[Sticks]

Epilogue – Family Matters

We were back on Earth, and in northern England. Angela and I had been returned after my brief reign as emperor of the trolls, but now we had Sarah in tow, a little orphan girl that in such a short time had won a place in both our hearts, and a little girl we wanted to keep and give a new home to

I looked back the pub we had just been returned to, had Angela and I not been transported to the Mystical Realms I was to be the designated driver and I would have then taken her back to my place to collect my car and drive her back to house that for several years she shared with her aunt until her aunt died of cancer. So the three of us were walking back to my flat.

Being early February it was still pretty cold, now with signs of frost on the ground. Although we had warm clothes made for us in the Mystical Realms, we were told that they would not survive the passage into our world. They did not explain why. At least Angela and I had our coats which we had worn when we first went to the pub, but I was very conscious about Sarah, as was Angela. Sarah had been flying from a hot country to her home in New Zealand during it’s summer when the Gnoll had removed her from the plane she had been on with her father, so Sarah was not really dressed for this weather, so we had to pick up the pace, even so it took ten minutes to reach my flat and another two to open the door against the mountain of junk mail that had accrued in just under the week we had been away. By now Sarah was really suffering and crying telling us how cold she was, but even back on the Mystical Realms she had felt the cold quite a lot, even without the trolls and their bizarre ancient customs.

As Murphy’s law would have it, my flat was a like an icebox, it did not have central heating and I had switched off the storage heaters and the water heater as, I had expected I would be away from this place for a while. It really was no place for Sarah, so I got Angela to sit her on one of the wooden chairs in my kitchen come living room and passed her an old bath towel wrap around her, while I looked up some old jumpers that Sarah could wear. I did suggest giving her my own topcoat, but Angela pointed out it was not really suitable

“Do you live here mummy” I heard Sarah ask Angela.
“No this is where Graeme lives” she replied, forgetting for the moment that we were supposed to be married

Or were we now? – We were married on the Mystical Realms under troll law, but we were now on Earth and trolls did not go in for marriage certificates or come to think of it adoption certificates. Then I also realised, Sarah was not even a British citizen either, she was from New Zealand and she did not even have a passport let alone a visa.

After a while hunting around all I could find was an old cardigan, but it was quite thin and threadbare, then I remembered I had cleared a whole load of stuff out the previous month and silently cursed that I was making Sarah suffer in the cold again, just like I had done by asking to see all the troll clan chiefs at once, so I found one of my t-shirts, and hoped that would be enough.

I took it through to the living room where Angela was waiting with Sarah on her lap trying to wrap her top coat around herself and Sarah. Sarah was being very quiet, and I had seen that quiet before and it usually meant Sarah was worried or confused about something.
“Sorry Angela” I apologised “I don’t have anything warm for Sarah to put on”
“Oh Great, oh well I’ve been trying to keep her warm” Angela replied, “Now you have you got your stuff, I don’t want to freeze in this icebox any more than I have to. How do you survive here?”

Oops – I was meant to be grabbing stuff to take back to Angela’s place, she had got so used to being married to me on the Mystical Realms she had wanted me to stay at her place, I did wonder where I would be sleeping, as having seen her place, her aunt’s bed was a single one and so was Angela’s bed, but Angela told me that at a pinch, her couch folded out into a double bed, which she used when she had got relief care in for her aunt.

I packed a suitcase of clothes and other items, and took it into the main room. Angela told me that before she had found Sarah shivering away trying to keep warm in the towel, she had looked at my fridge and ditched out of date food. I thanked her for doing that job as it was not one I relished doing and apologised to Sarah.

When we got in the car, Angela sat in the back with Sarah and put her in the lap belt, she then told me we really had to get a child seat, since we passed near a place on the way back that was still open, I said we could swing by, which we duly did. And while Angela and Sarah sheltered in the warmth of the store, the staff fitted the child car seat in. Then Angela was a lot happier with Sarah riding in the car, so she got us to divert to a local mini-mart to pick up fresh food, as she knew she would have to empty her fridge out of out of date items as well, although she pointed out she did not have that many items anyway.

It was early evening before we arrived at Angela’s place, and as she had not expected to be away so long, her central heating was on full blast which was good for Sarah, as she was in a terrible state. Angela seated her on the couch and grabbed a blanket to put around her and sat there cuddling her while I cleared Angela’s fridge of out of date items and put the shopping away
Sarah remained silent, it was worrying
“Shall I make some hot chocolate” I asked, trying to be helpful
Then Sarah twigged something was not right, “Why does Daddy not live with you mummy”

It was time for the truth of our situation back on Earth

“Sarah, would you like to sit up at the dining room table” I asked her, “There is something we need to talk about”

Sarah tried to get up to comply with my suggestion, but Angela held her tight Even though effectively we had been “married” for four days in the Mystical Realms, plus come to think of it, all the years prior we had known each other, Angela could read me like a book, “No Graeme, I think it would be better if we discussed it here”
Angela was right, as always, “Sorry Sarah you can stay where you are” I told Sarah and sat down, so Sarah was between me and Angela, and put my arm around Sarah as well.
“Sarah” I started
“Yes daddy”
“You know what first Daddy said about obeying the law” I continued.
Sarah nodded
“Well sometimes the law will say something in one place, such as where we were with the trolls and in another place it will say something different”
A long drawn out “Yes” from Sarah with worry in her tone
Angela was second guessing me on my approach, so she continued “When Graeme and I got married it was in the Mystical Realms under the troll’s law, so it was recognised there”
“But under human laws we are not classed as being married” I completed.
“So here, mummy you are not married to daddy” Sarah replied, cottoning on, then her face started to crumple as somehow her five year old mind had unexpectedly leapt ahead of us, “So you are not my mummy and daddy anymore?” Sarah was now really starting to panic “Do you not want me any more, do I have to go away” and then Sarah burst into tears, thinking we wanted rid of her.
“Of course we want you Sarah” Angela interrupted and picked her up in her blanket and put her on her lap and cuddled her, “Sarah I love you”
“And so do I Sarah” I chipped in and moved next to Angela so I could put my arm around the both of them
“And no stupid law is ever going to change that” Angela added. “We are still going to look after you, we will still be a mummy and daddy to you, what ever the stupid law says, and we will not send you away”
“But first daddy told me always to obey the law” Sarah whined, she was now very upset and confused.
“Sarah, Princess, you are still our little girl”, I told her, “just because the law does not recognise our family, that does not mean we can not get it to recognise it” then just for good measure I told Sarah “I will get it so the law says we are your mummy and daddy, this is fixable, so hang on in their Princess I will fix this, it’s what I do”

Then I realised I had effectively told Sarah what she feared, here on Earth we were not her parents at all in the eyes of the law, we were not her mummy and daddy. She was just an orphan that we happened to have living with us

Sarah sniffed, and Angela produced a handkerchief from somewhere and wiped Sarah’s eyes. “You can still call us mummy and daddy if you like, we don’t mind sweetheart”
“Won’t I get into trouble because you are not my mummy and daddy any more?”
I had put my foot in it big time, Sarah was not going to be comfortable calling us her mummy and daddy if in her mind it meant violating her father’s injunction about obeying the law, even though she would not be violating any law. I had to think of something so she would not get any more distressed and confused, so I tried this “Sarah, until someone from the law says otherwise and either takes you away from us or recognises that we are your mummy and daddy, we are going to still look after you, we are temporary mummy and daddy if you like”
Sarah looked at Angela, “So you are temporary mummy now” then she looked at me and said “and you are temporary daddy”
“But we won’t mind, honestly, if you call us mummy and daddy” Angela replied, “We still love you and always will Sarah”. she added

I then got off of the couch and knelt down in front of Angela, it was time to get the ball rolling on getting our family legally recognised, “Angela, I know on the Mystical Realms you did not have a say but” I started
“Of course I will marry you” Angela interrupted, “and I don’t even care if it is a registry office, the sooner the better as far as I am concerned”
“Me too Angela, I’ll get the ball rolling first thing tomorrow” I replied.
I stood up and so did Angela and we embraced and kissed each other, like I had told the Clan Chief of the Manjura, we should have done this here on Earth long ago.

“If you are going to get married, will that make you my mummy and daddy” Sarah asked.

Angela and I looked into each other’s eyes, and it was like we were telepathically linked. Angela and I getting married was the easy part, legally adopting Sarah was a whole different ball game. First there was Sarah’s immigration status, and even if that was sorted out, would social services allow us to keep her, there had been horror stories reported of officials wanting to fit certain quotas on grounds of political correctness across all spectrums, there was no guarantee we would even be allowed to keep her. They could take her away and place her in the foster care system, especially as only Angela had had a criminal records check. We just did not know how this system worked and we were both afraid that by merely asking, we would bring the calamity we had wanted to prevent. It was the classic tonne of bricks question.

I sat down beside Sarah, “Getting married here on Earth Sarah is just the first thing we have to do, to be your mummy and daddy again, we then have to go through a process to adopt you, and that may take time”
“Will I have to go away until you can do that”
“Over my dead body” Angela replied also sitting down beside her and putting her arm around her, “I love you Sarah and I am not going to let them take you away”
“And neither am I Sarah” I told her

It was then I decided to place a call to Shamus McTuckle, a leprechaun who worked of the diplomatic service in the Irish government.
[img=200x300]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0b/Leprechaun_ill_artlibre_jnl.png[/img]

He had promised Angela and I help if we ever needed it because in our own ways we had sort of looked after Fidelity when she was still a minor spirit of virtue, and boy did we need him now.

I went into the hall and rang his private number and explained our situation and our fears that we would lose Sarah, Shamus listened intently and promised to get back to us. An hour later, as promised he telephoned us back, he had heard how we had done our bit to help end the civil war in the Mystical Realms, and would see what he could do, but first they had to see if Sarah had any living relatives in New Zealand who would have a stronger claim, if so it would only be right if she were returned to them or at least they had a say in her care. I had to agree this would be only right, even if Angela and I did not like it. In the mean time he would use his connections and leverage to sort out Sarah’s immigration status. As for British local social services, he had no influence over them, but if everything checked out, Shamus had a plan, and when I ran it past Angela, she liked it.

That night after an evening meal which Angela got me to cook, Angela ran Sarah a hot bath, and while she was in it, with Angela making sure she was alright, I put all Sarah’s clothes through Angela’s washer – drier (She had to use it for her aunt towards the end of her life) so they would be ready by morning. After the bath Angela found a very long t-shirt of hers and a thick jumper to put on Sarah and put Sarah to bed in her aunt's old room. Angela was careful not to mention her aunt in case Sarah got frightened and imagined seeing ghosts. Angela was now very protective of our Sarah, as was I. Angela also put on two extra blankets and told Sarah to tell us if she was still cold, so we could get her more blankets, she even provided a little nightlight in case Sarah awoke in the night.

Angela sat with Sarah until she nodded off to sleep and then Angela and I went into Angela’s bedroom sat on her bed, just to see if it was too small, and perhaps we might not need the fold away couch after all. Angela quietly closed her bedroom door, and silently we started to remove each other’s clothes and stood for a while looking at each other’s naked body, then held each other and kissed, then we put on night clothes in case Sarah needed us in the night and squeezed into the single bed and just slept in each other’s arms until the morning.

+ + +

The next day after breakfast, which consisted of a hot oat cereal, hot so Angela could tell Sarah it would help keep her warm. As Sarah did not have a coat, Angela got her to wear one of her old jumpers as we were taking Sarah into the city centre. Angela’s mission was to take Sarah to the clothes shops for more clothes, shoes and a warm coat. My mission was to secure the marriage licence and book the registry office. By law we would have to wait at least fifteen days, but in terms of bookings we had to wait three weeks, it would have been a longer wait had I not asked for as early in the day as possible, nine thirty as most people liked to get married later in the day. According to Shamus that should be enough time to do a background check on any relatives of Sarah who might have a prior claim, even though officially Sarah was thought to have died in the plane she and her father had been aboard.

We agreed to meet up at Angela’s coffee shop. By the time I got there, Sarah had been kitted out in much warmer clothing, including, trousers, a pink padded rain coat a woollen hat and pink gloves. Angela mentioned she had also bought Sarah some vests to wear to help her keep warm as Sarah had never had one. Angela told me that she had got Sarah to put a vest on when Angela got her changed into the warmer clothing in the disabled lavatory. I knew Angela meant well and was committed to showing what a good mother she could be to Sarah, no matter what her legal status was, but to me this was too much information , Angela was also determined to show Sarah she loved her and was absolutely committed to looking after her, and as Sarah felt the cold badly, Angela would help her to be wrapped up as warm as possible..

The cover story we gave to anyone we knew was that a week or so ago, I, as they did not know about my family background , had received a call from New Zealand, that some relative I had never heard of had been murdered by a junkie in front of his daughter, since her mother had died in an accident when Sarah was six months, I was her only living relative and could I come and collect her. The aim was to keep as much truth in the cover story as possible to make it more convincing. Sarah was not aware of the cover story as we did not want her to have to lie as well, so just in case anyone spoke to Sarah, part of the cover story was that the junkie was wearing a mask and to Sarah it was a monster and she was very traumatised by it and was confused. We asked our friends not to talk about it, as it upset her.

Angela according to the cover story had offered to go with me as moral support, due to my lack of experience with children, and when we got there Sarah had latched on to Angela as the mother she never knew. Angela was also taken with her, and loved her as if she were her own from the moment she saw her. I had noticed that, and as we had been kind of seeing each other for six to seven years, I had asked Angela to be my wife, and a mother to child that I had become the semi-legal guardian of. Angela had of course accepted with out a moment’s hesitation.

The main reaction to our wedding announcement was “What took you so long to realise you were meant for each other”. How come a troll had spotted this and our acquaintances had spotted this, but we hadn’t?

But now we had to endure what would seem the longest wait of our lives.

Angela cut short her leave and went back to the coffee shop, so every morning we got up early, I cooked breakfast whilst Angela got Sarah ready. Then we would drive Angela to work. We would sit in the coffee shop whilst Angela went through the morning routines of getting the pastries, dealing with the milk deliveries and opening the shop. I would have my latte and Sarah a hot chocolate. Then round about nine, I would take Sarah to see the shops, a museum, to the park to look at the ducks and even visiting the beach,, anything to occupy the time with things she liked although in February it was still quite cold. We would always meet back for lunch at the coffee shop, when Angela took her break, so we could eat as a family, and Angela would always give Sarah plenty of hugs. Sometimes in the afternoon we would go back to the park if the coffee shop was busy or a museum if the weather was bad, but if it was quiet, we stayed there keeping out of the way until it was time to go home. In the evenings, Angela and I took it in turns to help teach Sarah how to read.

On days when Angela had a day off, I think they stayed at the house doing arts and stuff, while I worked on disposing of the flat I had lived in for more years than I cared to remember and its contents. For all intents and purposes, I had moved in with Angela to give Sarah a stable home life, which actually was true. At weekends we made a point of doing something fun with Sarah together, to reassure her, that even though we were not officially her parents and we were just temporary mummy and temporary daddy, we loved her and cared about her were looking after her and wanted her to be a part of our lives, just as she had been on the Mystical Realms

All the time, Angela and I were looking over our shoulder, fearing the knock on the door from immigration or social services and sometimes in town when we were looking at the shops, the educational welfare officers looking for truants. Luckily my paranoia made me look out for them, so we could evade them.

All this time Sarah would ask when we could be her mummy and daddy again, and told us she loved us and really would like us to be her mummy and daddy and promising to be a good girl. We kept telling her we loved her too, and we so much wanted to officially be her mummy and daddy, but it would take time to sort out. Angela would always try and reassure her that no one would object if she just called us her mummy and daddy, but her first father’s injunction coupled with the crass way I had mishandled things, meant she was still conflicted and still used the word temporary a lot and on one occasions referred to us as Mr Andrews and Miss Roberts after she had spoken to an elderly customer at the coffee shop. Angela managed to gently squelch that one gently making sure Sarah knew the customer was out of date and Sarah did not have to follow what they had told her.

Sarah was also quite good and obedient, although I suspected that was because she was scared that if she was not a good girl we would send her away, as we were not her proper mummy and daddy, something we would never do, because of the way she kept telling us she was trying to be a good girl and how she kept tearfully apologising for imagined wrongs,. Angela and I loved Sarah unconditionally, and at every opportunity we told her so and how much we wanted her to be a part of our lives.

After two weeks, we heard from Shamus, and it was quite a revelation about Sarah’s sad past. Her parents had first met at a children’s home in Wellington, so grandparents on either side were not an issue, thank goodness we selfishly thought , but she did have an uncle, her father’s younger brother. This uncle was not considered available for Sarah, since he was serving a life sentence for murder in New Zealand after strangling his girl friend when he found out she had fallen pregnant by him. Sarah’s uncle pathologically hated children, due to his experience at the children’s home. Maybe that was why her farther had so drummed into her about obeying the law, and not following her uncle’s example. It was obvious that the two brothers had fallen out, as Sarah, via surreptitious questioning by Angela, revealed she new nothing about her uncle’s existence. As for Sarah’s biological mother, when Sarah was born, there were complications somehow and Sarah’s mother had died of a brain aneurism. Sarah was effectively alone in the world, and this gave us a green light for the plan to somehow adopt Sarah.

We also received from Shamus, I do not know how he got them, Sarah’s birth certificate and medical records, along with a duplicate New Zealand passport a visa to enter the UK and a confirmation letter of her permission for indefinite leave to remain from the Home Office, and we would keep these documents for Sarah so she could see them when she was a lot older

It was now the social services we feared, who we kept thinking would remove Sarah from us, on some spurious PC grounds just to fill some quota figures to satisfy certain pressure groups, whether those pressure groups wanted them to or not.

We had just week to go, when my flat was sold giving us some much needed income to pay for what would be a trip of a lifetime.

It was finally the day of our wedding, and I got up early to pack the car with suitcases. By now Angela had arranged a property broker of some kind to sell the house she had inherited from her aunt. Now normally the groom and the bride spend the night apart before the wedding, for Sarah’s sake, we were not playing ball with tradition. We would all be driving down together and attend the registry office together. Some of Angela’s friends thought it odd and suggested I should stay in a hotel over night Some even suggested that they should look after Sarah the night before the wedding. Angela gave them short shrift and would have none of it, as far as Sarah was concerned we were a family and she did not want that disrupted. We also maintained that it was low key, in order to save money for a new house and the “honeymoon”

After I had got Sarah into her car seat, I cleared out the rubbish bags. Everything in the fridge or cupboards we could not take was being binned. Angela stood outside with the key to lock up for the last time. She was crying silently. I asked her what the matter was and she told me that this was an end of an era, as she had grown up in this house when her parents had died and when her aunt contracted the cancer that would ultimately kill her, it was here she cared for her until her life ended in a hospital bed. I held Angela in my arms to comfort her, and reminded her that this was going to be the start of a new and better one. Angela smiled at me and wiped her tears away and told me I was right and she was just being “silly”. Then we got into the car and left for the registry office.

Angela wore a sharp suit and skirt all in white, with a wide brimmed hat she had inherited from her aunt; I had my best suit that I wore whenever I needed to do process serving. Sarah wore a pretty white dress, although Angela had made sure she was wearing something warm underneath as there had been a heavy frost overnight. Sarah was to be the bridesmaid and carried our rings into the registry office.

Jenny Green, the assistant manageress at Angela’s coffee shop was to be one of the witnesses, and I had got one of my former neighbours as a witness. I had sent an invite to my parents, but they were unable to attend on account of visiting their grandchildren at my sister’s who by irony of ironies lived in Auckland New Zealand. A number of Angela’s colleagues showed up, including some from other coffee shops of the same chain from around the region. I was out numbered

The service was simple and succinct as we recited our vows to one another. In the Troll ceremony, Angela did not have a choice in the human one she did, and she chose to be my wife, and I loved her even more for that, if that were possible. We were then pronounced to be man and wife, and we kissed each other, more for the benefit of the others, but we liked it also. As we walked outside, we made sure that Sarah was between Angela and I and each of us held one of Sarah’s hands

After that we posed for the obligatory photographs. We did not hire a photographer, so we asked the witnesses to take them with our digital camera. We insisted that Sarah was in all of the photos, so Sarah did not feel excluded.

As we crossed the road to a public car park where we had parked, my former neighbour asked me where the reception was being held, and we had to break it to him, that everything was on a shoestring and we had to get going because we had to catch a ferry. He then suggested some really exotic places to visit in Amsterdam, my neighbour had thought we were going to be honeymooning in Europe, I thought it best for everyone to think that so I just told him I would bear his suggestions in mind.

Angela wanted to take Sarah to use a toilet at another nearby coffee chain before our journey, but a number of people wanted to talk to both of us, and wish us congratulations, so Angela had to get Jenny to take her. When Jenny came out of the coffee shop, I saw her approaching my car, leading Sarah by the hand. She must be putting Sarah in her car seat now I thought, but no, Jenny had opened the boot and was taking out Sarah’s suitcase!!
Angela suddenly noticed her as well and went over to her, “Jenny what are you doing?” she asked
“Oh I was going to find somewhere for Sarah to stay whilst you two went on your Honeymoon” Jenny explained, “I think my mother could probably look after her for a few days and maybe then …”
“Oh no you’re not, Sarah is coming with us” Angela objected and grabbed Sarah’s hand back from Jenny
“But it’s your honeymoon?”

I thought I did not want Angela and Jenny parting on a sour note as, as over the years they had been such good friends and she had been Angela’s loyal lieutenant, so. I came over, opened the car door and asked Angela to put Sarah in her car seat and that I would explain things to Jenny

Jenny stood there looking confused, so I went up to her and took back Sarah’s suitcase, “Miss Green, when Sarah lost her father she got it into her head that people she loved were deserting her, so we don’t want to put her through any further separation anxiety like that.”
“Sorry, I was just trying to help, I mean when my brother and his partner got married they left their eight month old son with our mother when they went on honeymoon, I thought you would be doing the same”
“You weren’t to know Miss Green and I appreciate you meant well, as far as Sarah is concerned we are just going on a family holiday” I explained.

Then I apologised to the well wishers that we had a ferry to catch and drove away. What the well wishers did not know, was that we were never going to be coming back. Angela had the previous day, handed in her notice at the coffee shop.

As we were driving away, Sarah asked “Now you are married are you my mummy and Daddy again”

that question again

“Sarah, us getting married was the first step” I replied without thinking, “getting to be your legal mummy and daddy is what I am going to do next”
“So you’re still not my mummy and daddy again” Sarah replied with disappointment so heavy in her voice that I thought she might start crying again.
Angela turned round to look at Sarah and held her right arm out to hold Sarah’s hand to try and comfort her, “Sarah, it does not matter what some stupid law says, we still love you, and we are still going to look after you”

Angela so wanted to refer to me as daddy to Sarah and her self as mummy, but we had agreed that Sarah had got conflicted because of what her father had taught her about obeying the law and how she had mixed up what I had said about her legal status. This confusion caused her upset, which we did not want to happen given what she had already suffered in the Mystical Realms, but it was obvious to us, she wanted to call us mummy and daddy and she loved us too

Sarah was quiet for a moment, then asked why “Aunty Jenny” tried to take her away and that Aunty Jenny said that she should not be here with us as we were on something called a honeymoon. Angela Still holding her hand explained that when people got married, usually they did not have any little boys or girls with them, but it became apparent that Jenny had told Sarah about how her nephew got left with someone when her brother went on honeymoon.

Now was the time I had to let Sarah in on what we were doing
“Sarah”
“Yes Temporary Daddy”
“What Aunty Jenny did not know is that the reason you are coming with us, instead of being left behind as Aunty Jenny thought you should be, is that we are all moving to a new home to start a new life together”
“Why?”
“A friend of ours there is going to help make us your mummy and daddy again, just like before, would you like that princess?”
“Yes please, I want you to be my mummy and daddy again, because I don’t have a mummy and daddy”

Angela was still, twisted around, holding Sarah’s hand still trying to comfort her, “We want to be your mummy and daddy again too” she told her.
“Angela?” I whispered
“Yes Graeme?” Angela replied looking at me while still holding Sarah’s hand
“If you want, I don’t mind you sitting in the back with Sarah, I would hate for you to pull a muscle or twist awkwardly”
“Are you sure? I would like to sit with Sarah, but I thought you would want me up front to navigate as you don’t have Sat-Nav”
“That’s ok love, I know where I’m going, I drove down to Luton without Sat-Nav trying to rescue Fidelity last year remember?” With that I pulled into the nearest lay-by and Angela got in the back with Sarah.

We now had a hard drive with toilet stops to get to Stranraer, where Angela had found us a B&B that catered for children. We had fed them the same cover story as we had given the others, about me being the only surviving relative Sarah had, and that Angela and I had got married to give Sarah a new stable home, and we had plans to adopt her. We had to cover our bases if Sarah was too honest, and again we had both agreed we did not want to get Sarah to lie. Luckily at the time of year we were, it was not the tourist season, so there were not many people about and we could stay in our room. We took Sarah for a meal out at a local fast food chain and visited the harbour to show her what kind of boat we would be sailing on the following day.



When we got back, Angela requested extra blankets for Sarah, as she explained to them that Sarah felt the cold more than most children as she had been born in the southern hemisphere.

The following morning, after breakfast we left as soon as we could to get there for the 09:55 sailing to Belfast. We figured that as Belfast was still officially the UK, we would not need to go through passport control, and mercifully that proved to be the case. As we stood on deck, watching the UK Mainland disappear, I started to relax slightly, but not too much. During the voyage, Angela seemed to spend much of it in the toilet, she obviously suffered from seasickness, Sarah and I sat in the open air looking into the horizon. Sarah was not that well either and I had to keep telling her to breathe in and out and look into the distance. A trick I had once learned. Unfortunately Sarah was seasick as well, and we had to get the help of a ships steward to clean her up. Again Sarah was in tears for most of the time due to the sea sickness and for being sick.

We landed just after 12:30 and managed to disembark. We had the passports ready, and Sarah’s New Zealand passport, her visa and the letter from the Home Office to accompany her, but we were not asked for them. We found a simple café in Belfast, but both Angela and Sarah were still quite green from the crossing, so Angela had a cup of tea and I Coffee, whilst Sarah had some milk to drink, but I insisted we have some plain toast.

After that, it was a long drive south, again with Angela sitting in the back next to Sarah, we would not have it any other way. Again we got anxious when we approached bandit country as it was called during the height of the troubles and then the border to the Irish Republic.

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We were waved through no problem. We were effectively safe; I just had to push on south,

To Shannon

To a farm

A farm, where the O’Docherty family lived, the family that had adopted the former Spirit of Fancying when she had been left by the fairies as a baby at a Dublin police station, and last year when we brought them her twin sister The Spirit of Fideltiy, except now they were ordinary mortal teenagers called Caer and Fidelity, or Fid for short after they had both given up their status of being minor spirits of virtue out of their free will at Shannon International Airport.

Shaun and Felicity O’Docherty had on their farm three holiday cottages, and they were going to let us live in one of them. I had been promised a steady job at the secret Bureau for the registration of those entities that crossed under a special treaty, between the Mystical Realms and the Republic of Ireland, so I could pay him a small rent, although he was so grateful that Angela and I had looked after Fidelity and brought her to them, that he had offered to allow us to live there rent free.

We arrived there late at night, and Angela and Sarah were asleep in the back of the car when we arrived. Felicity, the twins and their son whom they had also adopted had got it ready for us. I gently woke Angela, and as she was a bit groggy, Shaun carried Sarah into the cottage and put her into bed. Sarah’s room was as warm as toast, as Angela had forewarned him that Sarah felt the cold.

To make conversation with Shaun, while we unpacked the car, I asked how Fidelity was shaping up, he said she was still a work in progress as she still had a habit of suffering in silence and he mentioned how couple of weeks previously when the twins went down with the Noro Virus that had been going around, while checking Fidelity was ok as she had not recovered as fast as Caer had, they found that the heating in Fidelity’s room had broken down and Fidelity was shivering in bed just trying to endure the cold. If it had been Caer’s room, Caer would have been onto him like a shot. At least the fault had been easy to fix and Caer was only to happy to let Fidelity seek sanctuary from the cold in her room while the heating was fixed. Shaun did say that Fidelity had taught Caer to appreciate how privileged her life had been.

After we had unloaded the car, my head was still buzzing from the driving and Angela was still feeling the after effects of the travelling as well, so when Shaun left, we did not even bother to get undressed and we collapsed onto the top of the bed.

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The following morning we slept in until eight, which was quite late for all of us, but we had been so tired from the travelling we had had to do. We found the cottage had been stocked up with food, so we did not have to go shopping, especially as the farm was very remote. At around nine o’clock the twins came round to see us, and again there was an emotional reunion between Fidelity and Angela. Fidelity came wearing the coffee shop uniform Angela had given her when we had come to see Fidelity get adopted by Shaun and Felicity. Angela had to remind Fidelity she was no longer her boss, but her friend.

At ten thirty, Shamus our leprechaun friend from the Irish diplomatic service turned up with a lady. She turned out to be a doctor working for the adoption board. Shamus explained that normally we would have to be resident in Ireland for a year before applying to adopt, but due to the unique circumstances, and in recognition of our services to the interests of the Irish government the year before, they had waved that rule. He also informed us that the usual six month wait for the final oral hearing to assess our case could be shortened, but he could not say by how much. The doctor then requested to do a cursory inspection of Angela’s and my health, in accordance with the Irish procedure and so we complied. Then she examined Sarah in private away from us. Angela was livid, but said nothing, as she saw the examination in private as a slur, but as I told her, it was just procedure and because we had cared for Sarah so well we would be fine, which proved to be the case.

At the end of it, we were granted a kind of residential order to allow us to keep Sarah, when I showed her the piece of paper; I told her that now we were “Acting Mummy and Daddy”. Sarah could just about understand, we were nearer being her mummy and daddy, but not quite there yet. Angela and I were relieved that for the moment no one was going to take her away from us, and I suspect so was Sarah.

My job with the Bureau was mostly routine processing, but I loved it, especially as it was now a steady wage as I was supporting effectively a wife and a child, and going to work kind of helped Sarah get into a routine. I would always telephone Angela when I got in and insisted on speaking to Sarah as well.

Angela was helped by Felicity and the twins a lot. Fidelity and Sarah could identify with each other because of their shared experiences of the Mystical Realms and of feeling alone in the world at times. Felicity helped with getting Sarah signed up with a GP and with basic schooling, as due to the remoteness of the farm, Caer and Timothy had been home schooled.

Sarah was fitting in really well, but still she would ask if we were her mummy and daddy yet from time to time. Caer and Fidelity were a godsend and was able to give Angela and I a break from time to time by safely showing Sarah around the farm animals. The fact we had the residential order did make Sarah a little more relaxed and happier, but still her insecurities remained. Sarah knew we were looking after her and that we loved her and wanted her, but what she seemed to miss was a sense of belonging, everyone likes to have, that us legally being her mummy and daddy would bring her.

While Sarah was a little happier with our revised status of “Acting mummy and daddy”, there was one wobble where, briefly while we were waiting for the oral hearing we had an interim inspection from social services. Shaun and Felicity had been coaching us so we were able to satisfy the social worker, but Sarah had asked her if it was alright to call us mummy and daddy, as we continued to say she could if she wanted to, and the social worker bluntly told her that we were not her mummy and daddy yet, just her temporary guardians. Sarah was deeply upset by this and burst into tears, and after the social worker had left, we had to again reassure her how we felt about her and how we were still working on being her mummy and daddy. Caer was brilliant and shared with Sarah how things were when Timothy was being adopted and it was just the same and that Shaun and Felicity were now Timothy’s parents, and so we would be hers.

Then we got the date of the hearing to finalise our adoption of Sarah. The date rang a bell and so I checked Sarah’s birth certificate. The adoption hearing would take place after just a month since we arrived in Ireland, on Sarah’s sixth birthday at one thirty in the afternoon. Shamus must be some kind of romantic leprechaun I thought

The day arrived, but we had been keeping this information from Sarah, as one, we wanted it to be a birthday surprise and two, in theory it might not go the way we wanted so we did not want to raise false hopes. A number of birthday cards for Sarah had been arriving in dribs and drabs, from the Shamus, the O’Dochertys and also one from Jenny back in England.

Jenny Green had made manager at Angela’s old coffee shop after Angela had strongly recommended her in her letter of resignation

We were waiting to show Sarah our card later.

For some reason Angela was slightly distracted, but I assumed that was nerves about the coming hearing, but Shaun and Felicity had continued to coach us so I was moderately confident it would go the way we wanted.

On Felicity’s suggestion, we left in the morning for Shannon where they were having the oral hearing and visited a specific church she suggested. There following a suggestion by Felicity, Angela helped Sarah light two candles, one for her first mummy, whom she never knew and one for her father that the Gnoll had murdered on the plane before abducting her to the Mystical Realms. As I looked from a pew where I sat, Sarah looked so fragile standing before the candles, holding Angela’s hand, trying to be brave. Then Angela had to pick her up, as Sarah dissolved into tears, I assume because Sarah felt she was alone in the world, so Angela had to come and sit on the pew next to me comforting Sarah, telling her that we were here for her.

A priest saw us and approached us to see if there was a problem, so I left Angela cuddling our little princess and went and explained to the priest that Sarah was an orphan, the candles represented her dead parents, whom she was grieving for, but unbeknown to Sarah we hoped would be finalising the procedure to adopt her that afternoon and be her new parents. It was kind of closing the book on one chapter so Sarah could move to the next one. The priest thought it was an interesting idea and asked if there was anything he could do, I thanked him for his concern but told him I could not think of anything.

After we left the church we met Caer, Fidelity and Felicity at a McDonald’s restaurant for an early lunch. Jenny Green also met us there and for a moment it seemed like an awkward meeting. Jenny had been upset that we had not told her why we had fled to Ireland and had told us one of her cousins was an expert in family law and would have been able to get us a residential order for Sarah in the UK, but that this was a much nicer place to bring Sarah up and probably the right call. Jenny once again apologised for trying to take Sarah away when on our wedding day and that she had liked Sarah as well and would not miss what we were doing for world.

I think Sarah just assumed that the people we were meeting up with were for her birthday party to be held later at our cottage, as we asked them not to mention the adoption hearing to Sarah and as far as we were aware, Sarah did not have clue

Then it was time to head over for the hearing, and as we all reached the outside of the building, Angela and I squatted down and Angela asked Sarah what she would most like for her birthday, in the corny saccharine manner you expect in a trashy weepy, Sarah’s response was very poignant “I want you to be my mummy and daddy again as I don’t have a mummy and daddy anymore”, then she burst into tears, obviously the lighting of the candles earlier, intended as a symbolism of the closing one chapter in her life had only resulted making her feel alone in the world, and she had just been reminded of it. Angela picked her up to cuddle her whilst the others assisted in comforting her. Sarah really loved us and wanted us to be her parents officially, to satisfy the lack of belonging, in spite of our reassurances, that she so keenly felt.

I waited for Sarah to calm down, which thanks to Caer and Fidelity was very quick, those twins were wonderful with Sarah, then I told Sarah, “Let’s see if we can do that now in this building. And so with Sarah walking in between Angela and I holding our hands, we walked in to the building where Shamus met us.

At the oral hearing, we were asked certain questions on oath in order to establish our identity and eligibility to adopt and thanks to representations to the board by Shamus on behalf the special diplomatic service, the Board was satisfied as to our eligibility, in spite of not being resident in Ireland for the statutory year. We were asked certain questions on oath about our suitability to adopt, and so finally the adoption order for Sarah was finalised. As we left the hearing, I showed Sarah the certificate of adoption, and told her “I told you I would fix this, we are now legally, officially and actually your mummy and daddy”
“Can I call you Mummy and Daddy again” Sarah asked nervously
Angela picked our daughter up and smiling at her answered “Of course you can sweetheart, you are officially allowed to now and we would love you to call us mummy and daddy”
“I love you Mummy and Daddy” Sarah replied and smiling, gave Angela and I a big hug as much as she could manage.

Jenny had to leave us, but we went home with the O’Docherties to get our daughter’s birthday and welcome back to the family party going. There I showed Sarah our birthday card to her

“Happy Birthday Sarah from Mummy and Daddy”

Sarah gave us more hugs and kisses, she loved us as much as we loved her.

The party was a huge success and Sarah was all smiles, which made her look even prettier and we had plenty of Celtic music. It was the happiest day of Sarah’s life and Angela’s and mine too. We considered our wedding at the registry office just the ratification of our wedding in the Mystical Realms.

After everyone had gone at the end and we were left alone, Angela asked Sarah to sit down beside her on the settee, I was going to sit down beside Sarah as we normally did, but Angela wanted me to sit next to her, I was mystified as to what was going on, then Angela took my hand and Sarah’s hand and placed them on her abdomen, then she turned to Sarah and said “as this was your special day I did not want to say anything until now, but your going to be a big sister, then she turned to me, Graeme, I’m pregnant, I’m having our second child”

Second child – So that was the reason why that strange flash occurred when Angela had that healing potion nearly two months ago, it was saving and healing her unborn child as well

Then Angela put an arm around our daughter, and before Sarah might wonder where she now stood with a natural new baby on the way, as it were, Angela told her “And as a big sister I will need your help looking after your little baby brother or sister, will you be able to do that for mummy”
Sarah smiled and nodded, she had been included and felt the belonging she had been missing
“Angela, Sarah I love you” was all I could say at that moment.

This news of Angela’s pregnancy was actually something that helped Sarah to put behind her the trauma she had suffered on the Mystical Realms, gave her something to look forward to and helped increase her low self esteem. With the help of the twins her self-confidence grew, and she did not cry as much as when we first rescued her and she still remained a very loving child, eager to please, but not this time because she feared rejection, but because this was what you did when you loved someone. Sarah was just as excited as Angela and I at the impending arrival of the new baby.

At work, I was given the chance to transfer to the tourism office, to promote Ireland as the wonderful place we found it to be. It was more money, but to tell the truth, we wanted to have nothing more to do with the Mystical Realms if it were possible, and I was more interested in our growing family.

The O’Docherty family were also a great help, with helping schooling and helping Angela with trips to the ante-natal clinic, and advice. Shaun told us not to think of Sarah as our adopted daughter, or our adoptive daughter, but as our daughter who one time we just happen to adopt, which Angela and I were only to happy to take.

When it was time, the twins’ baby sat for Sarah, while I took Angela to the hospital, where our son, Paul Shaun Andrews was born (8lbs 6oz)

We were now looking forward to a greater adventure than any we had ever had in the Mystical Realms, that of raising two lovely children. We hope one day we will take Sarah to see her native New Zealand, but for the moment she is happy, with us as her mummy and daddy and doting on Paul, her lovely baby brother, living here near Shannon in the Republic of Ireland

THE END

Or is it

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UK Inter Dimensional Entity Control Instant Messaging System

FacilityHQ Ah Field31 I am so glad I caught you on the IMS
Field31 Oh ok
FacilityHQ I read your report on Graeme Andrews and Angela Roberts
Field31 You mean Graeme and Angela Andrews
FacilityHQ Yes I forgot they were married now, LOL, anyway I concur with your recommendations
Field31 To downgrade their security threat level?
FacilityHQ Yes, we contacted his supervisor and they have no interest in Inter-dimensional activities and are more interested in playing happy families
Field31 Maybe we can close the file on them then, like we did with the O’Docherty twins back in January
FacilityHQ Might be an idea to leave it for a month though, I must say, tricking the Andrews to move into the same location as the O’Docherty Twins did make surveillance easier
Field31 LOL I would love to see the face on that IDE Shamus when he finds out how we manipulated him and his department. Even them allowing the Andrews to adopt that girl helped us with containment, I can’t believe how much they played into our hands on this one
FacilityHQ Yeah – especially after last year’s humiliation it’s about time we had some payback on our Irish partners
Field31 Absolutely. BTW I heard the guys in immigration did not like being made to give that child a visa and the ILTR letter
FacilityHQ Well I’m weeping into my beer over that one, but like with the adoption, it was the best way to keep containment
Field31 Well we did not want her talking about it to some New Zealand foster home we have no control over. With regards to the Andrews I like the fact that they actually like being where we had them placed, that has got to be an added bonus
FacilityHQ Yes LOL, it is beautiful down there I must say though. Anyway changing the subject
Field31 Yes
FacilityHQ We have reports of a civilian who has had a run in with an IDE, can you deal with it
Field31 I’m already on it
Field31 BTW
Field31 The civilian by shear coincidence is known to the Andrews
FacilityHQ Really, remember if need be you do have authority to terminate any IDE or civilian in order to keep IDE activity out of the public domain
Field31 Understood I am arranging for the civilian to be picked up as we type
FacilityHQ Out of interest, who is this civilian that is known to the Andrews?
Field31 The former assistant manageress at Mrs Andrews place of employment
FacilityHQ Former assistant manageress?
Field31 Yes she got promoted to manageress
FacilityHQ So what is her name?
Field31 Jenny Green

New people new adventures
To be continued in Season Six of the Mystical Realms Sagas