Standard Disclaimer – I don't own Twilight or any of the characters from the story. All song selections have been provided by me amazing beta, NoWayWithWords. She is the greatest! She has set up a YouTube Playlist that includes the songs chosen for the chapters. If you would like to check it out, see my profile for the link.
The song for the chapter is "Hope" by Remedy Drive.
Chapter 23 – Introductions, Part 2
That evening, after dinner, Emmett called Rosalie to tell her all about "his little Lulu" while I logged onto my laptop and sent her a few pictures of Emmett and Lucia playing together and the one of her sitting on my lap. Just like the rest of us, she fell in love with her instantly. I told her about my upcoming meeting with Lucia's mother so she gave me a list of things to watch out for. She wanted to make sure I didn't implicate myself in something illegal. I really appreciated her advice and took plenty of notes.
I barely slept a wink that night. I was much too nervous to get any sleep, so I was up and dressed bright and early the next morning. I cooked pancakes for breakfast with the groceries Emmett and I had picked up on our way home from the park the previous day, and read through my notes while I ate. Emmett got up and joined me. I think he was nervous too, but for different reasons. He didn't like the idea of me spending 30 minutes standing in some line or waiting in a crowded waiting area. He was also concerned that the press would find me hanging out at the prison and try to find out why.
Luckily, there was no line when we got to the prison at 8:30 sharp. One of the guards working the check in line recognized me. She was really helpful. She spoke to her supervisor and managed to get permission to let me wait separately from the rest of the people that were starting to pile in. Emmett wasn't allowed to come with me because he was not on the list, of course. He grumbled about it, but finally agreed to wait by the door that I would be coming through when I was finished.
I was taken to a room that looked like a wall of little desks with phones. I was told to take a seat at booth three. I sat there for a few minutes, and then a thin woman came over and sat across the booth from me. The glass window between us was scratched and worn but relatively clean considering I was in a prison. I think the scratches on the window may have actually improved her appearance.
I took a moment to study her. She had short dirty blond hair, dark circles under her dull green eyes, and was extremely underweight. If I had seen her on the street, I would have suspected she had an eating disorder like bulimia or anorexia. She looked at me suspiciously and picked up the phone, so I picked up mine.
"Are you the lady Clarence told me about?" She sounded like she was probably originally from Kentucky or Tennessee. Her teeth were stained yellowish brown and a couple were missing.
"My name is Bella Swan."
"You're a singer, right?"
"Yes, I am."
"Clarence said you know my baby. Have you seen her?"
"Yes, we played in the park together yesterday. She's beautiful."
Colleen smiled. "She looks like her daddy. He was a handsome man."
"What was his name?"
"His name was Manuel Santiago." She had a wistful look on her face when she spoke. "He was from Havana, Cuba. We were only married a few months, but they were the best months of my life. We met in rehab and started dating a few months later. Not long after that, I ended up pregnant. I wasn't doing tricks back then, so I knew the baby was his. I hadn't been with anyone else. I was 6 months pregnant when we went down to the courthouse and got married. He stayed right by my side during the delivery. He loved his baby girl. He even got her name tattooed on his chest, right above his heart."
"He sounds like a good man."
"I wouldn't say that. He wasn't all that good. He was running guns and drugs for one of the gangs out of Miami. That's what got him killed."
I was stunned for a moment and didn't know what to say. Finally, I stammered, "Oh, I'm sorry to hear that."
She shrugged her shoulders. "Nothing we can do about it now. Anyway, I doubt you wanted to come here to talk about my dead husband. What do you want?"
I swallowed a lump in my throat. "Clarence suggested that I talk to you about Lucia."
I could see the sadness in her eyes as she told me, "I always hated that name. Manuel insisted on it. When he died, I thought about changing it, but I never got the money. It looks like I won't get the chance now."
"Why do you say that?" I have no idea why I asked that. It just slipped out.
"Well, they have me locked up in here for the next fifteen years. I may be able to get out early for good behavior, but who knows when that will be? On top of that, they say I have HIV. They say I'm not quite bad enough to be classified as having full blown AIDS but I'm close. The doctors say that with the right medication and living a healthy lifestyle I could last for several years, but will I live long enough to get out of here? I doubt it."
"Clarence told me you had HIV, but he didn't say it was that bad."
"Well, it is what it is. There's no point in worrying about it now. My baby doesn't have it, and that's all that matters."
"I suppose so." I was unsure what else to say.
"Clarence was saying that he thinks he found a good home for my baby. Is that why you're here? Are you coming to ask me for my baby?"
I thought about the warnings Rosalie had given me. "I would like to discuss it with you."
She wiped a tear from her cheek. "I do love her, you know. I didn't want things to get messed up like this, but they just did."
"I understand."
"I don't want to give up my rights to her," she said. "When she's in foster care, I get reports every now and then letting me know that she's alright and what she's doing. If I give up my rights, she disappears completely and I won't know what is going on with her."
"Does Clarence ever bring her to see you?"
"No. I told him I don't want her coming up here. I don't want her remembering me like this. I'm probably going to get worse. I don't want her to remember me sickly. Hell, I would rather she not remember me at all than to remember me like this. I just want to know her. I want to know if she ends up liking fried catfish, like Manuel, or if she likes pickles, like me. I want to know when she learns to ride a bike. I want to see her school pictures. I know I won't be there to see it happen, but I want to know when it does."
I wiped at my own tears. I couldn't imagine how hard it would be to know that my only child was out in the world alone because of something that I did. She made some stupid choices in life and now both of them were going to have to suffer.
She took a deep breath and tried to push back her emotions. When she spoke again, she said, "I don't want just anyone to raise my daughter. I want someone who won't let her grow up to be like me or her father."
I nodded my head. "She is a good girl right now, but she's still so young. They won't let her stay with Clarence forever. Soon, she will be moved to another home, and then another. I'm afraid that she will become more and more detached every time she moves. I think she needs someone that will be there for her consistently. Her foster parents are not going to be able to do that."
"But I don't want to lose contact. It's the only thing that keeps me going in here."
I completely disregarded all of the advice Rosalie gave me and decided to make her an offer. "Colleen, I know you love your daughter, so here is what I propose. If you let me adopt her, I will give her a good home and be the responsible parent that she deserves. I will do my best to ensure that she is healthy, happy, and grows up to be a good person. I will make sure she goes to good schools and does not hang around with kids that are a bad influence on her. In return, I will send you letters and pictures each month letting you know what is going on in her life. What I ask of you is that you write me back with any good memories you have and stories about yourself that you would like her to know. If you know anything about your husband, that would be good, too. Someday, when she is old enough, she will have questions about the two of you. Since you may not be around when she is ready for answers, the letters will help."
She nodded and asked, "Did you get into a lot of trouble when you were a kid?"
"Not really. My father is the Chief of Police in the small town where I grew up and my mother was a school teacher. They are divorced now. My mom remarried and lives here in Florida while my dad still lives in the house I grew up in, in Washington."
"Is that where you live, Washington DC?"
"No, not DC. I live in the state of Washington. Actually, right now, I'm living with my dad while I look for a new house in Seattle."
"When you move, will you see your dad much?"
"I'm sure I will probably see him every Sunday. He likes tradition. We've always sat down together for lunch on Sundays."
"Do you think he would like my baby?"
I smiled and nodded. "I think he will love her."
"What if you have your own babies?"
"Then she will have little bothers or sisters. I'm not going to love her less, just because I didn't give birth to her. She would still be my first child."
One of the guards came by and told me that my time was up.
Colleen said, "I don't know. Let me think about it."
I understood her hesitation; she had a huge decision to make. "That's all I can ask. Clarence knows how to reach me if you have any questions or want to talk to me."
As a guard came over to escort her out of the room, she gave me a little wave and walked off. I waited until she was out of sight before I got up and headed for the door. My stomach was in knots. I wasn't sure if she was actually going to say yes, or if she would say no. I thought I made some good points, but it was hard to say if she was going to believe me or not.
Emmett and I went to Clarence's house for lunch. I still hadn't given any of the kids their presents, so I brought them inside with me. I told Clarence that the luggage was supposed to be delivered in a couple of days. He was glad that I had ordered so many because he planned on sharing with some of the other foster parents that lived in the area.
Clarence showed us around the house. He said that originally the house only had three bedrooms, but as they started taking on more kids, he added on two additional bedrooms, another bathroom, and converted the formal living room into a play room with shelves full of books and toys.
He explained that everyone was expected to eat at the dinner table as a family. To save space, he replaced the chairs with benches. He said they could fit more people around the table that way. The kids also did their homework at the table. They were expected to do their homework as soon as they got home from school. When they were done, they had to hang their backpacks on the hooks by the front door.
The kids also had chores to do. He had a chart posted on the wall in the dining room with each kid's name and what day of the week they were expected to do each task. He said that he tried to keep the chores age appropriate, but not gender specific. For example, he didn't have the boys taking out the trash and doing the yard all the time, or the girls doing the cooking and dishes. He mixed it up. Every two weeks he would reassign the chores.
He showed us the kids' bedrooms. Each room had two twin beds, two chests of drawers, and a bookshelf for them to share. The rooms were bright and colorful. Some of the kids had pictures of their parents or families sitting on the shelves, while others had nothing. Clarence explained that kids who were taken from their parents by CPS were not usually allowed to take anything with them or go back for anything. He said that a lot of time, CPS showed up and pulled the kids out of school to take them away and wouldn't even drop by the house to pick up clothes or personal items.
Clarence would have to take them clothes shopping and get them all new toiletries, like toothbrush, deodorant, and stuff like that. The kids that had things, such as pictures, were either orphans or the courts granted their parents visitation rights. Usually their parents would bring them little reminders of home while they worked on getting their children back.
We found Lucia in the room she shared with another girl. She was standing in the middle of a floor full of clothes, trying to figure out how to walk in a pair of old high heels. All she was wearing were the heels and a pull-up diaper.
Clarence shook his head. "Lucia, what are you doing? Where are the clothes I put on you a few minutes ago?" He turned to us and explained, "She loves to change clothes. Sometimes she goes in the other kid's rooms and takes their clothes. Yesterday she was trying to wear my boxer shorts."
He walked in and picked up a dress from the pile and slipped it over her head. When he got it on her, she looked down at it and crinkled her nose in disgust.
Clarence said, "Don't look at me like that, little missy, and don't even think about taking it off either. We have company, so you can't go running around in your under-things."
She looked over and Emmett and I and smiled. "Pwetty! Em-a-em!"
I went in and gave her a hug. "Hey pretty girl, what are you doing in here?"
She pointed at the heels and grinned. "Soos."
"Yes, those are some nice shoes. What are you doing with all of these clothes?" I started picking up the clothes and folding them.
She picked up a shirt from the floor and tried to help me, of course she only managed to kind of wad it up, but she tried. "I hep." Together, we managed to get the clothes folded. I had to be sneaky about refolding the clothes she had already done. When we were finished, she showed me what drawers the clothes went in.
She turned to Clarence and said, "Fix?" as she pointed to the shoes. Clarence disappeared for a second and came back with two rubber bands. He put the rubber bands around her feet and the shoes to help keep them on when she walked, and then he held her hand and led her to the playroom.
Emmett and Lucia played while I told Clarence about my discussion with Colleen. He said she usually called collect every Sunday evening, so he expected she would call in a few days. He told me that he would tell me if she said anything about me, but they usually didn't talk very long because it was too expensive.
I took my turn playing with Lucia while Emmett took a break. At 2 pm, Clarence told Lucia it was naptime. She didn't like that idea one bit. She shook her head and said, "Lu no nap!"
Clarence went over and took the toy truck out of her hand and said, "Lucia, don't make me put you in the time out chair. I said it was time for a nap. Your friends will still be here when you wake up, I promise."
She stomped her little foot and shouted, "No, Pa! No nap!"
Clarence scooped her up and marched over to a little wooden chair that had 'Time Out' etched in the wood. She was screaming and crying at the top of her lungs. He plunked her down in the chair and said, "Lucia Maria Santiago, you are in time out for talking back. Now you settle down so we can start the timer."
She continued to cry and scream, but she didn't try to get up. He just stood there staring at her. Finally she ran out of steam and stopped crying. She did maintain an angry looking scowl on her face, though. Clarence set the timer for three minutes and said, "Okay, the timer is set. You sit here and think about what you did until the bell goes off."
He then proceeded to start picking up the toys she had pulled out. When the timer went off, she came running to him and flung her arms around his neck, "Lu love Pa."
"I love you too, Lucia. Now, what did you do wrong?"
"Lu say no at Pa." Her wide brown eyes were filled with remorse.
"That's right. You were talking back and not following orders."
She nodded her head.
"Okay, now, let's try this again. It's time for your nap. Do you want to lay down in your room or mine?"
"You."
"Alright, you can go lay down in my room. I'll come turn the fan on."
He followed her to his room, put her in his bed, and flipped on the ceiling fan. He pulled the door partially shut as we headed into the kitchen for coffee. Once we each had our cups and were seated at the table, Clarence said, "I was thinking about taking the kids to the beach tomorrow. Would you like to babysit Lucia while we are gone?"
"I'd love to. What would I need?"
Clarence explained that Lucia was still working on potty training. He told me how often she needed to be reminded to go to the restroom, what she could have for meals and snacks, when she had to have her nap, what she liked to do, and told us he would install her car seat for us. After he was done explaining everything to us, Emmett and I could have passed a basic childcare test, if someone gave such a thing.
By the time Lucia woke up, it was decided that Clarence would bring her to the apartment/hotel at 8 am the next morning, after he fed her breakfast. He would bring a few changes of clothes, in case she made a mess or her pull-up leaked, and a few toys and snacks. We would feed her lunch and possibly dinner if they hadn't made it back by then. He said he wouldn't have his cell phone on him, but he would check it often, so we could leave a message if we needed anything and he would call us back when he got the message.
We were all sitting in the living room when Lucia came stumbling out of Clarence's bedroom. Clarence reminded her that she should go potty, so she turned and headed toward the bathroom. He got up and followed her in there. When she was done, she came and climbed into my lap with a comb and two barrettes. One was yellow, with a duck on it, and the other was blue with an octopus on it.
I combed her hair and divided it down the middle. I French braided each side and used the barrettes to hold the ends of the braids. She giggled and said, "Lu like Mal!"
Clarence explained, "Jamal is the 12 year old. His hair is braided in a pattern that looks like lightning on the side of his head."
Just as Clarence said his name, the boy came barreling through the door, "Hey, Papa C. I'm home. I don't got no homework."
"I don't have any homework," Clarence corrected.
The boy just shrugged his shoulders and said, "Me neither. Can I go play now?"
Emmett laughed. "Isn't it summer time?"
Clarence told us, "The kids are enrolled in a summer youth program. They are taking extra classes to help get them caught up with their education and they get to do fun activities in the afternoon. They seem to enjoy it."
Lucia jumped off of my lap and ran over to the boy. He was tall and lean, probably only a few inches shorter than six feet. He was wearing a baggy Pittsburgh Steelers jersey and some baggy pants. Lucia looked tiny standing next to him.
"Mal, look!" she pointed to her hair. "Me pwetty like you."
He bent over and picked her up. "You sure are pretty, runt. Did Papa C finally learn how to do your hair?"
Lucia shook her head. "No, her do." She pointed at me.
He looked over and noticed Emmett and I for the first time. "Hey," he said with a nod.
Before we could respond, the door burst open and two more kids came in. They were laughing at something as they ran into the house and headed to the kitchen for a snack. From the kitchen, I could hear the little girl yell, "Papa C, can we have some chips, please?"
"No, have some fruit. Do you have any homework?"
"No, sir," the two said in unison.
Someone knocked on the door, so Jamal opened it. There were two more girls standing outside asking if Jenny could come outside to play. Clarence went over the door and told the girls that she would be out after she finished her chores. He sent Jamal off to work on whatever he was supposed to be working on while he started the process of checking backpacks for notes from the teacher or any assignments that needed to be completed.
The rest of the kids came home about an hour later. Clarence spoke to each one individually about how their day went, whether or not they had any homework, and what chores they needed to get finished before they could play. Once he had everyone doing something, he settled back down on the couch to relax.
Emmett was getting a kick out of listening to the 14 year old girl argue with one of the 17 year old boys about a new movie that was coming out soon. Apparently the twin brothers thought it was going to be funny, but the girl thought it would be stupid.
Clarence's wife came home just as the kids were starting to finish up their chores. She sat her briefcase on a table by the door and kicked off her shoes. One of the twins said, "Hey, Ms. Millie, how was your day?"
"Same as yesterday, I suppose. I'm glad it's Friday, though."
"Papa C has some company in the living room."
"Oh, he does?" She looked over to where we were sitting and smiled. "Hey there. Clarence didn't tell me we were having visitors."
She came into the room where we were sitting and offered to shake our hands. "I'm Millicent Johnson, but you can call me Millie. I'm Clarence's wife. You must be Bella and Emmett. My husband talked my ear off about you two yesterday."
"Yes ma'am. It's nice to meet you," I said as I shook her hand.
"Clarence was telling me that you are thinking about adopting Lucia, if her mother agrees. Am I right?"
"Yes ma'am. I visited her today and we talked about it."
"That's good. I really hope it all works out. These things can take some time, I'm afraid. If she does decide to grant you custody of the child, you will have to get an attorney to draw up the papers, she will have to sign them, and then the courts have to agree to turn the child over to you. It may take a few months, even if everything goes smoothly."
"I understand. I'm willing to wait, though."
Lucia came running over to Millie and did a little pirouette. "What! Lu got Mal hair."
Millie looked at her and laughed. "Yes, your hair looks like Jamal's. It's very nice. Did Ms. Bella do this for you?"
Lucia nodded her head and smiled.
"Well, she did a great job."
Jamal came in the living room and asked, "Hey, is someone having a birthday? There are presents in the kitchen."
Clarence stood up. "Oh, goodness, I forgot about those."
We all headed into the kitchen. He called for the kids that weren't already standing there gawking at the packages. Once they were all assembled, I handed each one a package.
"I picked these up for you," I said. "They are yours to keep, even when you leave here. I hope you like them."
Emmett took pictures as they tore into their presents and thanked me. Jamal helped Lucia open her gift. She was jumping up and down and laughing when she saw the baby. Clarence took the box so he could get the baby out. While he worked on trying to extract it from its packaging, Lucia ran in circles until she got dizzy and almost fell over. Emmett and I were laughing at her antics. She was so silly.
Finally he got the baby out of the package and handed it to her. She grabbed it out of his hands and gave it a big hug and kissed it on the cheek.
Emmett bent over and asked, "Hey Lulu, what do you have there?"
She held it up by its arm and replied, "A baby."
Emmett patted the doll's head. "Oh, what a pretty baby. What are you going to name it?"
She looked at it lovingly and told him, "Rat."
Emmett looked at Clarence. "Care to translate that?"
Clarence prompted, "Lucia, what do you say?"
She cooed at the baby doll as she rocked it, "Shh, Rat seepin."
"Lucia, a rat is an animal. It looks like a big mouse," Clarence pointed out.
She looked him directly in the eye and said, "Baby name Rat."
He shrugged his shoulders and said, "Okay, whatever you say." He turned to Emmett and said, "She named the baby Rat. She is probably thinking of the characters in the Rugrats cartoon. I don't know."
Emmet decided it would be best not to argue with her about it, so he went outside to toss the football with the boys while I talked to Millie about my music. When they started cooking dinner, Emmett and I decided it head out. I wanted to go to the store so I could pick up a few things before they brought Lucia over the following morning.
I called my dad that night to update him on everything that was going on. He wished me luck and told me that he was going to be fishing all weekend. Before we hung up, he said that I had a message from my doctor's office reminding me that I needed to update my information when I went in for my appointment the following week. It was a good thing they called, because I had completely forgotten about it. I called and left a message on their machine telling them I would have to reschedule.
I slept like a log that night. I don't think I even moved once. My alarm went off early in the morning and I hit snooze twice before finally crawling into the shower. Thankfully, Emmett already had coffee ready, so I poured myself a cup and nibbled on one of the scones we had picked up the night before. For some reason the coffee tasted horrible. It was horribly bitter and smelled a lot like feet, so I ended up pouring it out and having a glass of milk instead.
Clarence arrived shortly after I finished breakfast. Lucia followed him inside, with Rat held tightly in her arms. She looked nervous at first, but when she saw it was just me and Emmett, she relaxed. Clarence handed me her bag of things and reminded me of her schedule before following Emmett out to move the car seat into the rental car.
I could tell Lucia was still tired. All she wanted to do was snuggle on the couch and watch Saturday morning cartoons. When she finally perked up, she wanted to play with her baby doll, pretending she was the mommy as she fed it, talked to it, and put it to sleep. At one point the baby must have done something bad, because she fussed at it and put it in time out. When the baby got out of time out, she gave it to me and told me it was my turn to be the mommy. She watched as I rocked the doll and sang songs to it. I pretended to feed it a toy bottle. I even pretended to burp it. She told me the baby spit on my shirt.
Not long after that, she took the baby over to Emmett and told him that it was his turn to be mommy. He tried to argue that he would have to be the dad, because he was a boy, but she insisted that he was a mommy. Finally, he gave in.
While he was playing mommy, my cell phone rang. It was Rosalie. I snuck into my bedroom to answer it. I told her what was going on and put her on speakerphone so she could hear Emmett and Lucia playing with the baby doll when I went back in the room.
I walked back into the room just in time for Rosalie to hear Emmett say, "Oh, Rat, you are such a good baby. Mommy is so proud of you for eating all of your peas."
Rosalie started to giggle. This caught Lucia's attention. She pointed at the phone and said, "Who dat?"
"This is my friend Rosalie. She is Emmett's wife."
She reached for the phone and said, "Me talk."
I handed her my cell phone and she proceeded to talk Rosalie's ear off. Of course none of us understood half of what she was saying, but they were both having a good time. When Lucia finished talking, she handed the phone to me and said, "Mommy, it for you."
My heart swelled because she called me "Mommy." When I got on the phone, Rosalie had to tell me all about the conversation and how sweet she was. Apparently Lucia told Rosalie to call her Lucy. When Rosalie tried to get her to say her name, Lucia kept saying "Rosary". Eventually they settled on Aunt Rose instead.
When Rosalie finished gushing about Lucia, she finally got down to business. A realtor she knew found a great house that was going to be available in a few days. She emailed me the pictures that he sent her. Apparently the owners were in the middle of a nasty divorce and were being forced to liquidate some of their extra assets. The husband had purchased the house on Mercer Island, just east of Seattle, and was fixing it up for his mistress. When the wife found out about it, she busted out the windows, took a sledge hammer to the toilets, and spray painted rude things all over the walls.
She said the house was 5,910 square feet. It had 4 bedrooms, 6 baths, a formal living room, formal dining room, an upstairs game room, and a study/office. She said the garage was set up with a workshop and could still fit three cars. The owner originally spent over 5 million dollars for the house and he had already invested in new marble countertops, upgraded the carpets, added heated hardwood floors in the den, and put all new appliances in the kitchen. It was right on the water and had a pier. The property was full of huge trees and the lawn was well maintained.
I was looking through the pictures as she told me about the place. "It sounds great, Rosalie, and I can see how easy it would be to fix the place up, but I don't think I can afford a 5 million dollar house."
"Bella, I want you to sit down and brace yourself for what I'm about to tell you... Are you ready?"
I took seat on my bed and said, "Okay, I'm sitting."
"The wife's name wasn't on any of the paperwork, so she gets no say in how much the husband sells the house for. He is looking for an instant sell and is only asking for 8% of his cost."
I felt my jaw drop. "He what?"
"He says his wife has been a total bitch for the last 8 years, so he's only asking for 8%. According to my friend, his total cost was $5,195,000 so your cost would only be $415,600! If you sign another contract with Jasper for another CD, we'll have no problem proving to the bank that you are good for the loan."
"Is that legal?"
"It sure is, hun. I've already checked it all out. My realtor friend owes me a big favor, so he is holding this for me for two days, so you can get your finances in order. I have already talked to Jasper. He sent over a new contract. It's exactly the same as the one you had last time, except he wants you to do 10 concerts, instead of five. I have also got the loan application from the bank ready. If you want this house, tell me and I will email everything to you to sign. You will have to find a way to print them, sign them in front of a notary, and have them overnighted to me. You don't have much time, so I need an answer. Yes or no?"
I flipped through the pictures again and tried to picture myself living in that huge house. I figured if I got there and decided I hated it, I could always fix it up and make one hell of a profit on the place. "I want it, Rose. Send me the info. I'll print it, take it to a bank and have it notarized. I will scan it back to you before I send it overnight, so you have something to show your friend. Oh, and Rose… I don't even want to know what you did to deserve such a huge favor."
"My lips are sealed," she said with a giggle. "I'm sending the info now. I'm going to run down and talk to the bank manager. Maybe if you have the loan papers faxed directly to him, he can go ahead and process the loan. We can't afford to wait."
"I agree. Send me a text to let me know what number to fax the signed loan application to. I have to find a place to access my email and print the forms. I'll talk to you later."
I got off the phone and told Emmett that I found a house. I told him a little about the situation and explained the paperwork emergency. He was excited for me. Before we left to print my paperwork and go to the bank, I grabbed Lucia's things.
"Hey, Lucia, why don't you try to go potty before we leave, ok?"
She grabbed my hand and led me to the bathroom. "You potty."
I thought about telling her that I didn't need to go. I wasn't sure if Millie or Clarence had ever done that in front of her before. Since she wasn't my child yet, I didn't think it would be a good idea, so I said, "I just went to the potty before I came to get you. It's your turn."
She walked over to the toilet and asked, "Where da ting?" She was pointing at the toilet.
"Where's what?"
"Da ting go here." She walked over to the front of the toilet and patted the floor in front of it. "Lu get on ting to get on potty."
I remembered the step stool in the kids' bathroom. I didn't think about the fact that she was too short to get on the toilet by herself. "Here, I can help you." I pulled down her shorts and pull-up and then placed her on the toilet. I had to hold onto her so she wouldn't fall into the hole. I stood there and waited for a few minutes but nothing happened. Just when I was about to give up and get her down, she finally started to go.
It had been almost ten minutes since we went into the bathroom, so Emmett had already taken everything down to the car and came back up to check on us. Once we got her loaded in the back seat, we headed out. We stopped at a convenience store and asked where we could go to print emails. He sent us to a copy shop a few blocks down the road. They let me print everything and told me that they could fax the information for me when I was done. Our next stop was to the bank to get things notarized. Lucia sat in my lap the entire time and stayed quiet, like a good girl. Luckily, the bank manager offered to fax the paperwork to my bank for me once I explained that it was for a rush loan application. That saved us an additional stop.
When we left from there, it was time for lunch. Emmett suggested we take Lulu to a fast food place that had a giant play area. Of course, Lucia was all in favor of that idea. Unfortunately, she was so excited about playing and getting a toy with her meal that she didn't want to eat. When I took the toy away and told her to eat her chicken nuggets, she tried to throw a fit. I gave her my dad's patented "Don't push me, kid" look and threatened her with time out, so she quieted down and ate some of her food.
While she was playing, people started coming over and asking for my autograph. Emmett was torn between keeping an eye on his little Lulu and keeping an eye on the people that were approaching me. Lucia headed up into some tubes and was waving at us through a little bubbled window yelling, "Nook, Em!"
He looked up and waved at her. "Hey munchkin, why don't you come down here so we can go?"
She disappeared from the window, but came back a few minutes later looking frightened. "Em-a-em get Lu!" she yelled.
I had a line of people standing there waiting for me to sign things, but I heard what she said, stopped, and looked up at her. Emmett waved again and called, "Come on down."
She shook her head and started crying, "Get Lu!"
Emmett looked at me and said, "Bella, I'm way too big to fit through those tubes."
I turned and looked at her sad little face. "I'm coming baby, just give me a minute. You stay right there."
I apologized to the people waiting and kicked off my shoes. I climbed into the tubes and realized why she couldn't get down. Her options were to climb down a rope ladder, that looked scary, or go down a curvy slide that looked steep and because it was made of tubes, she couldn't see where it was going to take her.
When I got to where she was, she ran over and wrapped her arms around my neck as she sobbed. I held her and whispered that it was going to be alright. In order to make it down the tube slide with her, I had to lie on my back, which made me twist in odd directions as we went down. She held on tight and when we got to the bottom, she still didn't want to let go, so I carried her back over to the table with me. Emmett offered to take her, but she didn't want to let go.
"Lu stay wif Mommy." She buried her face in my neck and held me tight.
I patted her back and said, "That's ok, baby, you can stay right here as long as you like. I'm just going to write on a few things while I hold you, ok?"
She nodded her head and shifted so she could see what I was doing. A young man smiled at her and said, "Aren't you a pretty little thing? What's your name?"
She said, "Lucy."
"Lucy is a pretty name. How old are you?"
She held up four fingers and used the other hand to put one of them down, so she was only showing three fingers. "Dis many."
"Wow, you sure are big for a three year old." She buried her face in my neck again and kept it there until he walked away.
We were able to leave a few minutes later and head for the apartment. I looked at the clock and realized that it was almost time for her nap. She fell asleep in the car on the way there, so I carefully got her out of her car seat and carried her inside to my room. She didn't wake up as I tucked her under the covers and turned the clock radio on softly.
While she slept, I checked in with Rosalie. She had managed to talk to the loan officer. He was processing my paperwork and told her that he was pretty sure there would be no problem getting my loan pushed through quickly. She had also told her realtor friend that I wanted the house. He spoke to the seller and made the offer. It was accepted. His only stipulation was that he had to have a cashier's check for the full amount in his hands by midnight on Tuesday. The realtor was drawing up the paperwork so we could close on the house on Tuesday afternoon. This meant that I had to fly back home much earlier than I expected. Rosalie suggested that I fly home Monday, close on the house Tuesday afternoon, meet with a contractor Wednesday morning to arrange the repairs, and then fly back to Florida on Wednesday afternoon. She said she could arrange the entire thing for me, so I told her to set it up. That would give me two days with Lucia before I had to fly back and take care of the house arrangements.
During the afternoon, we played and watched the same animated movie over and over until I thought I would go insane. When Clarence finally arrived to pick her up, he looked tired. He said they had a lot of fun at the beach. He asked how things went with us, so I told him about the incident at lunch time. He didn't seem shocked or concerned which made me feel a little better. Instead, he just changed the subject and invited us to come with him and his family to church the following morning.
Lucia looked sad when Clarence said it was time to leave. When he put her in the car and drove away, I felt my heart leave with her. This was a different hurt than the crushing heartbreak that Edward had given me. This was like a part of me was being physically separated from the rest of me. It suddenly felt so wrong to be sleeping in that bed by myself. I found myself snuggling with the pillow that she had used so that I could get some sleep. I dreamed of decorating the new house. I would paint her room in her favorite color. I would get a step stool for the bathroom and buy her bathtub toys. She could play with rubber ducks and little boats while I washed her hair. She could climb in my bed when she had a bad dream. We could be a family in a big beautiful house. We could be happy.
A/N: So, what do you think about Lucy? She is getting really attached to Bella already. FYI - I am going to try to add a little bit from Edward's point of view at the end of the next chapter. Hopefully I'll be able to post it on time.
Sorry it took so long to get this chapter posted. The last couple of weeks have been crazy at work. Everyone was rushing to finish up with everything before they left for the holidays, so I didn't get a chance to post a chapter. For those that are not in the US, last week was Thanksgiving. That is a big deal in my family. My parents come to my house and we have a huge meal. We spend time laughing and talking. It's usually really nice.
This year we were not able to get the house cleaned up because we were busy doing everything else. This caused stress and panic on the day of Thanksgiving as we were trying to clean the house and cook a huge meal at the same time. The stress caused bickering which led to even more stress. To top it all off, one of my dogs pooped in the living room right before my parents arrived, so the house smelled. Thankfully, my parents took it in stride and didn't comment about it. Dinner was delicious and we ended up having a good time anyway.
I woke up the next morning with a sore throat, runny nose, body aches, and no voice. I don't know what it was, but it hit me like a brick wall. I felt so bad that I pretty much stayed in bed all weekend. This morning, when I got up to go to work, I was actually feeling pretty good. I really hope that I didn't end up giving it to any of my family. Being sick sucks! I hope all of you are healthy and stay that way.
OK, I have to get some sleep. I have to be at work early tomorrow. Sweet dreams!