Free Blue by Danielle Steel

worse than Charlene had said, for him to be so reluctant to see her now.
    Ginny met Charlene at Mt. Sinai Hospital as promised—she was wearing her nurse’s aide uniform. She was a pretty African American woman about Ginny’s age, in her mid-thirties. When they talked Charlene mentioned randomly that Blue’s father was white, and had the same dazzling blue eyes. The combination of his parents accounted for the light café au lait skin. Both women agreed that he was a beautiful boy.
    “Thank you for what you’re doing for him,” Charlene said with a sigh after she signed his school forms. “I hope he doesn’t let you down.”
    “He might,” Ginny said practically, “and if he drops out of school, I’ll just drag him back in again. I don’t intend to lose this fight.”
    “Why? Why do you care about him so much?” Charlene looked puzzled. Ginny was white, lived in a good neighborhood, sounded like she had a good job, and must have had a life before she met him. Charlene couldn’t figure out why she was concerned about the boy.
    “He deserves a decent chance in life,” Ginny said with determination. “We all do. Some of us get luckier than others. He has a right to an amazing life, just like everyone else. He’s still young. It can happen. He needs someone to go to bat for him, and believe in him. You’ve got your own kids to worry about. All I have is me, so I can spend some time on Blue.” There was something in Ginny’s eyes that made Charlene wonder, it was a look of deep pain, but she didn’t question her further. She just said that Blue was a lucky boy. But he hadn’t been until then, Ginny knew, and just as she had done for others, she wanted to turn his luck around and give him a fighting chance at a better life than the one he had, sleeping in a sleeping bag in a utility shed on the streets, with no one to care about him.
    Charlene thanked her again, and Ginny left, and hailed a cab on upper Fifth Avenue to go back to her apartment, where Blue was waiting for her.
    Her cell phone rang when she was in the cab. She thought it might be Blue, but when she looked, she saw it was Becky.
    “Where are you?” Becky sounded tired. At nine p.m. for her, it had been a long day, chasing all three kids and her father.
    “I’m on my way back to the apartment. I just had to meet someone to get some papers signed.”
    “For what?” Becky was half curious and half worried.
    “For Blue. We got him enrolled back in school today. He’s supposed to start tomorrow.” Ginny sounded victorious.
    “What is it with you and this kid?” Becky asked, in an irritated tone. He had been in Ginny’s life for exactly two weeks, and suddenly her whole life revolved around him.
    “Everyone deserves a chance, Becky. Sometimes it takes a village to get there. I’m part of that village for him. And actually, other than an aunt who has no time or room for him, for now all he has is me. I’m used to cutting through red tape and tilting at windmills. This boy needs someone to believe in him, and at the moment I’m it.”
    “He’s lucky to have you on his team. I just don’t see why you’re doing it. What’s the point? In a couple of weeks you’ll be halfway around the world in some refugee camp again, getting shot at by rebels, and he’ll probably be back on the streets. You pick all the unwinnable battles,” she said, with an edge to her voice. She wanted Ginny to have an ordinary life again.
    “Yes, I do,” Ginny said quietly, not denying what her sister said. “Someone has to do it, and sometimes you win.” The cab was at her address by then, and she got off the phone. The minute she walked through the door, Blue turned to look at her with a lifetime of worry in his eyes.
    “So did she sign it?” he asked. Ginny nodded and hung up her coat.
    “She did and she sent you her love,” which wasn’t entirely true. Charlene had actually never said that word to her. “You start school tomorrow,” she said