B&C III - 60

Brian and Christine
Book Three
Saint Jane's
Part 60

When they got back home Christy went into her room and Brian went to his desk to read and answer some mail.

Mrs. Romero came in. “Pardon me, sir?”

“Yes?”

“I have a list here. I thought if we got a turkey and a good ham?”

“Sounds good to me. What else>”

“It’s all on the list here.”

“Let me see.” She handed Brian the list. He looked it over and said “That’s fine, but should we have a wedding cake?”

“I make.”

“Okay” Brian smiled. “When do you want to buy everything?”

“Two days.”

“The day after tomorrow?”

“Si.”

“All right I’ll see that you have the money then.”

“Thank you. This will be good fun.”

“I hope so. How many people do you need to help you?”

“Oh. Four I think, sir.”

“Okay.”

Later that day Wendy came and she and Brian talked about the wedding preparations.

Then he said “I think things are going well with Christy. She called me ‘Dad’ today.”

“That’s good. She called me ‘Mom’ the other day.

“It was odd, you know, because I’ve sort of felt like her father for weeks. Only it wasn’t official. It still isn’t. Do you think we are rushing into this thing? I mean getting married before her relationship is settled?”

“Of course we’re rushing into it. That’s the fun of it. Do you love me?”

“Yes. You know I do.”

“Then why wait. Don’t worry about the adoption. That’s going to happen. In fact Tom is saying once we’re married it will be even easier.”

“Well, it had better happen. I took her down the street to that school, which looks very nice, and she agreed to let me enroll her there for the summer session.”

“How did you talk her into it so quickly?”

“I had a little help from one of the students.”

“Will she be able to make up her lost semester?”

“The administrator seems to think so.”

“Somehow I have a hard time thinking of her as a school girl, she has been such a 24 hour part of our lives.”

“I know. I feel somewhat the same way as I felt when we sent her off to Saint Jane’s. But this is completely different. We’ve been on the inside, looked into a few classrooms, met one of the other students and got to interview the woman who runs it. It seems like a total antidote to the horrible poison Christy is still carrying around in her.”

“I’ll go and have a look at it if you want me to, but I trust your judgment. Do you want me to look into it from my office?”

“Not a bad idea. Here’s some literature the woman gave me.”

“Okay.”

“Christy also asked me if we were planning on having any more children.”

“Really?”

“Hm. She asked me that when she told me how comfortable she was in her room. What do you make of that?”

“I’d say she was worried that it was going to turn into another household like her relatives in Connecticut have. Where there will be too many kids to take care of and we will ship her off to some other “Home For Girls.”

Anyway I told her we weren’t. What do you think of that?”

“That’s fine with me.”

“Good” said Brian. "So the budding artist, the Ice Angel, the Mountain Sprite, Little Orphan Christy is ours to keep.”

“Yup.”

Brian handed the list of ingredients Mrs. Romero had given him. “Here’s our menu?”

Wendy looked it over and said “Shall we order a cake, or not?”

“Mrs. Romero said she’ll make one. I’m sure it will be a beauty.”

“You’re lucky to have them.”

“WE’RE lucky to have them.”

“Yes we are.”

The next morning, after Wendy had left for work Brian got on the phone to call a catering service for the 4 men to help. None of them were able to help. They were all busy or they couldn’t meet such a small order. He even tried the ‘positions wanted’ section of the newspaper. No luck.

(To be continued.)