meet Theo. He seemed to become more of a permanent driver for me ever since Martin found out about the pregnancy. It was nice to have someone who actually spoke to me. I think Julie was disappointed though because Cody wasn't around as often now when he was working. As far as I know they were still a thing.
Theo drove the car and we headed for the orphanage. I hoped the cookies would bring some joy to Sterling. He seemed upset about Damon just up and leaving after everything. I was frustrated by it as well but if it's what Damon needed so we could get this boy home so be it. While we waited I figured I would keep up my visits.
I scrolled through my phone and decided to send a text message to Damon. If he was going to make me check in then I expected the same from him. I also expected that he would make it back like promised. If he didn't then we had a whole different problem.
"We've arrived Ms. Bush." Theo spoke as he stopped the car.
"Thank you." I smiled and stepped out of the car.
I made my way up the steps and inside the orphanage. "Hey Ms. Bush." Emily smiled. "Sterling is just finishing up his lunch. I can take you to the lunch room if you'd like."
"I think I'll let him finish up and see him after." I responded.
Mrs. Strahm came from behind the corner and her eyes fell onto me. "Ms. Bush, it's nice to see you again."
"You too Mrs. Strahm." I spoke politely.
"Listen, I'm sorry if our last conversation was out of line. I'm just trying to look out for Sterling is all." She seemed a little nervous to be speaking with me again.
"It's fine Mrs. Strahm. If you can answer a question for me I'm willing to pretend the whole thing never happened." I wanted to know who Ava paid to make sure Sterling wasn't adopted out.
"What is it?" She asked curiously.
"Sterling's father's sister paid someone here to keep Sterling from being adopted. Do you know who that was?" I waited patiently as she answered.
"Ava Moore is his sister correct? Married to Robert Moore?" Mrs. Strahm wanted to confirm that she had the right person in mind.
"Yes." I nodded.
"It was Ms. Sims who handled adoptions at the time. Robert is a cousin of mine and he came to me and told me that Ava paid Ms. Sims to keep Sterling here, by then Sterling was about three." Mrs. Strahm explained. "She didn't want Sterling to be adopted and risk people noticing that he looked like Damon Tipton. I fired Ms. Sims right away for it, but I didn't know what to do and by then everyone who wants to adopt here is dead set on getting a baby. Which is why Sterling has stayed here."
"I see." I was surprised to hear her relation with Robert but I was glad that she hadn't held back any information. "I will see to it that Mr. Tipton gets the accurate information."
"Kaydence!" Sterling's voice interrupted the conversation. He ran over and wrapped his small arms around my waist.
"Hey handsome." I smiled.
"I'll leave you guys to it." Mrs. Strahm spoke to excuse herself. She hurried back to her office.
"Did daddy come with you?" Sterling asked as his icy blue eyes looked up at me.
I let out a sigh. "He's still gone honey. But he should be back any time. For now though, I have some cookies for you." I showed in the tupperware container.
"Let's go in my room!" Sterling grabbed my hand and led me down the hall to the room he slept in. Usually we were outside or in the playroom.
I followed behind him and we sat down on his bed. I opened the container and handed him a cookie. I took one myself and we both started eating on them. They were delicious as expected, Rose hadn't made anything that I didn't like.
"Is daddy still mad?" Sterling asked after he swallowed a bite.
"I'm not sure what he is right now buddy." I answered. "How do you feel after meeting him Sterling?" I wanted to know where Sterling stood with Damon, he also deserved to have his feelings heard.
"I don't know. I don't like how he yelled at you." Sterling looked to the ground.
I wrapped an arm around Sterling. "He wasn't yelling at me Sterling, that's just how he expresses himself when he's mad. I promise you that your daddy treats me very nice."
"How?" He had a curious look on his face.
"Well, he helped get me away from a bad man. Then he helped make sure my mom was taken care of when she was sick and is part of the reason she got better. After that your daddy helped my dream come true by getting me a store where I can make clothes." I explained the things that Damon had done for me.
Sterling nodded and listened to the good things I had to say about his father.
"I promise. You're daddy is a good man. He just needed to take a couple days to think about how to handle all this. It's a big change for you both." I spoke further.
"What happens when he comes back then?" Sterling asked.
"Then your daddy and I will talk about what we're going to do. It might take a couple days for us to get it figured out, but then you'll come home." I responded.
"Promise?" His eyes looked into mine.
"I promise." I reassured him.