Rylan silently trailed behind her social worker up the front walk to
Julie's house.
"Welcome home, honey!" Julie beamed opening the front door.
"Her bags are in the car," the social worker said.
"We'll get them," Brad volunteered motioning to the boys. All of Rylan's brothers were there with big smiles.
"Come in; don't stand outside all day," Julie encouraged.
"Thank you," Rylan said politely as she stepped over the threshold.
"We haven't started dinner, yet," Julie continued guiding Rylan into the kitchen. "I hope you haven't eaten."
"No. Tessa figured you guys would want to do some kind of dinner," Rylan said softly. "It smells great," she added in an attempt at enthusiasm. She had three weeks to make Julie like her so she could see her family again. all she had to do was play nice. Not a problem.
"Thank you," Julie smiled. "I made pineapple glazed ham, a citrus salad, and rolls for dinner and for dessert we have a home made carrot cake."
"Pineapple?" Rylan repeated.
"Yes, of course," Julie answered. "What's. oh no! I forgot, sweetie."
"Forgot what?" Kevin asked coming into the kitchen and putting his arms around his baby sister from behind.
"Pineapple," she told him. "Rylan's allergic."
"I can always have a sandwich. You have peanut butter, right?" Rylan offered fighting the urge to cry. 'No tears' Tessa had told her. Just because her mom didn't know she was allergic to pineapple didn't mean she could cry.
"I will not have you forage for food your first night home," Julie said resolutely.
"It's not a problem," she assured her. "I don't mind."
"Well, I do."
"I have an idea," Kevin interrupted. "If it's okay with Brad and the kids, why don't we go out just the Fishers tonight? They can have the ham and we'll do something just the five of us."
"That's a wonderful idea, Kevin! Why don't you go get the twins and you kids can decide where we go."
"Wadda ya say, Lizzie? Up for a Fisher family reunion dinner?"
Rylan smiled. She liked the idea of being with her brothers and with all three of them there to distract her she wouldn't have to pay much attention to Julie. "Sounds great."
"Let's go find the twins," Kevin smiled back and offering his hand.
Whitney and Brendan were in the game room watching Mika and Tamara play video games. Kevin told them the plan and the three immediately decided to go to Joe's Italian Palace assuring a confused Rylan that she would love it; they used to go there all the time.
Twenty minutes later they all piled out of Julie's sedan and were seated at what apparently used to be their usual table.
"The usual?" Kevin asked the table.
"The usual," the all agreed, except Ryaln who asked: "What's that?"
"You'll like it," Kevin assured her.
The waiter came to take their order and Julie stepped in to order for everyone. "Those two," she gestured to Kevin and Brendan "will split a large pineapple and pepperoni pizza. Those two," she gestured to Rylan and Whitney. "Will split a large pepperoni, mushroom, and black olive pizza. I'd like the manicotti and five house salads to start."
Rylan couldn't help but feel a rush of relief when Julie ordered her favorite pizza for her. She had been scared she was going to be forced to pretend to like tomato and sausage or something equally as disgusting in her book. The salads came along with a basket of the best garlic bread Rylan could ever remember having. The twins and Kevin regaled her with stories of her childhood, her father, and the family before it had been separated. She vaguely remembered some of the stories and the others were completely new to her. By the time the pizza was gone and dessert was ordered Rylan realized that despite her best efforts, she was enjoying herself. She was laughing and joking around with her brothers and Julie's presence wasn't bothering her nearly as much as she thought it would. By the end of the meal, she was almost happy.
This changed once Rylan went back to Julie's house. There were more rules in the Kregston household than the MacLeod, so that took some getting used to. While meals were a family affair with Richie directing who should do what in the kitchen at her old house; the cooking was left strictly to Julie at her new house. And while Julie was cooking nobody was allowed in the kitchen. The menu wasn't a group decision but a choice left to the parents only. not even Kevin, who was staying there as well, got to voice his opinion. Meals were served at the same time everyday and if you didn't eat with the family, you didn't eat that meal. There was no sleeping in and last minute muffins as you ran out the door, no 'I have plans and will just have a sandwich' for lunch, and no 'I don't like this but I'll make something else and eat with you' for dinner. And snacks were only allowed between lunch and four o'clock, after that it would be spoiling your dinner. That was the first set of rules that threw Ryaln off guard, but she got used to it fairly quickly. At the MacLeod household you ate when and what you felt like and dinner was the only time they regularly ate together.
Bed time was another thing to get used to. Tamara was in bed by eight, Mika at nine, and Rylan by ten thirty. She wasn't used to having a bed time so the first night she had stayed up reading. She got a lecture the next morning and a promise of being grounded if she ever did it again.
Certain channels were off limits so Rylan was left with few options when it came to watching TV. Her favorite show was on an off limits channel so she couldn't watch it. At least they were doing re-runs all summer.
Over the weeks Rylan found herself settling into her role as the big sister. She stayed home to baby-sit once a week so Julie and Brad could go out to dinner, played video games, had tea parties and read bed time stories. Mika seemed to like her and Tamara openly admired everything her big sister did. Brad was really nice and wanted to know everything about Rylan. He wanted to read her stories and poems, wanted to spend time just the two of them, and make sure she felt that she was part of the family. Julie still got on Rylan's nerves faster than anyone else, but even that seemed to fade over time. When Julie went to the store for the first time since Rylan got there, she insisted the teen go and pick out what she liked to eat. After that, there was always a supply of her favorite foods available to be snack on when snacking was allowed.
After two very short weeks Kevin had to get back to his base in Main. The day before he left his insisted on taking Ryaln to dinner just the two of them. Julie approved and let him borrow the car.
"See? It's not so bad, right?" Kevin asked over burgers and cheese fries.
"She's a lot stricter than Duncan and Tessa. And being stricter than Duncan is saying something," Rylan complained.
"But it's not unbearable."
"I guess not."
"Look, Lizzie, it's only for seven more weeks. And after next week you get to see everybody again."
"Do you really think Julie will let me?"
"As long as you behave," Kevin told her. "That's going to be her big punishment for you. Just mind your manners and she'll let you."
"I don't want you to leave," Ryaln pouted. "Julie treats me like a little kid; you're the only one who makes her ease up."
"Just act like an adult. everything will be fine. If you're going to complain, complain to the MacLeods not Mom. She'll hold that over your head and keep you home when you could be out with them."
"You don't sound like you trust her with me," Rylan observed.
Kevin sighed. "Lizzie, I trust her to take care of you. but I don't trust her to treat you fairly. She's very jealous of Mrs. MacLeod. She hates that you like her more."
"Tessa never hit me," Rylan shrugged.
"Lizzie, did Mom hit you?" Kevin asked.
"Yeah, didn't you know? It was just a couple weeks before she sued for custody. Tessa hit her back though, I didn't see it, but Richie did. And man-oh-man I wish I had been there. The way he tells it."
"Lizzie," Kevin interrupted. "Does the judge know?"
Rylan shrugged. "I told him. I'm sure Duncan, Tessa, and Richie did too."
"And he still put you with Mom?"
"You sound shocked," Rylan snorted.
"I am! That's horrible. I know she's your mother, but. I'm going to talk to her about this when we get home," he decided.
"Kevin, dude, chill," she almost laughed. "It's no big. I'm fine. I've been through worse. It's okay."
"I don't care. And just for the record, it's not okay."
"Is this where you give me the child abuse is not acceptable speech? Save it, I've heard it a million times. And what she did, doesn't count as abuse; it counts as loosing your temper and hitting somebody."
"Lizzie, you're still her daughter. She had no right."
"Kevin, let it go. If you go lecture her, all you're going to do is ruin this for me. If she thinks I'm going around saying she's abusing me, there's no way she's going to let me do anything. Please. She won't do it again."
"Lizzie, I can't promise anything. You have no reason to go home to her tonight. Let's go." He put down a few bills to cover the tab and stood up. Rylan followed him out to the car. Of course she had a reason to go home to Julie, it was court ordered.
. . . . . .
Rylan woke up full of hope. Today was the day. Three weeks had passed and she had been a perfect little angel the whole time. She never complained when told to do something, she didn't yell at Tamara when she decided to play dress up in her favorite shirt and then spilled Kool-Aid down the front; she obeyed all the rules. There was no way Julie was going to say no to seeing her family.
"Don't you look happy," Julie greeted her when she sauntered into the kitchen.
"I am," Ryaln admitted.
"What's gotten into you?"
"We should probably talk about it in private," Rylan told her. The last thing she wanted was for Julie to think she was pressuring her for permission by asking in front of everybody else.
When breakfast was over Brad headed off to work and Rylan did the dishes as she always did. Dishes were her chore; Julie felt Mika and Tamara were too young to handle the glass plates and the knives that tend to hide in soapy water. Not until after she had but the last dish in the drainer did she slow down to gather her thoughts. She went to find Julie who was in the living room clipping coupons. Rylan took a deep breath and entered the room.
"Hi," she greeted announcing her presence.
"Are you going to tell me what you're so happy about now?" Julie asked.
"Actually, I'm going to ask you about what's got me so happy right now," Rylan told her moving to stand in Julie's line of vision.
"Okay, ask."
"It's been three weeks," Rylan told her. "And the judge said after three weeks I could see my fam. I mean, I could see Richie and all them. So can I?"
"May you what?"
"May I see them?" she asked hopefully correcting her grammar. "Saturday maybe? See, Richie has a gig and this could be big and I really want to be there for him."
"Where is this gig?"
"The Chamber," Rylan told her. "It's a bar down town. He goes on at eleven. I know that's late and I'm supposed to be in bed then, but I was hoping maybe you could make an exception? Just this one time. well, honestly I might ask again to go to a gig and they tend to be late. But it's the only thing I'll ask."
"Rylan," Julie interrupted her rambling pleas. "I've told you before there are no exceptions. And you are under age to be in a bar, so you may not go."
"Oh." Rylan let her disappointment show and her gaze dropped to her feet. But she refused to beg. "Then can I. may I," she corrected. "Just go out with them Saturday. I'll be back by whenever you say, no arguments."
"Well, I had already made plans for this Saturday," Julie told her.
"Oh, well, never mind then." Rylan turned to leave. She hated not being informed until the last minute. But she wasn't going to put up a fuss or pester Julie about it. She would just ask next week. "Um." Rylan suddenly got an idea. "Can I call them? Please?"
Julie put down the paper she was holding. "Alright."
"Thank you, Julie!"
"But first. I want to tell you where we're going so you don't get too upset about not being able to see them."
"Okay."
"We're going to see your Nanna."
"Who's that?" Ryaln asked.
"Your grandmother."
"Your mother?"
"Your father's. She's expecting us at ten. And I have a feeling you'll want to stay awhile."
"Oh, well that sounds cool. I've never had a grandmother before," Rylan said and put on a smile.
"I thought you'd like it. I was going to make it a surprise but I felt I owed you an explanation instead of just a no."
"Thank you. May I call them now?"
"You have one hour. And answer the call waiting."
"I will."
Rylan bounded into the kitchen and grabbed the phone before plopping into a chair at the kitchen table. She wished they had a cordless phone that she could take into her room, but since this wasn't snacking time she figured this was the best privacy she would get. With a huge smile she dialed the familiar seven digit number to the store.
"Antiques, this is Richie," Richie answered on the other end.
"Welcome home, honey!" Julie beamed opening the front door.
"Her bags are in the car," the social worker said.
"We'll get them," Brad volunteered motioning to the boys. All of Rylan's brothers were there with big smiles.
"Come in; don't stand outside all day," Julie encouraged.
"Thank you," Rylan said politely as she stepped over the threshold.
"We haven't started dinner, yet," Julie continued guiding Rylan into the kitchen. "I hope you haven't eaten."
"No. Tessa figured you guys would want to do some kind of dinner," Rylan said softly. "It smells great," she added in an attempt at enthusiasm. She had three weeks to make Julie like her so she could see her family again. all she had to do was play nice. Not a problem.
"Thank you," Julie smiled. "I made pineapple glazed ham, a citrus salad, and rolls for dinner and for dessert we have a home made carrot cake."
"Pineapple?" Rylan repeated.
"Yes, of course," Julie answered. "What's. oh no! I forgot, sweetie."
"Forgot what?" Kevin asked coming into the kitchen and putting his arms around his baby sister from behind.
"Pineapple," she told him. "Rylan's allergic."
"I can always have a sandwich. You have peanut butter, right?" Rylan offered fighting the urge to cry. 'No tears' Tessa had told her. Just because her mom didn't know she was allergic to pineapple didn't mean she could cry.
"I will not have you forage for food your first night home," Julie said resolutely.
"It's not a problem," she assured her. "I don't mind."
"Well, I do."
"I have an idea," Kevin interrupted. "If it's okay with Brad and the kids, why don't we go out just the Fishers tonight? They can have the ham and we'll do something just the five of us."
"That's a wonderful idea, Kevin! Why don't you go get the twins and you kids can decide where we go."
"Wadda ya say, Lizzie? Up for a Fisher family reunion dinner?"
Rylan smiled. She liked the idea of being with her brothers and with all three of them there to distract her she wouldn't have to pay much attention to Julie. "Sounds great."
"Let's go find the twins," Kevin smiled back and offering his hand.
Whitney and Brendan were in the game room watching Mika and Tamara play video games. Kevin told them the plan and the three immediately decided to go to Joe's Italian Palace assuring a confused Rylan that she would love it; they used to go there all the time.
Twenty minutes later they all piled out of Julie's sedan and were seated at what apparently used to be their usual table.
"The usual?" Kevin asked the table.
"The usual," the all agreed, except Ryaln who asked: "What's that?"
"You'll like it," Kevin assured her.
The waiter came to take their order and Julie stepped in to order for everyone. "Those two," she gestured to Kevin and Brendan "will split a large pineapple and pepperoni pizza. Those two," she gestured to Rylan and Whitney. "Will split a large pepperoni, mushroom, and black olive pizza. I'd like the manicotti and five house salads to start."
Rylan couldn't help but feel a rush of relief when Julie ordered her favorite pizza for her. She had been scared she was going to be forced to pretend to like tomato and sausage or something equally as disgusting in her book. The salads came along with a basket of the best garlic bread Rylan could ever remember having. The twins and Kevin regaled her with stories of her childhood, her father, and the family before it had been separated. She vaguely remembered some of the stories and the others were completely new to her. By the time the pizza was gone and dessert was ordered Rylan realized that despite her best efforts, she was enjoying herself. She was laughing and joking around with her brothers and Julie's presence wasn't bothering her nearly as much as she thought it would. By the end of the meal, she was almost happy.
This changed once Rylan went back to Julie's house. There were more rules in the Kregston household than the MacLeod, so that took some getting used to. While meals were a family affair with Richie directing who should do what in the kitchen at her old house; the cooking was left strictly to Julie at her new house. And while Julie was cooking nobody was allowed in the kitchen. The menu wasn't a group decision but a choice left to the parents only. not even Kevin, who was staying there as well, got to voice his opinion. Meals were served at the same time everyday and if you didn't eat with the family, you didn't eat that meal. There was no sleeping in and last minute muffins as you ran out the door, no 'I have plans and will just have a sandwich' for lunch, and no 'I don't like this but I'll make something else and eat with you' for dinner. And snacks were only allowed between lunch and four o'clock, after that it would be spoiling your dinner. That was the first set of rules that threw Ryaln off guard, but she got used to it fairly quickly. At the MacLeod household you ate when and what you felt like and dinner was the only time they regularly ate together.
Bed time was another thing to get used to. Tamara was in bed by eight, Mika at nine, and Rylan by ten thirty. She wasn't used to having a bed time so the first night she had stayed up reading. She got a lecture the next morning and a promise of being grounded if she ever did it again.
Certain channels were off limits so Rylan was left with few options when it came to watching TV. Her favorite show was on an off limits channel so she couldn't watch it. At least they were doing re-runs all summer.
Over the weeks Rylan found herself settling into her role as the big sister. She stayed home to baby-sit once a week so Julie and Brad could go out to dinner, played video games, had tea parties and read bed time stories. Mika seemed to like her and Tamara openly admired everything her big sister did. Brad was really nice and wanted to know everything about Rylan. He wanted to read her stories and poems, wanted to spend time just the two of them, and make sure she felt that she was part of the family. Julie still got on Rylan's nerves faster than anyone else, but even that seemed to fade over time. When Julie went to the store for the first time since Rylan got there, she insisted the teen go and pick out what she liked to eat. After that, there was always a supply of her favorite foods available to be snack on when snacking was allowed.
After two very short weeks Kevin had to get back to his base in Main. The day before he left his insisted on taking Ryaln to dinner just the two of them. Julie approved and let him borrow the car.
"See? It's not so bad, right?" Kevin asked over burgers and cheese fries.
"She's a lot stricter than Duncan and Tessa. And being stricter than Duncan is saying something," Rylan complained.
"But it's not unbearable."
"I guess not."
"Look, Lizzie, it's only for seven more weeks. And after next week you get to see everybody again."
"Do you really think Julie will let me?"
"As long as you behave," Kevin told her. "That's going to be her big punishment for you. Just mind your manners and she'll let you."
"I don't want you to leave," Ryaln pouted. "Julie treats me like a little kid; you're the only one who makes her ease up."
"Just act like an adult. everything will be fine. If you're going to complain, complain to the MacLeods not Mom. She'll hold that over your head and keep you home when you could be out with them."
"You don't sound like you trust her with me," Rylan observed.
Kevin sighed. "Lizzie, I trust her to take care of you. but I don't trust her to treat you fairly. She's very jealous of Mrs. MacLeod. She hates that you like her more."
"Tessa never hit me," Rylan shrugged.
"Lizzie, did Mom hit you?" Kevin asked.
"Yeah, didn't you know? It was just a couple weeks before she sued for custody. Tessa hit her back though, I didn't see it, but Richie did. And man-oh-man I wish I had been there. The way he tells it."
"Lizzie," Kevin interrupted. "Does the judge know?"
Rylan shrugged. "I told him. I'm sure Duncan, Tessa, and Richie did too."
"And he still put you with Mom?"
"You sound shocked," Rylan snorted.
"I am! That's horrible. I know she's your mother, but. I'm going to talk to her about this when we get home," he decided.
"Kevin, dude, chill," she almost laughed. "It's no big. I'm fine. I've been through worse. It's okay."
"I don't care. And just for the record, it's not okay."
"Is this where you give me the child abuse is not acceptable speech? Save it, I've heard it a million times. And what she did, doesn't count as abuse; it counts as loosing your temper and hitting somebody."
"Lizzie, you're still her daughter. She had no right."
"Kevin, let it go. If you go lecture her, all you're going to do is ruin this for me. If she thinks I'm going around saying she's abusing me, there's no way she's going to let me do anything. Please. She won't do it again."
"Lizzie, I can't promise anything. You have no reason to go home to her tonight. Let's go." He put down a few bills to cover the tab and stood up. Rylan followed him out to the car. Of course she had a reason to go home to Julie, it was court ordered.
. . . . . .
Rylan woke up full of hope. Today was the day. Three weeks had passed and she had been a perfect little angel the whole time. She never complained when told to do something, she didn't yell at Tamara when she decided to play dress up in her favorite shirt and then spilled Kool-Aid down the front; she obeyed all the rules. There was no way Julie was going to say no to seeing her family.
"Don't you look happy," Julie greeted her when she sauntered into the kitchen.
"I am," Ryaln admitted.
"What's gotten into you?"
"We should probably talk about it in private," Rylan told her. The last thing she wanted was for Julie to think she was pressuring her for permission by asking in front of everybody else.
When breakfast was over Brad headed off to work and Rylan did the dishes as she always did. Dishes were her chore; Julie felt Mika and Tamara were too young to handle the glass plates and the knives that tend to hide in soapy water. Not until after she had but the last dish in the drainer did she slow down to gather her thoughts. She went to find Julie who was in the living room clipping coupons. Rylan took a deep breath and entered the room.
"Hi," she greeted announcing her presence.
"Are you going to tell me what you're so happy about now?" Julie asked.
"Actually, I'm going to ask you about what's got me so happy right now," Rylan told her moving to stand in Julie's line of vision.
"Okay, ask."
"It's been three weeks," Rylan told her. "And the judge said after three weeks I could see my fam. I mean, I could see Richie and all them. So can I?"
"May you what?"
"May I see them?" she asked hopefully correcting her grammar. "Saturday maybe? See, Richie has a gig and this could be big and I really want to be there for him."
"Where is this gig?"
"The Chamber," Rylan told her. "It's a bar down town. He goes on at eleven. I know that's late and I'm supposed to be in bed then, but I was hoping maybe you could make an exception? Just this one time. well, honestly I might ask again to go to a gig and they tend to be late. But it's the only thing I'll ask."
"Rylan," Julie interrupted her rambling pleas. "I've told you before there are no exceptions. And you are under age to be in a bar, so you may not go."
"Oh." Rylan let her disappointment show and her gaze dropped to her feet. But she refused to beg. "Then can I. may I," she corrected. "Just go out with them Saturday. I'll be back by whenever you say, no arguments."
"Well, I had already made plans for this Saturday," Julie told her.
"Oh, well, never mind then." Rylan turned to leave. She hated not being informed until the last minute. But she wasn't going to put up a fuss or pester Julie about it. She would just ask next week. "Um." Rylan suddenly got an idea. "Can I call them? Please?"
Julie put down the paper she was holding. "Alright."
"Thank you, Julie!"
"But first. I want to tell you where we're going so you don't get too upset about not being able to see them."
"Okay."
"We're going to see your Nanna."
"Who's that?" Ryaln asked.
"Your grandmother."
"Your mother?"
"Your father's. She's expecting us at ten. And I have a feeling you'll want to stay awhile."
"Oh, well that sounds cool. I've never had a grandmother before," Rylan said and put on a smile.
"I thought you'd like it. I was going to make it a surprise but I felt I owed you an explanation instead of just a no."
"Thank you. May I call them now?"
"You have one hour. And answer the call waiting."
"I will."
Rylan bounded into the kitchen and grabbed the phone before plopping into a chair at the kitchen table. She wished they had a cordless phone that she could take into her room, but since this wasn't snacking time she figured this was the best privacy she would get. With a huge smile she dialed the familiar seven digit number to the store.
"Antiques, this is Richie," Richie answered on the other end.