To Love and Protect

by Muriel Jensen

  “Fine.” Pushing her never worked, though he always seemed to forget that and do it anyway. Tonight his brain seemed to be functioning. “Tell me when you’re ready.”

  “Nothing happened,” she insisted.

  “When you’re ready,” he said again.

  * * *

  WHEN JACK CALLED early the next morning, Corie knew instantly that something was wrong. “What?” she asked.

  He waited a beat then said in a cheerful voice that sounded forced, “Cassie’s father does work for Bourgeois-Berger.”

  She felt a glimmer of hope but was afraid to indulge it. “But?”

  “He went to handle a problem at their office in Bangkok.”

  “Why do you sound worried?” she asked.

  He sighed. “There was a coup there two days ago and the Paris office hasn’t heard from him.”

  “I...uh! Seriously?”

  “I wish I wasn’t serious, but I am.” His cheerful tone returned. “This is just the Manning Kids Curse. We’ve got to fight fate to be together. And that’s what we’re going to do. The company said they’d tell him I called as soon as they hear from him.”

  “I hope he’s okay.”

  “So far, it’s a bloodless coup, but martial law is imposed and the government is controlling communication and the internet. He’s probably hunkering down to wait it out.”

  “I remember him only vaguely.”

  “Sure. You were just a baby. Our mother was beautiful, and charming when she wasn’t using, and he fell in love. She fell off the program and he was fired for getting personal with a client. He left. Sad all around.”

  “Yeah. Thanks, Jack.”

  “Sure. I’ll be in touch.”

  * * *

  IN THE MIDDLE of the morning, Corie blindfolded Teresa so that she could try on the jacket she’d made her to be certain it fit.

  Rosie and the Flores girls were gathered around, enjoying the spectacle. They oohed and aahed when Corie shook out the green double-faced jacket she’d made out of a length of designer fabric she’d bought at an estate sale in McAllen. She’d added black faux fur on the collar and cuffs and was so proud of how perfect it looked on Teresa that she could have burst. She shushed the girls with a finger to her lips.

  “It’s so pretty,” Bianca said.

  Lupe put a hand over her sister’s mouth. “We don’t want her to know what it looks like,” she whispered.

  “I just said it was pretty,” Bianca protested, pulling Lupe’s hand away. “Can I tell her what color it is?”

  “No!” Lupe and Corie said in unison.

  “If Corie made it,” Teresa said, “I already know it’s beautiful, but thank you, Bianca.” Then she whispered in her direction, still blindfolded, “What color is it?”

  Corie turned a playfully fierce look in the little girl’s direction.

  “I can’t tell you,” Bianca said dutifully.

  Corie nodded her approval. She was getting good at this, she thought, seeing how well the jacket fit through the shoulders. The length of the sleeves was perfect. She’d put on toggles and buttons rather than a zipper, giving a touch of drama to the color and the texture of the fabric. The girls’ little burst of cheer lightened her mood.

  There was a knock at the door.

  Karina ran toward it. Corie, focused on one more scan of Teresa’s garment, stopped, frozen, when Karina’s voice first said softly, “Mama,” then louder and with great excitement, “Mama!”

  Corie turned toward the door and Teresa ripped off the blindfold. Lupe and Bianca ran toward Amelia Flores, a woman not much taller than her oldest daughter, who wrapped all three girls in her arms and wept with them.

  A portly man with a big smile stood beside Amelia and her girls. Joel Santiago, the Army’s father. Teresa went toward him, hand extended.

  He shook and then glanced around the living room. “Where are my boys?” he asked. “There’s no one in the front yard.”

  With a look at Corie that reflected her confusion as to why Amelia and Joel were here together, Teresa hooked an arm in Joel’s and led him through the kitchen to the backyard.

  * * *

  “I’M WILLING TO put in capital,” Grady said to Ben as they replaced the lightbulb by the back door. Ben stood on the ladder and Grady held the old bulb and handed up the new one. “I don’t have to. If you want to be a sole proprietor, that’s fine. I’ll work for you. But if you want a partner, I’m in.”

  They’d been talking about Ben’s business plan for the investigation and security agency, while helping Teresa with small chores, and keeping an eye on the boys. Christmas was a mere six days away and the kids were particularly rowdy.

  “We could call it, ‘The Brilliant Grady Nelson Agency, with Ben Palmer.’”

  “Funny. What about the Palmer-Nelson Agency?” Ben put in the new bulb.

  “Not terribly imaginative, but I like it. Sam still wants in.” Sam Wagner worked with Ben and Grady on the Beggar’s Bay police force. He was in his middle forties with a knowledge that couldn’t be found in books or even at the police academy. Grady handed up the light fixture.

  “He’d be a real asset. I’ll talk to him when I get back.”

  There was a moment of quiet before Grady asked, “Are you going back?”

  “Of course. Why?” Ben started turning the screws in place with his thumb, using the screwdriver when they were secure.

  “You seem pretty connected here. You know... Corie and all. The kids.”

  Ben put the screwdriver in his pocket and backed down the ladder. “The kids are great, but most of them will be going home by Christmas. Teresa thinks so, anyway.”

  The door opened cautiously and Teresa said through the narrow opening, “And Teresa was right. Can I open the door?”

  “Yes.” Ben moved the ladder out of the way as she walked onto the deck with a man who wasn’t very tall but looked built to carry refrigerators. He ran lightly down the stairs at the same moment that children seemed to fall off the play set. Carlos leaped off the climbing wall, Rigo jumped off a swing and Miguel and Tonio, tumbling in the gravel, looked up to see what had set their brothers in motion. All shouted, “Papa!”

  The five came together in the middle of the yard, the little ones climbing onto the man, Carlos and Rigo plastering themselves to him wherever they could fit.

  “That’s Joel Santiago,” Teresa said to Ben and Grady.

  “He came for them.” Ben was surprised to hear his thought voiced aloud. “That’s...wonderful.” He hesitated when he caught a glimpse of Soren, leaning over the clubhouse railing, looking on with longing and sadness. It occurred to Ben that if Mr. Santiago had come for his boys, Soren was about to lose his best friend.

  “Not only that,” Teresa said, “but Amelia Flores is in the house. She and Joel arrived together. They thought it would be a wonderful surprise for the children.”

  “Does it mean anything that they came together?”

  “I’m not sure. No one’s had time to explain. They wanted to see their children first.” A ragged sigh escaped her as she looked up at Soren. She made a beckoning gesture and he came down the slide.

  Everyone went back inside where pandemonium reigned as Corie helped the girls run up and down the stairs with their things.

  The boys raced up to pack. Joel put an arm around Amelia and she leaned into him, tears still streaming down her face. “Joel and I met in the retraining class you put us in touch with. He has hotel experience and I’ve cooked all my life, so a small hotel outside Fort Worth that works with the school hired us as a team.”

  Joel squeezed her shoulders. “We were feeling like a team, anyway, so we thought we’d get married before we head out there.”

  “That’s seven children,” Grady said, stating the obvi
ous. “I mean, wow.”

  Joel shrugged. “When you have four, what’s a few more?”

  “How are you going to get everybody there?” Teresa asked practically.

  Joel pointed out the window. “The hotel lent us their van. It seats nine. Perfect.”

  “That’s just meant to be,” Teresa said. She looked a little stunned, Ben thought, carried along on a tide she couldn’t stop. She’d given so much love and care to these children, and she was losing seven at once. He noticed for the first time that she still wore the jacket Corie was making her for Christmas, and a blindfold remained loosely knotted around her neck.

  He saw the same expression Teresa wore on Corie’s face as she entered with the girls. She helped them make a last-minute check of their bags and then went to get the jackets she’d made and already wrapped for them. “No opening until Christmas, okay,” she reminded. Then she hugged each one.

  The boys trooped down, Soren helping Carlos, who carried his things and Tonio’s. Soren’s football was tucked under his arm. The boys all stood together in the middle of the room, the fragile emotion making them look at each other uncertainly. It was just occurring to them that they were leaving this little Christmas haven.

  “Thanks for the football,” Carlos said to Soren.

  “Sure. I promised if your family came...” Soren swallowed and forced a smile. “I hope you really like the new place.”

  Corie gave the boys their packages with the same warning. “Not until Christmas, right?”

  “Oh! Our ornaments!” Lupe and her sisters and the Santiago boys went to the tree. Ben and Grady helped them locate their ornaments and take them down. Corie retrieved tissue and wrapped them to put in their bags.

  Lupe took a soft package wrapped in red tissue. She turned to Corie. “Can we give Teresa her present now?”

  “Yes, of course.”

  Lupe handed the package to Teresa and all the children moved a little closer. Teresa unwrapped it and smiled widely, tears standing in her eyes. She held up the apron decorated with a bright green tree made of their handprints. Corie had appliquéd a few colored ornaments and an angel at the top.

  “This couldn’t be more perfect,” Teresa said. The children gathered around her for a communal hug. “Thank you. I love it!” She put it on and Lupe tied it for her in the back.

  Carlos turned worriedly to Teresa. “What if you guys have to move? How will I know how to find you?”

  “If they do have to move,” Corie said quickly, “they’ll stay with me and you know where that is. And you can call me.” She gave Joel her contact information.

  Joel looked as emotional as the children. “I promise we will keep in touch.” He took a ragged breath and hugged Teresa then Corie. “I don’t know how to thank you for taking care of my boys. I’m so grateful. Until my friend told me about you, I didn’t know what to do.”

  Teresa wiped away tears. “That’s what I do. I’m so happy for all of you.” She opened her arms to Amelia. “Good luck. The kids are all wonderful. Have a good life.”

  Ben was suddenly aware of Rosie standing beside him, her little mouth trembling. He put an arm around her, his heart breaking for her and Soren. This had been their family for months and now, without warning, they were going away.

  Soren stood on his other side, stoically watching everyone climb into the van. Ben hooked an arm around the boy’s shoulders and pulled him closer. He knew there was nothing he could say that would soften the moment, so he simply held on.

  Everyone waved; the Flores girls and the Santiago boys hanging out the windows until the van was out of sight. Teresa put both hands over her face and Corie held her for a long moment. “This is what we do, remember,” she said bracingly. “Seven children on their way back home.”

  Grady looked as though he, too, was about to lose it. “I need coffee,” he said.

  Ben turned the kids around to follow him. “I think we all need coffee. Some of us, cocoa. And maybe cookies.”

  “And maybe bourbon,” Grady whispered as Ben joined him with the children.

  * * *

  FOR THE NEXT two days the house was as quiet as a library. Everything Corie and Ben had done to make a cheerful Christmas for the children now only served to amplify their absence—the giant tree, the tins filled with cookies, the decorations everywhere, Ben’s wonderful play set.

  Soren and Rosie used the equipment with a sort of frantic desperation, as though running from one setup to the next would help them forget that it was now just the two of them.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  ON SADNESS OVERLOAD, Corie began to formulate a plan. She had to think about something other than the quietness of the house. Her plan was a little dangerous but she felt a stirring of excitement at the thought.

  Maybe she wasn’t as ready for the new and revised Elizabeth Corazon Ochoa as she’d thought she was. Having her brother and Ben in her life did make her realize she had to approach her future differently, but she felt a certain satisfaction in the knowledge that some of her old skills could still be useful. And what Chris Norton didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him.

  * * *

  BEN TOOK EVERYONE to dinner and a movie that evening, which served as a happy distraction. But when they got home, the silence rang loudly. Soren went to bed early and Rosie stood in a window, looking out at the driveway. Ben guessed she was waiting for her father.

  He found Teresa and Corie sitting at the table in the kitchen, a piece of paper between them. If possible, their mood was even gloomier than the children’s.

  “Something wrong?” he asked, taking a chair. “Something else?”

  Teresa pushed the official-looking document toward him. “I just opened this afternoon’s mail.”

  He scanned the paper and saw that it was a signed release of some kind. Judging by the carefully worded legalese, the signatory abdicated all control over the subject, whoever it was. He kept reading, then realized with stunning pain who the subject was.

  It was Rosie.

  Her father had signed over his parental rights. A note was included saying that the job hadn’t worked out, after all, and he thought this would be better for Rosie in the long run. He had done this with the help of an attorney, who’d advised him that since there was no other family member to assume responsibility, Teresa would be hearing from Children and Family Services right after Christmas regarding moving Rosie to a formal foster home.

  Ben was at a loss for words. He turned the offending document facedown. “What’ll happen to her?”

  “Just what it says,” Teresa replied. “She’ll end up in the system.”

  “How does a man just sign away his daughter?” he demanded.

  “Happens all the time.” Teresa pushed away from the table. “So, how do we make this Christmas happy for her and Soren? What can we do to inject a little cheer into this place?”

  “Short of finding Santa, himself?” Corie added, “He could find families for them...”

  Families. Family. His family. Ben put a hand on Teresa’s as a brilliant idea began to take shape in his mind.

  “I know just the people who can provide lots of noise and good cheer,” he said. “My parents, and Jack and Sarah. What do you think? I can put them up at the B and B, and send them home right after Christmas.”

  Teresa’s face brightened. “Do you think they’d want to come?”

  “I’ll explain and they’ll be here before you can brace yourself.”

  Teresa looked around at the old but well-kept kitchen. “They can stay here if you think they’ll be comfortable. I’ve got a few empty rooms now.”

  “Perfect.”

  He turned to Corie, wondering if she would approve. She seemed concerned at first. Then, as Teresa’s enthusiasm grew, she smiled cautiously. He dialed Jack. When the call
went to voice mail, he called his mother.

  She was happy to hear from him and when he explained the situation, eight children gone home with their families, leaving two behind, she sounded as though she was already packing. “I’m sure Jack and Sarah will want to come. He won a big contract to restore the library today. I imagine that’s why he didn’t pick up. He and Sarah are celebrating. We can be on our way tomorrow. Next day at the latest. Give my love to Corie.”

  “I will. Love you, Mom.” He ended the call and turned to Corie. “Mom sends her love.”

  She nodded as though she could feel it. His mother’s love was a powerful force.

  Teresa patted his hand. “Thank you, Ben. That’s a brilliant idea. Come on, Corie. We have a lot to do to make the rooms presentable. I’m in the process of washing all the bedding, but two rooms occupied for months by children under ten will need some serious elbow grease.”

  * * *

  THE FAMILY WAS arriving tomorrow, the twenty-third. Corie looked forward to seeing Jack again, but was seriously worried about whether or not Pimental had that photo. She had to know for sure. Now.

  After helping Teresa move furniture out into the hall, she vacuumed carpets then removed them. Rosie and Soren were in the living room, watching a Christmas movie.

  “What are you doing?” Ben asked Corie, climbing over furniture to get to the bedroom doorway. She was scrubbing floors with a squeegee.

  She looked at him over her shoulder, putting a hand up to prevent him from coming farther. “It’s slippery. Teresa wants things to be perfect for your family.”

  “This is not necessary,” he insisted. “Really. My mother is tidy but not compulsive.”

  “It’s all right. These two rooms need to be cleaned, and you’ve done so much for us, Teresa wants to be sure your family is comfortable. And so do I.”

  He shook his head at her. “Again, not necessary. But, if you won’t listen, what can I do to help?”

  “When it’s time to move the furniture back...”

  “Sure. Grady and I’ll do it. Just call me. We’ll be sprucing up the yard.”