"Mom, Dad," six-year old Lincoln Loud said. "Cliff is meowing at the front door. I know I'm not supposed to let him out but he seems so desperate."
Lincoln was proud of the big new word he had learned from his older sisters and he thought he was using it correctly even. Cliff the cat was meowing at the front door in a sort of inquisitive way he had never seen or heard before; not his hungry, insistent meows or his happy meows when Lincoln got home from school. Cliff seemed to think there was something behind the door and Lincoln knew not to open the door after dark without a parent present. Mr. and Mrs. Loud observed Cliff curiously as they stopped before the door in their big house's foyer.
"What is it boy?" Mr. Loud asked as though the cat could answer. He peered out the peep hole and then out the side windows.
"There's a bundle out there." Lynn Loud, Sr. told his wife and the growing crowd of kids. Lincoln had been joined by Lori, Leni, Luna, Lynn Jr., and Luan Loud.
Mr. Loud motioned for everyone to stand back then opened the door slowly. His family took another step back as a brisk January breeze blew in. He glanced up and down the front yard and the street seeing nothing.
Satisfied there was nothing hiding among the toys strewn about the front yard, he turned his attention to the basket on his front step. A stirring of the bundle and unmistakable whimper caused him to quickly bring it into the house.
"Careful, Lynn," Rita Loud cautioned. Then as she heard the sound of a baby in some discomfort but not quite enough to cry Mrs. Loud softened.
"A baby?" She asked as the children gathered around their father.
Mr. Loud gently pulled the top thick blanket back and everyone cooed in surprise as another pink blanket wrapping a baby was revealed. The child stirred and yawned and regarded them with intensity. The baby's eyes shifted from one Loud family member to another carefully.
"With you, my brown-eyed girl, You, my brown-eyed girl," Luna began to sing overcome as they all were by the depth of the child's eyes and the way the baby seemed to take in all of them. Luan opened and closed her mouth several times, for once not able to articulate a pun.
"The poor thing's cold," Mrs. Loud said. "Let's get her into the kitchen."
"How do you know it's a girl?" Mr. Loud asked. "Oh yeah, pink for girls. I always forget. Sorry about that slugger."
He directed the apology to Lincoln who more than once had been teased by other boys for having a pink hand-me-down backpack on the first day of school.
"It's okay, Dad," Lincoln was more interested in the girl baby than his recent first-grade trauma.
The clan assembled in the kitchen joined by the rest of the crew and everyone looked at the little girl in the basket.
Lynn looked into the baby's eyes then she asked, "Can we keep her? Look at those eyes! I bet I could teach her to hit a fast ball out of the park!"
"Now kids," Mr. Loud said. "We have to report her to the authorities and try to find her family but…"
He bit his lip then burst out, "Oh gosh, Rita, she's adorable and..and almost a little frightening. Can we keep her?"
He whispered in Rita's ear, "It would give you a break from being preggy for a year or two, dear."
Mrs. Loud hit his arm lightly and said, "You know we have to check with a lot of people but…but…she's beautiful."
The other Louds knew when their mother was convinced of something and cheered. Lincoln won the naming contest and the baby was named, 'Lisa'. Lisa Loud's biological parents could not be located and with a few connections soon the little girl became a legal, official and more importantly much loved member of the Loud family.
HELEN HELEN HELEN HELEN HELEN
Helen Morgendorffer stepped out of the family's small sedan and turned to the little girl in the backseat before she closed the door.
"Now, Quinn, sweetie, just wait here with Daddy for a few minutes. I have important business with this family. Daddy will tell you a story while I'm inside."
The flame-haired little girl nodded earnestly and addressed her father, "Daddy, tell me about the big mean dog again, mad…mad dog?"
Jake smiled indulgently at Quinn but addressed his wife before answering, "Helen are you sure about this?"
"Are we sure about anything?" Helen answered. The two looked deeply into each other's eyes before Quinn tugged at Jake's sleeve wanting her story.
Helen and Jake nodded at each other and Helen closed the car door when Jake said, "Looks like a nice house. Yard's a little trashed but with eleven kids, well, what do you expect. My dad never let me play in the front yard. 'Jake, you'll tear up the hosta.'"
"Yay, a doggie story," Quinn cheered.
Helen walked slowly up the Loud's sidewalk taking in the yard in the bright August sunshine. The place was certainly strewn with toys and athletic gear but everything looked clean and new and well cared for. She noted that a new looking rope and tire swing swung from a sturdy limb of a big tree.
"Whoa, look out lady," she heard a girl cry. Helen made a one-armed grab of a soccer ball out of the air with quick reflexes before it could smash into her.
"Oh, sorry ma'am," a girl whom Helen judged as just into her teens called. "I'm practicing my kicks and got a little too aggro."
"That's okay, dear, just be a little more careful." Helen enjoyed watching the girl's eyes get wide as Helen dribbled the ball a few times in her low heels and then kicked it back to her.
"You must be Lynn Loud," Helen asked the girl in an athletic jersey with the number 1 proudly displayed in front. "Your folks told me a lot about you, well, about each one of the big Loud family."
"Yes, ma'am. I'm Lynn. I think my 'rents are expecting you, ma'am."
Helen smiled at the mixture of politeness and teen slang as Lynn accompanied her to the front door.
"Mom, Dad the lawyer lady's here," Lynn shouted out loudly as she led Helen into the Loud's house.
"Lynn, dear, you're not cheering at a game. Please inside voice, remember," Mr. Loud reminded her as he and his wife came into the foyer.
"Sorry Mrs. Morgendorffer," Rita Loud said. "Lynn sometimes forgets she's inside the house not in a stadium."
"It's okay," Helen assured them as the Louds led her into the living room. "It will get me ready for when my little girl gets to be what, twelve, thirteen?"
"I'm thirteen but I play on some older kids' teams; I'm so good and they know it!" Lynn said proudly.
The adults laughed and Rita asked her daughter to go outside again while they talked with Helen.
Helen pulled a sheaf of paper from her briefcase and announced, "You'll be happy to know that the drunk who totaled your car has admitted all the fault. I'm so glad no one in your family was hurt, by the way. It seems he's trying to turn over a new leaf and long story short, to make amends he will buy you a new car. And take care of any and all legal fees. I've got all the paperwork here for you to sign, Mr. and Mrs. Loud."
As she spoke Helen glanced around the room carefully trying to hide her surveillance.
Mrs. Loud misinterpreted and apologized, "Oh, sorry Mrs. Morgendorffer, the house is always a mess with eleven kids running around and in and out. And please it's Lynn and Rita. You've been such a help in this."
"Oh no, no," Helen said. "I am just amazed that the place is in one piece; I hope you don't mind me saying. You both do a wonderful job. Lynn is a wonderfully polite energetic young woman. And it's Helen, please."
The next moment her breath caught as another Loud girl strode confidently into the room. Helen's stifled a gasp as the tiny girl turned huge round glasses up to regard her, glasses which could not hide the deepest, most aware, intelligent brown eyes Helen had ever gazed into.
"You must be Mrs. Morgendorffer, the barrister," the little girl said with a slight lisp. "I'm Lisa Loud."
A moment later both elder Loud's exclaimed, "Lisa!" as the little girl confidently climbed into Helen's lap and snuggled in all the while never breaking the lock her eyes had on Helen's.
"It's okay," Helen found herself saying. "I'm used to holding little girls."
"Can I have your stool sample?" Lisa asked causing her father to spit take the coffee he had just sipped. "I need something from outside the family for comparisons."
"Lisa! That's enough." Rita scolded. "Don't bother our guest. Now up to your room, young lady, and I don't want to hear any explosions this time."
Lisa pouted but scrambled off Helen's lap and made for the stairs.
"It's okay," Helen collected herself and bit her lip. "I can tell your family has a wide range of talents."
The last was said as a burst of rock 'n' roll guitar sounded from upstairs accompanied by a girl singing loudly and on key.
Helen turned her head away and kept down, she hoped, some tears she could feel forming in her eyes.
"Oh, no, yeah," Lynn Loud said entirely mistaking the situation. "I can smell it too. Lily had another blow out diaper. I guess it's my turn to change."
Helen and Rita made small talk until he returned and Helen tamped her emotions down until she and the Loud's got all the papers signed and sealed. They bid goodbye at the front door just as Lincoln and a friend were coming in.
LISA LISA LISA LISA LISA
From her second floor room's window, four-year-old Lisa Loud watched the lawyer get into a car parked on the street noting that a man, likely her husband or boyfriend, was at the wheel. There may have been a little kid in the back seat. Yes, Lisa concluded as she caught sight of a doll being waved around, a little girl.
As the car pulled away from the Loud's house, Lisa turned back to her instant DNA analysis equipment. Tomorrow she would apply for the patent to her new, improved DNA system but for now she had more important things to think about.
Her computer dinged and she consulted the screen. Lisa took off her glasses then and rubbed at the tears forming in her eyes.
She quickly went to the window again to catch a glimpse of the Morgendorffer's car turning a corner and going out of sight.
"Mother," Lisa whispered. "Mother. Father? Sister?"
Lisa had had her suspicions; she would retest the tiny DNA sample she had taken surreptitiously from the lawyer; and she would call in her chits from the discreet contacts which she had in the NSA but she now knew that Helen Morgendorffer was her biological mother.
"Mother," she whispered again as she primed her equipment for another go at Helen's DNA. But there was little question that she matched mitochondrial DNA with the woman who had just been in the Loud home.
"And Denisovan genes," Lisa thought looking into nuclear DNA matches. "Rare but not unheard of among northern Europeans such as ourselves."
Lisa jumped a bit as big sister Luna in the next room began a loud guitar lick, the opening riff to the latest Mick Swagger hit, Lisa thought.
"The Loud's don't have a lick of Denisovan DNA, Neanderthal genes though, of course. Figures."
"Mom," Lisa put on a brave face and enthusiastically greeted Rita who had just come into her room.
Mrs. Loud glanced around at the equipment crowding Lisa's shared room with baby Lily. Nothing looked imminently explosive although she did not understand the slightest what the things were doing. Then she looked down at the tiny bespectacled girl clutching her leg in a hearty hug.
Rita Loud had long given up trying to understand this daughter of hers but she knew Lisa's heart was in the right place. The little girl looked up at her with eyes shiny with brimming tears and Rita's heart melted once again.
"Mom, may I help Dad with dinner tonight? I had promised to show him some molecular tricks to make chocolate soufflé rise even higher and lighter." Lisa asked.
"Of course, dear," Rita said. "I was going to scold you for asking our guest such an ishy question but I think you do know better, hmm? Please, just think a bit before you let your curiosity and research get ahead of good manners."
Lisa nodded and Rita got down to let her daughter give her another enthusiastic hug before leaving her to her own devices.
Luna had thankfully stopped with the loud guitar and was just noodling away when Lisa returned to her equipment.
Lisa jumped again nearly dropping a test tube as she felt a sudden puff of air beside her. She turned to see an older sister the black garbed Lucy gazing at her with deep black eyes under a heavy mane of black bangs. How Lucy managed to appear seemingly at will and instantly anywhere in the house was a mystery to Lisa and the other Loud's, a mystery Lisa had never been able to solve.
The Loud children were composed of ten girls and one boy and they all loved and supported each other. However, with such a large crew spanning wide ages there bound to be some siblings closer to one or the other and forming tighter alliances and cliques. Lisa had observed that Lucy and Lincoln shared a tighter bond with each other than any other member of the family. Lisa could not stomach Lucy's dark, mystical folderol, however, Lisa often felt a strange bond with Lucy and she admired her sinister-seeming sister's focus and integrity.
"You are of this family and not of this family," Lucy began portentously. "The spirits tell that now you know this as well."
"I know I am adopted if that is what you mean," Lisa cut to the chase.
Lucy dropped her dark demeanor a bit. "Please, Lees, don't tell Mom or Dad or Lori or Leni or Luna or Luan or Lynn or Lincoln or Lola or Lana or even Lily that you know now. They will tell you when they know you are ready."
"I have twenty-seven patents and a PhD," Lisa stated. "I was ready months ago when I first suspected."
Lucy scowled in frustration and turned to leave until Lisa stopped her, "Lucy, I am still not used to considering people's feelings and emotions rather than nice, clean bright equations but for you, for them, I will keep my mouth shut. Sister."
The two sisters gave each other half-smiles and Lucy was overcome enough to wrap Lisa in a hug. Lisa stiffened and let it continue until she awkwardly pushed Lucy away gently.
"Please, please, I must get back to my experiments. Sis." Lisa's voice caught a bit in her throat. She could feel more pesky tears gelling behind her glasses.
"Sure, sis, sure, you do that." Lucy swept out of the room.
MORGENDORFFER
Jake and Helen drove on in silence for several blocks after leaving the Loud house. They were not familiar with the neighborhood and were soon a bit lost in the cul-de-sacs and curving lanes.
"Jake, there's a park with a play area," Helen pointed. "Quinn's been a good girl in the car this morning. Let's stop and let her play and we can talk."
"That's a great idea, Helen," Jake pulled over. "I've been cooped up enough too these last couple years. I need some outside time."
Helen and Jake sat on a bench in the shade and watched Quinn happily play. Occasionally they encouraged her as she called for attention before going down a low slide or across some toddler-sized obstacle.
Helen and Jake sat in silence for a time longer. Helen shuddered as she glanced over at her husband's bare right arm sporting a tattoo in a green so dark it was almost black. It was nothing offensive but it still made the bile rise in her throat.
"A prison tattoo. Of all things. God knows why he got it and he's not ready to talk about it yet. I'm just glad it didn't give him hepatitis or worse. Damn, damn those crooked cops and damn that rotten, ambitions incompetent assistant DA. Setting Jake up, planting evidence just because they couldn't find the real drug-dealers and they thought the Morgendorffer's were nobodies. Jake hates drugs. It took all my nascent legal training, calling in all my tiny chits and promising big future favors, but I got him fully exonerated and freed after two years in that hell hole. Worst of all, and I know Jake feels the same, we lost Daria. We had to give her up. I was pregnant with Quinn. I couldn't secure Jake's release, work full-time and have Quinn and Daria at the same time without Jake's income and presence. Mom was no help at all, damn her too. No, never mind. Can't go down that path."
"So," Jake broke the silence. "She was Daria of course. Lisa Loud our Daria Victoria Morgendorffer."
Jake buried his face in his hands.
"But she is loved? Right Helen? She is loved and cared for? We made the right choice. They probably don't remember I did a whole summer of yard work and house repair for them. I could see how much they loved each other."
"Yeah, Jake," Helen felt some moisture return to her mouth. "She is loved. I still don't know if I made the right decision."
She began to sob until Jake wrapped her in his arms and held her tightly. Quinn came over concerned and curious. She hopped up on the bench and held her Mommy too.
"It was the only thing you could do, Helen, I was behind bars then and it's far behind us now."
Jake sat up tall. He scooped up Quinn and tickled her gently until she giggled and squirmed.
"It's behind us but in front of us too. One day we can tell her; we can tell Lisa Loud that she is also Daria Morgendorffer. You said she seemed brighter than all the other Louds put together."
Helen thought a moment about the girl who had crawled onto her lap, the stranger who seemed strange in other ways too but felt so right on her lap.
She smiled hopefully, "Yeah Jake, we can tell her how much two families love her. I have a feeling that day might not be far off."
THE END
Luan is singing a snatch of Van Morrison's Brown-eyed girl.