Some Bright Someday (Maple Valley #2) - Melissa Tagg Page 0,27
the pulsing quiet. She stood. “Is that all?”
Carmen laid down her pen, wrapped both hands around her mug. She nodded.
Without the barest glance Jenessa’s way, Colie stalked from the room.
“It’s only been a few months since her mom passed. And with her grandma, I’m sure that accounts for her . . . irritability.” Although Colie had confirmed what Violet had implied earlier—that their relationship with the grandmother hadn’t been at all affectionate. That theirs hadn’t been a happy home. Jenessa dropped into the chair Colie had abandoned.
“She’s scared and hurting,” Carmen affirmed. “I just wish she’d been able to tell us a little more about”—she glanced down at her notes—“Dustin Hollis. Even so, it shouldn’t take too long to locate him. We’ll work closely with law enforcement. Until then, there’s another staff member at DHS who will be able to help with arrangements for the grandmother.”
“And then what? What if the father’s not fit to take care of them? You heard Colie. He didn’t even come home for the birth of his son.”
Carmen sipped her coffee. “Yes, but we don’t know the situation. Until we know more, we have to take this one step at a time. Meanwhile, I made some calls on my way here. I’ve got a respite placement lined up already. If it takes more than a few days to locate Mr. Hollis, we’ll look into alternate arrangements. That is, unless we can locate other relatives, although from everything Colie says and my quick initial background work, I’m not thinking that’s going to happen. So foster care is probably—”
“Wait. Please. I . . .” Respite placement? Foster care? She’d known that was the likely course of action, but the thought of it had kept her awake half the night. “They’ve already had to deal with so much change. They had to leave their house, they camped out in my cottage, then settled in here. They’ve been through so much and . . .”
And the idea that had set her tossing and turning overnight spilled out now. “Why can’t they stay here?”
Carmen eyed her over the rim of her coffee mug, her expression impossible to read.
“I’ve clearly got plenty of space.”
“Didn’t I see a For Sale sign out front?”
“It’s going to take me a while to get the place ready to sell.” Although, now that Lucas had practically begged to help, it might go faster than she’d anticipated. She still couldn’t make sense of his offer. But she’d been so focused on the kids Saturday night, she’d barely given it any thought.
Other than to send a quick and grateful text of acceptance Sunday afternoon. If you’re sure you want the job, it’s yours. But I’m going to pay you.
He’d texted back minutes later. Better idea: Let Noah and I stay in the cottage rent-free. That’s compensation enough.
That made even less sense than his insistence on helping in the first place. Why would he want to give up a comfortable room at the Everwood to stay in a neglected little four-room house? And where had this Noah come from anyway?
But once again, she’d been too distracted by the kids to argue. So at some point today, Lucas would be showing up with his mentee and moving in to Aunt Lauren’s cottage.
“Miss Belville—” Carmen began.
“Jen.”
“Okay, Jen, I can see you have a lot of compassion for the children. And you’ve obviously taken good care of them in the past couple of days. But you’re not a trained foster parent. This could go on indefinitely and I’m not sure you’re prepared—”
“Will they be split up if they’re placed in foster care?”
“Obviously, we’ll do our best to keep them together but—”
“You can’t separate them. They need each other.”
“Jen—”
“I can childproof all the cabinets. I’ll double-check all the smoke detectors, the carbon monoxide detector. If the crib I found in the attic won’t work, I can buy a new one. And car seats, too. I can provide food, shelter, and safety.”
Carmen pushed her mug away. “What about school? We’re already nearly a month into the fall semester. Colie and Violet should be there right now. And I’m assuming you have a job. What are you going to do with Cade while you’re working?”
“I’ll figure it out. My job’s flexible. I own the local newspaper. I’m financially secure.” Frankly, thanks to the money her parents had left her, she could shut down the paper today and have plenty of savings to live off of for years to come.