On Hyde Street, there was a free alcohol treatment center, a facility specifically providing free treatment and alcohol detoxification for the homeless and those living in poverty.
The reason Jolene chose this well-known institution rather than anonymous AA-style groups was that she needed official proof of her commitment to quitting alcohol.
“How often do you drink? How much each time?”
“Three bottles a day.”
“Do you have any underlying medical conditions?”
“No.”
“Do you suffer from depression?”
“No.”
Jolene sat in the office with Emma, answering the staff member’s registration questions.
This was a nonprofit treatment center. Although she didn’t have her ID with her, because she had a child and showed a strong willingness to quit, the center quickly registered her.
After the initial screening, the staff member said: “Your alcohol problem seems quite severe, but you appear to be in good condition right now—you don’t need medically assisted withdrawal or hospitalization. We’ll arrange weekly group support sessions for you, along with regular follow-ups. You’ll also need to undergo some counseling to help manage your stress…”
This suited Jolene perfectly. After all, it was the original owner who had depression. Jolene had deliberately understated her drinking amount and frequency, and her withdrawal symptoms were relatively mild, so she could undergo outpatient treatment without disrupting her daily life. She just needed to attend one group support session per week, complete regular follow-ups, and receive counseling—then she could get her proof of treatment.
“Okay, thank you. I’ll definitely attend the support sessions on time,” Jolene nodded.
Seeing her cooperative attitude, the staff member smiled and said, “Your willingness to quit is very strong, and coming here on your own for help is already half the battle. Take good care of your child—I’m sure you’ll succeed in quitting alcohol soon.”
Jolene glanced at Emma, who was sitting quietly beside her, and replied, “Yes, for my child’s sake, I need to quit alcohol as soon as possible and work hard at life.”
“By the way, we also offer life skills rebuilding services here. If you need to find a job in the future, you can register with us too. If any good job opportunities come up, we’ll give you advice,” said the staff member, a young white woman with a kind face.
Jolene hadn’t expected the center to help with job searches too, and she nodded eagerly: “That would be wonderful—I’m currently looking for work. I worked as a live-in nanny for several years and I’m very good with children. If you come across any good opportunities, please keep me in mind!”
“Of course. We prioritize helping members who have children to care for,” the staff member said, glancing at Emma with a warm smile.
After leaving the church’s phone number with the center, Jolene took Emma and left, waiting for the center to notify her about the support sessions.
“Emma did great. It’s a good thing Mom brought you along—otherwise, I wouldn’t have made such a good impression, and the staff wouldn’t prioritize helping me find work because I have a child at home.” Knowing that Emma was still shaken from the fear that morning that Jolene might abandon her, Jolene deliberately smiled and said this.
Though she had never raised a child before, Jolene had once written a novel about raising kids. While researching, she’d learned that in a child’s eyes, their parents are their whole world. That’s why children trust their parents unconditionally and depend on them almost instinctively—no matter what their parents have done to them, in a child’s eyes, their parents can do no wrong.
So even though the original owner had neglected Emma, the moment the child thought about being separated from her mother, she completely fell apart.
“Really, Mom? Is Emma being good?” Emma looked up, a shy smile finally spreading across her little face.
“Really. Because of Emma, Mom saved time. I’m sure I’ll find a job soon,” Jolene said, patting the child’s head in reassurance.
Perhaps because she had been neglected for so long, Emma was very mature and could do many things on her own. But she was still just a child—a single word of affirmation made her instantly happy, and she forgot how miserably she had cried that morning.
Mother and daughter returned to the church, ate some bread, and continued helping the volunteers sort donated items.
The next day was Saturday. Jolene remembered Isabella had said that every Saturday afternoon, the church distributed food at a set time.
Taking Emma along, Jolene lined up at the church entrance to collect food—including some ham, milk, fruit, and vegetables.
Jolene received a large prepacked bag of food and brought it back to the basement. Mother and daughter opened the paper bag together and counted the contents: a carton of milk, two apples, two packs of dried cranberries, two burgers, a serving of chicken noodles, a can of salmon, a can of black beans, two packs of nuts, a loaf of hard bread, a portion of cheese, and two boxes of cookies.
There was a wide variety—if they rationed it, it would last them several days.
Jolene stored the items that needed refrigeration in the church’s fridge, writing her initials on them to prevent anyone from taking them by mistake. Then she took out the two burgers—one for each of them.
After eating bread for so many meals, Emma’s eyes lit up at the sight of a burger. Her big eyes fixed on Jolene without blinking, full of longing for the food, yet she waited obediently for her mother to give the go-ahead.
Jolene felt a warmth in her heart. Goodness—if all children were like this, she wouldn’t have moved to Fengcheng in her past life just to escape her family’s pressure to get married…
“Here, eat. This is food the church gives out for free to everyone. We have to move out next week, so we won’t get it anymore—but,” Jolene smiled and stroked Emma’s brittle yellow hair, “hopefully Mom finds a job soon.”
Mother and daughter sat on the edge of the bed, eating their burgers slowly in silence.
The other people in the room rarely talked to one another either. They only crossed paths at night, as everyone went out looking for work during the day.
Jolene had thought about going to Chinatown to find a dishwashing job just to get by for a few days, but after Emma had cried so miserably yesterday at the thought of being separated from her, it was clear she needed to find a job where she could bring her child along.
But where could she find such a convenient job…
After a filling lunch, Jolene took Emma out to walk around the streets and see if any supermarket stockroom positions might allow her to bring her child.
But she asked several stores in a row—the shifts ran too late, well into the night. Emma couldn’t stay up that long, and Jolene didn’t feel comfortable leaving her alone in the church dormitory. What if someone with ill intentions took her away? She might never see the child again. After all, one always had to be cautious of others.
“Mom, that convenience store we just passed said you could bring your child to work,” Emma piped up, noticing Jolene’s gloomy expression.
Though young, the child understood that her mother was having trouble finding work because of her, and she had also caught what the convenience store owner had said.
“Forget it. Their shifts are too late—they restock shelves in the early morning. You can’t stay up that late. And besides, Mom’s worried there might be bad people in the church dormitory too,” Jolene whispered in Emma’s ear. “There are bad people in this world who kidnap children, so you must never go anywhere with strangers.”
“I know! Mom said not to leave the dorm room, and I didn’t step outside,” Emma announced loudly, a hint of pride in her voice.
It was true—Jolene had indeed seen the child standing at the doorway, peeking out, but because she’d been told to stay inside, she hadn’t dared to step over the threshold.
Now, aside from the fact that this was the original owner’s child and Jolene had taken over her body, so she naturally had to look after the child for her, even Jolene herself couldn’t help but grow fond of such an obedient little girl.
“Mhm, Emma is the best, most well-behaved child in the whole world,” Jolene said, giving her a big thumbs-up without stinting on praise.
The child’s face flushed with a shy smile at the compliment, but the corners of her mouth couldn’t stop curving up with happiness and a hint of quiet pride. She straightened her back and even picked up the pace as she walked.
This child was very easy to please, Jolene thought to herself.
Mother and daughter turned in early.
Another day of job hunting passed. Since it was 1996 in the U.S., cell phone penetration was very low. Someone like Jolene couldn’t possibly afford such a luxury item.
After another fruitless day, Jolene returned to the church.
At the church office, Isabella saw the mother-daughter pair come back and said, “I went looking for you this morning but you weren’t in. Someone called for you—apparently there’s a family looking for a live-in nanny. Maybe you’d like to go for an interview?”
A live-in nanny?
The original owner had worked as a nanny for a congressman for three years. That congressman—Republican state legislator McCallis from L State—was Emma’s biological father. So the original owner had been the congressman’s mistress.
After one accidental pregnancy, Emma was born. To buy the original owner’s silence, McCallis gave her a one-time payment of $200,000 and told her to fend for herself.
For the first two years, the original owner had clung to hope, expecting McCallis to occasionally come see the child. But as time dragged on, she gradually realized she was a woman who had been completely discarded.
So she gave up on herself, drowning her sorrows in alcohol. For five years, she hadn’t worked a single day, and she’d blown through that $200,000 completely.
If she was going to find a job, she definitely couldn’t mention that five-year gap—otherwise, employers would surely ask what she’d been doing all that time.
Keeping that in mind, Jolene nodded at Isabella. “Got it, thank you. I’ll go see them now.”
“Great. I’ll keep an eye out for other opportunities on my end too,” Isabella said with a smile.
After thanking Isabella, Jolene took Emma’s hand and headed straight for the treatment center on Hyde Street.
Last time, she had specifically mentioned her special circumstances and emphasized that when they called, they shouldn’t mention the rehab center, because she didn’t want to lose custody of her child.
So today, Jolene wasn’t sure whether the treatment center had actually found a suitable job opportunity for her, or if they just wanted her to come in for the group support session.
Hyde Street wasn’t far from the church. Mother and daughter walked for about ten minutes and arrived.
“Hello, I heard from the church staff that there might be a job opportunity here for me,” Jolene said at the front desk.
The receptionist looked up her records, asked for her name, and then said, “Yes, there is a gentleman looking for a suitable live-in nanny. He requires extensive work experience, preferably with children of her own. The experience requirement is quite high—at least eight years or more.”
Eight years?
Jolene’s eye twitched. The original owner only had three years of experience. And in this country, job applications required background checks. However, she wasn’t worried about the employer contacting Congressman McCallis—he wouldn’t dare tell the truth anyway. He had been having an affair, and that could ruin his political career.
As a live-in nanny, the original owner didn’t have much education—just a high school diploma and that one job. If she could get a live-in position, then both her housing and her daughter’s accommodation, as well as her job, would all be solved at once. Once she’d saved up enough living expenses and gotten familiar with life here, maybe she could even return to her original profession.
For now, having a place to live and money for food—solving the basic needs of survival—was what mattered most. A little thick-skinnedness wasn’t shameful.
So, without batting an eye or blushing, Jolene smiled and said, “I have a five-year-old daughter. I previously worked as a live-in nanny for a Republican state legislator in L State for eight years, so I have very extensive experience. So, do you think my qualifications are good enough to go for an interview?”
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