Wuthering Dormice (aka Bike) Part 966 by Angharad Copyright © 2010 Angharad All Rights Reserved.

Sunday was supposedly a day of rest, although it was also a day of preparing for Monday morning, when Simon would go back to London, and I would brave myself to get the children back to school. I had also set myself another task.

Meems, Trish and Livvie were now legally adopted by us–that’s Simon and me; which meant that without recourse to the courts to rescind the adoption order, they were ours for keeps. We’d kept it low key because we still had three other children who were in a more precarious position, however, at some point we had to bite the bullet and decide what to do.

At Sunday lunch–okay, it was a roast meal, so it was the main one of the day and afterwards, with agreement of Simon, I asked for a family meeting with the children. Tom and Stella were invited to be there too, but to take a non-participatory role, perhaps offering an opinion if asked.

We were all seated at the dining table with cups of tea or glasses of water or pop. I asked that no alcohol be consumed so we kept clear minds. As the convenor, I started the ball rolling.

“Just before Easter, the courts agreed to the petition for adoption for Mima, Livvie and Trish. That means they are officially our children.”

“Forever?” asked Trish and I nodded my agreement. The three of them shrieked and yelled and danced about the place. They hugged us, then Tom and the boys and Julie.

After a few minutes, I got them to calm down and return to their seats. I noticed the tears in Billy’s eyes, and the sad look on Danny’s face, not to mention the almost disinterested look in Julie’s eyes–no it was a dissociation, she wasn’t listening, or observing, she’d totally switched off.

“What I need to discuss now, is what we do next.”

“What do you mean?” asked Danny.

“I mean, and I can’t make promises here because it might not be possible, would you and Billy like us to apply for adoption for you as well. You don’t have to answer now, because you might like to think about it, and to answer in front of everyone could be intimidating.”

“Do I like, wanna have you as my mum and dad?” asked Danny.

“Yes.”

“You bet.”

“Me too,” said Billy enthusiastically.

“In which case, I’ll speak to the solicitor and start the application.” As I spoke I glanced at Julie and watched a tear run down her face and on to the table.

“Juwee’s cwyin’, Mummy.”

“Yes, I know, Mima, I was going to speak to Julie next.”

“You don’t want me, do you?” she spoke in a flat monotone and rose from her seat.

“Julie, please sit down.”

“Go t’hell,” she shouted as she stormed from the room.

I rose to follow her but Simon pushed me back in the seat–“I’ll go,” and he set off after her.

“What’s goin’to happen with Julie?”

“I don’t know, Livvie, I want her to stay with us and I’d like to adopt her as well, but I suspect her parents would fight it.”

“But she’d be unhappy with them,” Trish offered her opinion.

“I know, darling, and even if I can’t adopt her, I shall still see her as every bit as much one of my children as any of you. We don’t know what will happen with Danny and Billy yet–their parents may oppose adoption.”

“Why?” asked Billy.

“I don’t know, possibly because it might make them remember you or it might remind them of their failure with you, and they might want to try again.”

“No way,” shouted Danny, “I ain’t goin’ back to ‘em and that’s final. You’re my Mum now–an’ I don’t care what that cow says, I ain’t goin’ back.”

“Me neither,” said Billy loudly in support of his ‘brother’.

“I hope that won’t be necessary. As far as I’m aware, the foster order stays indefinitely, but an adoption would make it permanent, hence my desire to go for one. It makes your positions here stronger and more secure.”

“What about Julie?” asked Trish, looking very sad.

“I can’t discuss her case without her being here, but as I said before, I see her as part of this family.”

Simon came back into the room with a red eyed Julie. They were holding hands. He led her back to her seat and she sat, then he returned to his.

“Welcome back, darling,” I said to her and she nodded back to me. “I left you to last because your position is a bit different. You are as much a part of this family as anyone else. No matter what the legal position is, that’s how we see it–agreed everyone?”

I looked around the table and there were nods and murmurs of consent all round. “So if you’re in agreement with the rest of us, I’d like to get some legal advice on what we might best do next.” There were more murmurs of agreement.

“Because Julie is a bit older and we know her parents would object, an adoption might prove difficult–but I want an opinion to see how we might minimise the risk and maximise the outcome we want–in other words, officially making Julie your big sister.”

“Yay,” they all shouted and we had bedlam for a moment longer.

“The other thing, is because Julie hasn’t been here as long, they might query it–but I think the history of violence would help us tremendously. However, the reason for asking all the children to come was to ask them if it’s what they want. I think we can agree it is.”

“He tried to kill me, I think I have grounds for wanting to stay here permanently.”

“I think you have, darling, but we have to play it carefully. Remember the only outcome we want is one that allows you to stay here as long as you want.”

“Can’t you use your blue light to influence things?”

“No, it doesn’t work like that, and that would be abuse of it.”

“I just wanna be a normal girl and get on with my life,” Julie sighed, “Why won’t the system let me?”

“I’m doing all I can to enable that to happen. Sadly, I don’t have the final say in the running of the universe."

Our little meeting broke up and the kids went off to play and Tom went to his study. I made some more tea and sat with Simon and Julie to talk. She was still full of a mixture of anger and sullenness, talking aggressively one moment and pouting silently the next.

I sipped my tea–had the meeting been a good thing? In the end it meant we were all unanimous in what we wanted for the family, and whilst bits of paper aren’t important on a day to day basis, they can undermine or strengthen the positions of each member of the family. I realised that in being married to Simon, I was in a much stronger position to petition for adoptions than I’d been before. Julie was nearly an adult in her own right, which was another factor which might or might not make things easier.

Mentally, I was still grasping these nettles when the phone rang. I absently rose and picked up the handset, “Hello?”

“Charlie–it’s Auntie Doreen, we’re in your area for a few days and thought we’d come and see you–be there in ten, see you.”