“I’ll have the rooms set up for them when they arrive.” He looked at the clock on the dresser. “In about three hours. How about we figure out what we want in the way of rooms for them, such beds and the like, and let them decide what it is they want for the rest of the things we get for them?” Jude asked him if there were stores open she didn’t know about. “Not that I’m aware of. But I have the same magic as my mother, I believe. I can visualize a room, and it fills out the way I see it. I’m sure you might well have it too. Try it out in this room.”
“No. Not this room. As far as I’m concerned, this room is off-limits to changing around.” Duncan asked her why this room. “Our bedroom should be just the way we leave it. I want that much in the way of comfort. I want to know it will be the same as we left it. Sort of…I guess you could call a security blanket kind of thing.”
Duncan agreed with her, and she was glad. Being able to mess around with the rest of the castle was going to be fun. But just as she said to him, she wanted the comfort of having things where she left them in this room, even if it was just leaving a towel on the floor and it being there when she returned.
They were headed downstairs when Duncan told her more about the kids. The boy, Abraham—Abe for short—was tested for autism. He wasn’t autistic, just shy. The young girl, sixteen, had been watching over her brother since he was born. Duncan told her he thought that might be another reason for the two of them not being adopted—they came as a pair. No one, it seemed to him, wanted them both. But he hoped the two of them would.
“Of course we’ll take them both. What a thing to wonder about. They need each other as much as the two of us do. I can’t believe anyone would ever think it was all right to separate the two of them.” Duncan took her hand into his and kissed the back of it as they entered the kitchen. “I don’t cook. I can if I really have to, but I don’t do kitchen work well at all.”
“We have Meridiam here as a first-rate cook.” Duncan introduced her as his queen. Meridiam curtsied to her, then smiled at Duncan. “We’d like a little something light if you have time, please. The children should be here soon. I’m sure you have it all under control in here?”
“It is, sire. The food is ready to go out as soon as they’re in the castle. It’s all been prepared by the little people.” Duncan explained to Jude that they had several faeries working for the house. “I hope you don’t mind, miss, but I use them in here on nights you will entertain.”
“I’m all for making anything you need there for you. I want you to want to cook for us, and if you need them here full time, I’m sure we can work out something to make that happen for you as well.” Meridiam smiled at her. “You tell me what it is you want or need, and I personally will get it for you. I love to eat, and I eat a great deal. There is extraordinarily little that I won’t eat, but we’ll go over that when it’s less of a busy morning for us all. Okay?”
“Yes, miss. And I thank you for that. It would be nice to have a staff here to do the everyday things. If you’d not mind, I can take care of the hiring of them for us.” Jude told her whatever she needed. “Thank you again. It’s just like the good king here said—you have your heart in the right place and want things to go smoothly.”
Jude enjoyed the conversation as she ate her warm scones. She especially liked the seeds and nuts her bird would enjoy. With the nice hot cup of tea she had with two scones, Jude was able to meet the faeries that would be working in the kitchen with Meridiam. There would be others hired for the rest of the household when the new year was coming in. Jude was as excited as she’d ever been for the children to arrive.
“They’re here.”
Everyone gathered in the front hall. As soon as the first two people—the adults, she assumed—got off the bus, she knew there was going to be trouble. When Mercy grabbed her hand, she looked at her.
“Let me handle this. I want to.” She asked her if she knew what had happened. “Yes. If you allow me to take care of it, then it will be all right. However, I might have to hurt that bitch standing there.”
“You do what you have to do. I’m not sure what is going on, but I won’t have one person fuck this up for the kids.” Mercy said she’d make it right. “Thank you.”
~*~
Tracy wasn’t sure what was going on but moved into the hallway where the noise was coming from. She and her brother had been left behind this morning. Ms. Holloway had said they’d done something wrong and would be dealt with when she returned. No amount of begging would get her to tell them what they’d done to make it so her brother could at least go to the Christmas party without her. The woman standing in the hall looked directly at her when she asked what was wrong.
“Are you Tracy Jamie?” She nodded, still unsure what the guard, Mad Max, everyone called him, was doing in front of Abe’s room.
