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The first time she noticed him was six weeks ago. It had been in the late afternoon while the children were on their daily walk that she turned into her bird form. She leaped out of the window. Instantly she felt the wind tugging at her feathers. For the first couple of minutes she couldn't help the joyful clenching of her stomach as if she was taking a ride on a fair -not that she would ever do something so unladylike. She released a loud screeching sound full of joy although she doubted that any human would be able to differ her various calls.
When she returned to the house her children had not yet returned so she decided to spend some more time in her bird form. She landed on the branch of the huge tree in their garden. She started to clean her feathering with her beak when she heard another bird landing next to her. Slowly she looked up to see another Peregrine Falcon sitting next to her and looking curiously at her. He took a cautious step towards her which Alma countered by taking a step backwards to get some more space between the two birds. Then the male flew off again performing movements in the sky so that Alma recognized his intention to be courtship.
'No, not with me' Alma thought and flew off as well back through the window. She then heard the voices of her children becoming louder and louder as they got nearer to the house. Quickly she changed back and slipped into her dress.
From that day on the male Falcon was sitting in that huge tree in the garden every day watching her-in her human form. For the first time she cursed the intelligence of the Falcons. She tried to limit her time as a bird for she did not want another encounter with the male Falcon. In all the years that had never happened before.
Luckily her children had not yet picked up on the Falcon's strange behavior. But that was soon to change because with time the Falcon became bolder. He chose places nearer to the house to get a better look at her. From time to time when no one was looking she tried to chase the bird away. One day she even got as low as throwing a little rock at the bird but he didn't even flinch.
One week after the rock incident while Alma and the children were having dinner the Falcon chose his place to be the window frame of the open window. Alma's eyes opened in shock and she jumped to her feet to shoo the bird away.
"Miss P, what are you doing?" Claire exclaimed. "That poor bird, you should not chase him away. He's just like you after all! Maybe he's hungry and we should give it something to eat"
"No!" Alma exclaimed. "It is not a wise idea to…to feed wild animals."
Claire narrowed her eyes and pressed his hands into her hips. "Why not? He's friendly!"
"Maybe a little too friendly" Alma answered a little annoyed but immediately regretted her words.
"What do you mean?" Olive asked. "Can I pet it?"
"Him…it's a him." Alma sighed and sat back down. Olive's eyes widened.
"He likes you, doesn't he? That is so cute!" Olive leaped out of her chair in joy.
"Olive!" Alma scolded the little child. The older children chuckled at the blush creeping up Alma's cheeks.
Little Claire looked from Olive to Miss Peregrine and back. "What does Olive mean, Miss P? Why are the others laughing? Is it something bad?" It was cute how Claire frowned in a mixture of annoyance that she did not get what was going on and worry that something was wrong.
"No, my dear, it's nothing bad." Alma sighed once more and then decided to explain what was going on. By the time she had finished telling the story some of the older children were grinning, some others were desperately trying to hold back loud laughter. The younger children on the other side were excited.
"But Miss P, why not? You could have little baby falcons!" Olive squealed.
"Olive! That's enough! I will not have 'little baby falcons'" Alma stated leaving no doubt at her words.
"Aww" Claire groaned disappointed. "But Miss P, can we keep Mr. Peregrine still?"
"Claire" Alma answered patiently. "That would not be fair. I am half human and half bird and I will- wait, what did you just call him?"
"Mr. Peregrine. Well, you are Miss Peregrine and he's Mister Peregrine!" Claire explained with a seriousness that only little children could possess.
"Yeah, I like that!" Hugh exclaimed. "Mr. Peregrine is part of the family now."
The other children nodded in agreement.
"Children, no-" Alma tried but to no vain. From that day on Mr. Peregrine sat on the window frame every day. To Alma's great relief the following spring another female falcon joined Mr. Peregrine on the window frame and only a short time later three little Falcons joined their parents. One day even Miss Peregrine considered the birds to be part of their peculiar family.