I hummed my little tune as I pushed the cart along the alise of products every so often glancing to the signs above each alise and then to my shopping list to cross reference between the two, I felt a small tug on my dress so I glanced behind me seeing little Lisa in her clean dress her hair in the pigtails I did for her this morning
"Ohh yes?" I asked she simply pointed to the shelf where the the chocolate chip cookie dough sat in its logs "I think that's a great idea Lisa" I smiled I let her choose which ones we got and helped her add them to the cart "okay next is orange juice, you think you can grab that for me?" I asked her and she nods and runs off happily to find it. I went around and got the rest of the groceries we quickly paid for and loaded up the Lincoln heading through the busy still drizzly New York streets back to the beautiful house I now called home. I pulled into the driveway and parked up helping lisa out the car and she happily came and helped me unload all the groceries into the kitchen, once everything was away I started on the rest of my chores for the day sorting all the beds, all the laundry everything I needed to do when I heard the phone so I bolted downstairs grabbing it before it rang off
"Watts residence?"
"Hi y/n" her voice smiled
"Oh hi carol" I smiled "what's up?"
"I know we were talking and you mentioned you have an open bedroom"
"Yes we do, now Alice has gone home we have an open bedroom. Why do you ask?"
"I've got a young lady here, it's an absolute shit show of a case and I need somewhere for her to go and I know just how well you guys do with these kinda cases"
"Absolutely what's her name?"
"Mable she's just turned eleven, she's a very sweet girl been thought one hell of a time"
"No problem well we are more then happy you can send her and her file along as soon as you get chance"
"Thanks y/n you're a lifesaver" she says before she rang off
So I put the phone down and I grabbed a little cream basket from the cupboard, I headed upstairs making sure to peek in on Lisa on her room playing with her rag dolls so I went on past the other rooms to the last free bedroom I opened the door revealing the fairly bare bones room, it use to be Alice's room when she lived here but she left a few weeks ago with a wide smile happy she finally was able to live with her mother again, I made the bed with some fresh clean sheets and made sure the room was free of dust and spiders, I set the basket on the bed and made sure to fill it from the airing cupboard with a fresh new fluffy towel, some clean brand new PJ's, some snacks, some colouring stuff, a stuffie, some fresh blankets for the bed, a new toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo and conditioner and even a bath bomb all of them fairly mini travel sized ones ready for Mable to arrive I even made her a little card up to put on the basket for her. When I checked the time I rushed myself down to the front door watching out the front window as the yellow bus pulled up outside the house, I opened the door up and smiled widely as I saw them all get off the bus so I smiled and waved As Jessi ran over dropping her backpack on the doorstep to give my legs a hug, I smiled and patted her head "Hi Jessi, How was school?"
"Good" she smiled
"Alright, go on then make sure you get on that maths before dinner else you won't want to do it after bath time" I told her
"I Will" she smiled happily running inside
"Afternoon Harriet" I smiled to her
"Hi," she smiled nicely
"How was your day?"
"Okay," she nods
"Okay, make sure you eat some dinner okay" I told her as she headed inside, and as soon as she was in Dani came to the door too "Hi"
"Hi, how was class?"
"Good" she smiled giving me a tight hug
"Awww, lovely hugs come on then we have cookie dough for tomorrow"
"Great" she smiled heading inside too, I waved the driver away and headed inside to start on dinner for the girls, making sure everyone was okay given everything had had happened during the day at school and what they wanted to do over the weekend
"He's home!" Jessi smiled as she was at the window I laughed and set the dishes down and went towards the front door but I didn't even need to open it as the door opened and immediately I saw benny as he came though the door and dropped his duffle bag on the floor, in his jeans and black shirt
"Hi Benny" I smiled
he didn't bother to reply simply taking me into his arms and lifting me up giving me a spin "I've missed you little lady"
"I've missed you too" I smiled giving him a sweet kiss as he set me down on the floor again "Happy Anniversary" He smiled handing over some roses clearly from the gas station but still
"Thank you benny, a week late but thank you" I smiled giving him a kiss
"Better late then never, you know I don't like going off over our anniversary" he says "Where are my girls?" He asks and immediately the girls all bolted to give him cuddles even Harriet everyone coming to give him a cuddle and to tell him about everything since he was gone, and of course he came to have his own dinner all while listening to the girls tell him everything he missed and of course he told them all about his time away until they headed up to their rooms, "How has everything been?"
"its been okay, Harriet's struggling but I hope it'll cheer her up to have you home again. Jessi is struggling with her maths so I've been looking into a tutor for her. Dani's missed you a lot, and I know Lisa has been feeling a lot better since she's gotten settled" I explained "Ohh and we got a letter from alice"
"we did? didn't you open it?" he asks as I handed over the letter
"Course not I was waiting for you" I smiled "Ohh and we have a young lady coming tonight for the spare room."
"Ohh her name?" he asks opening the letter
"Mabel"
"Lovely, how old?"
"Eleven."
"we know anything about her?"
"Not much but carol is bringing her pack when she brings her"
"You made her a bed up?"
"Made a bed, and a basket for her"
"Good, I'll have a chat with her when she gets here, we'll give her pack a look though one she's settled in her room"
"Absolutely, and Lisa helped me pick out some nice cookie dough logs as a nice activity for tomorrow"
"Ohh that sounds lovely the girls will love that" He smiled "you wanna read?"
"Of course" I smiled sitting with him and leaning my head on his shoulder holding his arm tightly
"Dear Benny and Y/n Watts,
I wanted to let you know I've settled down into the new house and my new room.
My mother has made lots of promises since I moved in, I'm not sure if I should believe her or not but I'm going to give it time, I know she's put so much work in already.
Even thought its nice to be back with my mother, I do miss you all terribly.
I still keep the blanket you gave me on my bed at night and I've been using the lessons you taught me in school.
My grades are good, and I'm waiting to here back about a summer internship which will be amazing,
I know I've told you both a hundred times but I can't thank you enough for everything you did for me and I'm sure I'll be able to see you at some point again.
I hope everyone is okay and things are going well, and I'll send more letters as soon as I can. "
"Awww she's such a sweetie" I smiled
"I worry about her"
"I worry too. I know she doesn't trust her mother"
"Can you blame her? she's let her down before"
"I know, well I always told her she has a bed here if ever she needs one"
"We'll write her back tomorrow" I smiled
We caught up about benny's tournament until the door knocked so we fixed up a little and went to the door seeing carol with her folder
"Hi carol" I smiled
"Hi, Ohh I didn't know you where home benny"
"Only got back tonight, So about Mabel?"
"She's in the car" she says indicating behind her to the car on the street "I've got her file, not sure how long she'll be here"
"she can be here as long as she needs" I told her "School?"
"Not at the moment we can give her a week see how she settles," she explained
"Okay" I nodded "Shall we meet her?"
Carol Happily walked us down to the car and their sat Mabel, with a trash bag of her belongings, her hair matted and messy, her skin dirty she was clearly nervous. we were slow and careful but we helped her out of the car and into the house up to the bedroom I set up
"So, this is your room its your space completely to can do whatever you want with it , we have a three day weekend so over this weekend we can help you unpack and take you to do some shopping to get some nice things for your room" I explained "Everything in this basket is yours its all for you"
"To keep?" she asks
"To keep, absolutely" benny told her as he leant on the door frame
"All of it is for you, and if there is anything specific you'd like, maybe a type of plush or blanket you'd like we can get you them. These hygiene things are all yours and when we got out this weekend we'll get you whatever larger ones you'd like to keep in the bathroom, You're welcome to go and have a bath or shower to make yourself feel more comfortable"
"And your welcome to ask for anything you want, if you'd like to go to the hairdresser, maybe get your nails done, go get some plushies anything you'd like"
"Just let us know, is this bag all your stuff?"
"Yes" she nods
"Okay is there any clothes you'd like me to do any laundry for you? anything you'd like us to wash before we put away?"
"Ohh... uhhh yes please" she nods handing the whole bag over
"Everything? you sure?"
"Yes please, could I go have a bath?"
"Of course you can, and if you need anything that's benny and I'm y/n you need anything at all just let us know"
"we hope you can get comfortable, and enjoy your time here" benny told her
I went and ran her a bath with bubbles and some bath bombs leaving the towel in the bathroom for her, and I took her clothes down cleaning all her clothes and toys in the machine
"she seems okay" Benny says as he came into the kitchen flipping though her file
"she does, hopefully she can relax over the next couple of days and maybe spend some time with the other girls"
"Absolutely, Ohh got another nut allergy"
"Ahh like Harriet, no problem" I nodded sitting with him to go though the file about her history and her issues to make sure she's comfortable, once we sorted all the girls for the night making sure to give them all privacy and we headed up to our own bed room
"Y/n?"
"Yes benny?"
"You ever get kinda... upset we can't have our own kids?"
"Sometimes" I admit "But we have lots of kids to look after, all the girls we have here all the girls we've helped before who are so much better now then they were before they came here"
"Yeah its nice to help them all out, its nice to help them all"
"It is, besides, Carol's been trying to convince us to adopt Lisa for years now"
"I know, I'm thinking about it, come on lets get to bed"