“What if Noel tells her about the Dragon Isles?” Max asked.
“If he does, we’ll spin it and tell her it’s a story we’ve invented. Don’t worry. Get ready.”
They were back in the kitchen when the doorbell buzzed.
“I’ll get it,” Sasha said, her face softening at his grimace. “We’ve got this.”
All Max could think of was the number of things that might go wrong.
Sasha’s voice carried back to him as she greeted the social worker. “This is Karen,” she said as she ushered the middle-aged woman back into the room. “This is Max, my fiancée, and this is Noel.”
“Hello,” Karen said.
She was an older woman with lines of experience bracketing her mouth and radiating from the corners of her blue eyes. She wore a teal cotton skirt with a plain white blouse and what his mother had called, with a wrinkle of her nose, sensible shoes.
“Have a seat,” Max said, gesturing at the kitchen table, which thanks to Sasha, was impeccably clean. “We were about to have a morning tea break. Tea?”
“That sounds lovely. Milk, no sugar, please.” Karen smiled and took the chair Max had indicated. She set her briefcase beside her. “Do I smell chocolate chip biscuits?”
“You do,” Sasha said. “They’re Noel’s favorite, so he helped me make a batch this morning.” She grinned at Noel, who was sitting at the table and drawing in his book. He’d tucked his tongue between his teeth as he so often did while concentrating.
“Hello, Noel,” Karen said. “My name is Karen. I enjoy drawing plants and flowers. What are you drawing today?”
Noel glanced up at her, and Max gave a silent prayer his brother would talk to the woman. Sometimes, he was quiet with strangers and didn’t present well.
“Dragons,” Noel said. “I like dragons.”
“They are magnificent creatures,” Karen agreed.
“Has she met a dragon?”Sasha’s dragon demanded through their private channel.
“No, she means the ones on television,”Max replied, automatically thinking his response.“She’s probably attempting to empathize with Noel and find common ground.”
“Oh,”Sasha’s dragon said in a dismissive tone.“The dragons on TV are silly. They’re not gorgeous like us.”
“Nor do they have such an inflated opinion of themselves,”Sasha said drily.
“But, we are gorgeous.”
“Yes, you are,”Max said firmly.“Now, shush. We need to pay attention to Karen.”
“What else do you like to do?” Karen asked Noel.
Max made himself help Sasha and handed Karen her tea while he silently prompted Noel to respond.
His brother hesitated before glancing at Sasha. “I help Shasha do jobs and grow plants in the garden. Swimming. Shasha is teaching me. Max reads me stories, and we visit the castle.”
“Bamburgh Castle?”
Noel bobbed his head.
“What else?” Karen asked. “Do you go to kindy?”
“Yes,” Noel said.
“Milk and cookies?” Sasha asked Noel.
“Yes, please,” Noel said.
