Mommy Dearest
Chapter 35
We All Pull Together
Loren's jaw dropped open and she froze for a few seconds, and then as she felt the colour drain from her face, with a shaking hand, she carefully placed her mug on the table. "Wha.., what?" she stuttered.
Sarah smiled at her comfortingly, "Yes, I said it would shock you, but given that you haven't thought of your family as family for a while, would it be such a bad thing?"
"I… I don't know… I don't really know what to say… it would mean… It would feel like I'm giving up a part of my identity… a part of myself," Loren faltered.
Sarah nodded sagely, "There's a lot in what you just said there, child, but how old are you now? No, no… don't answer that, but it's my guess somewhere around thirty. Now, how old were you when you left home, the truth, now…?"
"Uh… seventeen…"
"H'mm, and have you had any contact with your family since?"
"No, ma'am…"
Sarah gave her a few seconds' worth of glare before saying, "What did I say about that word?"
Loren felt her lips tug upwards in the beginning of a smile, "Sorry, Sarah… but it just feels right to me…"
"H'mph!" Sarah snorted, and then continued, "Well, then, for almost half your life you've had no contact with your family. Now I don't know what happened to you back to home, and I don't really want to know the details. But I'd say you had a pretty unhappy childhood to cut all family ties. Now, after the way Sergei treated you, and I am sorry for that…"
"You have nothing to apologise for, Sarah," Loren interrupted her, "Sergei may be your grandson, but you had nothing to do with the way he was raised. Besides," she shrugged, "with the age difference between us, I don't think we could have made a go of any sort of a life together… but I do wish he hadn't run off and left Sasha… But, if there's one thing that my… getting to know your family has taught me, it takes more than just DNA to be a parent, or a grandparent…"
"What on earth do you mean, child?"
"Well, Trish was the prime mover in getting me to accept the Burnett family's help, but once I was with them, it was Frank who really made me feel part of the tribe… Oh, it wasn't that Trish didn't welcome me into the family, but it was Frank, who has no connection whatsoever with Alexandra, that stepped up as her Grandpa without hesitation, and although I've only known him a very short time, he welcomed me too, and acted more like a father to me than my own father ever did, and all without any fuss or feathers." Loren essayed a half-grin as she used Sarah's words from their first meeting against her.
Sarah too smiled; it seemed that Loren was just as bright and brave as she was beautiful.
Then Loren sighed and said, "But…"
Sarah nodded again, "Yes, but… there's always a but, isn't there? Now listen, don't try and give me an answer right here and now, not one way or the other. Just do as I asked you please, Loren, consider the question before you make up your mind."
Sarah gathered the two mugs and rinsed them under the faucet, before she walked around the table, and laying one hand on Loren's shoulder, she stooped and placed a gentle kiss on the younger woman's cheek, and with a soft "Good night, dear," she disappeared in the direction of her bedroom.
Loren sighed as she watched Sarah leave the kitchen, despite the lateness of the hour, she had a funny feeling that she wouldn't be getting much more sleep this night.
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The afternoon and evening at the Burnett household had been one of relaxation and relief. Not that Tuna's report had been disbelieved, but confirmation - almost word for word - from the Pennsylvania State Police had provided much needed emotional comfort. Well, for a while anyway, before Harm had started pacing up and down, mumbling to himself.
"What on the Good Lord's earth is wrong with you now Harmon Rabb?" Trish demanded looking up from the backgammon board, where she had been trying - in the face of a barrage of counter advice from Frank - to give Beth some tips on the more advanced aspects of the game.
"Jen," he replied shortly, without breaking stride.
"For the Lord's sake, Harmon Rabb!" Trish expostulated, ignoring a frantically waved 'shut up!' signal from her loving husband, "Aren't two phone calls telling you that she's alright enough?"
"She won't be!" Harm muttered through gritted teeth, "When I get hold of her tomorrow… I'll… I'll…"
"Do absolutely nothing, except kiss her and hug her until her ribs squeak!" his exasperated mother interrupted him.
Harm shot his mother a look of disgust and wheeling away stalked out onto the deck. Frank rose as if to follow him, but this time it was Trish that waved him off. Turning to Beth with a smile she said, "I'm going to have to call a recess to our lesson, dear. Don't you go listening to anything that wicked old man," she shot a teasing glance at Frank, "tells you about playing this game! He's a shocking player you, but he just gets so damn' lucky at times! Now, that's you put in your place," she said complacently to Frank, "So all I have to do now is sort out that pig-headed son of mine!"
With a smile to both Beth and Frank, Trish scooped up a light sweater and swung it over shoulders as a counter-measure to the comparative chill of the evening air and walked out onto the deck. Looking around for her son she saw him at the far right hand corner of the deck at the far side and end of the pool. 'If that wasn't just typical of his perversity', she thought fondly as she navigated past the table, chairs and recliners until she arrived at his side as he stood leaning with his elbows on the wooden rail that surrounded the two open sides of the deck.
"Well, I'm waiting!"
Harm knew that tone too well to argue with it, and he didn't even have to ask for what his mother was waiting. In a choked voice he managed, "I'm sorry ma'am. I apologise for my ill-mannered behaviour."
"I should think so too!" Trish shot back at him, and then in a milder voice asked, "now, do you want to tell me what sort of bug just bit your butt?"
Harm turned to face her and in the last light of the sunset Trish could see his reddened eyes and the tear tracks on his face, "Oh, mom… I was just so scared… and then when I found out she… they were OK, I was so relieved, and then I just got so angry at her for scaring me… and…"
Trish's mind flashed back to Harm's sixteenth summer, when he had somehow managed to get himself to Vietnam without a word to her or Frank, and the terror she had endured while he was gone, and the relief and the anger - no, the fury - with which she reacted when he had been brought home in nearly one piece. For a split second it was on the tip of her tongue to tell that now he knew how she had felt. It was an impulse she stifled immediately, the careless teenager her son had been had turned into a man all too ready to accept guilt, even where none was merited, and to re-open that old wound now would be unspeakably cruel. Instead she opened her arms to him and said, "I know, Harm… I know…"
Harm took his mother into his arms and bent his head until it rested on hers, "Oh God, mom, I was so damn' scared…"
Trish could feel his body shudder and hear his gasps for breath as she held and comforted her son.
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It was a calmer, more settled Harm who, freshly showered, rejoined Frank, Trish and Beth in the family room just prior to dinner. He managed a rather shame-faced grin and mumbled, "Uh… folks, I'm sorry about tearing off like that… I just needed a few moments…"
The other three accepted his remarks without comment, Frank moving to the sideboard and asking who wanted what as an aperitif, before handing the drinks around. Re-taking his seat, he quirked an eyebrow at Harm, "I've tried calling Grams again, but the lines must still be down, and there's still no answer on either of the girls' cell 'phones, so I guess the towers must still be out too."
Harm nodded, "Yeah well, the police did say it could be Tuesday before the lines were back… as for the towers?" he shrugged, "Who knows?"
Conversation at the dinner table was general until Trish and Harm cleared away the remains of the first course and returned to the table with a large bowl of fresh fruit salad and an almost equally large bowl of natural yoghurt, and as Trish dished up the dessert, Frank turned towards Harm and asked, "What's your programme for the morning?"
Relieved that the conversation didn't appear to be returning to the nightmare topic of Jen and Loren's trip to Belleville, Harm dabbed his lips with a napkin and answered, "Well, Beth and I are under orders to report to Air Movements at ten hundred hours. I understand it's a C-17," he grimaced at Beth, who shrugged her shoulders in reply as Harm continued, "So, I guess I'll call for a cab to pick us up at oh nine hundred, just to be on the safe side."
"No need for that, son," Frank told him. "Your mom and I had planned to go out for lunch tomorrow in any case, so we'll drop you off at Miramar on our way."
"Frank… you don't have to do that," Harm objected, looking at Beth for support.
"Harm's right Mr Burn... uh… Frank, I'm a big girl, I can make sure we get there on time…" she added with a teasing glance at Harm.
"You see?" Trish chimed in triumphantly, "Your reputation precedes you!"
"Reputation? What reputation?" Harm demanded indignantly, his outburst nearly drowning out Beth's question.
"What reputation would that be… uh… Trish?"
Trish sat back and smiled to her left at Harm, before turning towards Beth and tilting her head slightly to one side, "Well, being the stubborn, unreasonable type that he is, Harmon was nearly three days late in making his debut to the world. And according to all the friends he's ever had, he seems to have studied making an art out of unpunctuality," she smiled, "Unless of course, it's something to do with his Navy career, and then I'm given understand he's only ever a minute or so late!" she added darkly.
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Loren had been right in her supposition that she wouldn't be getting much sleep. She kept replaying her conversation with Sarah Rabb time and time again. All of what the older woman had guessed and said was true. Loren had had no contact with her family since she'd left Berlin, Ohio. And by her own admission, Trish and Frank had treated her more as a daughter than she had been treated at ho... no, in Ohio, and Jen... Jen on whom she had never even wasted... spent the slightest hint of politeness had welcomed her as a sister, and had treated Loren with far more affection than she had ever received from her real sisters, and who obviously loved Alexandra. Even Harm, who despite his encouragement of her professionally had never treated her with more than surface politeness had turned around that day in the car and said he wished she was his sister-in-law - well not in quite so many words - but still...
Loren slipped in and out of a restless doze, still wrestling with the question. Yes, all she had thought about was true, but she was still a Singer... True she would happily change her name for the man she loved and married - if she could ever find one, but where would she find the kind of man she wanted, who would happily accept a thirty-something single mother, with all the emotional and financial baggage that simple description entailed? But until then she was, and had thought she would remain, a Singer.
Sure, it didn't sound like much a sacrifice to repay the family that had taken her in, almost adopted her, and provided a better home for Alexandra than she could have managed on her own. In fact, if she had been lucky enough to find family like that while she was still a minor she'd probably have been more than happy to let them adopt her, and if she had been adopted, then she would have taken their name without a second thought... so why did it seem such a problem now? Was it really a fear of losing her identity that made it seem so difficult, or was it just stubborn pride? Loren punched her pillow with far more force than was strictly necessary and closed her eyes again, hoping to catch another hour's sleep before Alexandra woke and made her demands known.
Barely had her eyes shut when they flew open again! Was this really Sarah Rabb's idea alone, or had Harm or Trish also had a hand in it? If that was the case then the answer was going to be a definite no! She was tired of being manipulated by the Rabbs! If this was some sort of plot they'd cooked up, then by God they'd cooked their own damn' goose!
Satisfied at having come to one conclusion, Loren sighed sleepily, turned over in bed and closed her eyes again.
It didn't seem more than a few minutes however before she was dragged back to consciousness as Alexandra started to wake to her normal accompaniment of cries of discomfort and hunger. Groaning with tiredness, Loren dragged herself out of bed and lifted her red-faced daughter from her porta-crib, and slinging the diaper bag over her shoulder, she jog-walked her baby to the bathroom, "Shush, shush, shushing" to her as they took the few steps along the hallway.
Laying the changing mat on top of the old-fashioned dresser, Loren quickly removed Alexandra's soiled diaper and cleaned her off, but even relieving her baby of this discomfort failed to put an end to Alexandra's wails, so laying mat and baby on the floor she ran a couple of inches of tepid water into the bath, and satisfied that the water was neither too hot or too cold, she laid the still crying child in the water and gently, using her cupped hand ladled the water over the squirming body.
Alexandra usually loved her bath, her normal reaction was to gurgle with happiness and wave her arms and kick, ensuring thereby that Loren was almost as soaked as she was, but today, it seemed that nothing pleased Alexandra and her cries far from diminishing seemed to increase in volume. Loren, tired by two nights of broken sleep wasn't far from crying, herself, when the door to the bathroom flew open and a white-faced Jen, frantically trying to thread her hair into a scrunchie held pony-tail almost threw herself across the bathroom to fall on her knees in front of the toilet and with a succession of heaves emptied her stomach of its contents, slumping into a sitting position with her back to the wall and staring ruefully at Loren who was now slumped with her back against the bath and holding a towel-wrapped and still-fretting Alexandra.
It was Jen that broke the silence, "You look like crap," she told Loren bluntly.
Loren managed a tired half-smile, "Right back at you. This being going on long?" she asked nodding at the toilet.
"About a week," Jen admitted climbing to her feet and flushing away the evidence before turning to extend a hand to Loren.
Loren scrambled to her feet and batted Jen's hand away with an admonishing, "Jen! What are you thinking! Harm would kill you if he saw that!"
"Well it's damn' good job he didn't see it then!" Jen asserted angrily. "If he didn't want me to act like a healthy girl then he shouldn't have damn' well knocked me up in the first place!"
Loren looked at Jen more closely, the younger woman seemed tense, her face was still pale, and her fists were clenched by her side. Loren sat on the edge of the bath, and opening her pyjama jacket she offered her breast to Alexandra, who at first fussed and seemed disinclined to take the nipple, but finally succumbing to hunger, rooted and started feeding. Battling her own tiredness-induced short-temper, Loren made an effort to speak softly, "What's wrong, Jen? This isn't you."
"I'm fine! Thank you." Jen snapped.
"No, Jen, no you're not, something's wrong, you don't normally act like me. What's wrong?"
Jen couldn't help a snort, "Loren, even you don't act like you!"
"So, tell me, Jen, please?"
Jen seemed to deflate as she leaned back against the dresser, "Bad night? Bad dreams? Hating feeling like this. The damage to Harm's car, the storm, being scared shitless and trying not to show it. Knowing that Harm's going to be worrying about us and not being able to tell him we're OK, even just missing him in bed with me and not waking up next to him...Oh, I don't know, Loren, it's nothing and everything," she finished with a helpless shrug.
Loren nodded, "OK, why don't you finish up in here, and then when you're ready, you can come and let Sasha spend some quality time with you while I take a shower, and then we'll find you some crackers and see if Grams has got any ginger ale."
"Crackers and ginger ale? What...?"
"It'll help settle your stomach," Loren assured her.
"Yuh think?"
"Hey, it worked for me!" Loren grinned at Jen as she shifted Alexandra to her other breast.
"Well, it's worth giving it a try, I s'pose..." Jen finally conceded.
By the time Loren, in her turn, stepped out of the shower and returned to her room to dress, Alexandra had worked her magic on Jen who sat on the end of Loren's bed holding the now contentedly gurgling baby in her arms and smiling gently down at her. Loren pretended no more than casual disinterest as she plied her hair-dryer, "Has she been good?"
"Yes," Jen smiled, "a perfect little angel."
"Huh! You wouldn't have said that if you'd walked - oh, sorry- erupted into the bathroom five minutes earlier than you did! Anything further from angelic would have been difficult to find!" Loren replied with a wry grin as she sat on the bed next to Jen, pulling her hairbrush through her blonde tresses as she continued to dry her hair.
"Oh..." Jen's voice filled with surprise, "look, she's falling asleep... but she's only just woken up!"
"Oh, don't you believe it!" Loren grinned, "The little monster's been awake for ages! But she often does that while I'm dressing..." A sudden thought occurred to her, and she fell silent while she looked at Alexandra, and then with an air of a great scientist carrying out an experiment, she switched off the hair dryer. In a very few seconds Alexandra's eyes opened and she signified her opinion of her changed circumstances by blowing a huge bubble and screwing up her face in preparation for bursting into tears. Both Jen and Loren grinned, and then Loren quite deliberately switched on the hair dryer again. Within a minute Alexandra had yawned and her eyes had started to close.
Jen and Loren looked in wonder at Alexandra and then at the hair dryer and then back at the baby. "Well, that certainly saves on lullabies!" Loren exclaimed.
"I wonder if that works on all babies?" Jen mused, "Maybe we should call Harriett Simms and ask her?"
"What? Harriett Roberts is the fount of all wisdom when it comes to babies?" Loren asked acerbically, and then her voice changed, "No, we can't remind her..."
"No! Of course not, it would be too cruel... Oh God, Loren, what if..." Jen's hand fluttered towards her stomach.
Loren gently took the sleeping Alexandra from Jen's arms and laid her carefully in the centre of the bed before turning back to the white-faced and trembling brunette, then taking her in her arms, she rocked her gently back and forth, whispering all the while into her ear, "It's going to be fine, Jen. You and your baby are going to be fine. Hush now, sweetheart, everything's going to be OK, you'll see. You're going to have a beautiful, perfect little daughter." Loren was perfectly aware of Jen's conviction that she was carrying a girl under her heart.
Jen sniffled for a few minutes and then eased free of Loren's hold, dabbing at her eyes and trying to smile, "I'm sorry, Loren, I didn't mean to dump on you. It's just that ..."
"Yes, I know," Loren smiled, proffering a Kleenex, "It's a good job we haven't bothered with make-up this morning, you know, otherwise we'd both look a mess!"
Jen managed to giggle at that, "I'd best go and splash some cold water on my face, and then I'll meet you downstairs. God, I would kill for a real cup of coffee, but I suppose we'll have to make do."
"Yeah," Loren smiled, "but didn't that coffee in the church taste real good though?"
"Oh, yeah," Jen agreed with a happy sigh, "but remember what happens on the road stays on the road!"
"Of course, of course!"
"Yeah. And Loren," Jen's voice became grave again, as she waved a hand in the general direction of the bed, "Thank you"
"Hey that's what friends are for!" Loren replied, disclaiming any credit.
"Oh, no, Loren, you are so much more than that!" Jen said stopping half-in and half-out of the door.
Loren watched the door close behind Jen and wondered if there was a hidden significance in Jen's words. Was she part of a plot to persuade Loren to agree to Sarah's suggestion that she might want to change her name? There was only one way to really find out, and that was to take the bull by the horns. Placing the still sleeping Alexandra in the porta-crib, Loren made her way downstairs and into the kitchen, where her instincts told her Sarah Rabb would be. Her instincts had not led her astray; Sarah was seated at the table stirring eggs in a large brown earthenware bowl.
"Good morning Loren... Oh... I was just going to ask if you'd slept well, but by the looks of you that would be a pretty dumb question."
"Yeah, it would. You gave me a lot to think about, Sarah." Loren replied.
"Ah, so you did think about what I asked?"
"Yeah, I did. And in return, I have a couple of questions to ask you."
Sarah dipped her head in acquiescence "Go on, dear."
Loren took a breath, "Was this your idea, or were you put up to it by somebody else? And if it is your notion, have you discussed it with anyone else, Trish, Frank, Harm or even Jen?"
"Loren, I haven't mentioned this idea of mine to a single living soul, other than yourself."
Loren heaved a sigh of relief and mustered up a weak smile. "I am so glad to hear you say that," she confessed.
"Oh, why?"
"Because the Rabb-Burnett alliance seem to past masters in manoeuvering people into the most outrageous situations and then explaining why their solution to any given situation is by far and beyond the most reasonable, even if the most unconventional; and I was beginning to feel the urge to kick over the traces!" Loren explained.
Sarah smiled fondly at some of her memories, "Yes, that is definitely an axis of the unconventional," she agreed, and then looked inquiringly at Loren.
"Sarah, I need to speak with Harm and Trish about this... and if neither of them vetoes the idea, then, yes, I'll go through the process and legally change my name." She paused for a moment considering the likely reaction at Falls Church, and as she mentally reviewed the characters of her co-workers a smile spread across her face, which gradually broadened, until she burst out laughing.
Sarah eyed her critically during this episode until Loren had regained some of her composure. "What's so funny, Loren?"
"MacKenzie!" Loren gasped, "Oh, God, she'll have a cow! Oh, mind now," she said to Sarah in an apparent inconsequential aside, "Not a word to Jen, please?"
"Oh?"
"No, not a word, if you please. I don't want her to put any pressure on Harm, one way or another."
"Of course not, if that's what you want, dear," Sarah said, well satisfied with Loren's decision. "Now, did you want scrambled eggs or an omelette this morning?"
"Oh, eggs are fine, thank you, Sarah," Loren smiled.
Sarah again nodded in satisfaction, "Good, well there's some fine home-cured bacon to go with them, and I managed to pick a whole slew of mushrooms this morning while you and Jennifer were messin' about upstairs! Ah, and speak of the devil, good morning Jennifer, sleep well?"
"M'mm," Jennifer replied non-committally, "Well, at least until somebody decided to refight Gettysburg outside my bedroom window! What was it, a fox after the hens?"
"Nope, an egg-stealing raccoon varmint! I just tickled him up a mite with some rock salt. Did I wake you?"
"M'mm... mind now, I probably wouldn't have slept for much longer..."
Sarah's raised eyebrow was enough of a suggestion - or command- for Jen to continue, "Well, first off, it doesn't feel right being on my own at night... well, not any more, and then this young lady, keeps putting pressure on my bladder. Over the last ten days or so, it's been a rare night that I haven't had to go to the head at least twice!"
Sarah smiled, "I'm told it happens, from time to time to time. Now, how about breakfast?"
Jen blanched, "Oh... no... no thank you, not right now," she managed.
"Uh-huh, got you that way too now, has it? I remember not so very long ago somebody telling me, pretty smug too they were, that she was fine and didn't have a twinge of the morning sickness!"
"Uh, Sarah, would you have any crackers and ginger ale hidden away somewhere?" Loren asked.
"Bless you child! This is a farmhouse! Of course I have crackers, and I might have some ginger ale too. Let me have a look in the pantry!"
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Harm groaned as he woke. It had taken him the best part of the two days in La Jolla to adjust to the different time zone, now just as his body clock was getting used to life on the Pacific coast, he as headed clear across the continent back to DC. Suck it up sailor! He told himself, this was just one more of the joys of being in the military.
Mindful of the chance of encountering Beth in the hallway, he pulled on his robe and took the few steps to the bathroom, where showered and shaved, he packed his toilet gear and giving the bathroom a quick visual sweep he satisfied himself that he'd left none of his gear littering the bathroom, before he headed on back to his bedroom to dress and finish packing.
Now in his peanut butters he made his way to the kitchen to find Trish at the stove, "Toast, eggs and tomato, OK for you darling?" she asked as he sat at the breakfast bar.
"M'mm, yeah, please. That and coffee."
"Well you know here that is, Trish indicated the coffee jug. Help yourself!"
Pouring himself a mug of the mild brew that Trish preferred, Harm asked "Any sign of Beth, yet?"
"You just missed her," Trish told him as she set a plate in front of him, "she's just gone back to her room to put her hair up and get dressed. She's been for a swim, says she's like to keep in trim."
"Yeah I saw her yesterday while you were at the gallery, she's pretty good."
"Yes, so I noticed... ah, here she is our little Ariel!" Trish chirped merrily, failing to notice the grimace that passed over Beth's face as she, now also in peanut butters, entered the kitchen.
Taking advantage of Trish's temporary pre-occupation with the pan of eggs, Harm turned to Beth and murmured "I take it from your expression that 'Ariel' is a non-flier?"
"Damn straight!" she agreed with a wry grin, before she turned her attention to the bacon eggs and toast on her plate. "The one advantage of swimming each day is that it does burn off the calories!" she quipped.
"As does an early round of golf!" Frank agreed, walking up behind Trish and placing a kiss on the cheek she had turned towards him for that purpose. Frank grinned and grabbed a mug and then looking at Harm he asked wistfully, "I suppose it's too much to hope that you made some decent coffee, this morning?"
"Oh hush up now and never you mind complaining about my coffee, Frank Burnett. Sit down and eat your breakfast! We're all sat here waiting for you, and don't forget you volunteered to drive these two to Miramar!"
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At Loren's insistence she and Jen cleared away the breakfast wreckage while Sarah spent those twenty or so minutes sitting in her armchair and gently rocking Alexandra in her arms. Alexandra woke during those minutes and Sarah waited for a hungry or dirty infant wail of protest but instead found the baby staring up at her with eyes that reminded her so much of her son and her grandson that she felt her own eyes fill with moisture. As they did Alexandra stretch a hand out towards her great grandmother, and although Sarah knew it was a totally random movement, just for a moment she entertained the conceit the baby in her arms was holding her hand out in a gesture of comfort.
When Loren and Jen joined them in Sarah's living room the two Sarah was still rocking Alexandra gently, but she lifted her head to smile at the two young women, and once again they could see the tear-tracks on her lined face. With her smile still in place, she looked at Loren and said "Thank you."
Jen sat on the couch, and took hold of Loren's hand, tugging on it gently until Loren started, as if woken up from a daydream, and smiled, sinking gracefully to sit next to the brunette. "I do believe that your daughter has conquered another heart," Jen murmured to Loren.
Loren smiled back, "As long as the heart belongs to family, she can break as many as she likes. But she's not going get the chance to break anybody else's heart." She lost her smile however as she added, "And I'll take damn' good care that nobody gets the chance to break hers!"
Sarah heard Loren's use of 'family', and felt her heart grow even warmer. This stranger with her fierce independence and tough but brittle exterior had touched her in a way that not even the gentle Jennifer had.
Jennifer grinned at Loren's fierce determination to protect Alexandra, and looking at the other woman asked, "Have you and Harm been conspiring?"
Loren looked at her in surprise, "No, why?"
"Well you sounded just like him for a moment. He swears that our daughter is going to go girls' only schools and colleges, and isn't going to be allowed to start dating until she's 30 - at least!"
Both Sarah and Loren laughed at Jen's comments, until she reddened, "It's not funny," she insisted, "the way he said it, I think he means it!"
Sarah chuckled as she answered, "Yes, dear, at the moment he does mean it, but do you have any doubt in your daughter's ability to totally wrap him around her little finger? The second she wants to go to a movie with a boy, she'll flutter her eyelashes and look at him with puppy-dog eyes, and he'll surrender."
"Do you think so?" Jen asked with a giggle.
Loren chimed in, "Of course he will! But then he'll have the boy come into the house so he can meet him, and explain in words of one syllable what is and what isn't acceptable behaviour - oh, and he'll probably be cleaning his sidearm while he does so!"
Jen laughed at the image that Loren had conjured up, and gasped out, "Oh God, yes! I can actually see him doing just that!"
Sarah agreed with a chuckle, "I'd say you just about got that right, dear!"
Jen nodded, "But the thing is, he'll be just as over-protective of Sasha too! Remember what I said at Trish and Frank's place, when you said he was going to be overbearing and pushy, and I said it was going to be worse than that?"
"Oh, Lord, yes! You said he was going to be a pain in the... neck!" Loren stumbled to a halt while Jen remembering precisely what she had said during that conversation on the Burnett's sun-deck, laughed mischievously, while Sarah although not privy to what had been said on that occasion, gathered from Loren's momentary hesitation that the version she had just heard had been censored, and contented herself with yet another chuckle and an admonishing finger waved impartially at both the younger women.
Sarah let the merriment die away, turning her attention back to Alexandra before she turned to Jen and Loren, "Now don't think for a moment that I'm trying to get rid of you, you are both welcome to stay as long as you like. But it would be good to know what your plans are."
Jen nodded, "Well, I have to be back on duty tomorrow morning, and I need to prepare a uniform... and I'm not really sure what time to expect Harm home... so I think if we leave early afternoon? I know it should only take about three and a half hours, but I don't know how clear the roads will be yet, and I do want to get home before dark..."
Loren nodded, "I've got interviews with a couple of child-minders tomorrow, and I don't want to be out too late on the roads with tonight, not with Sasha with us. The drive up played hell... uh... havoc... sorry Grams... with her routine, so I'd like to get back to normal as soon as... so, early afternoon works well for me, too."
Sarah nodded, "Yes, that's good for me too. I'll be going to the three o'clock service down in town, so I figure to leave at about half-past two! Now then young Jennifer, that pot of tea you brewed yesterday wasn't too bad, but you still need a bit of practice..."
"OK, Grams, I can take a hint... Coming, Loren?"
"No, I want a word or two with you young lady; so off you go Jen!"
"Yes, ma'am!"
Sarah waited until Jen was out of earshot and smiled wickedly, "Now, that'll give her something to think about rather than just fret about getting home before Harmon! Now, dear, tell me all about Alexandra, how big was she when she was born, and what did she weigh and, oh, everything..."