Page 55 of A Little Christmas Wish

Betsy stepped in front of Zippy. “Zippy has every right to be here, Mrs. . . .”

“Monterey,” Mr. Burns supplied.

“Mrs. Monterey,” Betsy said. “And it turns out your son started all of this by picking on Grace.”

The other woman sniffed. “So your foster child says.”

“My daughter,” Betsy said firmly, “does not lie. Pretty sure you can’t say the same.”

“How dare you! Mr. Burns, I want this child expelled!” the woman said. She turned to her husband. “Roger, make it happen.”

“Of course, dear.” Roger eyed Betsy. “Clearly you should take your daughter and leave. You don’t fit in here. You’d be better suited to one of the more . . . regular schools.”

“We aren’t leaving.”

Roger stepped forward. “Yes. You are.”

“Hey! Get away from my Mama!” Zippy moved between them, glaring up at Roger.

Betsy gasped as Mr. Burns stood and started to speak to Roger. “Mr. Monterey, you can’t come in here and threaten people.”

“Who threatened my fiancée?”

They all looked over to the doorway and Betsy sighed in relief as she saw Ink there. Both she and Zippy moved over to him and he wrapped them up in his embrace. “Someone want to tell me why my woman and kid are being threatened?”

She was gratified to see Roger turning white. Even his wife looked somewhat intimidated.

Mr. Burns sat. “It seems there has been a mix-up in who instigated the issue today. I suggest you all sit down.”

They steppedout of his office thirty minutes later. Mrs. Monterey sent her an angry glare as her husband ushered her and their son away to his car.

Both children had been suspended. Zippy for one day and Eliot for three.

Betsy turned to Zippy and hugged her tight.

“What’s going on?” Zippy asked. “What’s the matter? Why are you crying? Is it ‘cause I punched Eliot? I’ll try not to punch him again, okay?”

“No, no, it’s because you called me mama,” Betsy said, feeling her eyes fill with tears.

“Uh, shouldn’t I have?” Zippy drew back to look up at her worriedly. “Are you upset about it? I thought you said that you wanted me to live with you guys forever?”

“No, of course I’m not upset!” she cried. “And we do want you to live with us forever.”

“Um, Brown eyes, you kind of sound upset,” Ink told her, eyeing her with concern.

“These are happy tears!”

Ink and Zippy shared a look.

“Happy tears?” Ink asked.

Zippy shook her head. “When I get older, I’m not gonna cry when I’m happy. It makes no sense and it’s confusing.”

“Sorry . . . I just . . . it’s the first time I’ve heard you call me mama and it meant so much. Especially as, well, we were saving it for a surprise for this weekend, but . . .” She looked at Ink and he nodded at her. She crouched down in front of Zippy.

“What? What is it?” Zippy asked, sounding worried which was the last thing Betsy wanted.

“It’s a good surprise,” Betsy said hastily. “The adoption papers came through.”

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