A Christmas Sampler a Christmas Anthology by Andrea DiMaggio Betsy's Story He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from the LORD Proverbs 18:22

Jimmy and Betsy stared at the letter, tears streaming down their cheeks.

The paper taunted them as they looked down at the empty crib. Jimmy turned to his wife and touched her cheek.

The Generro home…Sparks, Nevada…

Dear Jimmy and Betsy,
It is with profound disappointment and sadness that I must inform you that your application for adoption has been declined. As we discussed in your initial interview, we held little hope that the agency would approve your application given Betsy’s physical condition. I want you to know that the committee considered all aspects of your family presentation, and concluded that you would be unable to care for an infant. Please be assured that the decision was not made lightly, and was made as objectively as possible. Best Regards, Georgette Edwards, Director, Second Chance Adoption Agency

“Nothing personal.” Betsy said it softly, with no bitterness in her voice.

“We knew it was a long shot.” Jimmy said as he hugged his wife. Another disappointment and rejection in a series of rejections that started the day they became engaged.

The home of Ed and Darien Generro…Sun Valley, Nevada…several years earlier…

“Are you crazy? Do you honestly expect me to approve of this…travesty?” Jimmy’s father was candid, if nothing else.

“Dad…I’m serious….” Jimmy put his head down; was this the best that he could do? He felt ashamed that he didn’t defend his wife with more fire or fervor, like he was explaining how much he appreciated Chocolate or Sci Fi or Baseball.

“I’m serious, too. You know how much we’ve looked forward to grandchildren. This is ridiculous and an insult to everything we’ve ever taught you…everything your Mother and I have held dear, and I will not hear of another word about it.” With that, his father turned and walked upstairs, leaving Jimmy speechless and ashamed.

“He said no.” Nothing more; Jimmy’s voice was nearly emotionless. Betsy’s eyes began to tear up and she put her head down. He went to lift her chin but she pulled away.

“What did you say, Jimmy? That I’m ‘authentic.’ That’s really what he’s upset about…I’m somehow like a pod person in one of those stories you write…like the evil alien impersonating a real human? Jimmy…tell me you told him you loved me? I could bear it if I knew you at least were able to tell them that…” His silence was painful.

“She probably didn’t even bother to talk to you…it was all him, right?” She turned away and rested her head against the fridge to keep from falling. She felt dizzy.

“Bets…I’m sorry…I can’t talk to him…He doesn’t listen…” He put his hand on her shoulder and she shrugged it off.

“I guess I’m not worth fighting for.” She began to cry and Jimmy once again went to comfort her.

“No, Jimmy…no…it you can’t stick up for me…this will never work…I love you, but I can’t be the only one who cares enough to try.” She turned to go and fell to the floor; red-faced with shame and sadness…and more…

At the Generro home…the following Friday…

“Dad…we have to talk.” Jimmy stood on his father’s front porch as Ed stood in the doorway; he seemed almost as put out as if he were greeting a troop of Girl Scouts selling cookies.

“WE don’t have to talk at all…YOU want to talk. But there is no need to talk, Jim…Our minds are made up, and nothing you can say will change them.

“I’m not here to change your mind, Dad. I gave up on that a long time ago. I guess I gave up on me a lot longer ago than that, Dad, but no more! I’m here to tell you that no matter what you and Mom say, I’m going to marry Betsy…I love her, and I should have said that at the beginning. She’s everything I’ve ever hoped for…everything I’ll ever need besides God….yes…” He held his hand up as Ed began to interrupt.

“No, Dad…God isn’t negotiable…You can’t tell me what I believe; only I can figure that out. And I don’t believe for one second that God rejects her…even if you do.”

“No…I mean…I don’t reject ‘her,’ if that’s what you choose to call someone like that.” Ed shook his head.

“No, Dad…it’s who she is…she’s the finest woman I’ve ever know other than Mom and Aunt Helen. She’s not just ‘someone like that,” Dad. She’s person with wants and hopes and wishes and dreams, and she makes me whole. Please don’t patronize her…you sound just like Granddaddy when he’d talk about the the guys that worked in his store…” Ed went to plead his case once again and Jimmy held his hand up.

“No…Would you have done this with Carmen when we were engaged?” Jimmy mentioned his late fiancé’, reminding his father that he had been perfectly willing to accept a girl from Argentina into his family.

“It’s no different, Dad. You and I are so much alike. We both struggle with standing up for what is right, but no more. If you can’t accept Betsy for who she is, that’s on you, and it will be your loss and Mom’s as well if you choose to reject her, because I’m going to marry her, no matter what!”

“You can’t…you just can’t….” Jimmy’s mother Darien called from over Ed’s shoulder. She wasn’t talking to Jimmy, but began to hug her husband tightly.

“He’s our son…she’s the woman he loves…I can’t stand this, Ed…you don’t have the right to decide who he marries…because none of us has the right to choose who someone will love. She’s a good girl, Ed…no matter how she started out. You hated Carmen…she was too different.”

“That’s not fair, Dar…and you know it. I just want what’s best for my son…Is that so wrong?”

“It is when you try to decide for him. He’s a big boy…he’s a man, Ed, and she’s a beautiful woman. To overcome what she has…and still be such a giving person? Come on, Ed….let it go…if you do this..if you reject her…you’ll push our only child…our….onnnnly child….” Darien began to sob; her chance at being a grandparent might come to as painful a conclusion as being a parent had when their only other child, their daughter Sylvia, had died in a horrific car accident with her husband and two girls only two years before.

“I….don’t care who or even what Betsy is…she’s going to be our daughter-in-law….my daughter….no matter what you say.” She struggled to speak even as she sobbed.

“If you push Betsy away….you push Jimmy away? I….I’ll never forgive you!” Darien held her husband tightly even as her words threatened to push him away.

“I don’t know…what to say.” He went to turn around and she held him tighter, turning her face away.

“I can’t look at you right now, Ed…I’m too angry…I’mmm sooooo sorrreee. Jimmmy…Jim….don’t let him push you apart….for …for all of our sakes.” With that she pushed away from Ed’s back and stepped onto the porch, embracing her son.

“I mean it, Ed….please don’t do this to him….please…” She put her head on her son’s shoulder and wept while her husband stood in the doorway, silent.

Spanish Springs High School…Sparks, Nevada…a few years later…

“Mrs. Generro? You have a visitor. “ The voice came over the intercom; immediate but pleasant, which seemed to indicate something good was about to happen. A few minutes later, Betsy sat in the conference room of the Guidance department while her father-in-law sat across from her.

“We need to talk,” Ed spoke with almost the same urgency as his son had spoken months before. His face was drawn and tired, as if he hadn’t had any sleep. And while it would have made sense that the redness in his eyes were from being tired, but he looked worn-out because he had been struggling with his conscience.

“Yes, Ed…we do.” Almost a whisper, it would almost have served him right if Betsy said “I told you so,” but her tone was conciliatory and welcoming.

“I need to apologize to you.” As if he had forgotten to invite her to a party or send her a birthday card, his own tone seemed almost disinterested. She smiled at him warmly nonetheless. The same person who brought such joy to his son…the same woman who blessed everyone she knew? How could she respond otherwise? Her warmth was overwhelming, and Ed began to tear up.

“I’m so sorry. You didn’t deserve my hatred….more than that, you deserve my thanks…After Carmen died, I…we worried if Jimmy would ever come out of his depression. I am so sorry for selling you so short. I know I don’t deserve your forgiveness, but I’m begging you to forgive me…I am so sorry.”

“Ed…I forgave you a long time ago…I know…I was so hurt for a while, but after what I’ve been through…It’s okay.” She pointed with a glance at her body, limited by the beginnings of dysautonomic mitochondrial myopathy; an adult onset form of muscular dystrophy.

“No…it’s not okay at all…not for me….I was more than just wrong, Betsy. I was cruel and not at all like what I’ve pretended to be. I need to hear you say it…I need to know that you know that it was wrong but that you still accept me…even if I didn’t accept you.”

“Ed…I forgive you…from the bottom of my heart. Can you grant me forgiveness…I was so angry at you and Darien….yes…because she wanted to accept me even if you didn’t…. and she never responded to my letters. Even my e-mails.” Betsy bit her lip, not at the rejection, but at her own response.

“I was so bitter for so long that I stopped reaching out, and for that I am ashamed.”

“You have nothing to be ashamed of. I persuaded her to change her e-mail address…too much junk, and she never saw your letters. It’s my fault.”

“Now you’re making excuses for my behavior. Please tell me you forgive me?” Ed stood up suddenly and walked over and leaned closer to Betsy.

“Oh…of course. A young woman and an old man…we certainly are a pair.” His tears began to flow as he hugged her.

“I’ve got to get back to work, but I’ll have Darien give you a call. Okay?” He said as he stood up and walked to the doorway. She nodded and he was gone. Betsy took a moment to compose herself before returning to her office for her one pm appointment. She wheeled her way through the rush of kids in the office suite; all to the accompaniment of, ‘Hey Mrs. Gee!’ and ‘Mrs. Gee…don’t forget about our time this afternoon!” and ‘Yo, Mrs. Generro, Happy Birthday!’

A few weeks later…

“Honey…can you come here for a moment?” Betsy called from the kitchen. Jimmy clicked on ‘save’ and walked out of his office and down the hall.

“I got a call from Georgette…now hear me out, okay?” Jimmy sat down at the table next to his wife and nodded with a smile.

“For you, sweetheart, anything.”

“She remembered…she never forgot actually how much it hurt last year…well…there’s this girl…she’s almost fifteen…PDD, you know?”

“UMMM…Pervasive…”

“Pervasive Developmental Disorder…she’s what the folks in the office call ‘sorta autistic;' same spectrum as Asperger's." Betsy said with a shrug as if to say, "understand?" Jimmy nodded.

“Anyway…she was being fostered by a couple who have since had some health issues…they can’t take care of her. She has some minor behavioral problems that the school she goes to has been really helping with…but now with nowhere to go?”

“Yes!” Jimmy laughed softly and shook his head.

“You haven’t even heard what I was going to say, and what are you laughing about.”

“You want to see if we can help her with foster care.” He laughed again.

“And? What’s so funny?”

“I learned a long time ago that I can’t argue with you once your mind is made up, and the smile on your face told me everything I needed to know. Yes…call Georgette and get the information…Oh…wait… what am I thinking…you already got the info from her.”

“If we want, I can call Kathleen Fischer at The Adoption Exchange to arrange for foster care…and get this…” Betsy started to tear up….

“Her…her name is Hope.”

The following year…Christmas Week...

“Mom…I did my homework….can I watch the Hannah Montana Christmas show?” Hope sat at the kitchen table, her books spread out in a seemingly messy pile. Kids at the higher functioning end of the autistic spectrum often have a system of their own that appears disorganized to us linear thinkers. Betsy smiled and nodded. Hannah Montana might be ‘too young' for most teenage girls, but Hope’s emotional development was a bit delayed, even at nearly eighteen, and the show was her favorite. Time enough for teen-aged hand wringing and dating and such, but for now, it was a relief that she had found her niche’ in the family.

“Mom…why does Grandpa wear a wig?” Hope laughed at the image, which got Betsy laughing as well.

“Some men wear what they call a toupee’ you know….like that Hair Club commercial you find so funny. You didn’t ask him, did you?”

“Nope…Mrs. Collins reminded us it’s not…polite…not polite to ask adults personal questions unless they are inviting…yeah …inviting them, you know?” Betsy nodded.

“Can I ask you a couple of questions?” Hope said as she walked into the living room.

“Sure…just give me time to answer each one…like we’ve been rehearsing, okay?

“Okay…Do you ….are you ever going to be….do you want to?”

“Am I ever going to have children? No honey…I can’t…She was tempted to use her ‘public excuse,” but she and Hope already had discussed Betsy’s ‘beginning.”

“Girls who are born without the right body can’t have children, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be blessed with beautiful children, right?” Hope blushed.

“Oh, Mom…you and Dad picked me…you loved me…”

“Yes we did, honey…and we do….very much.”

“Did you ever think about…do you ever wonder?” Hope pointed to Betsy’s stomach.

“A lot…it hurts, but not because we’re not happy…your Dad and I are very happy, but I do wish I could…any woman who can’t bear children…even happy mothers like me…we all feel that.”

“Do you ever get angry about …you know…the other thing?”

“I did at first…I wondered why God wouldn't take it away, but I guess …I know it’s because things happen to everybody…and it’s what we do with what we are given…” Betsy gasped as she took a breath from her ventilator.

“You’re not going to get any better, are you.” The girl began to tear up.

“No, honey, I’m not…but I think God really has a kind heart toward me. I'm doing so much better than anyone could have hoped for, and I'm not giving up.” She looked down at her body, growing more tired as the disease was taking its toll. But she looked up at the girl sitting by her side and smiled, the tears flowing freely.

“Whatya mean, Mom?” The girl tilted her head slightly while smiling, even though her own face was wet with tears.

“Well, like your Dad says, honey? No matter what we go through?" Her face beamed with joy as she noticed Jimmy walk into the kitchen, home from work. He stepped next to Hope and kissed her on the cheek before hugging Betsy.

"I know, Mom...No matter what happens, we’ll always have Hope!” She giggled and kissed her mother before running off to the family room to watch her program.

"Have I told you how much I love you?" Jimmy said as he nuzzled his wife's ear.

"Yes, but you may repeat yourself if you like."

"I love you."

Next: Lydia's Story

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitochondrial_disease
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mattie_Stepanek
http://www.adoptex.org/site/PageServer?pagename=locations_nv...