Chapter 53

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Morning came, the sun shone through the blinds in Jack's bedroom. Jack's eyes fluttered open. He squinted trying to block the sunlight. He tried to roll, but something heavy was weighing his arm down. There was a familiar scent invading his nose as well. It was on his pillow, it was right in front of him. His eyes finally focused on the her blonde locks that were sprawled out like a fan. A smile pushed up on the sides of his mouth. Sue was in his bed, his arm wrapped around her. Her shallow even breathing told him she was still asleep. He took advantage of her slumber and closeness to snuggle into her neck and slip back into a restful sleep.

A while later, Sue stirred, brushing the hair from her face. She smiled knowing that Jack was close. She could smell him. She could feel him breathing, his warmth. Wait! What? She pushed herself up only to see him, on his shoulder, eyes resting shut. His left arm weighing on her waist, his right holding her possessively to him. She snuggled to him, running her hand over his chest. She absently caressed his exposed skin at his neck. The little tickle of her lips on his skin woke him. He groaned from the sensations she was creating deep in him.

"Morning." He mumbled, wrapping his arms tighter around Sue. He pulled back to look at her.

"Good Morning." She whispered. He couldn't resist the urge to kiss her gently.

"Did you sleep well?" He asked. She smiled and nodded. "Been awake long?"

"Not long. You?" She asked. He smiled

"Nope, you just woke me." He teased.

"I meant, did you sleep well?"

"Remarkably." He said as he leaned in to kiss her again. His hands moved to his hips, and up her back, deepening their encounter. Sue sighed with increased pleasure. Jack took that as permission to push forward. His hand traveled the length of her back to her backside. He gave her a gentle squeeze to which Sue answered him with pulling away from their embrace.

"Jack…" She warned. He smiled. "We can't. I-I can't." He gave her a soft kiss on her forehead.

"I know." He smiled at her kissing her gently on the cheek. "Can't blame me for trying though." He smiled again.

"I'm sorry."

"I'm not." He answered.

"You're not?" He asked. She shook her head.

"No." He paused long enough to kiss her lightly on the lips. "Nope. Do you know how amazing our wedding night is going to be? I can wait. It's only a couple of months." He smiled. "But, I do have to get up."

"What plans to you have today?" She asked curiously.

"Not making love to you." He said with a chuckle. She blushed.

"Oh."

"Do you want to get started on those legal papers?" He asked as he grabbed his pants before standing up exposing his current situation.

"Yes. I need to go home, shower and get clean clothes. It would probably be a good idea to get together with Lucy at some point." Sue said as she pulled the covers over her top.

"Let me grab a quick shower, I will take you home. We can talk to Lucy about the possibility of our addition to our family." He said as he picked out clothes.

"OK. I'll text her and see if she's going to be around." Sue said getting up and quickly putting on her clothes the second he was out of sight.

"Hey Luce. Do you have plans today? I wanted to talk to you about something."

A few seconds later, a replay text came.

"Nothing. When are you coming home?"

"Leaving as soon as Jack's out of the shower." She said smirking, as she shut the Black Berry, knowing that would catch her attention.

Less than an hour later, they were walking into Sue's living room. Levi bolted for his bowl.

"You might think he didn't eat today." Sue joked.

Lucy hugged Sue. "Jackson." She said with a sly brow. He looked at her curiously.

"So, what did you want to talk to me about?" Lucy asked.

"Well… "Sue began. "I was wondering if you'd be available to baby sit?"

"Oh, my God! You're pregnant!" She gushed.

"No!" Sue said laughing as Jack choked on the cup of coffee he had made himself.

"Levi?" Lucy asked, a bit disappointed.

"Well, yes, but I was actually referring to Anita and her siblings." Sue clarified.

"Anita?" Lucy asked. "Why?"

"It's a loooong story, and I still have to talk to her about it, but I'm going to try to become their foster mother until their father can take custody of them." Sue explained.

"Their foster mother? Sue, you're getting married in two months." Lucy asked.

"I know. And Jack's ok with this. It's only short term. Once their dad is cleared for them to be with him, Jack and I will move into his place… At least I think that's the plan. We haven't really talked about this either." She said feeling guilty.

"That sounds like a good idea. But, you're right, we haven't talked much about it." Jack said.

"OK, so when do you think you'll need a 'baby sitter'?" She asked.

"Umm… our wedding night?" Sue said shyly.

"What about your honeymoon?" She asked.

"We'll take that later." Jack said. Lucy looked at her best friend.

"It'll be fine." Sue reassured her.

"No, Sue. You and Jack need time to be alone." Lucy pleaded.

"Luce, really, it's fine. Jack and I will have our wedding night, then we'll figure something out while we have the kids. Don't worry, it'll be fine." Sue said.

"Don't worry Lucy. We're working on getting their father up to snuff for the courts. Hopefully he'll take custody before our wedding." Jack said.

"Maybe not." Lucy said. "Then what? What if you never get him ok'd for the courts to approve his application for custody? You'll be stuck with a built in family."

"Well, I've always wanted a family." Sue said smiling. Jack chuckled.

"Oh? Maybe we should talk about how big of a family you really want." Jack teased.

Sue smirked at him.

"It'll be OK. The kids are great kids, and from what I've seen from their father's records he's a good guy." Sue said.

"If he's such a great guy, how did the mother get the courts to agree to sole custody and termination of parental rights?" Lucy asked. Sue looked at her surprised. "What? Jack filled me in some."

"Here's some good news that I just told Mitch about… Annabelle never terminated his parental rights. She had her lawyer write him an official looking letter on his letter head stating all rights were being terminated. She never had him file the paperwork because it was too expensive." Jack said.

"That's great news!" Sue gushed.

"It's definitely good for Mitch." Jack agreed.

"Listen, you need to talk to Anita about this. See how she feels about it. I've filled out most of the info for the paperwork you'll need to start to become their foster mother. You'll need to finish the papers and sign them. I'll bring you down to submit them as soon as we can." Jack said.

"Thank you." Sue said kissing him lightly.

"Awww…" Lucy teased. "And, yes, you can count on me to help. I will take the kids while you're away."

"Thank you." Sue signed. Sue took her Black berry and texted Anita asking her over for dinner with the kids. She countered with an invite of her own, saying if Sue wanted to cook for them that was good, but it would be easier for her with all the kids to stay at her house. Sue agreed, asking if it was OK if her best friend and fiancé could tag along, to which Anita replied "but of course!"

After their spaghetti and meatball dinner, Sue treated everyone to her now infamous ice cream cookie dessert. Lanie and Jacob were excited to have new people over their house and didn't waste any time dragging Lucy off to see their rooms. Sue asked if she and Jack could have a word alone with her. Vinnie wasn't crazy about the idea, but he wasn't sure why. Anita asked him if he would take Lizzie for a walk just around the block. He agreed, but begrudgingly so.

"What's up?" She asked.

"I wanted to run something by you." She let out a breath. "I am filing to become a foster parent. If I get approved, I would like to file to be your foster mother."

"Mine?" Anita asked.

"Well, all of you. I want to take care of you, until you're ready for your dad to take over, and until he's able to." Sue continued.

"Wait… once you do that, they'll know that we're alone. What happens if you don't get approved? Then they'll force us to go to another home, and more likely than not, separate us." Anita pointed out.

"Your name won't be brought up until I'm approved. I will move in with you so you'll have an adult to care for you." She said.

"But aren't you getting married?" Anita asked.

"Yes, Christmas Eve." Sue answered.

"Anita, I'm hoping that long before Sue and I get married, you'll have your dad as your legal guardian." Jack said.

"You really think you're going to be able to do that? My mother did a pretty good job of trashing his name. What makes you think you can fix all that?" She asked.

"I'm a good lawyer. Your dad's a good man. He did leave, but he didn't abandon you. He has paid child support. He has records in his check book for checks he wrote to all three of you for birthdays and holidays that were never cashed." Jack paused. "He joined the service to make a better life for his family."

"Anita, you have to decide for you… do you want him back in your life? Are you willing to take a chance on him? Are you willing to get to know him? Make up your own mind?" Sue asked.

"I-I don't know. I mean, from what you've said about him, he sounds like a great guy." Anita said.

"So, what's wrong?" Jack pushed.

"I don't know… I think it's everything I was brought up to think and believe about him. I was taught from a very young girl to not trust him. He was no good. He abandoned us. He didn't care about us. Love us." She said as tears threatened to spill onto her cheeks.

"I do love you guys. Very much." Mitch said from the sidewalk near their house.

"Mitch, what are you doing here?" Jack asked.

"I got Jack's text about starting proceedings, going over paperwork etcetera. I'm staying close by, just in case. Jack said he was here, I thought maybe it was a good time to say hi again." Mitch said.

"Hi." Anita said trying to conceal her excitement.

"I'm sorry that you don't trust me, I don't' blame you. I want to be part of your life, your brothers and sisters too." He said. Anita looked at him, surprised.

"My sisters?" He nodded. "Why?"

"Because they're your sisters. A family shouldn't be broken up. I'm not going to lie to you, it's going to be difficult becoming a dad to a family of five! It's going to be an adjustment for all of us. I mean, suddenly, you'll have a parent telling you what to do, when to do it. Can you handle not being in charge?" He asked.

"I don't know. I've been in charge, even when mom was here, for a long time. I think Vinnie and I are the only ones to ever give Lanie or Lizzie a bath. There are so many other rules I've created for us, things to make our situation work." She whispered.

"Well, you'll have a curfew. That overnight/late night job you won't keep. I think school is more important." Mitch said.

"No, food is." Anita corrected.

"It is, but you won't have to worry about that any more. That will be on my shoulders." Mitch said. "It's time you be the kids for a while. I want to be the dad who has to wait up for you because you're coming home late from a date, and punish you for blowing off curfew." He said with a half laugh. Anita laughed too.

"Do you know, I don't think I've ever been punished? My whole life, except when I was real little, I don't remember being punished. How weird is that?" Anita asked rhetorically.

"Very. We're going to have to do something about that." He joked. Sue got up, tapping Jack on the shoulder to follow her back into the house. Lucy was sitting at the table playing cars with Lanie.

"How's it going out there?" Lucy asked.

"Pretty good from where I was sitting." Jack said smiling. The back door closed with a bang as Vinnie came in with Lizzie.

"Who's out there with my sister? She's talking to a boy." He said shocked.

"She is a teen age girl." Lucy said.

"She's supposed to be talking to boys." Sue added.

"Yeah, but not Anita. She never talks to boys… like ever, unless it's work related, and I don't think that's the guy who works with her." He said.

"Well, why don't we give them some privacy?" Jack said guiding him away from the front windows.

"Tell me Vinnie, what do you like to do?" He asked.

"I play a little guitar, baseball, but not on a team. Basketball, same deal. I swim, run… I really like running. It gives me an outlet. Gives me time alone. Gives me time to think." He said, his voice drifting off.

"Yeah. Me too. I like that I can get some exercise while I work out all the tension of the day, think about what I want to do after I get home." Jack said.

"Exactly." Vinnie agreed.

"Maybe you want to come running with me sometime? I go a few times a week." Jack offered.

"Yeah, I could break the monotony and have a running partner." Vinnie agreed. "How's Tuesday?"

"Yeah." He stopped mid step in his tracks. "Wait… Sue?" He said waving in her direction. "Do we have anything planned for Tuesday night?"

"Nope." She stopped, looking quickly at Lucy. "Do we?" They all laughed.

"No. None of us have anything pressing for Tuesday." Lucy reassured.

"Good." They said in unison.

"I'm headed for a shower. Night all." Vinnie said as he took the baby up the stairs to change her into her pajamas and put her to bed.

Anita came back into the house a few minutes later.

"How'd things go?" Sue asked.

"Good. I like him. I'm trying not to, but I can't help it. I just hope he's on the up and up because I will be really hurt if it turns out he's not." Anita admitted. "Vinnie home?" She asked.

"Upstairs in the shower. He put the baby down too." Jack said.

"Good. I didn't want him to see Mitch." Anita admitted.

"He did." Lucy added.

"What?!" Anita exclaimed.

"Relax, he thinks he's some guy who is interested in you." Sue explained.

"Oh, great! He thinks he's my father when it comes to boys!" She said rolling her eyes. They all laughed.