A woman's voice called in from the office area, “Luce? Where's the requisition form for classroom supplies? I've used the last one in my classroom.”
With a sigh, our Luce called over her shoulder while staring straight at the wall behind me, “I told you last week, Miss DeLancy, that I moved that one onto the network server to save unnecessary paperwork. That way you can see what is in the supply cupboard while filling out the form. I swear you are all feckin' Luddites, to the one. Get with the last century so you can catch up with this one.”
I almost snapped at her for being rude again, but the woman called back, “That's right, thank you, Luce, you're a treasure dear one.” I forced myself not to grin at the sly but satisfied look on our girl's face.
We all sort of snapped out of it when Jane asked, an impressed look on her face, “You're sure you're only eleven, Luce?” This made the girl almost visibly shrink, getting bashful as she started rubbing her jaw harshly with the back of her hand until Cal whined once. It broke her out of the anxiety cycle I was about to join, and she looked down at my dapper boy and smiled at him and started patting him with a vengeance.
Then Mrs. Johnston cleared her throat and asked us all, “Shall we begin?”
As we went through all the quirks of the Irish adoption system and the rules for the one supervised and two unsupervised full day visits with Luce, Jane had been going over the papers in Luce's file when she prompted with her chin at the headmistress. The woman only hesitated a couple of seconds before obliging.
Jane's eyes kept getting darker and darker, and she stopped at one set of paperwork that had a pink form attached. The casual outside observer wouldn't have noticed any change in her or her demeanor, but I spoke fluent Jane, and something had her incensed.
There was one surprise that our adoption lawyers hadn't spelled out for us yet. A quirk of the Irish adoption system. While they didn't discriminate against same-sex couples adopting, only one person of the couple is allowed to adopt the child.
So if this progressed the way we wanted, and we took Luce with us back to the States for the required thirteen-week trial placement period, god it sounded like we were shopping for a car, then only one of us would be her parent when the judge signed off. But then it was a simple non-contested adoption filing in the States for the other one of us to become her other mother by law.
Jane made the decision for us. “If all parties are agreeable after our time here in Belfast is done, Finnegan will be the first to adopt, and I'll just have to wait a few weeks more back home.”
I sighed and looked at her. She didn't need to be making unilateral decisions like that at the cost of her own happiness. I still loved the overbearing jerk for it. Then I got it, I looked better on paper with my income and the whole 'not being in danger every time I went to work' thing.
Luce started rocking in her seat a little as she started to rub her chin again. She blurted as we were all discussing the logistics of the visits along with Jane's requirement to meet with the local law enforcement individuals Sunday, “It's noon. The printed itinerary states lunch is from noon to one o'clock in the commissary.”
She was getting quite agitated but the women stood. “We can continue this after lunch. If you would follow us.”
I knew that Luce wouldn't always be able to have things in her life structured perfectly at all times, that there was randomness in the world, unfortunately. I know that Jane, Jessie, and Kerry had introduced a large helping of randomness in my otherwise structured world and I have adapted. So I blurted, “Why don't we go out somewhere, the five of us? My treat. I'd like to see a little of Belfast, we really haven't seen much beyond the hotel.”
Then I said to Mrs. Doyle who cocked a brow at me, “Yes, I know, it wouldn't count as a supervised visit, you wicked woman.”
I studied Luce who looked to be building up to panic and I stepped around the table to her and squatted to her eye level to say, “Things are sometimes unpredictable, making a mess of our plans. But a smart woman told me once that it was sometimes good to throw away the rules and create some new ones with new people.”
I felt Jane's hand on my back and I didn't have to look back to know she had her jerk cop smirk on her face. I'll never live it down calling her smart. I asked, “Do you understand that? You don't have to like it, just accept it as our lives are always changing before our eyes.”
She calmed a little and leaned into my personal space and whispered loudly, “I understand, it's like when the brain trust here upsets my schedule for nonsensical things.”
“Luce...”
“Miss O'Conner.”
“Sorry.”
I nodded and then whispered, “Besides, doing something random and unexpected like this can make you feel like you are being sneaky and tricksy.”
She nodded and said thoughtfully, “It would be bad, wouldn't it? Not keeping to schedule?”
I nodded back and offered a pinky. “Yes, it would. Let's go be outlaws, shall we?”
She hooked my pinky and gave one last staunch nod. I turned and cocked a brow at the two women who were just blinking dumbly at me, then they regained their composure and went into motion. Jane said smugly, “Great, I'll drive. Shall we ladies?”
Luce pried Calvin's leash from my fingers as we all filed out of the building, a dozen sets of eyes spying on us. She didn't miss any details as she slid her hand through the loop on the leash first. That was a dog walker's trick to prevent a dog from pulling the leash from your hand. She remembered from the copious amount of questions she had asked whenever we chatted.
Luce whispered to me as we all piled into the car after she ran to her room for a shoulder bag, “We can print up a new itinerary when we get back, right?” I nodded and then beamed at her when she added, “I've access to the office laminator now.”
A girl after my own heart, how in the name of all that was good and fluffy had no couples already snapped this gem up?
Chapter 6 – Supervised Visit
We had a great time at a little diner in an old stone building close to a more modern strip mall. We heard about a lot of Luce's exploits since she was placed at the girl's home, much to her chagrin. And we asked the embarrassed young girl about her impressions of events. But as we learned, what comes around goes around, and we spent most of the time answering questions about the minutia of New York City for the inquisitive Irish girl.
It was pretty dingy out when we stepped back outside. It looked as though Adam, the doorman, knew what he was talking about this morning.
I told the ladies, “Calvin needs to do his thing, I'll be just a moment, there's a little park just there.” I pointed across the road.
Luce was up on her tip toes, in Mrs. Doyle's personal space as she whispered loudly, “Can I go too?” The woman chuckled and said, “Of course.” Then before I could blink, Cal's leash was out of my hand and in hers again. Our girl was certainly enthusiastic about my fuzzy boy.
After exchanging a grin, I said, “Be back in a flash.” Then I told Luce as we looked both ways then crossed the road, “This isn't anything glamorous, in fact, it is the one thing that took me a long time to get over about my business. I'm... well I'm a little fastidious, so having to curb the dogs made me almost queasy at first, but you get used to it.”
She cocked her head as we stepped onto the lush green lawn of the little park, “Curb?”
I reached into my bag and pulled out a roll of little plastic bags and made an 'eww' face as I looked at her expectantly. Then she almost recoiled when she got it, and voiced my thoughts for me, “Eww!”
Nodding I told her, “It would not only be uncleanly, but irresponsible if a dog owner or walker were to leave it behind where others could step in it or worse, track it everywhere.”
Her repulsion got an added look of resigned understanding and she said in a faraway voice, “I suppose it only makes good sense.”
“It does.” I nudged my chin. “Go ahead an unclip him, let him wander a bit, then we'll poli
ce his gifts when he's done.”
She looked frightened at the concept of unclipping him for a moment but then relaxed a bit as she reasoned while she let our boy loose to explore. “Sir Calvin is very intelligent, and must know things, else he wouldn't have been knighted. He wouldn't run away even if he were unleashed outside.”
Her eyes widened a bit when Cal started to run toward a tree. I told her to ease her anxiety, “He's just going to water that tree.” A moment later she was ewwing again. And I told her, “And yes, Cal is very intelligent, Border Collies are among the smartest breeds.”
She nodded, knowingly, as I knew she had an almost encyclopedic knowledge of dogs, but no practical experience. Calvin was likely the first dog she had ever met in person. Though there are those dreams of an Irish Wolfhound she keeps having when she hears her mother singing a lullaby in her sleep. Those dreams are why she studies canines so thoroughly. Perhaps her family had a dog before the accident? She was only two at the time, so she doesn't remember anything before the girls home.
Now she was learning more than just the technical and clinical side of owning a dog. I told her as she looked nervous when Cal was walking along, sniffing the lawn as he moved toward the road, “He's very street smart, he lives in one of the busiest cities in the world. He won't wander into the road. But if you worry, watch this.”
I stomped my heel in the ground, Calvin's head snapped over to gaze at us, then he moved within twenty feet and snuffled the ground some more. I shared, “He responds to not just verbal, but visual commands as well. Stomping your foot gets his attention, then I give him this hand sign.” I made a looping motion with my finger. “This tells him the same as the verbal command, 'Stay close,' without bothering the people around us.”
Nudging my chin toward Cal who was trotting toward a couple who just entered the park, “Give it a try.”
She stomped her foot and her eyes went wide when Cal stopped to look back, she swirled her finger and he trotted closer to us then got distracted by a smell, and haunched. Luce and I shared a look and an “Eww.” Then she whispered in wonder, “He listened to me.” I nodded, proud of her and him.
I sighed as we walked to him as he finished up and told her, “Now the unpleasant part.” I showed her a baggie and turned it inside out. “This way you can just pick it up, like wearing a glove, and turn the bag right-side out and seal it.” I sealed the ziplock and looked around before pointing at a trash can, “And then we just dispose of it.”
She said in appreciation, “Efficient and ingenious.”
Then the rains started. Cal ran around, his tail swishing madly as he barked at the rain and tried biting drops from the air. He was always such a happy guy. I said as she dug in her little shoulder bag as I did mine, “Over here, I've an umbrell....”
Ok, I was smiling hugely as she popped open a little clear umbrella that had little cartoon dogs on the perimeter. I opened my large vibrant pink umbrella as she looked at hers. “I'm not a baby. This is the brolly the home got me for my last birthday because it has canis lupus familiaris on it. I hate it.”
I told her emphatically, “I think it looks great.”
She grinned and moved close under my umbrella, dragging hers on the ground as she whispered with a twinkle in her eyes, “I really don't hate it, I love it. Don't tell them or they'll lord it over me.” I winked in silent agreement, holding a finger to my lip. Then I told her, “Just tell Cal to heel, then let's get the soggy boy clipped up and to the girls, they look drenched.”
Luce nodded at that with a triumphant look on her face. “It's because they don't have the good sense to be prepared for contingencies.”
Looking over at my drenched wife, I snorted and whispered, “Agreed.” What? It does pay to be prepared so stop looking at me like that.
Luce called out trepidatiously like she wasn't sure it would work, “Sir Calvin, heel.”
Her eyes widened when he came bounding over and sat at her left. She was beaming as she clipped him up, and the silly opportunistic boy gave her a wet doggy slurp right up her cheek. She fell back on her butt, on the rapidly moistening grass, dropping the umbrella as she giggled and held both arms to her cheek as she wiped away the Cal lovin'.
I held my umbrella over her as she regained her composure and explained to Calvin as she retrieved her umbrella and his leash. “You shouldn't lick other people, Sir Calvin. You never know how clean they are. Well, I'm clean. There are all sorts of germs and worse that can be transmitted...” She trailed off and looked up at me, then gave me a silly toothy grin as she smoothed down her now wet dress. It was the first time I saw her actually being silly and it caused me to shoot a matching grin right back.
Then she stood on her tiptoes, a little too close again, whispering, “I love him. He's so smart.”
“We are in agreement, Cal is one of a kind. Now let's get back to the drowned rats.”
I burst out into a giggle fit when we joined the ladies, and Jane sighed out, “Of course you two were carrying umbrellas.”
My giddiness got Luce giggling too and explaining, “I'll have to teach you some sense if you're going to be my parent. Like Finnegan.”
I slipped past Jane and whispered, “Yeah, like Finnegan,” and I stole a quick kiss from her as I opened the car door to move inside, out of the rain, closing my umbrella outside after I sat.
Luce followed my lead as I heard my erstwhile detective telling the women from the home, “Dear lord, there's two of them now.” The chuckles were contagious.
When we arrived back at the girls home, between Luce and I, we kept most everyone dry in the mad rush up the steps into the building. Luce was fussing over her dirty shoes and the dirt on her dress from her tumble in the park.
They were steering us back toward the offices and I kept looking at our little redhead as her anxiety started spiking as she started pulling at her hair hard. I prompted, “Umm... why don't we let Luce get cleaned up before we go on?”
Mrs. Doyle's eyes widened and she swung her eyes to Luce, then rushed out, “Of course. Why don't we start again in a half hour? That should give everyone a chance to dry out a little.”
I looked at a relieved looking young lady and prompted, “You haven't shown us your room yet.”
Mrs. Johnston said, “What a great idea. We'll see you ladies in a bit then.”
We followed Luce as she passed what looked like classrooms, peeking in like she was making sure that everyone in the building wasn't spying on us like before. We moved back into what we assumed was the dormitory wing, and saw a nurse's station we saw earlier, but then she slowed and looked back at us.
I was about to ask when she held a finger to her lips and went through some doors down the hall from the stairs and elevator. She whispered too loudly, “Want to see something?”
She stopped at a door marked 'Nursery' and made a sneaking motion as she slipped in, Calvin at her side. I shrugged at Jane and we followed. In the room were four bassinets, one had a sleeping baby girl in it, swaddled in yellow, and in the corner was a dark-haired woman in a lavender nurses smock, bottle feeding an older baby, who looked almost a year old.
Luce whispered loudly again, “The babies live here until they are old enough to be moved into one of the two dorm rooms upstairs.” She nudged a thumb toward the smiling nurse, “That's Miss McDougal. The overbearing nurse assigned to torture us with her needles and endless prattle about how too much hand sanitizer can be as detrimental to a growing child as none.”
I was going to chastise her except the look of almost awe on her face as she looked at the baby in the bassinet caused me to hesitate. Then she said in an exaggerated low voice, “The babies don't know much. You can talk to them but they mostly just cry or gurgle and want to hold your finger. It's ok though because they are really clean. I tell them all the rules here so they know when they get older not to be like the other girls who seem to thrive in chaos. It never works.”
The nurse said in a normal, slightly amused tone, “M
iss O'Conner sneaks down here all the time to see the babies. You must be the McLeary-May's. You're a miracle, and everyone is talking about you two here.”
Luce straightened, eyes wide as she blurted, “Proprieties!” Then she rushed out, “This is Finnegan and Jane McLeary-May, and Sir Calvin... he's a Border Collie, the smartest of all canis lupus familiaris. See how his ears perk up when you say his name?”
The woman stood and walked over as she kept feeding the hungry bundle in her arms. “I can see that, Miss O'Connor.” Then to us. “It is a true pleasure to meet you.”
I was about to burst into rainbows and glitter looking at the little baby girl in her arms. Then Luce was there, tucking a loose corner of the blanket around the child, chastising, “She can catch a chill in this old drafty building, you plonker.”
“Luce!”
“Sorry.”
Then the woman chuckled. “You'll have to tell us how you get her to apologize. Don't let her demeanor put you off, Luce here has the gentlest heart but has a problem processing and exhibiting it.”
“I'm right here you old fuss-bucket.”
She put the bottle down and burped the baby as she chuckled. “Yes, you are. Would you put Sarah to bed?” She offered the bundle to Luce who started to reach for the baby then looked at her hands and almost blanched and she ran off to the door. Before I could ask, she was pulling out a half dozen sterile wipes to clean her hands and fingers meticulously.
Then she almost ran back and accepted the baby like it were the most precious thing in the world. She bent down awkwardly a bit and said, “This is Sarah Mattis, Sir Calvin. She's no family currently, so we're her family until she gets one of her own. She doesn't say anything. I don't remember being a baby, so I don't know if it is normal, or when I decided to talk. The other girls waited till they were two or three before they did.”
Cal sniffed the baby and sneezed like he did whenever he sniffed Alyx back home, I think it is the baby powder.
Unleashed- Case of the Hound About Town Page 5