“Good Morning Raelin. Thanks for the shrimp,” the large cat greeted, trotting into the room. “Sleep well?”
“Yes, I did. How are the town cats today?” She poured herself a glass of orange juice and leaned against the counter.
“Well enough, I guess. They seem to have settled some now that we don’t have to watch every little movement. Although, they are watching the newer families somewhat closely. They do not wish for any more trouble,” he replied, nibbling on his breakfast.
“Any new cats to add to the mix?” Raelin didn’t feel any qualms about using the cats to keep track of the town folks. Her wife needed all the help that she could get to keep Leroy safe, and if she couldn’t use magic to help out, she’d used any other means possible.
“There are a few. I was actually going to head in and introduce myself to one of the newer additions. I saw her yesterday, but didn’t quite have time to make a proper introduction,” he replied, attempting to sound casual.
“Ooo, and what exactly does she look like? Is she a long haired or short?” Raelin caught the attempt to be casual and jumped on it. She often didn’t get the chance to tease her familiar.
“Long and a calico and with bright green eyes and extra thumbs. Very striking. Of course, I simply want her to feel welcome in our town. I’m told she’s a field cat that wandered over from Canal City. As the ringleader of the local cat brigade, I feel it’s my place to make her feel at home here,” he answered very matter of factly, finishing his shrimp and hopping onto the counter next to his witch.
“Well, invite her for dinner sometime if you want and I’ll make sure that we have something special for her. Does she have a name?” Raelin turned to rinse out her glass.
“I’m told it’s Tasha, but I guess I’ll find out when I meet her. What are your plans for today?” he asked, trying to change the subject. He was glad he had his fur because he didn’t need his witch to see how flushed his cheeks felt.
“I’m heading to the Foundation to go over the list of the kids that will be our first group. We need to make sure that they are from different areas of the country so that no one state can claim that we are discriminating. Then I’m gonna have lunch with Del at the Department.” Putting the glass on the drainer, the young woman headed toward the back door, grabbing her keys and the briefcase that was resting nearby.
“Well, have a good day then. Say hi to Delaney for me,” he purred, rubbing against her legs.
“Okay, see ya.” Walking down the back porch stairs, Raelin got into her truck and headed towards the Foundation.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Rae was pleased as she walked one last time around the Foundation. Things had come together really well over the last few months and she was excited at the changes around the old Kingsley estate. The interior had been redone to be less imposing and instead, exuded warmth and youthfulness that she hoped would make the incoming children feel a little more at home. The dorms had been set up with bunk beds and laptops, and a few of the larger rooms had been converted to small classrooms while the library had been cleaned out and reorganized, and now had several study stations set up for the children to work at.
She paused at a large window that overlooked what had once been a forested backyard and smiled at the sight of the now cleared land, set up with a running track, football field, and outdoor basketball court. The lake out front had been cleaned up and groomed and now had a small dock to launch a couple canoes off, and a floating jetty to swim out to near the middle.
Overall, the place was barely recognizable and while Regina Kingsley was probably rolling in her grave over it all, she knew her Father would be proud. Finally, she headed to what served as her office when she was here and started to look over the files for the first batch of children.
Looking over the list Raelin was pleased with the group. Each child had been recommended by a school counselor as someone who needed help to get their life on an even keel. None were trouble makers, just troubled youths and this would be a place where maybe they could get their life back on the right track. The witch had made arrangements with some of the towns businesses to agree to teach those who wanted a trade. The towns newspaper, a print shop, a hardware store and a few others were going to let some of the older kids work part time. All the children would have chores to do around the Foundation, but it was also important to give them a sense of self-worth by earning their own money.
The children would start arriving in a couple of days and after Raelin had a quick meeting with the counselors and the Director, she was satisfied that everything was in order. Glancing at her watch she was shocked to see that it was past noon, so she bid them farewell and headed towards the diner.
After ordering enough double BLT's to feed the Department she waited for the order to be filled and turned to watch the city scene behind her.
Mothers and children walked down the sidewalk and people lounged on benches in front of stores. Everyone was friendly and business was really picking up. She smiled at when she thought of what her father and mother would think of their town today. She hoped that they would be pleased.
Once the order was filled, she headed towards the Police Department and her wife.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Del leaned against the newest Deputies’ desk in the middle of the bullpen a smirk written on her face. “So Michaels, how was your first patrol?”
“It was great. Everyone in this town is so nice. Things seem pretty laid back around here,” the young man replied, smiling proudly.
“Yes well, that’s why we are here. To keep it that way,” Del replied. She noticed his eyes get wide as his attention was drawn elsewhere and looked up to see his gaze fixed on Raelin as she entered.
“You can tell it’s your first day here son. Pick your jaw up, you’re catching flies.” Del laughed.
“Who is that?” Michaels asked, his gaze wandering over Raelin’s form briefly. “Oh, she’s coming this way,” he stuttered nervously. Del decided to have a little fun with her rookie and said nothing as she watched.
Raelin approached carrying the bags of food.
“Hey Raelin. Have you met the new guy yet? This is Deputy Michaels,” the Chief smiled, knowing Raelin would introduce herself with her full name.
Holding out her hand, Raelin smiled at the young man. “Hi, welcome to Leroy. I’m Raelin Delacroix. I hope that you like our little town. Did you get settled in alright?”
Del watched in satisfaction as her Deputy took Raelin’s hand in a gentle handshake, a curious look on his face. “I’m settling in just fine thanks to the nice people around here. You two must be sisters then?” he asked.
Raelin glanced over at her wife who was sitting there with a smirk on her face. “Umm, no. I guess that the Chief neglected to tell you a small bit of information. She does like to tease. No, we are not sisters. The Chief is my wife.”
“Oh, uh I’m really sorry for the assumption. She didn’t tell me she was married at all, but I guess the ring should have given it away,” he apologized, a slight flush to his cheeks.
“Rule number one, and really the only one I have. You can have any woman in town you want, except that one.” Del laughed, pointing to Raelin. “Sorry Darlin’, I couldn’t resist a bit of fun,” she added to her wife.
“Just for that, I may give Deputy Michaels your double BLT sandwich. Are you hungry Deputy?” Raelin flashed him a grin.
“Hey now, let’s not be hasty. Michaels, don’t you dare take that offer. I’ll write you up for taking bribes,” Del said jokingly.
“Oh no, I’m staying out of this,” he laughed, throwing his hands up in mock surrender.
“No, it’s okay. I brought extras,” the witch handed him a sandwich. “I brought enough for Kasey and Jenny in case they were here. You’ll need to get sodas out of the machine though. Would you mind getting me a water?” Raelin placed everything else down on Kasey’s desk and spread it all out.
“You just missed Kasey, she went out on a call abo
ut some drunk making a fuss down near the pub. Jenny I guess is elbow deep in a piano composition. Kasey says she’s barely left the piano all weekend.” She walked the few feet to the soda machine and popped out a couple of water bottles. Heading back to the desk she handed one to her wife and pulled an extra chair over for Raelin to sit in. “Thanks for lunch, did your morning go okay?”
“Yeah, we’re ready to open. Everything is up and running. We’re going to be under a lot of scrutiny so I may be spending a lot of time there making sure that everything runs smoothly, but I still want to head over to the casino soon too. The partners have been calling almost every day wanting to meet with me,” the brunette took a bite of her sandwich.
“Yeah, I don’t want you to go alone though. I think it would be a good idea if at least Jessie went with you,” Del replied, taking a bite of her own lunch. She swallowed before continuing. “Besides, they probably just want to try and get your shares off of you.”
“Well, they can forget it. Dad gave me them for a reason, even if I don’t know what it is yet.” Raelin took a sip of her water.
Smiling Del gave Raelin’s hand a squeeze. “You’ll figure it out,” she looked up when her other Deputy approached.
The older man smiled. “Hey Chief. Hello to you too, Mrs. Delacroix.”
Del grinned because no matter how many times Rae insisted he call her Raelin, he never ever did. “Hi there Douglas.”
“It’s Raelin, Douglas, and I’m fine. How are things going today?” The older woman smiled at the man’s upbringing.
“Things are just fine. Just thought I’d warn our good Chief that Spaulding got the guy making a ruckus down town. Seems like he’s yelling and hollering about finding his baby. They should be in anytime now. Guess he drove into town,” he said.
“Well, you get out the paperwork to book him. If he drove in, we have to nail him for DUI. Michaels, go find out where his vehicle is and get the plates for me?” Del asked, thankful she worked with the good men she did. “Thanks for letting me know Douglas.”
“No problem ma’am. You leave things to us and enjoy the rest of your lunch with the pretty lady,” he smiled. He had been a little uneasy finding out his boss was married to a woman, but had quickly gotten used to it as he’d gotten to know both women. He gave a nod to Raelin. “Sorry for interrupting Raelin.”
“Not a problem Douglas.” Raelin turned to her wife. “How did the meeting with the Mayor go?”
“Douglas, go make sure Spaulding doesn’t need a hand,” she watched as he nodded and headed out before turning back to the brunette. “The same way they always do. Just giving himself a pat on the back for taking such good care of the town. How things were going so much better since he’d taken office and how he was excited with the growth of the town. Basically just sat and talked. I didn’t pay attention to most of it, I was elsewhere mentally,” she answered with a roguish grin, smiling around her bite of sandwich.
“Ah, and I wonder where you were exactly.” Raelin winked at her wife.
Del would have answered, but was interrupted by a commotion at the entrance to the bullpen. She looked up to see Kasey all but dragging a stumbling man into the room. He was slurring something about needing to find his kid and Del’s eyes went wide when she got a glimpse of the man. She stood abruptly, her chair falling over, cursing as her body went rigid.
“I just need to see the Chief. Gots ta find my baby ya know. She done real good these days,” the man slurred, nearly tripping to the floor and bringing Kasey down with him.
“Oh, you’re going to be introduced real soon I’m sure,” Kasey muttered, leading him towards her desk. She paused when she saw Raelin and a terrified looking Del and felt the man try to jerk away from her grasp.
“There she is. That’s my Delaney right there. Thanks for helping me find her. All dressed up in her uniform. Makes a daddy proud to say she’s his,” he stuttered, swaying in Kasey’s hold, his lack of balance not helped by his hands being cuffed behind him.
Raelin’s mouth dropped open at the man’s declaration and looked over to her wife who was frozen in place. Standing up she directed Kasey to help the man sit down before she went over to the blonde.
“Del, are you alright?” She took the younger woman’s hand and rubbed her thumb over her knuckles.
“Yeah fine,” Del answered, snapping back to the present. Pulling away from Raelin, she walked over to her father and hauled him out of the chair. “Kasey, go unlock interrogation room one. Let’s dry him up a little before we question him,” she ordered evenly.
Kasey paused torn between worry for her friend and obeying an order from her boss. Eventually she nodded and moved to unlock the requested room.
Raelin looked at the blonde worried that she was embarrassed at her father or was making sure that he was treated like anyone else.
“Hey! Why are you putting me in a room? I came here to spend time with my baby girl,” Duke Delacroix shouted out, stumbling over his own feet.
“Yes well, I might have considered spending time with you if you’d bothered to show up sober. Once again you’ve made a mess of things and I’m the one who has to clean it up. You’ll dry up a little, and then I’ll decide what to do with you,” Del answered, walking him to the room and setting him up on the floor against a wall. She didn’t want him falling out of the chair and hurting himself.
She undid his cuffs and left the room, locking the door behind her. She looked through the one-way glass at her father, a mixture of anger and shame threatening to bubble up out of her chest. She pushed it down keeping it buried under her professionalism.
“Please tell me he didn’t drive like this,” the blonde asked Kasey without taking her eyes off the man she didn’t know anymore.
“Bartender said he was sober when he came in. Jack said that he said he needed liquid courage because he was going to try to see his baby today. He cut him off once he saw that he was pretty far gone,” Kasey replied.
Raelin watched her wife talk to her Deputy, but stayed where she was. She had promised herself and Delaney that she would stay out of official business, and she would stay out of the way… for now.
Walking back to Kasey’s desk Del picked the chair up and took a seat, dialing the number for the local watering hole.
“Hey Jack? Yeah, this is the Chief. Yeah, we got him. Can you make sure he isn’t served again? Thanks buddy. Let your staff know too will ya? Great, you’re a good man.” The blonde hung up the phone and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Douglas, hold the paperwork. He didn’t drive so we’ll just let him sober up. It’s his first time in here so we’ll just let him sit in the drunk tank for a bit, then let him go.”
Raelin waited for her wife to turn to her before she said anything. “I take it you didn’t know that he knew where you were.”
“Oh he knew, I just didn’t think he’d ever have the balls to show up,” she muttered and then decided a change of subject was in order. “What do you have going on for the rest of the afternoon?”
Raelin let her change the subject. “I’m going to head over to the book store and give Evelyn a break. I should be home around five.”
“I’ll try not to be home too much later than that. Lunch was really great, thank you for picking it up,” Del said quietly, opening one of Kasey’s drawers and pulling out blank copies of the paperwork she’d need to fill out. “I’ll need to stop at the Inn on my way home, but besides that is there anything you want me to pick up on my way?”
“No, what do you want for dinner? I’ve got to stop by the store and get some groceries.” She threw away the sandwich wrappers and took the final sip of water before grabbing her briefcase.
“Whatever you feel like is fine,” Del replied. “I’ll mostly be doing paperwork the rest of the afternoon, if you need me.”
Feeling the blonde’s withdrawal Raelin smiled at the Deputies and started to walk out. Stopping beside Kasey she asked, “Do you and Jenny want to come out for dinner?”
&nb
sp; Glancing at the blonde hunched sullenly over papers at her desk, she turned to look at Raelin. “Yeah, that would be nice, but are you sure it’s a good idea?”
“I think that it will take her mind off things. Come by around seven. You want anything special?” Raelin smiled at her young friend.
“Naw, you know us. We aren’t fussy, besides I’ll do good just to drag Jenny away from that piano of hers.” Kasey chuckled.
“You tell her that I’ll have homemade ice cream, and see if that works.” Raelin patted the young woman’s hand and with a final smile for her wife, she left.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Del was silent as she drove her father to Buck’s and got a room for him. Once they were alone in his room she gave him a hard look as he plunked himself down on the bed. “You can stay here for the night; I’ve paid for the room so you don’t have to worry. You’re to go back to New Orleans in the morning. Check out is 10 AM.”
“I thought that I would stay here for a while and get to know you better. Besides I hear that you’ve got this town all sewn up and got a good deal going here,” he rubbed his face trying to appear sober, even though his head was pounding.
“Yeah, we’ve managed to clean it up okay and we don’t take too nicely to people waltzing in and causing problems. What the hell were you thinking?” Del snapped, her temper quickly starting to boil. “You want to get to know me better? I’m twenty-eight Dad, where the hell you been the last ten years?”
“I’ve been busy, and you’re never home, so you can’t blame all of this on me. There have been times when I really needed you to help me out.” Duke stood and hitched up his pants. “That’s why I thought that I would come here for a while. You can help me out and I’ll get to know you.”
“No, what you needed was for me to pick your drunk ass up from whatever bar you’d found yourself at and drive you home. That’s what you aren’t getting. I can’t help you Dad, it’s not for me to do, you need to help yourself. You just want me to support you so you can have more money to get drunk with. It’s not going to happen,” she replied, pacing across the floor. “This is the same thing we go through every time I bail you out of some problem. I don’t have time to hash this out with you again. I’ve gotta get home. I’m already late and Raelin will worry. Don’t think of causing more problems Dad, otherwise I won’t think twice about throwing you up for drunk and disorderly. That clear?”
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