Jean set Julia in her cot for a nap, and Ted to some colouring while surgery was on. He was told he could go into the waiting room if he needed her but not into the consulting room. He was quite content with this, but Jean was sure that his contentment would eventually give way to curiosity, not today, but someday in the not too distant future.
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She was sitting in the waiting room, talking to Agnes Clasby, confirming what she had heard in town, when Ted poked his nose, hesitantly, round the door.
"Aunty Jean..." he whispered, waiting to be acknowledged,
"Excuse me, Agnes," Jean turned to him, "Yes, Ted?"
"Julia's awake, she's rattling the cot," he smiled.
"Thank you, dear," she smiled back, "would you excuse me, Agnes, I'd rather she didn't get upset."
"Of course," Agnes smiled at Jean and then to boy, "so you're Ted? Aunty Jean has told me all about you, I'm Miss Clasby," she held her hand out.
Ted advanced, and shook her hand, politely, "Hello, Miss Clasby."
"I'm here quite a lot, Ted, the doctor likes to keep an eye on me," she winked. He giggled, grown-ups didn't usually wink at him, he thought he might like her.
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It did not escaped Agnes' notice how like Lucien Ted was, in looks. Of course it was years ago, but there were rumours, well after Genevieve died. She, of course had never paid any attention to them, but perhaps she should have. A man could not be expected to be totally celibate after losing his wife; she was sure Lucien hadn't been; in the years between losing contact with Mei Lin and discovering Jean; there again, it could just be the hair colour and cut, many boys had that cut and there was no shortage of golden haired children about.
Jean reappeared with Julia, wide awake and changed. Agnes tried not to show her surprise, anyone new to town would automatically assume the children were Lucien's and Jean's, but so would the naysayers, the gossips, and they would spread rumours about Lucien if not the pair of them, again!
"Ted, would you keep Julia occupied with the toys, for a little while longer?" Jean smiled at the boy, "perhaps on the bedroom floor?"
"Yes, Aunty Jean," Ted tickled his sister's now bare foot. She drew it back and giggled, "come on, Julia."
Jean left Agnes again and put the children and some of the toys out for them, "Miss Clasby is the last patient, Ted," she stroked his head, "so I won't be too long."
"Ok," he was already making a tower of bricks for Julia to knock down.
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In the waiting room Agnes was wondering if she should point out the likeness to Lucien when Jean wandered back in.
"Lovely little lad, Jean," she noted casually.
"Yes, and," she grinned at her, "I know, he's a lot like Lucien, I had noticed, and yes, there are bound to be rumours," she sat down next to their oldest friend, "well, they are not his, they are not mine by him, of that I am positive, so we will have to just weather the usual I suppose."
Once upon a time, Jean would have worried about the rumours but it would appear that she was stronger than ever.
"Jean," Agnes sighed, "there were rumours, you know, about Thomas, sometime after Genevieve died."
"Why am I not surprised?" Jean rolled her eyes.
"I paid no attention, but..."
"If there were any truth to any rumour about Thomas, we'd rather hear it from you, Agnes," Jean hummed, effectively giving Agnes the go ahead to do some digging. "But he can't be Thomas' son, he could be his grandson, I suppose, but for the length of time I worked for Thomas there was never any indication he was seeing a woman, and nobody came to the house to see him other than patients, and there was no odd bequest in his will. If he had fathered a child he would have made sure they were alright, financially."
"What is the boy's surname?"
"Ramsay," Jean answered, "the father anyway, I've no idea about the mother, though she has been beaten by him." She told Agnes where they lived.
"Right, not the most salubrious of areas," Agnes said, thoughtfully, Thomas would have had an affair with someone of his own social standing.
Lucien chose that moment to call her through so they had no chance to finish the conversation but both knew that Lucien should not be told, yet. There could be nothing in it, anyway.
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Over the next few days they settled into routines with the children. Jean didn't hear from Agnes but was not bothered. Agnes would bring the whole story, if there was one, or nothing. Ted proved to be a quiet child, but Jean noticed he listened to the answer when he asked a question. As he had not been enrolled in school she was looking into which one would be the most suitable, but in the meantime she decided half an hour each day to start to learn his letters and numbers would be a good idea. The wooden letters in the box proved not to be a complete alphabet so on one of her shopping trips she picked up another set and a set of numbers, too. She made a game out of putting the letters in the right order and then singing the alphabet song, and she used a combination of the toy cars he had and the wooden numbers to help him learn to count and recognise written numbers. She also found a lined notepad and encouraged him to copy out the letters and write his name. The clock proved useful to teach him to tell the time, in fact he did so well that Lucien remarked she should have been a teacher.
"Just doing what I did with my boys," she shrugged her shoulders and carried on cooking the evening meal, "but he is quite bright, certainly ready to learn."
"Well, we should encourage it," he agreed, starting to set the table for her.
"We should, so you can read to him tonight," Jean tasted the sauce, "run your fingers under the words as you read, that way he will come to recognise them."
"Is that what you do?"
"Yes, and he's coming along. I don't want him to be too far behind his class mates when he starts school."
"Any decision, which I apologise for leaving you to sort out?" he moved behind her and wrapped his arms round her waist, nibbling her earlobe.
"Not St Patrick's," she giggled softly, "a little too, well... I just don't feel it is the right school for him. Perhaps Dana Street, it's small, I think he'd prefer something like that. I have a meeting booked with the principal tomorrow, if you're free. I'm taking Ted of course."
"Nothing planned, and I'm sure Alice can handle autopsy if needed," he kissed the back of her neck, "I suppose I should make it up to you, you know, leaving it to you, again!"
"I'm sure I can think of a way," she smirked.
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The children in bed, Jean sat on the couch and picked up her knitting, something for Julia, Lucien supposed. Whatever it was, was pink and lacy.
"Lucien," she lifted her head, "you looked a little, well, grumpy, when you came in, earlier. Was there something wrong?"
"Hm? Well, I didn't want to say anything in front of Ted, but it was his father," Lucien kept his voice low and shifted over to sit by her on the couch.
"Oh?" Jean put her knitting down, feeling she needed to concentrate.
"Well, he's an habitual drunk, that we know, violent to his wife and children, but it was something he said," he took a swallow of his whisky, "that Ted isn't his. He wasn't very complimentary about Pat, his wife. Said she got pregnant then told him about Ted. Julia is his but he doesn't care for her. Didn't want children, felt trapped."
"Oh," she breathed again, not sure what to make of this development.
"He says Pat is illegitimate too," he sipped his whisky again not noticing Jean's shocked expression.
"Does he know who her parents were?" Jean hesitated to ask.
"No, her mother, yes, a well to do lady who had an affair, but he doesn't know who with," he leant back, "just that she was thrown out by her husband and lived in a rundown area of Melbourne, Fitzroy, he thinks. Raised Pat there but told her, her family were in Ballarat. He met her in a brothel..."
Jean looked at him, now would be a good time for Agnes to ring and fill in the gaps, but somehow she didn't see Thomas abandoning his extra family, not completely.
"It's all dreadfully sad, Lucien," she sighed, "what are you going to do?"
"Now?" he turned and grinned, "now, I'm going to carry this wonderful, sexy woman I know, to bed, and ravish her senseless." He removed her knitting from her hands and swept her up into her arms, she giggled, that glorious, sexy giggle she had and wrapped her arms round his neck.
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Jean stretched and sighed, she quite liked being ravished senseless by this handsome doctor she knew. She smirked at the sight of her underwear draped over the footboard of the bed, where Lucien had probably lazily dropped it when he undressed her last night. His side of the bed was empty so she assumed he had gone to make the tea and check the children were still asleep, as he had taken to doing. She slipped out of bed and hastily picked up the discarded clothing and dropping it quickly into the laundry basket before getting back into bed and pulling the sheet up over her breasts. She was sitting, resting against the pillows when he returned with the tea tray.
"Why, Dr Blake," she teased, " how kind of you."
"The least I could do," he winked, "now, the children are playing in the bedroom so..."
"...we've overslept," she smirked, "can't understand why."
"No," he put the tray on the end of the end of the bed and reached over for her nightdress, "just in case we have little visitors."
She noticed he had his pyjama trousers on, so pulled her nightdress over her head and reached over to pour the tea. The downside of having children, if she remembered rightly, was the chance they would be interrupted if they fancied a little early morning love making. Then she thought of Ted and Julia and decided it was a small price to pay for what they had.
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"Come on, Ted," Jean called him through from the living room, "we need to go to see the school now."
Ted walked slowly through to the hall, Jean was just strapping Julia into the stroller, and Lucien was holding his coat ready.
"Aunty Jean," he pushed his hands into the pockets of his trousers, "school..."
"Yes, Ted," she could see the worry on his face, "what are you worried about?"
"Well, dad," he let Lucien help him into his coat, "he said he used to get the cane when he was at school 'n you said..."
"...you will not get the cane, Ted," Lucien put his hands on his shoulders and looked him square in the face, "as long as you behave yourself, work hard and don't get into fights. But, I'll let you into a secret, I got the cane too, for fighting."
"You did?!" Ted's eyebrows nearly hit his hairline, "really?"
"I'm sorry to say, I did," Lucien looked contrite, "my father was most displeased."
"Right," Ted thought, "so, no fighting?"
"No fighting, Ted," the doctor smiled, "but if anyone upsets you, you turn away and tell us at the end of the day. It's not weak, to turn away, in fact, it takes a great deal of strength, and we believe in you."
Ted flung his arms round Lucien, determined to try his very best to make the doctor and Aunty Jean proud of him.
Both Lucien and Jean knew that the words were somewhat hard for the boy to understand, just yet, but, deep down, with guidance he would do his very best. Fights were bound to happen but Jean had decided they would see if the school could watch over him just that little bit more than they would for another child, given his troubled background and the ribbing he was likely to get from other boys.
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The principal, a Mr Mountfield, was a genial, large gentleman with a generous smile under a magnificent handlebar moustache. He was not known to either Jean or Lucien having moved to Australia after a long career teaching in England. His office walls were decorated with examples of the children's drawings and in a cabinet was a cricket trophy.
He looked at the family before him, the wife, Mrs Blake, had told him a little of the circumstances of Ted's life and privately he had applauded them for their generosity; Dr Blake he had heard of, through the grapevine, and thought he sounded like an interesting man who he would like to get to know better. Ted looked terrified, so his first job was to put the boy at ease.
"Now, Edward, Ted, I believe they call you..." he smiled gently at him.
Ted nodded and shifted even closer to Lucien, if that were at all possible.
"... not been to school before, eh?"
He shook his head and looked down, as if he was ashamed. Lucien put his hand on his shoulder.
"Well, lad, we're a friendly bunch here," Mr Mountfield sat forward in his chair and leant on his elbows, "no fighting, and if there is we stop it. Can't remember the last time we had to use the cane, but we do expect good behaviour and hard work. Mrs Blake says she has been teaching you your letters and numbers..." he waited for the boy to confirm this.
"Yes, sir," Ted whispered.
"How has that been going?"
"Ok, I think," Ted looked at Jean for support.
"Ted has caught on rather well, I think," she smiled, "I think he would be better in a class of children of his own age, though, in spite of being a little behind them. The doctor and I are willing to help him catch up."
"Marvellous," the principal pushed himself up, "shall we go for a wander round, show you which class you would be in and some of the work they have been doing?"
Ted stuck close to Lucien as they wandered through the bright corridors of the school, the walls were lined with displays of the children's work on such topics as history and geography.
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Mr Mountfield stopped at a door labelled 'Class 2'. He knocked and waited to be admitted by the teacher.
"Ah, Miss Burns," the children in the class stood up behind their desks, "good morning, and good morning Class 2," he smiled.
The class chorused their 'good morning' and he motioned them to sit down. All the desks seated two children and were facing the front where a series of addition problems were written on the board.
"This is Ted, Miss Burns," he indicated the boy, "we are hoping to welcome him to our school very soon, and I thought your class would be just the place for him."
"We'd be delighted to have a new friend, wouldn't we, children," she was young, reminded Jean a bit of Mattie, the way she did her hair and the welcoming smile.
"Yes, Miss Burns," several children agreed, which gave Ted some hope. He looked round the class then up at the walls where several pictures and good thoughts; that he couldn't read, yet; hung.
"Perhaps we could arrange a meeting with you and Dr and Mrs Blake before he starts," Mr Mountfield suggested, "then you can set a work programme for him."
"I think that's a very good idea," she nodded, there was more to this than met the eye, she thought, usually new children just slotted into the class, joined in and learned on the go. Perhaps the children were adopted, though the two adults didn't look young enough for that, and she looked a little mature for having children of this age. Never mind, it would all become clear, soon, she thought.
"Perhaps, Miss Burns, you would like to call one evening after school, we could talk then?" Jean suggested, it would be so much easier to explain over tea and biscuits, while the children played.
"Now, that sounds like a lovely idea," she smiled, already warming to the couple.
"I'll leave the number with Mr Mountfield," Jean continued, "call anytime."
"Lovely," Mr Mountfield smiled, "now, Ted, let's have a look at the playground and sports field, eh?"
Outside was a good sized playground with remnants of chalk markings for hopscotch around, and a field where cricket was played, races and games lessons were held.
"I noticed a cricket trophy in your office," Lucien remarked, "do you challenge other schools?"
"We do, and we won our last 'test match'," he grinned, "just between the smaller schools, you understand, but it's good for the children to take part in competitions, don't you think?"
"I do, I boxed for my school," Lucien nodded.
"Any good?"
"Not bad," he admitted, "not always a winner though, got some shiners in the process."
"Well, it's not something on our list of sports," Mr Mountfield smiled, Jean heaved a sigh of relief, "but we are hoping to put together a soccer team."
Up to now Ted had been silent, but the thought of being able to play a sport interested him,
"Mr Mountfield, sir," he sucked in a breath, "can I play cricket and soccer?"
"Everybody gets the chance to play, in Games Lessons, Ted, and, if we think you've got something to add to the team, you can always try out," Mr Mountfield smile down at him, "not everybody gets to play but we like to give everyone the chance."
For the first time since setting foot in the school, Ted smiled.
"Still got to do the reading and writing, son," Lucien tugged his hand, "and the numbers, you might have to keep score."
Ted looked up at him, "ok, Uncle Lucien, deal," he shook the hand he held.
Lucien grinned.
Back in his office, Mr Mountfield formally put Ted's name down to start the school, saying that if everything worked out, perhaps they'd be welcoming his sister in a few years time.
"Now, we only have a week until there's a break, so may I suggest Ted starts at the beginning of the next term," he linked his hands on his desk, "I'll have Miss Burns contact you and make an appointment. She'll tell you where Ted should be up to and what you can do to help him get near, but, when he does join we'll find someone to support him until he's caught up."
"That sounds lovely," Jean cradled Julia in her arms, she had become bored and dozed off, "we look forward to hearing from Miss Burns soon. Thank you for being so accommodating with Ted, I'm sure he'll settle in, in due course."
"We look forward to him joining us," Mr Mountfield stood up and extended his hand to Lucien and Ted, then Jean, once she had settled Julia in the stroller.
He watched them leave, Ted's head notably higher than when he had arrived, and smiled. He liked them, they seemed like good people, and to take in two children for fostering was very generous.
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So, how will Ted take to school and what news will Agnes have to share?