LOST AND FOUND - PART 10

DOMESTICATED

CHAPTER 91

TJ didn't wake up until just after noon the next day. She sat up in bed, looking around the room and trying to place herself.

She lay back down and went over the events of the last few days, especially the quick trip from the train to the house in a trunk. Smiling, she sat up again and threw the covers back. Moving to open the white painted wardrobe on the far wall she saw her clothes hanging there, and her bags neatly placed at the bottom.

Quickly dressing, she made her bed, and cautiously opened the door to her room.

When she stepped into the hallway she could hear multiple voices singing, and she followed the sound to the head of the back stairs.

"I've been working on the railroad
All the livelong day
I've been working on the railroad
Just to pass the time away..."

Each line was punctuated by an odd cracking noise, and the aroma of cinnamon wafted up the stairs on the warm air. Her stomach grumbled.

Intrigued, she was smiling as she quietly came down the stairs.

Stopping in the kitchen doorway she saw Adam and two children at the kitchen table.

The little girl was kneeling on her chair with a large wooden bowl in front of her and was busy with a slotted tool. TJ immediately realized she was creaming butter and sugar together.

Adam was sitting across the table from her and was cracking walnuts in his bare hands. Then he was passing the pieces to the little boy who was using a metal pick to carefully pry out the meat of the nuts and placing them in another bowl.

Thea was standing at the counter next to the stove and was cracking eggs into a huge ceramic bowl as she sang along with the other three.

Hearing a sound to her left, TJ turned her head to see the three babies in the railed off corner of the room. Benjamin was at the rail next to her and looked at her quietly with his bright black eyes. Thomas and Matthew were busy rolling a striped ball back and forth and paid her no attention.

She knelt next to the rail and when Benjamin let go to raise his arms to her he lost his balance and landed on his well-padded bottom. Expecting him to cry, she reached for him, but the baby just kept staring at her.

Adam had been aware of her coming down the steps and had been watching her out of the corner of his eyes.

Just then the song ended and he turned his head to glance at her briefly.

"TJ!" he said in a booming voice, "Come and have a seat." He rose to hold a chair out for her and she quickly came with Benjamin and sat down, placing the baby in her lap.

She looked at the children at the table and they smiled back, having already been told by their father who she was.

Adam moved around the table to go to the sink to wash his hands and Thea sighed in exasperation to see the palms of his hands had been abraded by the walnut shells.

She handed him a towel and said, "Why didn't you use the nutcracker?"

"I couldn't find it," he replied in a reasonable tone. "Ever since you reorganized the kitchen I can't seem to find anything."

His wife sighed and reached into a utensil drawer and pulled out the metal nut cracker. "Something tells me you didn't look very hard for it."

Adam just laughed and Thea turned to the young woman at the table.

"Would you like some tea, TJ?" she asked as Adam came over to place his hands on the little girls shoulders.

"This is Annalise," he said, bending down to drop a kiss on the top of his daughter's head, then he reached to tousle his son's springy black hair. "And this is Alexander."

He turned to take the teacup and saucer from Thea and placed them in front of the young woman, then moved the sugar bowl and cream pitcher closer to her, but carefully keeping them out of Benjamin's reach.

Thea came to place a napkin and a spoon on the table for her and Benjamin immediately tried to get the spoon. Frustrated when he couldn't reach it, he slapped his little hands on the table.

"Ma!" the baby piped and Thea replied without turning around.

"No."

"MA!" he persisted and this time she turned and shook her head at him.

"No."

Not giving up, he slapped his hands on the table again saying, "PA!"

Adam came to stand next to the two and put a finger over the baby's lips.

"You heard your mother, Benjamin," he said quietly and took the baby from TJ as he moved back to his chair.

Sitting down, he smiled at TJ. "Thea's makin' cookies, and we're helpin'," he said with a droll look and the young woman laughed silently as she reached for her tea.

Thea came to the table to take the bowls back to the counter and began mixing the ingredients together.

"I'm sure you're hungry TJ," she said and began dropping spoonsful of the batter onto a cookie sheet. "But if you'll wait for a few minutes the first batch will be ready."

She turned to see the young woman nodding, then turned back to put the cookie sheet in the oven.

Pouring two more cups of tea, she came to sit at the table and placed one of the cups in front of Adam.

Benjamin tried to reach it, but his father kept gently pushing his hands away, until the baby gave a huge sigh, kicked the table leg, and gave up.

Everyone at the table laughed and Benjamin looked around wide eyed, then chortled, pleased to be the center of attention for any reason.

Having carefully noticed how the young woman seemed to frown slightly when anyone said her name, Adam opened his mouth to speak to her, then had to stop to pry his bottom lip out of Benjamin's hands. "Something tells me you don't like to be called 'TJ'."

As the young woman vigorously nodded, he smiled and pushed the baby's hands away to quickly rebutton the three buttons Benjamin had undone on his shirt.

"I guess we will just have to wait until your uncle gets back to find out what your initials stand for," he said when the young woman pointed to Thea.

Puzzled, he looked at his wife and she shook her head.

"No, I don't know," she said as puzzled as he.

When the young woman pointed to her hostess again, everyone just looked at each other blankly for a moment.

Then Annalise spoke up, "I know!" she said and looked at the young woman with her emerald eyes dancing. "Your first name is Theadora, isn't it?"

Vigorously nodding her head, the young woman smiled back at the little girl while Thea turned to her daughter and said, "That's my smart girl!"

Everyone laughed, even Benjamin, although he obviously didn't understand what the joke was.

"Well, we can't have two Theadora's in the house," Adam said laughingly and this time Alexander spoke up.

"We could call her Teddy!" he enthused, obviously very pleased with himself.

"Good idea!" Thea said and reached to smooth back her son's unruly hair.

The younger woman nodded again and clapped her hands as everyone laughed again, and Adam gave his eldest son an approving smile.

"Well, that means we have a Thea, a Ted, and a Teddy now," Adam said and gave Thea a look as he nodded his head toward the stove.

"The cookies!" Thea yelped and almost knocked her chair over as she hurried to open the oven. "Thank goodness," she sighed with relief. "They're not one bit burnt!"

Later that afternoon Ted was sitting and waiting for TJ, now known as Teddy, in Thea's office. When he heard a knock on the door he called out, "Come in!" and stood when Adam opened the door and waved the young woman in.

She took a few steps toward the desk Ted was standing behind while Adam quietly closed the door. Looking at the tall young doctor nervously, she quickly glanced back over her shoulder at the door as though looking for Adam. Ted smiled.

"If you don't feel comfortable talkin' to me alone, I can go get my sister, Theadora," he said quietly.

Teddy seemed to think about that for a moment, then shook her head.

"Then why don't we make ourselves comfortable" he said, indicating two easy chairs facing each other by a front window.

He let her seat herself first, then reached up to pull down the window shade. "We don't want anyone to see you here," he explained, then sat in the other chair.

"Now, let me say first that I am very pleased to be meatin' you, young lady. I greatly admire the courage and intelligence to save those children."

He paused as he saw Teddy blush, and her beautiful grey eyes brighten.

"Let me also say," he continued, "I'm sure it was very nerve wrackin' to pull that off and even more tryin' to you as time went on."

Teddy nodded vigorously, and he couldn't keep from smiling his wide smile at her expression.

"I have to tell you a few more details that you might not be aware of so you'll understand how serious the situation is."

He stood to go to the desk and picked up a file folder, then came back to sit in the opposite chair again.

"From what I understand, Adam is quite sure your friend, the former nanny was murdered by the gardener. Her name was..." he consulted the papers in the file, "Karen Bell, correct?"

Her face flushed and her eyes glinted angrily. Without stopping to think she said, "No, Katherine. Everyone called her Kate." Then she flushed even redder and clapped a hand to her mouth.

Ted bit back a laugh. "So how long have you been able to speak?" he asked gently.

"Since I woke up this morning," she replied her posture and expression reflecting the defeat she felt.

The two sat there for a few moments and the doctor continued to smile at her.

"Don't be frettin' about this, Teddy," he said. "I'm sure getting away from the city and comin' to this house unlocked your voice. This place has a tendency to make people feel safe."

She nodded, a few tears of relief sliding down her face.

"Now you have to be understandin' somethin'," he said seriously while leaning forward. "Just because you're speakin' again doesn't mean you're cured. I think we'll be needin' to talk for quite a while to work these things out in your mind."

Teddy looked at him hopefully and he could see her visibly relax.

"I think we're done for the day, so why don't we go to the kitchen and see if there are any of those cookies I smelled bakin' are left?"

He smiled and offered his hand to help her up. Then he stood there for a moment as he tucked her hand into the crook of his arm.

"But before we go, please tell me, how did you know Dylan's name?"

She flushed again and said, "My roommate at school had a picture of him and Dylan was all she could ever talk about!"

They both laughed as they moved toward and through the door.

"Well that certainly solves the mystery. It's been drivin' everyone crazy tryin' to figure it out, especially Dylan!"