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Finn nodded sagely. “I think that’s a good idea. The only problem is if she has a bad night and keeps you awake.”
Asa seemed to think about that. “Can we try?”
“Absolutely,” Finn agreed. “And I could get you some ear plugs.”
“Ear plugs?” Asa repeated in wonder.
Finn passed Asa his phone, told him the password, knowing full well he wouldn’t forget it, and he went on Amazon at his direction and ordered some squishy purple sponge ones. Which led to a serious debate about the fact that he hated blue, but boys seemed to have to like it. Finn, of course, quickly disabused him of that idea. Henry woke up while they were looking at comforters, and he wanted to see the zoo animal bedding. Then Talon and Elijah joined them, and they had an impromptu picnic on the floor with the leftovers, before reluctantly agreeing they all had to go home. Asa started crying as soon as they pulled up to his foster-mom’s and Henry didn’t look much better. It absolutely killed Finn to let them go, and be all upbeat and not drag it out, but he managed it.
Elijah was quiet, but Talon promised he would be in touch about going to the gym, and then they drove home.
“I got asked the question,” Finn said after a moment.
Talon huffed. “So did I, well one of the ones we talked about.”
Finn glanced over. “Asa couched it in ‘where did I think Zuri should sleep?’” Zuri had been in Marjorie and Clive’s room at the Reynolds. They knew the kids would want to be reassured they were all wanted, and not just as an excuse to get Zuri, which Finn had agonized over until Talon had insisted he go see Jonathan Rakeem, their team therapist. Talon had stressed the need to set up therapy for the kids, but had every confidence Jonathan would wheedle Finn’s worries out of him, especially after the phone call he’d shared with Jonathan. Jonathan had, of course, listened without commenting, patient confidentiality and all that, but Finn had seemed much brighter afterwards.
“What did you say?”
Finn repeated the conversation about ear plugs. “It might be he’s nervous as well. They all slept together at their mom’s.” Talon nodded. Finn glanced over at him. Talon was driving. Finn was too wrung out. “What question did you get?”
Talon was quiet for a second. “He asked me if he was supposed to call me Father.”
Finn’s lips parted in surprise. “What did you say?”
Talon grinned. “I said he could call me anything he liked, but that I didn’t answer to fuckwit.”
Chapter Six
The next weekend was a disaster. Yard clearing was deemed an unsafe activity. Despite at least fifteen members of law enforcement being there, and the fact that they wouldn’t let the kids actually clear anything, Elijah’s social worker, Helen Chivers, had refused permission. She’d refused to listen to any safety argument Talon or Finn made, which had resulted in Elijah throwing a fit, mouthing off at a teacher, and getting a two-day school suspension. Finn and Talon had arranged to take them out Friday night instead for burgers, and Elijah had refused to go. He’d even refused to see them to even talk about it.
Finn didn’t have a clue what to do. Henry and Asa had permission to come for the day, and while they didn’t want to disappoint them, they also didn’t want to exclude Elijah.
It was Connie and Vance who solved the problem. Vance immediately said he would go with Talon, Jacob, Daniel, and his dad and clear the dangerous stuff from the yard. The things they wouldn’t have let the kids anywhere near anyway.
Connie invited Finn to bring the two younger ones around to meet Bo’s younger brother and sister. Liam was going to a sleepover at Bo’s anyway. Connie had a large inflatable pool already set up and between them, Finn knew they could corral the four kids. Peter was around the same age as Henry, and while Ruth was a couple of years younger than that, she was very mature for her age and Finn thought it was a good mix. And as Bo was enhanced neither of the kids would even blink at Asa’s scar.
“Which social worker is it?” Connie asked, sitting down next to Finn and watching the kids splash. Finn was relieved to see Connie had insisted on flotation jackets for all four kids because he was worried about Henry having a seizure in the water. They’d talked about it before, and Connie had assured him she had every size when he’d asked what to buy.
He sighed. “For Elijah, it’s Helen Chivers.” Finn didn’t really like her and was pretty sure the feeling was mutual. She’d been on vacation the day everything had kicked off with the Reynolds, and while technically she’d done her job beforehand, Finn imagined it had been difficult to admit that this had been going on under her nose. Not that Finn blamed her for one second. Social workers on the whole did an incredibly hard job while being underpaid and overworked. He looked over at Connie when she didn’t reply and saw the set of her jaw.
Crap.“You know her.” Being a foster mom for over twenty years, there weren’t many people in children and family services she didn’t know.
Connie sighed. “She’s very...rigid. To be honest, that’s not always a bad thing, but we both know you can’t always follow a rule book with these kids. She also seems to think all foster parents work for her,” Connie added dryly.
Finn’s heart started beating rapidly. “We’ve had the home study approved, completed the course, as you know. Obviously passed all the background checks because of our jobs. We were waiting for final permission to have them for the full weekend after this, and if that went okay they could stay full time. We know the adoption hearing will take another three months after that, but—” Finn’s throat closed. He wasn’t sure how much more he could put their kids through.Their.Yes, they were definitelytheirs.
Connie just squeezed his hand. “Let me see what I can find out.” She pursed her lips then smiled. “Actually, her supervisor is coming to my enhanced foster parent meeting on Wednesday. Sheena Wright. Lovely woman.” She looked pointedly at Finn. “I don’t care what you have to do to make it, but you need to be at that meeting.”
Finn nodded eagerly. He’d been to the last one. “Talon too?”
Connie seemed to consider it. “No. Talon can be a little intimidating.” They both smiled. “Now, have you chosen a cake?”
They talked weddings for the rest of the afternoon, and when Finn took two happy kids back to the foster home, they both flung their arms around him and asked when they were going to see him again. Finn was sick and tired of saying “it depends.”
Talon looked over as Elijah practically stomped down the stairs. Adele, the group home manager, sent Talon a sympathetic smile. He promised Elijah would be back by 9pm as it was a school night. Elijah threw himself in Talon’s truck, but he nodded a greeting at Kai.
They were going to the gym. Kai was beside himself with excitement. Richard was sitting in the front next to Talon and Kai had been overjoyed to see him.
