Sweet Girl

The right thing to do

The gate intercom buzzed. Startled, Lindsey and Stevie's eyes darted toward each other. Lindsey ran to the intercom and pressed the button. 

"Hello?"

"Good Morning, Mr Buckingham. This is Eloise, from social services."

"O-Okay- um, please come through." He shot Stevie a worried glance and she couldn't help but giggle at his overcautiousness. 

"Relax, Linds." She smiled as she stood opposite him, by the front door. His arms were still crossed.

She gave him a small kiss on the cheek before a silhouette expanded on the floor from the light cast through the front door windows. 

Lindsey pre-emptively opened the door before the bell rang. 

A stout woman stood on the front porch, her hair tangled into a low bun. Her skin melted into the colour of her beige suit. Standing emptily, with a slight tilt, she introduced herself again. 

"Lovely to meet you. My name is Stephanie, and this is my partner, Lindsey." Stevie said, reaching her hand out for the small woman to shake. The woman offered a tight smile. 

"Please come in, would you like anything to drink. Some coffee?"

Eloise fanned her hand and turned up her nose, which the couple found rather amusing. They tried their best to bury their laughter in their lungs before it exploded out. 

"Would you like a tour of our home, Eloise?" Stevie lent toward her, tentatively.

Eloise nodded once. 

As the three plodded up the stairs, Eloise admired the pair's attention to her questions. Anticipating their answers before she could finish the question. 

"I see you have placed a lot of safety equipment around the home. Gates on the staircase, casing around the plug sockets, high locks on the doors-"

"We're prepared to encounter any number of situations, being aware that children are prone to accidents, and we feel that we're in an optimal position to look after a child. Not just because of our safety awareness, but we will be able to afford any treatment that the child needs, the best schooling, therapy if they have unresolved issues, anything."

Eloise offered a tight smile and a nod in reply with her satisfied "hm"

They continued to the second floor where Eloise was met with a small, scruffy dog. Slightly deterred by Shulamith's appearance, she grumbled under her breath. Stevie, pretending not to have noticed, cradled her bare-backed Yorkie who began to plant kisses all over her face. Lindsey smiled before catching Eloise's bemusement. He coughed. 

Eloise scoured the three doors which stared at her upon the top of the staircase. 

"Please, feel free to look in any room. This one, most importantly." She pointed to a door a little further along the landing before clasping her hands together and staring at it sympathetically. 

"Alright," Eloise confirmed, striding along the hallway. 

She pushed a door open, on the farthest side of the landing. It was decorated with dreamcatchers and several lamps. A canopy spread itself above the bed, mesh blurring the view of the decadent pillows. Despite the outstanding amount of lamps standing on every desk and shelf, this room was of little interest to Eloise. 

"Uh- this is my guest bedroom." Stevie interjected. 

"This is where my assistant, Karen sleeps, when she stays over." she leant forward to point to the bed, forgetting that Shulamith, who was happily perched in the grip of her arm, was still repulsing the woman they needed to please. 

Eloise sauntered toward the next room, where the door rested open. She pushed it a little further toward the wall. 

"This house used to have five bedrooms." Lindsey proudly inserted. 

"But we've renovated two." 

Eloise blinked sharply.

"Um, you see, this bedroom here, used to be two rooms, and the other bedroom is now a small studio."

"It's also a closet." Stevie chuckled to Lindsey, remembering the pages of garments on rails in the studio.

"Anyway, this is our bedroom..." Lindsey led the tightly wound social worker into their space who didn't seem too enthused. The bed was placed at the centre of the back wall with blue and silver sheets spread across the white bedspread. A series of mirrors sat upon the walls. A floor-ceiling window displayed the enormous garden, with a terrace overlooking. The shelves showed many ornaments, tribal, vintage, and of course, lamps. 

Eloise quickly absorbed the room and turned back toward the hallway. Stevie and Lindsey anxiously followed. 

"And this is where our child will sleep..." Stevie introduced, gliding the door open, revealing a paradise of toys, doll houses, train tracks, boxes of lego, a television, books highlighting every shelf along with tapes and CDs. Eloise smiled slightly. 

"Of course, we will change it to the little one's liking-" Lindsey mentioned.

Eloise turned around toward them.

"This is good." She stated.

Downstairs, the couple were briefed on the process of adoption, the circumstances that children in the care system have been surrendered under, and the resources for adoptive parents which would help them prepare. 

"I will write your report, and I'll be in touch within the next few days."

Lindsey and Stevie nodded respectfully and thanked Eloise. 

They watched her climb into her car and exchanged an awkward stomach flutter as they waved from their porch. 

Lindsey put his arm around his love and kissed the top of her head 

"This is the right thing to do"