Though why he wanted to get closer to her he couldn't imagine. At first glance she'd seemed exactly the sort of woman he'd tried diligently to avoid these past few years. And yet… something about her made him think of lost puppies and orphaned kittens. Maybe because, as he'd told her, she really was a long, long way from Kansas. Or Indiana.

He had a feeling that, if he were ever really going to get close to her, he was going to have to help her find the way back.

Five

"She looks so little," Maddy said softly. "And so… alone." She turned from the one-way observation window. "Larry…"

"Maddy," Dr. Larry Whitlaw said warningly, and put a comforting arm across her shoulders. "Come on, now." He gave her a little squeeze.

She sighed. "Oh, Larry, I know. But…" Her voice trailed off as she watched Theresa work patiently with a puzzle in the Crisis Center's playroom.

"But you let yourself get involved here, didn't you?" Larry said. "After all my lectures, warnings, threats, and fatherly advice."

She smiled ruefully up at the Crisis Center's founder and director. "Yes, but not intentionally. Darn it, Larry, she had me hooked before I knew she was going to wind up here. What could I do?"

"Yeah, well." Larry Whitlaw stooped to look through the glass. He was a very tall, very thin man, whose poor posture did nothing to detract from his natural athletic grace. "She is a cutie, isn't she?"

Maddy cleared her throat. "I'm a little surprised you had her brought in so quickly. Was the family environment that bad?"

Larry frowned. "It wasn't good. Theresa doesn't live with her parents. They're both dead, as a matter of fact. She lives with an aunt and uncle. The mother's sister, I believe. The aunt is okay-just scared to death of her husband, which is fairly typical."

"Umm." Maddy nodded and tried to sound no more than professionally interested. She knew she wasn't fooling Larry one bit. "So what's going to be done with her? Will she become a county ward?"

"Larry nodded. "Hope so-hearing's tomorrow."

"Who's the judge?" When she thought of Theresa facing so many strangers in cold and unfamiliar places, something stirred inside her, awakening fierce and primitive instincts. She felt an urge to shelter, and to protect.

"Donna Bergman." Larry's compassion-weary eyes twinkled down at Maddy with understanding. "I put in a special request."

Maddy was relieved on that point, at least. Judge Bergman was a warm, motherly-looking person with a knack for putting traumatized children, as well as the adult victims of rape and abuse, at ease. "What about the aunt and uncle? Will they contest?"

"I doubt it. The aunt seems to have been genuinely fond of her sister, and tried to do what she could for the kid, but between you and me, I think she'll be relieved to have the source of tension between her and her husband out of the house. No, I don't anticipate any problems."

"So… what then?" Maddy persisted. "Where is she staying in the meantime? Juvenile Hall?" She was finding it increasingly hard to push her voice past the knot in her throat. Inside the playroom, Theresa had finished her puzzle. As she was carrying it back to the shelf, she stumbled, jostling the tray and spilling wooden puzzle pieces across the linoleum floor. Maddy could hear the clatter even through the thick walls and double-glass window. Tears stung her nose and throat as she watched the little girl clap both hands over her mouth and look around with huge, terrified eyes, then kneel and begin to gather the pieces with quick, furtive movements. The back of her neck looked so fragile, so vulnerable.

"Juvenile Hall's impacted at the moment," Larry said. "She'll stay at the Crisis Shelter until we can find her a foster home." His voice sounded thoughtful, and Maddy glanced up, not surprised to find he was looking straight at her, not at Theresa.

To her own amazement she heard herself say, "Larry, let me keep her."

"Maddy…"He looked sympathetic but regretful- and not nearly as startled by the request as Maddy was.

"It's so cold here," she said. "So… institutional. She's got to be feeling lost and confused. Just until you find a good foster home."

"Maddy, you know what my thoughts are on this. You know what the policy-"

"Oh, Larry, damn the policy! That's a little child in there. She knows me. She trusts me. I know she'd be happier-"

"For how long? Two days? A week? She forms an attachment to you, and then she's got to adjust to another change. And you-do you really think it would be easier for you to let her go then?"

Maddy took a deep breath. "Then let me be her foster home. Come on, Larry, why not?"

The psychologist made an exasperated sound and turned away from the window. "Maddy…"

She gripped the sleeve of his rumpled tweed jacket. "Larry, if you put in a recommendation-"

"I don't see how I could do that, Maddy."

"Why?"

"Maddy, you're not seeing things very clearly. Which is precisely why you shouldn't have allowed yourself to get involved emotionally in a case. To begin with, you're single, a working woman, with no experience with children."

"No experience! What about my work here at the clinic? What about my programs in the schools? I see hundreds of children!"

"See them, sure. But that's not living with them. Raising them. Dealing with the everyday problems- the tears and tantrums, the mess, the noise, the inconvenience. And most of all, the constant and unremitting responsibility."

"Don't lecture me, Larry. I'm not a child, and I think I know very well what that little girl needs. She needs a lot of love and patience and affection, and I think I can give it to her!"

"Maddy." Larry's eyes and voice were kind. "What Theresa needs more than anything is a normal home environment. Can you honestly tell me you could provide her with that? The way you live? In a fairy-tale cottage, surrounded by talking toys and a cat with a weird sense of humor? You know the standards for foster homes as well as I do. Honey, you can't give her a bedroom to sleep in. You don't even have a bedroom to sleep in!"

Maddy just stared at him, frustrated by her yearnings and the knowledge that he was right. After a moment Larry pursed his lips and asked softly, "And then what happens… when she's adopted?"

"Adopted?"

"If no other relatives can be located, we'll push to have Theresa released for permanent adoption. As a matter of fact, we've already had an inquiry about Theresa, from someone interested in permanent custody."

"Someone's asked about adopting Theresa? Already?" Maddy was stunned. "Who? Who could possibly know she'd be-"

"Someone you might have heard of, actually." Larry's face was carefully blank. "Zack London."

"What?" Maddy's voice rose to an incredulous squeak. "You can't be serious!" Of all the emotions bumping into one another inside her, the most recognizable were jealousy and a sense of betrayal. He knew how she felt about Theresa. Why hadn't he said anything to her about this yesterday?

Larry was gazing placidly at her. "Sure am. Came to see me this morning, as a matter of fact. Of course, I told him he was a bit premature-"

"Premature! Larry, he's no more qualified to be a parent than I am! You don't mean to tell me he'd be seriously considered-"

Larry looked stern. "On the contrary, Maddy, he's a lot more qualified than you are. He's at least had experience raising a child. He's financially secure, and capable of providing materially for a child."

"He's single!"

"That's true," Larry murmured, nodding sagely. "That's true. But not likely to remain so forever. Once he's had some time to heal-"

"How do you know? About Zack London, I mean? You sound as if you know him personally."

"Oh, Zack and I have worked together on various projects-Boy's Club, Parks and Rec." Larry shrugged and smiled.

Feeling frustrated and outwitted, Maddy abruptly turned her back on Larry and began stuffing puppets into their cases with uncharacteristic disregard for their well-being.

"Hey… Maddy, listen." Larry Whitlaw was a good friend, and when he placed his big hands gently on her shoulders her anger at him ebbed. Her shoulders sagged, and he massaged them sympathetically. "You know that if anybody else did this, I'd put 'em on leave of absence, don't you? Emotional basket cases we don't need around here."

She shook his hands off and laughed painfully. "So what makes me an exception?"

He waved a hand at the puppet cases. "At the risk of making you impossible to live with, I guess a lot of people around here think you're damn near irreplaceable."

She placed a hand over her heart and groaned. "Please. I don't think my ego can stand it!"

He chuckled, and gazed fondly at her for a moment. "Tell you what. I don't see any harm in your maintaining contact with Theresa, once she's established in her foster home. I've no objection to a friendly relationship, as long as it doesn't interfere with her adjustment to her new environment and isn't disruptive to her or the foster parents. Is that understood?"

"Understood," Maddy said softly, and smiled radiantly.

But as she loaded her puppets into her car, she was thinking, with an acknowledged lack of fairness, Zack London, how could you do this to me?

It was probably a good thing Maddy was still angry with Zack when she arrived at his home for her first swimming lesson. Without that spine-stiffening core of resentment, she might never have made it from her car to the front door. As it was, the finger that punched the doorbell shook noticeably. Maddy noticed it, and clenched her hand into a fist. Lord, how she wished she'd brought one of her puppets along! Bosley would have known exactly how to deal with this…