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She heard it from the other room. A small splash. An “uh-oh” that didn’t actually sound concerned at all. A pause. And then the toilet swirled and she realized what was happening.
“Brianna Ellen Fraser!” she belted out, skidding around the corner to find her two naked toddlers ready for bath time.
“Yep, Mama?” Bree chirped, a look of purest innocence in her huge blue eyes. It was a very good thing that she had cute pudgy thighs and a chubby baby bum, actually she was adorable in her entirety, because Claire was very tempted to throttle the child.
“What did you flush in the toilet, Brianna?”
“What?” Bree responded and Claire sighed in exasperation. This wasn’t the first time her younger daughter had flushed something down the toilet that ought not to have been there. Brianna never did things just once. She was like a tiny scientist confirming that no matter how she changed the variables of her experiments the results were always the same. Except she was a toddler, not a scientist. And science experiments in non-lab environments were often destructive. Flushing stuffed animals down the toilet was destructive.
At least it appeared that there would be no flooding this time. “Faith, did you see what Bree flushed?”
Faith shrugged, her eyes wide and Claire sighed in frustration. She supposed Faith’s ignorance was a survival skill. If she was Bree’s sister she likely would have had to turn a blind eye in order to keep her sanity as well. As it was, she chose her battles with her strong-willed little Fraser wisely.
“In you go, little fishies!” She set Faith down into the water then grabbed Bree who was trying to make a dash for freedom. “No ma’am. It is time for a bath then bed.”
“Not a bath, not a bed!” Trilled Brianna while splashing her sister. Claire squinted as water flew in her direction.
Bedtime couldn’t come fast enough.
“Jamie?” his wife’s voice floated through the doorway linking their bedroom and the master bathroom where he was brushing his teeth. “Have you seen my ring and watch? I know I had them earlier and I can’t seem to find them.”
“They arena in here,” he called back. “Mayhap ye left them by the sink downstairs? While doing dishes?”
“Damn,” He heard her whisper all of a sudden. “Oh Jesu-” and then she was tearing out the bedroom door.
He found her on the floor of the other bathroom, the one the girls used, clutching the edge of the toilet. “Sassenach,” his eyebrows furrowed in concern. “Are ye ill then?”
“I might be.” She turned back to him with tears in the corners of her eyes, her shoulders slumped in defeat. “Brianna flushed something earlier. I used the plunger thinking it was something that ought to come out but nothing happened. Since then, it’s been flushed dozens of times and I think,” she paused, sniffed, and her chin quivered in that way that made him want to protect her from everything that might ever harm her. “Oh Jamie, I think she flushed my wedding ring and watch!”
“Tis just a ring, Claire. Come here, lass,” she stood and he tugged her to him, resting her head against his chest, right where it fit under his chin.
“Sometimes I just don’t know what to do,” she mumbled into his shirt. He knew she meant more than the ring. Brianna was strong willed and to discipline her without breaking her spirit was a task that required both of them working together consistently.
He swayed slightly, rocking her gently back and forth. “That, I think, is a challenge that will save until morning. Come to bed, mo nighean donn.” She trailed behind him, their fingers touching, seeking his comfort and strength.
“Hey, Lady Jane! How’s your day going?” her friend Joe appeared at the opposite end of the hallway, his ever-present smile lighting his face.
She couldn’t help but smile in return as she felt her spirits lift. “Hello, Joe,” she murmured. “I’m just happy to be here today and let Jamie handle things at home.”
“Things a bit rough at the moment? I talked with Gail this morning and she was saying that Lenny was being an absolute terror last night. Maybe it’s a full moon,” he smirked.
“I know it’s just Bree being a typical two year old, but I won’t say it’s not trying,” she rolled her eyes heavenward before continuing. “She has been flushing things down the toilet as of late. Yesterday though, it was actually something important.”
“Better down the toilet than up her own nose,” he jabbed his finger in her direction as he sagely referenced an episode in the recent past involving small objects and Brianna’s nostrils.
“Except that items up her nose are retrievable while my wedding ring is not.”
There was an awkward pause.
“LJ?” he looked at her questioningly. “Didn’t you take off your ring and maybe your watch before you scrubbed in for the surgery yesterday? That appendectomy where you assisted Dr. Porter?”
“Of course,” she replied quickly, almost thoughtlessly. “I always take them off before a surgery.”
“I’m pretty sure Mary has them at the nurse’s station,” he stated flatly.
“What?” she echoed Bree’s response from yesterday, her voice completely devoid of inflection.
“Yeah, pretty sure about it. Mary mentioned that she was really surprised you left without them since you always take them off for a surgery but you always put them back on right after,” he explained calmly, smile growing at the confusion on his friend’s face.
“I’m sorry,” she looked dumbfounded. “What? She really has them?!” and then, suddenly, “What in the world did she flush then?”
Claire was in the lounge on her cell catching up with Jamie who was incredibly relieved that their girls were now in bed sleeping. She’d told him that she’d been the one to “lose” her ring but, of course, he still had more tales of Brianna to share anyway.
“And then, Sassenach, she dropped some wee pebbles down the drain. Murtagh was fit to be tied. Knelt down and said she ought to be ashamed, a big lass of two years droppin’ rocks down the drain and she kent it wasna right.”
She laughed, understanding perfectly what they’d been going through while she’d been at work. “What did Brianna do then? Lob something else down the drain? Flush something new down the toilet?”
“Nay! Her lip quivered, she threw her arms about his neck, and said she was sorry! I havena ever seen anything like it in all my born years. She hasna done a foul thing since lunch,” he replied exultantly.
“If only I’d known your godfather could curb her wild ways, I’d have had him over to talk with her far more often,” she laughed. Murtagh always acted grumpy around the children in spite of the fact that he loved them. They adored him no matter what.
“We’re really not alone in this, are we?” She asked. It was easy to feel as if they were since she barely remembered her own parents and Jamie had lost his many years ago as well. They had friends like Joe and Gail though. Family such as Ian, Jenny and Murtagh were there and would never leave them.
“Nay, Sassenach. We arena alone at all.”