Beautiful story, I think every animal should get an opportunity of a great home, even those with "flaws" (permanent or temporary). Because once you have the animal, those "flaws" are not important at all! Bless you for taking Claire, she is such a beautiful kitty :))
Reposted this pic to point something out...I adopted Claire from a Petsmart, but couldn't take possession for 3 weeks, so she went back to her foster home till I could pick her up. Last time I saw her at the store she looked perfect, and when I went to pick her up to take her home...it's tough to tell here because her pink scalp looks kind of orange...that's a giant bald spot on top of her head! The foster/rescue people I think were worried I was going to pass, but I figured, aw jeez, nobody else is going to want her like this, I better look after the little monkey. It started growing back 2 weeks later. The vet reckoned it was just the stress of having the litter, and being shuffled back and forth between homes, and pet stores.