Chapter 27
Jake Hawkins
Today we were going to the orphanage that we planned to renovate. I was dressed simply in dark jeans and a light blue collared shirt, I hope what I was wearing is simple enough.
Right now, I'm in Nina's room waiting for her to finish dressing up.
"Okay, sorry, I'm done." she said coming out of the closet in simple jeans, an elegant pastel green sleeveless top, and black flats. She looked amazing...as always.
I smiled at her and stood up from the couch. "Don't worry about it. You ready?"
She smiled and nodded. "Yeah. Let's go."
She grabbed her coat and bag and we went out of her room.
Troy, my driver for today, opened the door for us. I let Nina in first and I followed.
"Hello, Ms. Maxfield." Aria, my PA, greeted from the passenger's seat.
Nina smiled back. "Hey, Aria."
"Any more stop overs, sir?" Troy asked.
"No. To the orphanage, Troy." I said wrapping my arm around Nina's shoulder pulling her closer.
After about forty-five minutes we arrived at the old, wrecked orphanage.
The iron gates were rusted and wide open. The old wooden porch was clustered with orange and yellow leaves, and toys, most were even broken.
There was a small plastic playground at the corner of the front yard. One of the swing's is broken, and so was the see-saw, and I could see some parts were already cracked. The whole thing looked very worn out.
"Hello, you must be Mr. Hawkins. Am I right?" a woman, who looked like she was in her late fifties said coming out of the front door.
I smiled at her. "Yes. I'm Jake Hawkins. I hope you don't mind that I brought my girlfriend along, she's also one of the sponsors to help relocate the orphanage."
"Oh, it's perfectly alright." She said smiling and then her eyes turned to Aria. "Oh, hello, Ms. Aria."
Aria smiled at her. "Nice to see you again, Ms. Rose." she then turned to me and Nina. "Mr. Hawkins, this is Ms. Rose Colton. She's the one who runs the orphanage."
"It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Hawkins." she said as we shook hands.
"It's a pleasure to meet you too, Ms. Rose. You can just call me Jake." I said smiling at her. I then turned to Nina and put my hand at the small of her back. "This is my girlfriend, Nina Maxfield."
"Ahh, the rightful heir to the Maxfield Empire. I've heard a lot about you in the newspapers and tv. It's nice to meet you, Ms. Maxfield."
Nina chuckled lightly as they shook hands. "It's nice to meet you too, Ms. Rose. And please, you call me Nina."
Before she could say anything else, a boy that looked about my age came out of the house. He had dirty blonde hair and light brown eyes. He was wearing a worn out plaid long sleeve shirt over his dirty white shirt, old faded jeans and old worn out Converse.
"Sorry, I had to take care of some things in the house." he said running his hand through his long blonde hair.
"Oh, Danny! Good you're here."
He walked over to us and stopped beside Rose.
"This is my son, Daniel." Rose introduced. "Well, technically, I adopted him, but not officially."
"She adopted me when I turned six. I was in the orphanage since I was four when my parents gave me away. I was one of the first few children that time. Rose raised me and treated me as her own. I grew up with her and she decided to adopt me, but we don't have papers to prove it and stuff so, anyways...as Rose said, I'm Daniel. You can call me Danny." he said offering his hand.
"Jake Hawkins. Nice to meet you, Danny." Jake said as they shook hands.
"Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Hawkins."
"This is my girlfriend, Nina Maxfield."
I smiled at him as we shook hands. "Nice to meet you."
"Alright. Well, I'm really sorry I can't tour you around myself, its embarrassing and rude of me, but I have an important place to go to right now." Ms. Rose said apologizing. "If it's alright, Danny will tour you and answer any of your questions if you have any."
"That's perfectly alright, don't worry about it Ms. Rose." I said reassuring her.
"Well, I have to go. I apologize for leaving and it was a pleasure meeting you all." she said in a hurry as she left.
"Well, let's get started, shall we?" Danny said.
We removed our coats as we stepped into the small foyer. The old faded wallpaper was was starting to peel and there were some parts that had drawings on it with crayons, torn up parts as well as stains. There were no coat hangers so we just held onto them until Troy offered to hold onto them as he followed behind us with Aria. You could hear children upstairs and outside playing and laughing.
"I'm sorry about Rose leaving." Danny said.
"It's alright. Don't worry about it." I said reassuring him.
"How many children are here?" Nina asked looking around.
"Uhm, I guess more or less, sixty? Most of them are a year old to about fourteen. I'm the only one who's in the twenties."
"Sixty?!" Nina and I said at the same time.
How could sixty children fit in such a small place? Plus there was Rose and Danny.
"We make the most out of everything we have." Danny said shrugging as he led us to the living room.
"So, it's only you and Rose who manage the house and the children?" Nina asked curiously.
Danny nodded. "There are occasionally some volunteers, but it's mostly just us."
Once we got to the living room there were toys everywhere, most of them looked really old and some were broken. There was a small couch with patches of different shapes and sizes; another old and worn out thing in the house. Of course there were drawings on the walls and a small TV on a table. There was a small bookshelf to the side and books that were either dropped or left at the bottom that were opened or closed, like they were just dropped there.
On the other side of the room was the dining area. There was about three different tables stuck together and about fifteen to twenty or so different chairs.
There was a fireplace on the side and a picture was on top of it.
I looked closer at the man and woman. They looked like they were in their early thirties. The woman was sitting on a chair and the man was behind her with his hands on her shoulders and her hands on his. There was a silver wedding ring on both their hands.
Wait a minute...
"Yeah. That's Rose." Danny said appearing beside me cutting me from my thoughts.
"She's married?"
Danny nodded. "Yeah. Her husband died a year before I was dropped on her porch. He died because of cancer. They didn't have enough money for treatment, so they just spent the time they had together normally. It's his birthday today, she's spending the day in the cemetery, that's why she couldn't be with us today."
He died cause of cancer? I feel so sorry for her. But, she's a really strong woman for putting up an orphanage alone. No wonder she left in a hurry, she must've loved him a lot.
I nodded in understanding. "So, how did the orphanage start?"
"It started with me. She was actually lonely when her husband died. They tried to have kids, but it wasn't possible for her. They were planning on adopting, but then cancer came into the picture and it kind ruined that plan."
"Why? They could've still adopted and had a child even with her husband having cancer and all."
"They didn't have enough money to raise a child and pay for pain killers, medicines and other stuff. Plus, they had taxes, electric bills, and necessities. They just wanted to spend time together and make the most out of it.
When I turned thirteen that's when she got the idea that she wanted to start an orphanage. A year after she got me she sold her home and we transferred to a small apartment. Then when she got the idea she sold the small apartment and rented this house. At first it went well, but then more kids started coming and things were kinda getting out of hand. I had to work three jobs to help with the money and she had to work two jobs till we got the idea of babysitting some of her friend's kids so she could work here and keep an eye on the other children.
I thankfully got a scholarship for the rest of my high school years, but not college. I only got through two terms before I had to stop. It was hard, working three different jobs, studying and stopping, and helping Rose, but I did it all for her and we're still here no matter how hard it's been."
Wow, this kid's been through a lot. He must really love Rose and the kids for him to be making a lot of sacrifices.
"How old are you?" I asked curiously.
"I'm twenty, turning twenty-one in a few months."
"Where'd you go to college?"
"The community college thirty minutes away from here."
I smiled softly at him. "Do you wanna go back and finish school?"
He smiled sadly. "Yeah, of course I would. But I can't, I have to help Rose with the expenses and I have work."
An idea popped into my head and I decided to just make it a surprise and stay quiet for now.
"Danny! Matty's annoying me!" I girl that looked like she was eight complained as she ran into the room pouting.
"Lainie, we have guests." Danny said, slightly scolding the little girl in pigtails as he bended down.
"Stop calling me Matty!" a boy who looked like he was twelve said coming into the room.
Danny sighed and looked at me apologetically. I just smiled at him reassuringly. Then, I noticed something.
"Hey, have you seen Nina?" I asked looking around to see that even Aria and Troy are gone.
I felt someone tug on my arm and I looked down to see the little girl, Lainie, below me.
"Excuse me. Do you mean the pretty girl?"
I smiled down at her and bent down. "Yeah. Do you know where she is?"
She smiled cheekily and nodded at me. "Yeah! But, I can't take you to her."
I scrunched up my eyebrows. "Why not, sweetie?"
"Who are you?" she said avoiding the question.
I smiled at her. "I'm Nina's boyfriend, Jake."
Her eyes brightened into excitement. "Oh! Okay! I can take you to her now. Come on!"
She grabbed my hand and suddenly pulled me. I stumbled a little cause of the shock but caught my feet.
"Lainie!" Danny scolded as she pulled me to the other side of the room.
I chuckled. "It's alright!" I said looking back at him and smiled.
We stopped by a sliding glass door and I saw Nina outside dancing with the kids.
She was inside a circle of kids as she danced with a little boy in her arms. I saw them laughing and smiling and Nina looked absolutely beautiful. She looked so happy and carefree dancing and laughing with the kids.
"She's pretty, huh?" Lainie said tugging on my wrist.
I looked down at her and smiled then looked back up and watched Nina. "Yeah, she's amazing."
Her hair was flying as she twirled. Her green eyes sparkling from happiness and her smile so bright and just showed full joy.
She would make a great mother.
"You love her, right?"
My jaw dropped as I looked down at the little girl. I opened and closed my mouth like a fish and she just giggled and ran to join them.
"You love her, right?" Lainie's little voice echoes in my mind.
A smiled crept up my face as I watched Nina.
Yeah, I've fallen in love her. After all these months. I've fallen in love with, Nina Maxfield.