The Lucky Ones(33)
And so it began, Dr. Capello’s quest to turn a house haunted by death and darkness and rumors of madness into the ideal family home. The old pipes were replaced, of course, and all the lead-based paint removed or painted over. Capello had inherited two fortunes when his parents passed away—his mother, who despite her wealth spent her life teaching English literature in underprivileged schools, was heir to the Courtney lumber money, and his father, David Capello, had invested heavily in pharmaceutical stock that paid off handsomely in the 1980s. The hardworking surgeon is now a very wealthy man, though you couldn’t tell from looking at him. He wears scrubs at work and old khakis and sweatshirts at home.
“I’m a dad,” he says of his attire. “We don’t dress to impress around here. We dress to make a mess.” This, his eldest child says, is one of Capello’s many “dad-isms.”
Capello explains he was the sort of man married to his work, but always longed for children. As Capello dreamed that first day at Courtney’s Folly, the house is now full of children. Seven, at the moment, and all of them taken from the foster care system.
“My grandparents’ story taught me we have a long way to go to understanding and treating the causes of violent behavior. When I decided to bring foster children into my life, I knew I would help the kids no one else wanted, kids with behavior problems that made them ‘unadoptable.’ Every child’s fate is up to the luck of the draw. I won the lottery of birth—wealthy parents and a happy life. These kids lost it. All I want to do is share my winnings with them.”
But it’s how some of these “unadoptable” children ended up in Dr. Capello’s life that is, perhaps, the most incredible story. He even spoke of meeting one of his foster children through his medical practice. The boy, he explained, was diagnosed with a brain tumor, which Dr. Capello was scheduled to operate on. This same child also had extensive behavioral problems, including a compulsion to harm children and animals. Remarkably, once the tumor was removed, the child’s sight was restored and his behavior improved by leaps and bounds. Capello continues his research in this area, however, hoping to show how extreme behavioral issues are sometimes the result of trauma on the brain (from a tumor, for example) and are, in fact, treatable with surgery.
Some of the children he fosters stay for a week or a month. Others stay with him longer. Capello has officially adopted three of his foster children and may adopt more in time. “Seven at the most,” Capello said. “My van won’t hold more than that.”
Friends in the Department of Health call Capello a natural, a born foster father and even a magician. Katherine Grant, head of DHS’s foster care placement program agrees, saying, “If I had a hundred Vincent Capellos I could save every troubled child in this state. We send him our tough cases, the ones we despair of being able to help. Every lion comes back a lamb. Either there’s something in the water out there, or he’s working miracles.”
Ask Capello his secret to helping these children through their issues and he’ll answer with one word: “Love.”
Soon the legendary surgeon, nicknamed “the Man of Steel” for the strength of his hands, a boon to any surgeon, will retire to become a full-time foster father. “Surgery is a young man’s game, and I’m not a young man anymore.”
His children are counting down the days until Dad no longer has to leave at five in the morning and come home exhausted from the hospital. The sooner, the better, they say, agreeing, “Dad really is getting too old for that stuff.”
The once-abandoned and seemingly haunted house is a palace now. A children’s palace. No longer is it called Courtney’s Folly but The Dragon, a perfect name for the green-shingled gentle monster of a home that lurks at the edge of the map. When Dr. Capello is working, which is more often than he likes, three local women take turns acting as nannies to the brood—cooking and cleaning, driving the kids to school and helping with homework. But more often than not, you’ll find Dr. Capello here alone with his children, which is exactly the way he wants it.
Today seven pairs of flip-flops sit by the deck door. Every room is brightly painted and lovingly decorated. There are toys and books and beach towels everywhere you look. Anyone watching Dr. Capello grilling hot dogs on the deck while his children play in the sand can’t help but envy them. From being dealt a bad hand to holding a full house, these kids are indeed very lucky to have found a doctor, a father, a savior and a hero in Vincent Capello. But don’t try telling that to him.
“No, no, no,” Capello said to this remark. He pointed at himself. “I’m the lucky one.”
Chapter 12
Allison read the article beginning to end twice, and by the time she finished, she had to wipe a tear off her face. She’d never known any of that about Dr. Capello’s family or the history of The Dragon.
It sounded like Dr. Capello, calling himself the lucky one, though she would have argued with him if she could. She’d been miserable in that group home before a man in blue pajamas had brought her to this magical house. If her luck hadn’t run out, she could have stayed here her whole life. Maybe she would have been in all the pictures on the desk.
Allison left the office and walked down the third-floor hallway, seeing the house now with new eyes. Daisy Courtney had walked this same hall Allison walked. Did the floor creak under Daisy’s every footfall as it did for Allison? Did Daisy bathe in the same pedestal bathtub Allison had that very morning? Allison couldn’t picture it. To her this was The Dragon, a children’s home. Impossible to imagine two very ill and troubled people haunting these hallways and dying in these rooms. What room had Daisy died in? What room had Victor? Allison didn’t want to know. She could understand why Dr. Capello hadn’t told her the history of the house and his family. Madness, violence, miscarriages, poison water and a weeping woman walking the beach at all hours hardly made for a cozy bedtime tale for children. Even as a grown woman, the story disturbed her deeply.