Daphne was done cutting up the salad vegetables when the door opened for the first time. A small boy came running into the kitchen. "Mama! Look it! I got an invitation to a birthday party today! Can I go, please?" Jude said holding up an envelope.
"I will look at it with you after dinner, Buddy, and we will see. If it is this week, it might be a hard squeeze, but we can probably work it out. You don't have much going on compared to everyone else." Lena put her arms around the little boy and gave him a kiss. "By the way, Jude, this is Daphne. She is going to be staying with us for a while. Daphne, this is my youngest son, Jude."
"Hi, Daphne. Do you want to go play with my toys with me? Or we could play outside!"
Lena giggled a little to herself. "Right now, it is almost dinnertime. Daphne is helping Mama cook. You, Little Man, need to go wash your hands and then set the table. Could you do that?"
"Yes, Mama!" Jude ran toward the bathroom and then came back. "We need seven plates, right Mama?"
"Actually, eight tonight because we have Daphne. First, though, really go wash your hands. With soap and water this time, please." When Jude left a little slower this time Lena turned back to Daphne. "He must like you already. He doesn't offer just anyone to play with his toys."
Daphne studied the boy when he came back a few minutes later to get the plates four at a time. Lena was black like Daphne, but Jude didn't seem to be. Then again, Lena might not be fully black and that could explain Jude a little. She located a baby picture on the wall that had to be him. It just didn't all quite add up.
The door opened again and two more kids came into the kitchen a dark headed boy and girl who looked about the same age came in. "Hey, Mama." The girl said.
"Hey, Callie. I wasn't expecting you two to come home together." Lena commented giving both kids a hug and kiss like she had Jude.
"Well, Aiden's mom called Lauren's mom and said she would pick me up on the way by. It was okay because we got to ride in Aiden's brand new car! It had leather seats and everything! We should get a car like theirs. We have never had a new one. It would make trips in the car so much better!"
"Hmmm, the moment we win the lottery or something, I will let you know. Then we can get such a car." Lena said smiling at her daughter. She knew about Aiden's new car and knew it was something they would never be able to afford new.
Brandon had stood back just watching the situation. "Uh, Mama? Who is that?" He asked looking at Daphne. "Are you going on a date or something tonight? Are you leaving us with her?"
"Nope, not tonight. This is Daphne. She is staying with us for a few days. Daphne, this is Callie and Brandon, my oldest two." Callie looked like she hadn't noticed the older girl in the room before. She suddenly turned a little shy. Brandon was just trying to size her up.
"Is that what came up so you didn't pick us up today? I thought maybe someone was sick or something. Where is she going to stay?" He asked very matter-of-factly.
"We haven't sorted that out yet. For right now she will be sleeping on the couch. We will have to make more decisions later. Tonight we all are going to make her feel welcome."
Brandon nodded and Callie kept giving the girl some odd looks. "So are we keeping her forever like we did the twins, Mama?" She finally asked. Daphne blushed and looked away at her question.
"No. Mr. Bill is looking for a place for her to go already. We are just keeping her until then. However, while she is here, she is family." Lena said raising her eyebrows at Callie especially. "We are all going to make her feel welcome. Now, I need you both to go wash your hands and get ready for dinner. You two are both on dishes tonight."
"But Mama…" Callie started to whine.
"I don't mind doing the dishes." Daphne said interrupting Callie's rant.
"Nope. We take turns here and it is Callie and Brandon's turn tonight. Don't let her complaining get her out of her fair share." Lena then turned to Callie. "Do you remember what we said was going to happen next time you whined about your chores?"
"Yes. I would lose some allowance, but I am trying to save that money so that I can buy something important. I can't lose my allowance again."
"Then I would highly recommend changing your attitude. We can leave this as a warning for now, but no more complaints."
As soon as Brandon and Callie left the room, Daphne spoke up again. "Being a mom must be hard work. I seriously don't mind taking on all of the dishes and things while I am here. I can also vacuum and clean bathrooms. It could relieve you of some work during the day."
Lena gave the girl a more genuine smile. "All of that won't be necessary, but I love your offer. Like I said before, we take turns around here. It wouldn't be good to show the other kids that you are some sort of maid for them. No, you are a child in this household just like them. You will go to school during the day and I will put you in the rotation for chores with the others. I can even offer you an allowance like the others so that you can be earning your own money without having to work another job. You are right, being a mom can be tough, but it is also super rewarding. You will certainly know about that soon enough."
Daphne looked back at the baby pictures on the wall and thought a little bit. She identified both Brandon and Callie from the pictures, but she was more confused than ever. Neither of these two looked like they came from Lena. She thought she remembered Lena mentioning twins earlier, but then Callie had also mentioned the twins. Surely this family didn't have two sets.
The front door opened again causing a stir among the kids. Jude nearly dropped the silverware he was setting out in his excitement. "Mommy's home! Mommy! Guess what, Mommy!" He yelled the whole way to the door.
Stef caught the boy and picked him up for a hug. "Whoa there, Jude. You know that Mama and I don't like you running or yelling the house. What's up that has you so excited, Little Man?"
"We have a visitor in the kitchen. She is kind of fat." He said more calmly.
"Be careful not to say rude things to our visitors. That isn't very friendly. Is our visitor someone that I know?"
"I don't know. Her name is Daphne and she is helping Mama cook. I didn't know her before now. She looks like someone hit her and she is big around her middle." Jude tried to explain further as Stef set him down on the ground.
"Hmm, well, okay. I will find out the whole story from Mama. I bet she is someone who works at your school or something. Mama didn't tell me we were expecting anyone for dinner, though." Stef walked into the kitchen with Jude and now the other two following closely behind her to see their mom's reaction to the stranger especially now that that they knew it was a surprise. "Hello, wife." Stef said giving Lena a kiss. Daphne made a strange face. "And who do we have here?"
"This is Daphne. She is going to stay with us for a few days if that is okay." Lena said hesitantly.
"We will definitely talk about this later." Stef said motioning toward the children to show that it would not be in front of them. "But yes, Daphne, I hope you feel very welcome here. My name is Stephanie Adams Foster and you may call me Stef."
"Now wait, are you two dykes or something?" Daphne said now making a bad face. "How disgusting. I cannot believe that Bill thought it would be a good idea to release me from juvie just to put me in the home of a freaking gay police officer. What sort of cruel joke is this?"
Both women looked at Daphne shocked. Jude was confused. "Mommy, what does dyke mean?"
"It is a word we do not use in this household, Jude. It is an unkind way to refer to Mama and me." Stef answered him shooting glares toward Daphne. "What were you in juvie for?"
"It's none of your business." Daphne answered further shocking Callie who had never heard anyone speak to Stef like that.
"I would say it is my business if you are living in my household." Stef answered looking at the girl steadily.
"I think that is a conversation for another time. Like say nine-thirtyish when all the little ears either in bed or getting ready for bed. Right now, go put up your gun and change clothes because it is dinnertime. Jude, please finish setting the table. Brandon and Callie, please fill up glasses with water to put on the table. Jesus and Mariana will be here any moment. We will eat when they arrive."
"Daphne, could you put the food on the table and watch them? I need to talk to Lena for a few minutes." Stef asked getting Lena's hand and leading her upstairs.
"Sure. No problem." She answered flatly thinking that this would be her last meal in this household anyway. There was no way a police officer would let her stay when she found out all that the she had done. Daphne found herself a bit disappointed since she had begun to think that living with Lena would at least be okay.
As Stef and Lena left, the kids sat down at the table around Daphne staring at her. "So why are you so fat?" Jude asked eying the girl.
"She isn't fat, dummy, she is pregnant. That means she is having a baby." Callie answered on the behalf of Daphne while Brandon looked on interested.
"Where is the baby's daddy? All babies have to have a mommy and daddy to be born. That's what Mama says and she is really smart. So if you are the mommy, where is the daddy?" Jude asked looking around as if he would see someone.
"Not here. That's for sure." Daphne mumbled looking at the kids before her. "So if you know all of that, where did you all come from? Not from here, I would guess."
"My mom was married to my dad before she met our mama, or Lena as you call her. They had me. Mama adopted Callie. They adopted Jude and the twins together." Brandon explained.
"And then Mom adopted me. That makes me belong to her, too, you know." Callie argued. "We all belong to both of them. You remember what Mom said."
"It doesn't matter what Mom said right now, Callie! I am just trying to explain to that girl where we all came from. I didn't call you my step sister or not real or anything. That would be worse and that's probably what you would have done." He fought back.
"Mom said not to use the word step and to make her feel welcome you idiot."
"That's right, Callie, but remember Mom also says to act sweetly toward your brothers and sister. That means not calling them names or fighting with them." Stef said interrupting the argument. "Daphne will be staying with us a few days and I hate to scare her way on the first day with needless bickering."
Daphne noticeably brightened as the argument stopped. Maybe Stef was still suspicious, but at least it sounded like she was going to get to stay here. Now she was going to have to get out of the doctor's appointment and starting school. "Oh, they didn't scare me. It would take something much worse to scare me."
"On that note, the twins aren't back yet, but let's go ahead and start serving dinner." Lena grabbed Jude's plate first and put some spaghetti on it with his special meatless sauce. "Our noodles today are something a little different. You can see they are lighter than the normal ones. Daphne helped me pick them out and we both think you will really like them."
Just as Lena served the last plate, the door opened to Jesus running at full speed toward the table. "I hope I didn't miss dinner!"
"Slow down, Jesus! You didn't miss anything yet. Go back and close the door, please, and then walk to the bathroom to wash your hands before coming to eat please." Stef said trying to stifle a laugh.
Jesus did as he was told, but still made his way very quickly to the table. "What are we having, Mama? Can I have extra? How come…" He looked up and saw Daphne and paused. "Wait, who is that?"
"Jesus, this is Daphne. Daphne, this is our son, Jesus. Daphne is staying with us for a little while. Is that okay with you?" Lena asked.
"Yep. I like visitors. I was just a visitor and I did everything just right. I didn't ask for anything this time. We had ice cream for a snack and I was super careful to not use too much chocolate. I didn't spill at all, well, not much." He said glancing at the small stain on his shirt. "Do you remember when Grandma was our visitor? She likes to build tents. Do you like to build tents, Daphne?"
Daphne nearly choked on her bite of spaghetti. Never had she heard so many words come so quickly out of the mouth of one small person. The other three kids scared her and yet intrigued her some. This new one was downright overwhelming. She realized he was still waiting for an answer. "I guess I have never built a tent. I didn't know my grandma."
All four kids looked at Daphne again like she was crazy. "When Grandma comes to visit next time she will help all of us build one. Then you will know how." Jude answered for the group.
"I don't think she will be here that long. Grandma isn't even planning to visit any time soon." Callie said taking bite of her food and making a face. "What kind of noodles are these anyway? They aren't very good and kind of weird. Maybe Daphne shouldn't choose our food…"
"Please don't talk with your mouth full. The noodles are just a little different. You can get used to them if you try a little harder." Stef said watching her daughter. She realized that Callie was referring more to Daphne and less to the food.
"We could teach you to build a tent! All it takes is a lot of chairs, blankets, and stuff. We can put it in the family room and then we all watch movies while we stay in our tent. You could even sleep on the couch like grandma does. She says she is old. You are kind of old too." Jesus said between mouthfuls. "Can we all that tonight, Mom? Please?"
"Not tonight. Tonight is a school night. Since you all were gone this afternoon, I think after dinner you will all sit down and do homework."
Three of the children groaned some in response. "I want to read with Daphne tonight!" Jude announced.
Daphne looked uncomfortable and Lena quickly intervened. "Sorry, Jude, Daphne is with me tonight. We have some work of our own to do as soon as Mr. Bill get here. You can read with Mom instead."
The front door quietly opend and then closed. Mariana happily came into the room and sat down at the table to eat. Lena quickly served her some food. "And this is our Mariana, the quiet one."
Mariana went to wash her hands and came back to the table a little confused by the visitor, but not really caring enough to quite question it. "Mariana, this is Daphne. She is going to be staying in our family room tonight and maybe for a few days. Daphne, this is our younger daughter, Mariana. She is Jesus's twin." Stef said.
"Oh. Do you have make-up and pretty dresses?" She asked looking over what Daphne was currently wearing.
"Nope. I just have one change of clothes in my bag and it sure as heck isn't a dress. Make-up is too expensive even if I wanted to look like some sort of whore." Daphne said looking for a shock value of her statement.
"My mama wears lots and lots of make-up. We always have to buy some when we are at a store. Is yours expensive, Mama? Is that why we can't have a new car or got lots of places like some people. Is Mama a whore like Daphne said?" Jude said rather innocently but making his mothers jump for the second time.
"That would be another word that we do not use in this house, son. Mama is not one, fortunately. Mama likes to wear make-up because it makes her feel pretty. She has a good job and we can afford it no matter how much it costs…" Stef smiled as Lena kicked her under the table. "Not really. Make-up is just a little expense. We can't afford some things because we are raising five kids. You all are way more expensive than Mama's make-up."
Callie still had about half her spaghetti on her plate, but she had finished the salad by this time. "May I be excused. I will start on the dishes if that's okay."
Lena looked over at her plate and then looked at her extremely uncomfortable daughter knowing that she needed a little alone time to get used to the new arrangement. "Sure. Go ahead and leave your plate in here. Go on upstairs and we will come get you when it is time to start on dishes." Callie got up and headed for the stairs.
"I want to eat Callie's food. Please, Mama? I think it would be really good with a little bit of ketchup instead of sauce. Do we have any? What about bread? I really like to eat bread with butter on it. Would that be okay, Mama?" Jesus said as he grabbed Callie's plate and started into the kitchen.
"No. We are leaving Callie's plate for her in case she gets hungry later. If you would like more, we can serve you more. There is no ketchup or bread with this meal. Now, would you like more salad or more spaghetti or both?" Lena asked trying to keep from being annoyed by the boy.
"I want a banana." Jesus answered.
"That's fine. Go put your plate in the sink and you may have one."
"Can I eat it upside down with a spoon? Remember how much fun that was when we froze them and did that? I want to do it again."
"Not tonight. If you are eating one tonight, it will be done by peeling it from the top and taking bites out of it with your mouth, not your fingers. Remember we have guest." Stef answered him and he nodded on his way into the kitchen.
"So, what's his issue?" Daphne questioned the moment he was out the door.
"My brother doesn't have an issue." Mariana said glaring toward Daphne. "He is just special."
"That's right, Mariana. Jesus has ADHD which means he has Attention Deficit with Hyperactivity Disorder. Before Spring Break, he was on a heavy stimilant that had some side effects that we disliked. So, we took him off of it and found something new. Unfortunately, it wears off early in the afternoon. So, requires a little special treatment in the evenings. We want all of our babies to be as healthy and productive as possible. This is what it takes for him." Lena explained knowing that if Daphne had not been around someone like Jesus before she was probably considering him to be somewhat psychotic.
"Can't you just give him more or something?"
"We don't want him to be dependent on the medication and we want him to sleep at night. Many of thiese types of medications can be dangerous long-term." Stef answered this time. "He is especially active tonight because you are here. Once he gets used to you, he will significantly calm down."
XXXX
Shortly after dinner, Bill showed up with Daphne's file and both mothers signed off on some paperwork. Brandon and Callie did the dishes while he was there with no more complaint while the other three started their homework. When Stef's part was done, she went to oversee homework. Daphne noticed that Jesus was given frequent breaks from his work. "How's he ever gonna get done like that?" She seemed to ask no one.
"Remember how we said he has ADHD? We have found that the process of homework and even the quality of his work is better if he has breaks. It makes homework time take longer, but it is really what is best for him." Lena answered looking up briefly from the papers she was trying to fill out.
"Oh. Why does Jude get all of that extra attention from Stef? Is he dumb or something?"
"No, and I would prefer if you wouldn't refer to anyone as dumb. Jude is in first grade and he is still learning to read. Much of his work has to be done with one of us every night. It is actually kind of fun for us. We get to help him learn."
Daphne continued watching the other kids with their homework as Lena was filling out her enrollment papers and pouring over her files. Every now and then she would ask a question for Daphne to answer. Daphne would answer and then go back to watching. Homework time seemed so natural for this family. There were many smiles going back and forth between Stef and each of the kids. Daphne could tell they loved each other. This was a new experience for the girl and for once gave her hope about keeping her baby.
