Absently Jenny stroked her daughter's hair and gathered her closer. It was true. He was very gentle and patient with Shonna. Shonna had taken to him instantly. Shonna was very warm and open with him, which was not her usual way. Shonna was usually cautious with strangers. She tended to take her time appraising them, before deciding whether to consign them to the friend or foe basket. "Then there's his sister. She's at least ten years younger than him." Jenny wasn't sure quite what to make of the young woman. She seemed to be both assertive and at the same time vulnerable. "She's close to going off the rails completely, that's why dad thinks your place will be perfect."
"What do you mean going off the rails?" Regan looked worriedly at Jenny. That sounded ominous. Going off the rails? That could mean anything. Regan lived out in rural Waikanae, she couldn't afford to have someone who was not in control, run amok on her farm. There was no telling what damage would be done. "I can't afford to take on more problems. Let alone social delinquents!"
Jenny almost relaxed. She thought Regan was close to conceding, despite Regan's statement. The fact that Regan was still discussing the situation meant that all was not lost. Jenny shrugged, "She's ok. She just seems to think that life owes her, big time. She needs to figure out what her goals are. Time to take stock and work for what she wants."
Silence descended. The only sound to be heard was clock in the background, pacing off the seconds as the hands worked their way around.
"What makes you think they won't see this as charity?" Regan finally asked. It wasn't as if she didn't want to do Jenny a favour. But the reality was that she couldn't afford to take on any more commitments. She had enough on her plate already. The farm was eating up most of her savings. Her work as a GP was demanding. She had little time to socialise. What with trying to get the farm back into shape, and hold down a job, she had little time, let alone the energy to do almost anything else.
"I've seen the state of your farm!" Jenny replied honestly with a chuckle. "It needs work. Serious work! No one in their right mind would see it as being charitable if they were being asked to work it!"
Jenny knew that Regan had been working hard to get the farm sorted, but despite the fact that Regan was putting in long hours, the number of tasks just kept increasing. It was pretty run down when she'd inherited it. It was in dire need of a makeover, but without the funds to do that, Regan had decided to deal with things one at a time. Fix what she could when she could, and save up to address the things she couldn't manage herself.
"Thanks." Muttered Regan, but knew she couldn't argue the point as the farm was in dire need of attention. Her main problems were experience and expense. But just as she had adopted the sisters and their family, so she had taken on the house and farm. It was a place she associated with happy times and the closest she had ever come to having a real home. The Jones still kept the house down the road from the farm, and used it as a holiday home mainly, though for the last two years, Lucy had been living there on a permanent basis. Regan felt she would retain a small piece of the happy times from her childhood if she kept the farm that bordered the Jones property.
"You said that yourself." Jenny said quietly and gently, and she realised that she was making Regan sad again. Regan's eyes really were windows to her soul. She was very easy to read. It was obvious that she was thinking about things that made her feel lonely and sad. Trying to distract her once again, Jenny said, "You need help. This is ready made help." There was a lot at stake here. The family she was looking to house were in serious need of some TLC, and Regan was the perfect solution.
"I suppose you've already talked to them about this." Regan reached for her next patient's file, and then moved Jenny's folder to the tray on the left of her desk. The stack was small, as they had only just started on the morning drop in surgery. Absent-mindedly Regan began to tidy up her desk, replacing the pens she'd used.
"No. Dad said to talk to you first, see if you were up for it. No point building up their hopes only to dash them." She repeated her father's words, without the censure. He had lectured Jenny long and hard on not putting too much pressure on Regan, not asking too much of Regan and he knew that most of it had fallen on deaf ears. Jenny had decided. And as her family knew, Jenny was stubborn.
Regan sighed loudly. She looked Jenny in the eye. Jenny maintained eye contact. Regan shook her head, "I can't believe I'm agreeing to this." Regan finally conceded and got to her feet. "I'm not even sure I can afford to pay them."
Breathing a sigh of relief, that Shonna felt in the movement of her mother's chest against the top of her head, Jenny nodded. "You won't regret it." Jenny beamed, and when Shonna saw her mother's smile she also beamed at Regan.
"You are like two peas in a pod!" Regan brushed a lock of hair gently off the toddler's forehead, and earned herself a frown.
"I'm not a pea." Shonna mumbled with a mutinous pout.
Regan smiled to soften her words, "An adorable pea." She tapped the little girl's button nose, then she picked up all the files in the tray. "I can't afford to pay all of them." Regan knew that much was true. She wondered just how much she would be able to pay. "I am starting to regret this already!" How was she going to manage this? Payment? She hadn't thought about that. What she earned as a doctor was being swallowed up at a rate of knots. It seemed to leave her bank account quickly. Too fast. "I'm regretting this." She muttered. She should have taken more time to think about this. Work out if she could afford to pay them. She should have at least talked about what sort of payment they would be looking for.
"No, Regan. You aren't." Jenny stated firmly. "People helped us over the years." Jenny got to her feet, shifting Shonna so that she laid her head against her mother's shoulder.
With her usual pragmatism, Regan frowned, and then explained with the same measure of bluntness she had seen Jenny use, "But there's a difference between helping a family with cute girls and a family with a, potentially, decrepit man, a surly cynic boy and a diva."
Jenny grimaced, wishing she hadn't furnished quite that level of information. "They aren't like that. You'll see." At Regan's doubting look, Jenny nodded, as if that should assure Regan without any further questions. "They just need a goal. A new start. Someone to give them a chance." Jenny knew that they needed it sooner rather than later.
"Yes, if you say so." Regan looked at her watch. Time was flying, as per usual. She still had a full caseload to work through today. "Anyway, You've got to go. I've got patients, with real issues and illnesses, to see." Regan headed for her door, opened it and waited, "So, do I wait to hear from you, or what?" She opened the door a bit wider to allow Jenny to precede her.
"I'll let dad know." Jenny sat Shonna on her hip her again, Shonna laced her arms around her mother's neck with ease that suggested this was a common occurrence. Jenny hesitated, then turned to ask Regan, "When would they be able to move in?"
"How long will it take them to pack?" Regan gently stroked Shonna's cheek and earned a smile from the little girl. Regan wondered, not for the first time, whether her mother had ever held her close the way Jenny was cuddling Shonna.
Jenny stepped into the corridor and muttered sadly. "A few minutes!"
"What?" Regan stopped suddenly and her eyes went wide.
"They don't have much." Jenny explained. They didn't have anything at all, not in real terms. What they had, had been donated in recent times.
"Serious?" They walked down the corridor toward the reception area. Jenny nodded and Regan could see that Jenny was not embellishing. "Oh, fine. They can move in as soon as they want." Even as she spoke, Regan knew that once again she was agreeing to things before thinking them through. She'd just given Jenny permission to let three adults move in. Her farm was hardly ready to house one person, let alone deal with three adults. What was the matter with her? She'd have to see which rooms were habitable. Another thing to add to the to do list. As if she didn't have enough on that list already.
"Really?" Jenny stopped suddenly and pivoted to face Regan. Her eyes danced with delight as she took Regan's words in.
"Yes. Really." Regan's lips kicked up as she shook her head in rueful acknowledgment, "You know, you are wasted as a designer, you should have gone into marketing, or sales or hostage negotiation or something." She reached forward and stroked Shonna's head, again, enjoying the contact with the little girl. "See you later Shonna." The toddler smiled at her, rested her head against her mother's shoulder and snuggled closer to her mother.
"Thanks Regan. Here give me a hug!" Jenny leaned in brushed a kiss against her friend's cheek when Regan gave her and Shonna a clumsy hug. "Thanks heaps for doing this. I'll tell dad. He said I wasn't to bully you!" Jenny mumbled as Shonna hitched herself higher on her mother's hip and as Regan gave her a quick hug.
"Hmm." Regan smirked. Then she looked at the toddler. "Ready?" Regan winked at Shonna, who tucked her head into her mother's shoulder and scrunched up her shoulders in anticipation, knowing and expecting this ritual. "Ready or not here I come." Regan planted her lips against the little girls cheek and blew her a long noisy raspberry kiss. Shonna giggled and squirmed.
"Ok, ok, enough you two." Jenny stepped back, then arched her head back to look at her grinning daughter. "Give Aunty Reg a kiss. And let's go before her patients think she's cracked up." Jenny teased. Still perched on her mother's hip, Shonna reached forward and hugged Regan's head as she gave her a kiss on the cheek.
"Thanks gorgeous." Regan smiled. "See you Jen." Regan disengaged. She knew the family were into hugs, and truth be told, she enjoyed collecting her share whenever she could. "Email me the timeline ok?" When Jenny nodded, Regan added with a fake glower, "Don't visit unless it's on the schedule or I might find myself agreeing to housing a commune."
Jenny waved and chuckled and headed for the exit. Regan sauntered off toward the receptionist to hand over the files for the patients she'd seen that morning. What had she done?