Page 149 of Made for Mayhem

The three of us stayed like that—a small circle against the wide, golden valley—until the last of the ashes sparkling in the sunlight disappeared in the wind.

Junie wiped her cheek with the back of her hand. “Do you think she’s happy?”

My throat tightened. “Are you kidding me?” I whispered, stroking my fingers through her hair. “This was where she wanted to be, with you forever.”

Ty squeezed my hand. “All of us together.”

Junie nodded, then smiled up at us. “Family.”

None of us moved, still huddled together in the field, until the sun sat just above the mountains and the temperature dropped fast. The chickens clucked from the driveway, and Junie took that as her cue.

“I’ll go get them inside,” she said, walking toward the hens waiting for her.

Ty brushed a stray blonde curl from my face and tucked it behind my ear. He leaned forward and kissed me softly, then pulled back. “Okay?”

“Yeah,” I answered, giving him a soft nod. “I think I’m⁠—”

The sound of a phone vibrating cut through my words, and Ty frowned. He pulled it from his pocket, staring at the screen where Sandra Diaz—CPS scrolled across the top.

“Hello?” he answered on speakerphone, staring right at me.

My breaths came in quick gasps, but before my mind had time to conjure up a million scenarios of why she might call, Sandra spoke.

“Oh, I’m so glad you answered,” Sandra said, her voice more than a little frazzled. In the background, I heard a baby cry, and Ty and I stared at each other. “I know you have a lot going on with the hockey season starting back up and Juniper back in school this fall, but I just had an emergency placement dropped in my lap, and I have nowhere for him to go.”

“A placement,” Ty said, staring down at the phone. “Foster care.”

“Yes,” Sandra said, then let out a deep sigh. “It’s a complicated story, and I can tell you more if you say yes. I don’t think it will be a permanent placement, but I have a one-year-old little boy in need of a safe home tonight.”

I looked up at Ty, feeling a whole new wave of emotions. We’d talked a lot about his decision to foster Junie in the last few weeks, and how important that had been to him. After everything he’d done for our little girl, I couldn’t help but see how much it meant to him.

On the off chance something like this would happen, I’d completed the required foster training and paperwork, not wanting my presence in his life to be the reason he couldn’t help more children.

“Ty, are you still there?” Sandra asked, and Ty looked away from the phone, right at me.

“Yeah,” he said, eyes searching my face. “Sorry, I’m just surprised you’d pick me.”

“Please,” Sandra said, and I reached forward to grab Ty’s hand, holding it in mine. “With the way you took care of that sweet girl of yours? Any child would be lucky to be loved by you, whether it’s just for tonight or for a lifetime.”

“Daisy?” Ty asked. “What do you think?”

I grinned up at him. “I think I agree with Sandra.”

“Should I ask Junie?”

“Ask me what?” Junie said as she came back toward us, Piggie and Rowdy trotting at her side.

Ty squatted down in front of Junie, taking her hands in his, leaving his phone on the gravel at his feet. “Sandra has a baby boy who needs somewhere safe to sleep tonight. She wants to know what we’d think about having him here?”

“Like a brother?”

“I can’t promise that,” Ty said gently.

“But we can show him what it means to be part of a family, can’t we?” I said, laying a hand on Ty’s shoulder. “For however long he needs us.”

Junie nodded, then reached down to pick up the phone Piggie was busy pushing around with her snout. “Does he like pigs?”

Sandra chuckled, and I grinned at my most favorite little girl in the universe. “I’m not sure if he’s ever met one.”