Page 22 of Ashes of Sin and Stardust

I gestured for her to come closer. She approached me, and I swiveled in my chair so I could speak to her without being overheard. She stood close enough to touch and leaned forward slightly so I wouldn’t have to stand up.

“It was on purpose?” I clarified.

“An attempt at a blindside.”

“Tell Cat to wait by the door for twelve minutes.”

“You got it, boss.” Before she left, she handed me a copy of the same folder the others had.

“Let’s get this done quickly,” I said loudly, interrupting the other conversations. “I wasn’t expecting to have to come in this early, and I’m missing a phone call to be here, but we try to be accommodating to other people’s time here at Mountain Valley Baptist Church.”

I gave them a smile that was more of an insult than a nicety and opened the folder. “Can you four please give me a rundown of what you need in order to make this happen?” I said, flipping through the folder and finding copies of the church’s financials, summaries of the children’s programs, and bios and credentials of the people who worked with them.

I was surprised to see Alice’s profile on the list as well, and had to work to hide my shock when I saw she was listed as a former executive and personal assistant to the regional director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

She wasn’t kidding,I thought.Shecanact like an adult when she needs to.

“Oh, yes, of course,” one man started. “I thought we were waiting for Catherine–”

“Her name is Cat, not Catherine, and I’m sure she’ll be here soon. Her priority is the children who are currently suffering trauma from being unwanted by their families, not bureaucratic meetings that are happening three hours earlier than they were supposed to.”

I could feel the power in the room shift right into the palm of my hands. We were no longer trying to convince them that we were good enough. They were trying to convince us they were competent.

Two of the older gentlemen in the room went back and forth with me on some of the finer details, and the younger man attempted to take notes. I checked my watch twice, flipped my pen in my hands, crossed out a meaningless note on my notepad, and refused to let my face fluctuate at the bullshit they were spouting about “normal family units.”

I cut one of them off. “Sophie, would you like to elaborate on your experience with ‘normal family units,’ since you were placed with one each time you were moved around?”

Sophie and I had talked about this, and I knew today was the day of that vision I had seen. Sophie didn’t like to talk about her experiences, but she’d decided to try to be open and honest today.

“Actually, I would, thank you.” She sat up straighter, and told a few stories of her own experience in the foster system, all of which were awful. “The exceptions were the Cormon’s, who adopted me, and the single woman who ran the temporary house where I stayed through my Junior and Senior year of high school. Both of those homes, out of the fifteen I remember, were the best experiences I had. Here at our facility, they’ll have access to observe and be a part of both normal family units, but also a larger community of individuals. It’s the best of both worlds.”

“Our families are very carefully vetted–”

“So was Mister Dunley. And he sodomized me and five other children.”

That shut them up for about three seconds, and Cat took that as her cue to enter. “Sorry, guys,” she said, looking a little frazzled. “I had a scraped knee and a botched craft project to rescue, and nap time isn’t for another few hours.”

Despite her having dressed nicely, her hair was a bit of a mess, which just added to her overall appeal. She looked like the epitome of a soccer mom: as put together as possible for her situation, but she’d be damned if her lipstick wasn’t on.

“This is all to say,” I redirected the conversation, pulling out a chair for Cat, “we aren’t here to debate whether this is the right place for the children. We are asking you what we need to make it happen. We have solid programming, educational opportunities, finances, space, mentors, extracurricular activities, three excellent schools in the area, and transportation arranged. If you’d like my personal references, I can give you information on my rehabilitation center as well. I’m sure you’ve heard of The Weston House, and our sister organization, Monica’s Palace?”

Four pairs of eyes widened slightly. My name finally clicked into place for them.

“I’d like the paperwork necessary to finish this conversation by the end of the week so we can all get back to doing our jobs in the mosttimelymanner possible.”

The oldest man stammered for a moment, and then nodded. “Where should we have it faxed over?”

I hadn’t even noticed when Alice had snuck back in, but she spoke up from the corner of the room where she was sitting on a small stool, ankles crossed, back straight, a laptop resting on her knees. “The fax, email address, and mailing address are all on the front page of your dossiers, sir,” she said.

“Ah,” he said, looking down at the page with the information right under his nose. “Yes, thank you, miss.”

“Benson,” she smiled, knowing he hadn’t asked, but offering it anyway.

“Miss Benson. Thank you.” The man stood, gestured to his team, and they awkwardly slunk out. Sophie got the door for them and escorted them out.

Cat practically melted back into the chair behind her. “God, that was stressful to listen to.”

“Thank you for trusting me.”

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