Still Waters

'Ouch! Hey, my poor old nose has had enough grief! Gimme a break!'

The roughhouse that ensued routed Corry and swept Theresa and her snake off the stool and, along with most of the puppet materials, onto the floor. Zack wound up flat on his back with Theresa bouncing triumphantly on his stomach, proclaiming, 'Got you now! An' I'm gonna chomp your nose off!'

'Ow! Help! Uncle! I give up! Enough already, doggone it! Maddy!'

'Don't look at me,' Maddy said, laughing as she held up her hands. 'You got yourself into that.'

'You showed her how to make the confounded snake!'

'The snake was all her idea.' Maddy shrugged with elaborate innocence. 'Don't ask me why, but give a kid a sock and tell him to make a puppet, and he always comes up with a snake. Or maybe a sea serpent. Maybe a dinosaur…'

'What I don't understand-' Zack grunted, then disengaged himself at last and held Theresa at arm's length while he got to his feet '-is why kids are always so cotton-pickin' carnivorous. Ouch!' Theresa's snake was busily chomping its way up Zack's leg.

Maddy relented and, sweeping Bosley onto her arm, wrapped the dragon's soft tail loosely around Theresa's neck.

'Hey, honey,' she crooned in Bosley's Mae West voice, nudging Theresa's cheek with the dragon nose. 'That's no way to treat a handsome man.'

Theresa giggled and squirmed delightedly as the dragon's crest tickled her neck.

'Look, kid,' Bosley went on, 'you can catch more flies with honey… you know what I mean?'

Theresa wrinkled her nose and looked perplexed. 'Catch flies? Yuck!'

The dragon sighed. 'Honey, have you got a lot to learn! Pay attention.' Maddy moved the dragon sinuously up Zack's arm, bumped its head under his chin, and fluttered its eyelashes. 'Hello, big boy,' she crooned. 'Why don't you… come up and see me sometime?'

Zack blinked and looked dazed, then glanced down at Theresa and rose to the occasion. 'Any time you say, shweetheart,' he muttered out of the side of his mouth in a passable Bogie impression. He pointed to his cheek. 'How's about a little kiss?'

'Oooh, honey,' Bosley murmured, and, lowering her lashes, planted a demure kiss on Zack's cheek.

Theresa was delighted. 'I want to kiss Zack!' she cried, bouncing up and down. 'I mean, my snake wants to. Can I, please? Can I?'

Zack gave Maddy a smug look and bent down so Theresa could reach him. 'Put er there, shweetheart,' he said, pointing to his other cheek.

Theresa tilted her head to one side and pushed her tongue self-consciously into one cheek as she raised a suddenly shy 'snake' to touch Zack's face.

He closed his eyes and sighed. 'Now, that's my kind of snake,' he said. He caught the puppet around its 'neck' and gave it a resounding smack on its pink felt nose.

Theresa grinned up at Maddy, a look of purely feminine conspiracy. Maddy burst out laughing. 'Time to clean up the mess,' she said as she hung Bosley back on her stand. 'Dottie will be here to pick you up any minute. And no arguments,' she added firmly as Theresa showed signs of balking. 'That's the deal. We make messes, we clean em up. Everybody helps.'

'Zack too?'

'Of course.'

'Hey, I didn't do any of this!'

'Yes, you did,' Theresa said. 'You knocked everything off on the floor-didn't he, Maddy?'

'Oh, for Pete's sake…' Zack grumbled as he squatted down and began gathering scraps of felt. 'Hey-' He winked at Theresa and tugged one of her pigtails. 'I have a great idea. After we get this all cleaned up, you want to go get a pizza?' He looked up at Maddy and lifted his eyebrows. She opened her mouth, then closed it again, because Theresa was solemnly shaking her head.

'Can't,' she declared. 'It's Vickie Frownfelter's birthday, and we're having a cake, with candles, and ice cream. And you know what? I helped make the cake! She has to have lots of candles. She's sixteen! You know what? Next time I have a birthday, I'm going to have seven candles.'

'Wow,' Zack said. 'I'm impressed. When's your birthday?'

'I don't know. I think it's January, but I'm not sure. I can't ever remember. But it's a long, long time.' Theresa sighed wistfully.

'Tell you what,' Zack said. He balanced on his heels to bring himself to Theresa's level. 'This Friday is a birthday, did you know that? It's a birthday everybody gets to celebrate. Know what that is?'

Theresa shook her head.

'Fourth of July!'

Her face lit up and she clapped her hands. 'Oh, yeah! And we get to have sparkles and firecrackers!'

'Right! How'd you like to go have a picnic and watch some fireworks?'

'Oh, boy! With you?'

'With Maddy and me.' He swiveled to look up at Maddy, and she saw more in his eyes than a simple question. 'How about it, Maddy?' And then, under his breath, 'Can you swing it? Please?'

She smiled at Theresa. 'I'll ask Dottie.' Love had turned all her insides to warm syrup. She didn't dare look at Zack.

'Oh, boy, a picnic!' Theresa was all bounces again. 'I've never been on a picnic. Will there be boats?'

'Boats?' Zack looked blank.

'I saw a picture one time. There was a picnic, and kites up in the sky, and a pond with boats.'

'Boats.' Zack cleared his throat and looked helplessly at Maddy. She shrugged back. 'Um… well, I'll have to see what I can do.'

'You'd do just about anything for that child, wouldn't you?' Maddy murmured.

They had stood together on her doorstep and watched Dottie Frownfelter's station wagon lumber off through the dark tunnel of avocado trees. When they had turned back into the house and closed the door behind them, Zack had reached for her with a fierce and desperate need. But even while her body was responding to him without reservation, something inside her was aching for him, for the pain in him she couldn't heal…

'Yeah.' Zack's sigh whispered through her hair. His arm tightened around her as he tucked her head under his chin.

'Zack, what is it? What's wrong?'

She felt a surprised chuckle vibrate through his chest. 'How did you know?'

Oh, when a woman loves her man as much as I do, she just knows.

Maddy closed her eyes and turned her face to his chest, gently nudging. 'Come on, tell me.'

His deep breath lifted her head. She heard the familiar rasp of his fingers on his scalp as he ran his hand through his hair. 'Ah, Maddy… I've just spent most of the day going round and round with people down at the county office-adoption-agency people, child-welfare people-you name one person who has anything at all to do with what happens to that kid, and I've talked to him. Or her. Dammit, Maddy, they all tell me the same thing: My chance of adopting Theresa through regular channels is right smack between slim and none!'

'Oh, Zack…'

'They say they have at least three couples- couples, Maddy-who are as qualified as I am, and have been waiting longer.'

'But the fact that she knows you, loves you, surely that will be taken into consideration!'

'Yeah, I thought so. And it might, if she were a little older. But she's so young. They want her to have a mother, a complete set of parents. They feel it's… important to her emotional development, particularly at this stage. Well, sure it is, dammit! But so is having someone who really loves her!'

'Zack,' Maddy said, resting her hand on the side of his face. 'You knew you wouldn't have a very good chance with the adoption agency. I told you that. But you can still go talk to Theresa's aunt and uncle and see if they'll agree to a private transfer of custody. I know how you feel about them, her uncle especially. It would be difficult for you, I know, but-'