They took him in. He believed that they saved his life. The last winter, he nearly starved to death, and that was in a neighborhood with plenty for him to steal. He was certain that even his pit, which he was proud of despite its shortcomings, would leave him to freeze to death even if he somehow managed to get enough food during the upcoming winter.
Now, Todd lives with the Andersons, and sees them as a mixture of friends, caretakers, and blessings. If he were to be honest, they were all three and much more to him.
One night, in their small cabin by the river while Todd lay on the freezing riverside, the Andersons contemplated how they felt about him.
“It’s not that I think we made a mistake. He would’ve died and I could’ve never forgiven myself. I—“ Jessica began.
“Then what do you think? I’m glad that we agree that we made the right choice, but if you’re trying to convince me to send him to school again, I’ll tell you the same thing as last time; we can’t. His legal records might not even exist, and even if they do—“
“No, I see your point on that. It’s just... Raking care of him has me thinking,” Jessica said, taking a pause. “He’s the closest thing we may ever have to a child of our own.”
“Don’t say that. We will have that baby girl that we used to talk about some day, just you see. It’s not worth spoiling the present with expectations that will be met in the future,” Veronica explained.
“I understand, but I still have my doubts. I don’t know what we’re to do with him, and I don’t know how we’d ever get her. I’m just bothered is all. I know he’s only two years younger than me, but he feels like my child. Sometimes I mix up my dreams with reality and have these temptations— these temptations to take care of him as that little girl who might never exist.”
There was a long pause, thoughtful rather than awkward.
“There is something we could do,” Veronica said at last. “Do you remember that store we stopped in so you could use their bathroom on our travel up here?”
“There were lots of sto— wait, the baby store with the weird lady?”
“Exactly. ‘You’ll be here soon enough’ just seemed ignorant and creepy when she said it, but... Well, when you were in the bathroom, I was waiting by the counter. While I was there, someone who was talking to the woman gave her some money and she took them to a back room that held a, um, but strange of an inventory. It looked the same as the front, but everything seemed to be big enough to fit you or I, or even—“
“Todd!” Jessica shouted in excitement. After calming down after a second or two, she wrinkled her forehead with thought. “Would Todd really be willing to do that?”
“Maybe. Maybe not, that’s why...”