A Life Less Than Ordinary

The Steele Home

Jane
We got the new home completed a day early and staff Quarters were divided between three places. The pool house, boat house and a house designed specifically for the security teams. I hired the original security that were looking for new jobs and gave them jobs. Eloise was given a raise and a bonus for her foresight into buying extra things for both girls and the boy. All three are on the floor below mine and the caretaker managers are down the hall from the children. Eloise has her quarters on the main floor as she runs my staff and household. She has three assistants to help her at any given time. She manages them with precision. This is why I hired her. I talk to the doctor and caseworker about getting the children released from the hospital. I hadn't realized we would need car seats for the girls. Ethan is going to need a booster seat. They still need a healthy diet and vitamins daily. Plus their medications and they need daily care. I tell Eloise to get a trained professional. The doctor hands me a note he just wrote a number on for a nurse who is good with kids and a pro at her care. I give Eloise the number and tell her to hire her immediately.
Carrick
I watch as the children are taking in Mrs Steele and her ability to command the room. We get things resolved and she hands each child a gift. Not sure what she gave them, but their eyes lit up. I got called away on an emergency operation on a child who was hit by a car while riding his bicycle.
Smith
She can't take Anastasia home yet, so we work it out for the Kavanagh children to stay in the same room as Anastasia. She had to be moved to a suite and Mrs Steele paid for all the bills regarding all three children's care. We get everything arranged and in three days they will be going to live with Mrs Steele. I am going to inspect the new home in person.
Grace
My court was filled with child abusers and a murderer who was also a pedophile. I hate these kind of cases, but someone has to put these people behind bars. The jury's took all day and gave me a migraine. I finally make it home and Carrick is playing with the children in the living room. The Christmas tree has arrived and they are waiting for me to help decorate it. The decorations are ready to hang up. The stocking are ready to hang and the lights are all separated and the bad bulbs all changed out.
Carrick
I left the hospital after finishing up the paperwork with Mrs Steele and giving the young boys parents the bad news. We had no chance of saving their son. His spleen and head injuries were what took him from this world. A drug addict hit him in the crosswalk. His friends watched as the guy ran right over their friend. It happened so quickly he didn't have a chance. I heard the boys talking to the cops as the parents sat there waiting for news and in shock. After that I needed to be with my family.
Elliott
Dad got home just as the bus dropped Christian and I off at the gate. We walked to the house and opened the door to see Mia checking out the Christmas stockings. Dad gave us all big hugs and tells us he loves us. He does this when he has lost a child on the operating table.
Christian
Dad had a rough day at work, he has been working on getting the Christmas tree decorated a few days earlier than usual. Mia is bouncing around happily. That is typical for Mia though at six years old everything is great. At 12 I know everything in life is not great. Life has a lot of ups and downs in it. Dad brings hot cocoa with marshmallows and a plate with a cookie for each of us. Elliott tries for two cookies, but dad says one each house rules.
Elliott
I tried to grab two cookies but dad stopped me reminding me that we can only have one cookie for our snack prior to supper being served. No exceptions. He is a doctor after all. Mom has other rules. Granted some seem odd, but the older I get the more I get it. At 14 one of the rules saved me from ending up in the pokey with my stupid friends. Mom and dad were the ones who informed us about my making the right choice of not going with my friends to spray paint the high school. All my friends are grounded and gave to do community service along with paying for the spray paint removal. They have to earn every penny as well, so I won't be allowed anywhere near them for now.
Christian
I am glad Elliott chose to hang with me for once and he was as well. Since mom is a judge we have certain rules that most don't have. As children of a judge we are held to a higher standard and not do things we know without shadow of a doubt would bring legal ramifications down on us and our parents. At 12 I have heard the lectures and so have Elliott and Mia. Our parents ground us and limit our access to things we find enjoyable for a certain amount of time. They don't punish us physically and never have.
Jane
We finally get all three children settled in at the home on the sound. Eloise reminded me we need a Christmas tree and presents. We go over what would be best for all three of the children. Miss Smith and I had a private talk with my attorney and Anastasia is up for adoption and so are the Kavanagh children. I have a choice and need to make it now. My attorney advised me if I want the children I have to make a decision now. I decide to start formal adoption proceedings. Now I hope it works out. Mr Rogers gives me a number to call a child psychologist if I think they might need one. Apparently he adopted a boy who was abused and they had to take him for therapy and this person helped greatly. He still has nightmares, but when he is woke up by them he knows he is safe and loved.
Mr Rogers
I have no doubt Mrs Steele will be good for these three children. I also tell her that she needs to think about trusts and wills for just in case.
Jane
One I do have to think about those things. We need to talk later about this. Right now I need to get to know the children first. Miss Smith finishes up with us and we all are ready for a break from paperwork. I talk to Eloise and have her set up an account with her and the three children. I write a check for her and add my name as a secondary signer. So for any money to come out it has to have mine and Eloise signatures on it.
Eloise
I go set the account up exactly how Mrs Steele asks me to, but I don't know whether to use Steele as the last names for Ethan and Kate or Kavanagh. I decide to go with Kavanagh Steele on both their names and Steele Kavanagh on Anastasia's name. Had I known that the names would be right on the money as there last names I would think I am psychic. She had me deposit 1.2 million into the account. A nice starting balance. Mrs Steele was called a gold digger when she met and married Adam Steele. But she wasn't one. The house she lived in was a family home that was in the family for years. She left it the way it was fir Adam. She rarely spent a dime on anything frivolous. After Adam passed away she took over the company and it never lost a dime. I was mr Steele's assistant and she gave me a huge bonus to say with her and run her household as well. She made sure I was in charge of hiring my own staff and hers. If anyone crossed me I was to fire them without any discussion. My husband died after a long bout with cancer and she and Adam paid all the bills and funeral costs. They offered me a month off to go on a trip, but I just couldn't.
Jane
I got Eloise to go a vacation with me after Adam died. Raymond had took off with Carla by then. I can't go back down that road again. Adam tried to get him to stay in the treatment center, but he just wouldn't. We had to cut him off after he went through his trust fund. He was going through it so fast from what the attorney told me, that he would have nothing left soon. I told them to stop all funds going into it. Adam and I changed our wills right then. He left everything to me. His wife and children died during a flight to see her parents. The prance crashed leaving no survivors. It was a commercial flight and one of the wings caught fire and it exploded on impact at the air strip it finally found. A year later we met. Then a year later we married. I can see why everyone thought I was a gold digger. I just turned 18 and at twenty I gave birth to Raymond by some miracle. I ran the household and got my college degree in business. We ran the company together and Ray went everywhere we did. Eloise stayed behind and raised her sons, they were all married when their father died. She and I won't be going on those trips without kids now. They are business trips and we have fun as well. Some very jealous wives have been put in their places by us. We aren't there for their balding overweight husbands. I have no doubt they have no idea I can buy and sell them and their husbands and at one point I cancelled the meeting because of how horrid his wife had behaved and showed him the cctv footage of her in action. I heard later he divorced her and married the woman she had mistaken me for. Karma bites another one in the ass.
Eloise
The Christmas tree is delivered and the children are amazed at it and they have no clue how to decorate it. Jane and the rest of us show them how to decorate it, one if the security lifts the girls and another lifts Ethan so all three can place the angel in the top. They gently place the children down so they can have cocoa.
Jane
Eloise and I have a chat about adopting them and they agreed to it without hesitation. I give them the choice of the last names Steele Kavanagh and Kavanagh Steele. Eloise told me about using the Steele Kavanagh name for Anastasia and the Kavanagh Steele for Katherine and Ethan on the checking information. She hands me the deposit and the checkbook to keep in the safe. I decide to tell the kids about them never wanting for anything again. I show them the checking account and we agree that the last names if Steele and Kavanagh are a good choice as their adopted names and the way they are on the account. They have no concept of 1.4 million dollars. The tree is finished and we tell stories of Christmas and watch all kind of movies for kids. It was like they had never seen a tv. Apparently they hadn't.