Yes, she and Devon had talked about having kids, but it was always in the hypothetical and always in the future. She hadn’t expected one to land on her doorstep tonight.
And yet there had been not one fibre of her being prepared to turn this child away.
She’d been instructed to work from home the following day and that the boss would call her into a Zoom for the briefing.
‘Do you think she’s hungry?’ Devon asked.
‘Dunno. Maybe she’s just tired,’ Stacey answered.
‘Does she want a bath or a shower?’ Devon whispered. ‘I mean, what are we supposed to do?’
‘I can hear you,’ Ava said without turning. Neither of them had noticed the child had grabbed the TV remote control and turned the volume down.
Stacey had learned long ago that when in doubt, there was one course of action. Tell the truth.
She took a seat on the coffee table directly in front of Ava. ‘Okay, Ava, I’m not going to lie. We’re happy to have you here, but we’re not very experienced with children. We’re good people and you can trust us. Nothing bad will happen to you.’
‘I know. The lady said you’d take care of me.’
Stacey knew the ‘lady’ to be her boss. It suddenly hit her that the girl was being shunted around so much she didn’t even know people’s names. Seemed like a good place to start.
‘Okay, I’m Stacey and this is Devon.’
Ava’s face crinkled. ‘Like the place?’
Devon crouched down beside her, looking horrified. ‘Wait a minute, are you saying there’s a place that’s stolen my name?’
Ava nodded. ‘I’ve been there.’
Devon adopted a cross expression. ‘Well, I think it’s time they gave it back.’
Ava chuckled. ‘They can’t do that.’
‘Of course they can. It’s my name, and they don’t have permission to use it.’
The gentle fun was bringing a light into the little girl’s eyes. For a short while, she wasn’t thinking about the loss of her mum or that she’d been separated from her dad, or even that she’d spent half a day sitting in an office waiting for someone to give her a bed for the night. And her journey wasn’t finished yet. This wasn’t going to be her final destination. They were simply another stopgap while the grown-ups decided what happened next.
Yes, she and Devon could stress about fixing her a well-balanced nutritious meal and making sure she went to bed on time… or they could just make her feel safe.
Stacey tuned back into the conversation as Ava was agreeing to help Devon write a letter of complaint to the county that had stolen her name.
‘Hey, Ava, what do you do at home when you’ve been a really good girl? Is there some kind of special treat?’ Stacey asked.
She nodded but looked almost guilty, as though she’d done nothing to deserve it.
‘Come on – you can tell us,’ Devon said conspiratorially.
‘Movie and pizza.’
Relieved, Stacey headed to the freezer.
Yes, they could definitely do that.
Forty-Three
Kim received the message from Stacey as she was preparing the morning coffee pot.
For most of the night and all of her morning walk with Barney, she’d wanted to do a welfare check. When she’d called Daniel after dropping off Ava last night, she’d heard the relief in his voice when he learned that she was neither at a children’s home nor in the care of her uncle. Kim had told him only that Ava was in the charge of a trusted police officer. He had welcomed the opportunity to explain how to care for Ava’s prosthetic.
