The High Notes: A Novel(56)

Iris had an idea as she was driving back to see him again, and pulled over in the car she had rented to call Mrs. Maybeck.

“Could you give me the social worker’s number?”

“Of course.” Pattie’s neighbor was impressed by what a dedicated friend Iris was. She was back on the line in a minute with the number. Iris called her and asked if she could come in immediately, she was leaving for New York in a few hours. She had no idea what she would say, but it was worth a try. The social worker, Jennifer Paley, said she could see her in half an hour.

Iris arrived ten minutes early, and Ms. Paley was free to see her. She was in her early forties, and saw a lot of sad cases, some like Jimmy’s, of children with no relatives who had been orphaned, and foster care was the only option, others who had been mistreated or abandoned by their parents.

Iris explained that she was a longtime friend of Jimmy’s mother, and started to explain that they had toured together, and the social worker smiled and said, “I know who you are, Ms. Cooper. So does the whole country by now. I downloaded your album, it’s great.”

“Pattie Dixon and I toured together for four years, and we stayed close. She was visiting me in New York last weekend.”

“I know. Mrs. Maybeck told me. It’s a very unfortunate situation.”

“That’s why I’m here. What are my chances of taking Jimmy to New York with me, to foster him there?”

“It would be very unusual to let him leave the state, but there are no relatives to object,” she admitted. “My supervisor would have to approve it. We would have to say it’s a visit. If you would want to prolong it, we would have to have a judge sign a court order, if we had no objections. And we would have to refer it to the appropriate office in New York, for them to do a home study, if you would like to keep him with you there. It sounds more complicated than it is. You’re not married?”

“No, I’m not.”

“We’d need proof of employment, with personal references. In your case, employment wouldn’t be an issue.”

“Clay Maddox is my manager. He could vouch for me.”

“I’m sure that wouldn’t be a problem. Would this just be foster care, or are you thinking of adopting him?”

“I don’t know,” she said. “I guess we’d have to see how it works out, for him too.”

“When were you thinking of taking him? We’ve made arrangements for him on Monday. He’ll be at the neighbor’s until then.”

“I could take him with me tonight, if you let me.”

The social worker asked Iris to wait in her office, and she went to speak to her supervisor. It was an unusual request, but it was an unusual situation. She was back fifteen minutes later, while Iris thought about what she was doing. She’d never even thought of having a child before, and she and Clay were brand new. But she couldn’t let Pattie down, or Jimmy. She knew what the life of an unwanted child was like, with no roots, and no real parents. And he had no parents, the mother who loved him was gone, his grandmother would be soon, in a matter of days. He was virtually alone in the world.

Ms. Paley came back, and she was smiling.

“We’re going to call it a visit to a close family friend, and give you six weeks. We’ll get a home study done out of the New York Department of Social Services, while you send me your references and paperwork. If it’s working out and you want to pursue it, we’ll set up a hearing, and you’ll have to come back for that, or you can set one up in New York, if we contact them for you. After you foster him, with no living relatives, adoption is fairly simple, if everything else checks out. If you can’t manage it, then you can send him back to us to have him fostered here. And you’ll have to enroll him in school in September if he stays with you,” she reminded her. It all sounded sensible and reasonable, and Iris thanked her. She was shocked at what she’d just done, but it was the right thing to do, she knew it. She had no idea what Clay would say. But even if he wanted no part of it, she owed this to Pattie, and she could afford to now, even if she had to get her own apartment for her and Jimmy.

She called Clay on her way back to the Maybeck home.

“I have something to tell you,” she said in a strangled voice.

“It’s too soon for you to know you’re pregnant,” he said, trying to lighten the moment.

“Well, not exactly too soon,” she said, and there was no way around the truth. “I’m going to foster Pattie’s son for six weeks and see how it works out.” Clay was shocked into silence, and she didn’t think it was a good sign, or boded well for the future. He wanted an adult relationship, not an almost twelve-year-old as part of the deal.

“And then you’re going to keep him and adopt him after you foster him?” Clay asked her.

“I don’t know yet.”

“That’s a big responsibility. Are you ready for that?” She was young to take it on, but Pattie had been four years younger than she was when Jimmy was born. Others did it. And she could afford to take care of him.

“I don’t know that either. But Pattie loved that boy more than anything in life. He has no one, just like Boy didn’t. I don’t want him to have a childhood like ours. It would have killed her. His father vanished years ago, and has never even seen him. He was no good. His mother’s dead and his grandmother’s dying. So that leaves me. I’ll get an apartment,” she said quietly. “I’m not asking you to do this. But I had to tell you what I’m doing. Is it okay if we stay with you till I get organized?”