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The first two weeks of life with the kids was a blur of chaos. Jamie and Dani were so used to only getting themselves ready in the morning, they were late to open the store three days in a row. Each day they found Ellie there, having opened the shop on time when she realized they hadn't been to pick up their daily coffees. Two hot chocolates were added to their daily order, which Miles and Flora waited for, excited, every day.
After talking to the kids about their schooling, Dani found out that among their travelling, they had bounced around between tutors and schools quite a bit over the last two years and their studies suffered because of it. School wasn't slated to start for another two months, but Dani set them up in the back room of the shop each weekday with workbooks to round out the edges. Between customers and tasks, Dani would go back and check on their work, sometimes staying for a bit to do a lesson. Once, Dani was out running an errand when Miles ran into a problem with his math work. He asked Jamie for help and, when she tried, he ended up teaching her the work. He found his answer in the process, which was great, but after that Jamie refused to help on the homework, opting instead for overseeing chores.
Finding a place to live was proving difficult. They needed a bigger place, that was obvious, but Dani was hesitant to commit to anything that Jamie wouldn't be able to afford on her own when the day came. Thankfully, the inheritance from Henry came through in a month so they were able to use it on a down payment for a house. Mr. Carlisle had been right, it was a shockingly large inheritance for each of them. They put down a large enough down payment that the monthly mortgage was a breeze for the two of them and would be doable for Jamie alone, then they left the rest of the money untouched.
As sad as Dani had once felt about leaving the first home she and Jamie had together, she was eager for more space. The apartment was nowhere near big enough for four people without living on top of each other. At least once a day, one of the two adults would tell one of the two children to pick up their things and one of the two children would respond with something along the lines of, "and put it where?"
They were all so eager about it, in fact, that not a single one of them complained about the usually horrible task of packing for a move. Dani and Jamie alternated who would be in the shop and the one not there would be home with the kids packing. It coincided with Miles's and Flora's last two and a half weeks of summer break, so Dani thought there was plenty of reason to give them a break from studying.
It was down to the wire (as things tend to be with kids, Jamie and Dani were starting to figure out) but after four days, most everything was in the moving van. On the final day of their lease, with only a couple hours left until their keys were due to be turned in, they were moving out the last few things. All that was left was the couch with the pull out bed, the real bed, the bedside tables, basic bathroom things and a couple changes of clothes.
"Okay," Dani called cheerfully into the echoing apartment as she walked in. Jamie was cleaning the sink and greeted her. "Ellie's got the small van on its way to the new house. Now it's just loading the last of the furniture and splitting up between the van and the car."
"Great," Jamie said. "Miles is cleaning their bathroom and Flora is packing up the last of the stuff in our room."
Dani stopped, confused. "Our room? But all that's left is the bathroom and the bedside tables." She stopped and the two made the same realization at the same time. "Flora!" Dani cried over her shoulder.
The two women rushed into their bedroom. Flora sat on her knees in front of the left side table. When she heard Dani and Jamie run in, she turned and looked at them over her shoulder. "What is lubricant?" Then, she produced a bottle of lube and looked it over. "It says it tastes like strawberries, but I don't think it does."
"Oh, good God," Jamie said under her breath. She covered her mouth with her hand.
"It's, um," Dani looked at Jamie, pleading for help, but she didn't offer any. "A really expensive lip… gel. Why don't you go see if your brother needs help, huh? We'll finish up here."
Flora nodded and dropped the bottle into the box then pushed herself off the floor. As soon as she exited, Jamie swung the door closed and let out a deep laugh. "Dani, I'm so sorry I didn't think about that. But, you have to admit, that was pretty funny."
"Let's just see how much of the drawer she packed," Dani huffed and pushed past her girlfriend. She looked in briefly and then whipped around again. "All of it."
"All of it?" Jamie asked.
Dani nodded aggressively, "Everything is in there."
"Even–?"
"Yes, Jamie. Even that."
Dani was upset with Jamie after that. The rest of the time in the apartment was a bit tense, but after taking separate cars, she managed to cool down a bit. Jamie was still new to this, she reminded herself. And besides, even she could have made that mistake.
They did try to sit Flora down and have a conversation about the contents of the drawer. She brushed them off before they could get into details.
"Oh, I know what those are," Flora said, confident.
"You do?" Jamie asked.
"Yes," Flora said. "Mummy and daddy had the same drawer. They told me it was for adults when they play pretend. You see, it's a bit different than how us children play pretend. They said maybe when I'm older I'll get to use them sometime, but I think I'm happy with my dolls for now."
Jamie snorted and had to cover mouth and nose to prevent her from laughing too hard. Dani closed her eyes tight and said, "Okay, Flora, great. You can go have fun, now." She skipped out of the room, humming to herself. With her safely gone, Dani whispered, "I know so much more about Mr. and Mrs. Wingrave than I ever wanted to know."
"Explains a lot," Jamie nodded.
The new house wasn't new, exactly, just new to them. It was one of those older houses that had an eclectic collection of rooms. Everyone in the family found something in that house they were looking for. Jamie had a massive sunroom with floor to ceiling windows on three sides that she used as a greenhouse. For Dani, there was a quiet study in the center of the house. She kept all of her books in there and had a small desk for her to write on. Flora's room was in the top corner of the house with a window that spread around a corner. It had a large window seat where she could sit with her dolls and have tea parties, or have a perfect view of the stars which she liked to stare at most nights. Miles was most taken with the family room in the basement. Dani and Jamie put in a large television and set his Atari up to it. When he wasn't playing, he was watching TV. There were two guest bedrooms on the main floor of the house, which was a bit much, Jamie and Dani agreed. But, they knew Owen would be there a lot so it could come in handy someday.
It was in that house that they really became a family. Dani and Jamie would wake up from afternoon naps together to the sound of Flora yelling at Miles. They implemented weekly family nights, packed with take-out, board games, and sometimes a movie past bedtime. The couple would fight over the island counter while making dinner, or sometimes yell from one end of the hallway to the other if it was a doozy. They always came back together by the end of the night to apologize and go to sleep a bit happier.
The city had a great selection of public schools and Dani and Jamie thought it would be a good experience for the kids to experience something that wasn't packed with kids waiting for their trust funds to kick in. It did prove to be a positive social learning experience. Both of the kids quickly made friends and became much more outgoing.
Halloween came around and Dani could see a slight change in the kids. The talk of ghosts and ghosts stories brought up a lot of memories for the them, memories they didn't talk about very often. After the third night in a row of Flora waking up Dani and Jamie because of a nightmare, they took her down to the kitchen.
Flora sat down at the counter and watched Dani pull a mug out from the cabinet. Her nose curled. "Are you going to make tea?" She cried.
Dani, mildly offended, turned around to face the child. "First off, ow. My tea has gotten a lot better, thank you." Jamie jokingly shook her head. Dani threw a kitchen towel at her girlfriend and Flora laughed. "Here in the states, we make warm milk and honey when kids can't sleep."
"I'm not convinced," Flora said.
"Well, just try it," Dani said. "If you don't like it, maybe you can convince Jamie, over here, to make you some tea."
With Dani focused on the tea, Jamie slid into the chair beside Flora. "Do you want to tell us about your nightmare, kiddo?"
Flora stared down at the counter top for probably ten seconds and then she looked up. "Uncle Henry said I'm not supposed to talk about my nightmares."
"You know, Henry and us," she gestured toward Dani, "have different ideas about things and that's okay. If you don't want to talk about it, that's completely up to you. We're of the mindset that talking about your feelings and your past is what gives you power. So, in this house, you're welcome to talk about any and all feelings you have."
Again, Flora stared down at the counter turning over what Jamie had just said. "Did it actually happen? Miss Jessel and Peter Quint and the Lady in the Lake." She looked up and searched Dani's face, who was now watching while the milk heated up. "I heard you talking about the Lady in the Lake, so it must be real. Right?"
"What did you hear?" Dani asked, her heart beating.
"Nothing, really, I just faintly heard the name and that was it," Flora said. "So it's real?"
Jamie made eye contact with Dani as if asking for confirmation that this is the right thing to do. Dani urged her with a single nod. "Yes, sweetheart. What happened at Bly, all of it was real. And you were so brave handling so much of it by yourself. Especially when Miles was at school."
Dani poured the concoction into the mug and slid it across the counter. "You're safe now, though. It's all behind you." The words felt sour as she said them. She knew Flora still had a battle ahead of her if she didn't do her job right. The knocking rang through her head again. By now, telling the Lady to go away no longer worked. She simply had to wait it out which only lasted a few seconds.
"It doesn't feel like that all the time," Flora said. "When I hear people make jokes about ghosts, I get so angry. They don't know they're making fun of people who might be standing right there, listening. They deserve kindness, too. Even the Lady in the Lake. I don't think enough people were nice to her."
"When you get angry, what do you do?" Dani asked.
Flora sighed, "I usually think not nice things about whoever said it. I don't like that I do that, it just happens."
"Do you ever say those things to them?" Jamie asked.
Flora shook her head no. "I try to tell them ghosts don't have to be scary, but they never listen." She picked up the cup and took a sip of it. Her whole face winced and she held it in her mouth while staring at Dani.
"Spit it out if you don't like it," Dani said. Flora did just that. "Silly girl."
"Can I have some tea, please?" Flora asked. She pushed the cup across to Dani slowly so it didn't spill.
Jamie stood up and rubbed the girl's back as she passed behind her. "Of course." She grabbed Dani by the waist and pulled from her place in front of the stove. The two giggled and Jamie said, "You, miss, have been demoted from night time drink making."
"Can't say I'm too surprised by this turn of events," Dani said. She fell down into the chair that Jamie had just left and brushed the tip of Flora's nose. "What do you think about sleeping in our bed tonight?"
A grin spread across Flora's face. "Yes, please."
She drank her tea quickly, burning her tongue as she went, and then started to run for the stairs. "Uh uh," Jamie said. She set her arm out and Flora stopped running as she collided into Jamie's arm. "Walk, please." She moved her arm and Flora continued at a slower pace, though still a bit fast, even for speed walking.
Dani grabbed Jamie before she could follow the girl just yet. "I love you," she whispered to her girlfriend.
Jamie searched Dani's face for a moment and then kissed her. "I love you, too, Poppins."
Flora tucked herself into the bed right between Dani and Jamie. "Goodnight, Dani, and goodnight, Jamie."
Both Dani and Jamie offered it back. Dani was almost drifting to sleep when Flora said their names again. She sighed, wondering if this was why people said not to co-sleep. "Yes?" Dani said.
"Is it possible to have more than one mum?" Flora asked.
Dani leaned up on her elbow so that she could make out the shape of Flora next to her and Jamie on the other side. "I think we get our real family and we get our chosen family. There was someone who used to be in my life who was like a second mother to me. She didn't overshadow my mother, she just filled in some gaps."
"Where is she now?" Flora asked.
"I had to say goodbye to her," Dani answered. It was the nicest way to explain.
Flora thought a bit more. "Does chosen family mean they're more important than real family?"
"Not necessarily," Jamie chimed in. "Some people don't have much of a real family to start with so the chosen family does mean more. Some people have a really strong real family, and their chosen family means the same to them. Almost as if they were real family, too."
"That makes sense, I think," Flora said. "So you don't think mummy would be sad if I want to choose the two of you?"
Dani sat, quiet. She had never met Mrs. Wingrave and it didn't feel right to answer this. Thankfully, Jamie continued. "I knew your mum fairly well. We had tea together a lot, her and I. She was a very funny woman. And she had great stories. Her favorite stories to tell were about you and your brother. She loved you so much, Flora. She knows that she will always hold a special place in your heart. I think she would be happy to know that you have someone to fill in the gaps and love you like she loved you."
"I'm glad you agree because that's what I thought, too." Flora tilted her head in the Flora way that made everyone around her know she was thinking very hard. "I guess the next matter of business then is what do I call the both of you?"
"What do you mean?" Dani asked.
"There's two of you, of course," Flora said as though it were obvious. She looked between Dani and Jamie and, upon realizing it was not obvious to them she explained. "It would be confusing to call the both of you mum."
Dani's heart skipped a beat and she couldn't help the smile on her face. "Why don't you try it out and see what happens? If it doesn't work, we can go from there."
"Besides," Jamie said. "It eliminates the whole 'asking the parent who's most likely to say yes' tactic."
"Alright, I'll try it," said Flora. "I must say, you two have kept me up far too long. Goodnight, mums."
Then, she rolled over onto her side and fell fast asleep. It left Dani and Jamie looking over the sleeping child at each other. They shared a smile and Dani heard Jamie sniff a little.
Dani laid back down on the bed and stared at the ceiling. It felt odd that after only a few months, Flora wanted to choose them. Then again, it wasn't just a few months. For Dani, it had been a few years now, but, for Jamie, it was almost Flora's whole life and most of Miles's– all of what he could remember at least. If she felt comfortable enough to choose anyone, it would be the two of them. In the next few days, Miles would hear his sister trying out variations of 'mum' and remember Dani's conversation about chosen family. It wasn't too long before he was also calling them 'mum'. As she fell asleep to thoughts of Flora calling her and Jamie her mothers and Jamie's light snores, Dani completely missed how the quiet knocking turned into the shake of a door knob.
The next day while Jamie was out on service visits for the various plants she kept up around the city, the shop phone received a call from the school. Dani had never received a call from the school and, after her time as a teacher, she immediately knew that either something bad happened or one of the two were in trouble. She put her money on Miles having found himself into some sort of mischief. She felt so certain of it that she was shocked to hear Flora's name leave the principal's lips.
Sitting somewhere between livid and sure there must have been some kind of mistake, Dani scribbled out a note to Jamie, closed the shop, and rushed to the school. The principal, feeling satisfied with the conversation she had with Dani over the phone, elected not to have an in-person meeting, so Dani led Flora into the car. Flora apologized profusely throughout the car ride. Her face was already stained with tear tracks and she could still barely make out words around her sobs.
Dani could tell the guilt the girl was sitting with was proof that she held plenty of remorse. She offered words of comfort that didn't excuse what happened, but still reassured Flora. They drove all the way back to the shop and, once there, Dani held the door open for Flora to go inside.
"There you two are," Jamie cried. She set down the watering can and came around a plant almost as tall as her to see Flora, no longer crying but still snot and tear covered. "What happened?"
"Flora's been suspended," Dani said. She set her purse down on the counter and then took Jamie's side. "Apparently, she punched Trevor."
"Oh, the douchey one?" Jamie asked. Dani shot her a look and she cleared her throat. "Right. What got into you? You're not the kind of person who goes around punching people. That's my job and I know I haven't rubbed off on you that much."
"He was being mean," Flora said.
Dani let out a concerned sigh, "About ghosts?" Flora shook her head no. "Then what?"
The tears started again. "We were supposed to write two pages about our family. Mrs. Wright had us all read them aloud."
"Oh," Jamie whispered, before Flora could even finish. Dani closed her eyes and steadied herself for where she knew the story was going to end.
"When I read mine, he laughed and said no one can have three mums." Flora wiped her nose with her sleeve. Dani reached around the counter and offered her a tissue instead. She accepted it, dabbed her eyes, and then wiped her nose with her sleeve again. "I told him I can. I explained chosen families and that you two love each other just as much as my real mummy and daddy loved each other. Then he said some really mean names so I walked up to him and I hit him."
"Where did you hit him?" Dani asked.
Flora raised her chin and squared her jaw. "In his crotch. Miles said that's where it hurts the most."
Jamie pulled over a stool for Flora to sit on then knelt down to her eye level. "Sweetheart, there are some out there who think people like Dani and me are bad."
"But you're not," Flora insisted.
"I know that and you know that, but they are very closed minded and have mean hearts." Jamie brushed some hair from Flora's face.
Flora sat, pensive for a little. Jamie took the opportunity to look up at Dani and grab her hand. It was an impossible conversation to have with a girl so young and with such a heart of gold. Still, Dani was blown away by how gentle and thoughtful Jamie guided not only this conversation but the heavy ones from the night before as well.
"I've changed my mind. I'm not sorry," Flora said. "Mummy always said to stand up for what I believe in. If he says it again, I'll punch him again and that's that."
Jamie stood up and whispered to Dani. "Your turn."
"Flora, honey," Dani started. She was really just biding her time trying to decide where to go with this. "While I think it's admirable that you want to stand up for Jamie and me, punching only makes it worse."
"Ehh," Jamie said in disagreement. Dani turned to her with wide eyes and a face full of annoyance. "I'm sorry it's just, she's got a point. Sometimes a bully needs a good hit if they're not gonna listen."
"Okay, fine," Dani sighed, glaring at Jamie. "Sometimes, a bully needs a good hit. But, school isn't always going to see it that way. So you have to promise me that you don't hit people at school."
"I guess I can agree to that," Flora said. "But, does that mean I'm in trouble?"
Jamie, realizing the consequences in her action, tried to shrink into the fern behind her while Dani stared her down. "You were suspended," Dani said. "So even though mom-two here advocated for it, mom-one says punching at school is wrong. You're out for three days so for those three days you'll be helping in the store."
Flora released a deep sigh, "I understand, mum-one."
"Great," Dani said. She pointed at the broom in the corner. "Why don't you start by sweeping?"
Flora sighed an exaggerated sigh and stood from the stool to do as she was told. The sound of a doorknob jiggling caught Dani's attention. She thought that maybe she had accidentally locked the shop door behind her, but when she checked, the doorknob turned just fine. Confused, Dani looked outside to see if anyone was there who maybe started to come in then changed their mind. The only person there staring back at her was the Lady in the Lake where her reflection should be. It didn't make her jump or cry out in shock. It felt almost bittersweet. Like an expected event was nearing and everything started to align for it.
"You alright?" Jamie called over her shoulder.
"Yeah," Dani said, quietly, then turned from the door and watched the reflection follow her in the window as she walked through the shop.