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Jane had joyfully held the mistletoe over Dot and Hugh and they had tenderly complied. She then skipped over and suggested Aunt Prudence and Bert which cause much mirth among the little family. Prudence had been a bit shocked but Bert had touched his cheek and said, “I'll be in it if you will.” Prudence considered for a moment and decided that due to the season she would bestow on her friend a peck on the cheek.
Phryne giggled and whispered to Jack, “I would have paid admission to see that.”
Not a second later, Jane brought the mistletoe over and mischievously announced, “Miss Fisher and the Inspector!” The rest of the family sounded off as though this was the ultimate challenge as Jane gleefully giggled.
Phryne and Jack stared into each other’s eyes. Phryne’s voice was a bit smokey when she said, “I'm not sure that my kisses can be compelled by sprigs of parasitic greenery.” Jack’s voice was so deep that it bordered on the obscene. “Hemi-parasitic. Of the genus Viscum.” Phryne’s eyes dilated and she shivered slightly as she murmured, “I'll take your word for it.”
The spell was broken by Prudence who was attempting to take the attention off what she suspected was about to become a very private moment in a very public place.
As the party progressed, Phryne saw Jane motioning for her to come out to the front porch. Something in her eyes told her that whatever it was she needed, she considered it serious. She quietly made her way out the front door where Jane was sitting with her hands in her lap. “Janey, is something wrong?” The child looked up at her adoptive mother and she saw that tears were hovering in her eyes.
“I… I hope you aren’t cross with me for doing that…for the mistletoe.” Her voice shook as she said it.
“Why in the world would you assume that?”
“Well… you didn’t kiss each other like everyone else did. I hoped you would and then, but you didn’t and I must have got it wrong and I don’t want you and the Inspector to be upset with me.” Jane’s words just picked up speed as she became more anxious and the tears started flowing.
Phryne sat down next to her and put her arm around her. “What had you hoped would happen?”
Her red eyes looked up nervously. “Promise you won’t be mad?”
She gave her a little squeeze. “I promise.”
Jane took a deep breath as though she were about to jump off a cliff and said rapidly, “I wanted you too to kiss and fall in love and the Inspector could stay with us and be part of the family…be… be my dad.”
Phryne thought her heart would burst and that she would cry herself. That this child who, not so long ago had had no family at all and was suspicious of police, would now attempt to finagle him a way into the family so that he would be her father-figure was soul-achingly precious. She pulled her in to give her a kiss on the head.
“Jane, Dot’s like a big sister to you, right?” She nodded in agreement. “And Mr. B’s like a grandfather? What about Bert and Cec, how about them?”
“Oh, they’re uncles but sometimes they act more like nephews.”
Phryne chortled but didn’t disagree.
“Mac?”
“Definitely an aunt but not Aunt P-like, more fun, less stern. Not that I don’t love Aunt P, and Arthur, as well.”
Phryne put her cheek on her daughter’s head and said, “So, this year, you acquired a spare mum, a sister, a cousin, two aunts, two uncles, and a grandparent. Only one of them you got legally, the rest were by choice, right?”
“Yeah?”
It was apparent that Jane hadn’t connected the dots quite yet.
“Sweetheart, if you want Jack to be your father-figure, an excellent choice I must say, although the fact that he’s a DI and can fire a gun may become problematic when you start dating, that’s between the two of you. I must admit that given I might not have gotten you if not for him does seem to make his paternal placement a bit of a fait accompli.”
Jane turned so that she could look at her mother as she argued her point and then realized what Phryne had just said.
“What do you mean you might not have gotten me if not for him?”
Phryne’s eyes softened and became a bit misty.
“He came and got me and even after I said I didn’t do children, even after I brought you home without asking when you were technically still a suspect in a murder case, even when he originally thought I was a flighty toff who was totally untrained and playing at detective, without my knowledge, he spoke on my behalf so that I could adopt you and keep you out of the orphanage. Australian judges do not tend to allow single women with my reputation to adopt, but Jack convinced them. Jack believed in us as a family.”
“Why did you want me? You said it yourself, you don’t do children. Was it because of your sister?”
Phryne gently smoothed Jane’s hair away from her face.
“It surprised me when you told me your name, I’ll admit that. And yes, you do resemble Janey a bit. But when I looked at you, a girl willing to hop a train to get away from a horrible existence, I saw myself when I was not much older than you making a run to France to escape my father. And what told me that you were mine was when you tried to talk me out of adopting you. You were willing to risk everything to protect me from you. That’s when I knew we were definitely family. What about you?”
“When you told me that you would have let me keep the broach and then said that I was just the kind of girl you liked. I stole from you and you loved me anyway. And then there were the apples next to the bed every night.”
Jane tucked herself into Phryne’s arm.
“I know what it was like to never know where your next meal would be and I wanted you to have that security without asking.” Phryne explained.
Jane kissed her cheek.
“It’s just not a thing a rich mother would do, it’s what a Collinwood mother would do, though probably with more swear words.”
Phryne chuckled. “Oh, trust me, I never forgot the language I learned in Collinwood, I just utilize them more sparingly now. If I go full Magpie, find cover.”
“Can I take notes? Just in case there are some I haven’t learned? You are responsible for my full education you know!”
At that, Phryne gave a true and proper belly laugh and Jane joined in.
“I have no doubt we’d scandalize Jack, which isn’t necessarily a bad idea. Forget I said that out loud. Getting back to our dear, divine, and dour Inspector, Jack is already family to me in so many ways and I don’t know where our relationship will go but that’s between the two of us. We don’t have to be married for you to have him as a father figure. The three of us are an equilateral triangle, each having separate relationships but together being our own family of choice.”
“But, you do love him, right? Hypothetically, if the stars were aligned just right, he could live with us and be a family?”
Phryne cocked her head to one side. While she could make a flippant comment, her gut told her to play this straight with Jane.
“There’s an awful lot of types of love in the world and I suspect that my feelings towards Jack fall under several of them. I have put my life on the line for him, and he for me more times than I can count. But, that’s a discussion for me to have with your…with Jack before you. That said, when it comes to living at Wardlow, I think he could realistically already lay claim to the kitchen, the dining room, and the parlor and would probably call dibs on the garden.”
Jane attempted an innocent look to the heavens, not quite pulling it off. “Well, given I have a room in the house yet he’s at the house more when I’m at school, shouldn’t he have his own room? For bad weather, or working cases late at night? It’s closer to the station than his place in Richmond. He could sleep in later if he stayed with us! And it’s not as though I’ve asked for a baby brother or sister or puppy…yet.”
As Phryne rolled her eyes and squeezed the bridge of her nose but briefly smiled at the thought that streaked across her mind that it was more likely Jack would get less sleep if he was living with her. She also smiled that she was starting to understand what it was like for her mother and that she should find a way to include this story in her next letter. She had no doubt that her mother would appreciate the irony.
The front door opened and Jack stuck his head around the door. “Oh, here they are! Jane, Arthur wanted you to be his partner for Old Maid.”
“Who are we playing against?”
“Bert and Cec. The winners play Dot and Hugh.”
Jane jumped out of her seat. “Arthur, don’t let Bert deal. He cheats!” Before she walked back in the house, she stopped, tilting her head to look into Jack’s face. “Inspector, from a legal standpoint, the man and woman that bring a child into the family are considered the father and mother, correct?”
Jack looked mildly confused by the question but stated, “Well, yes, why do you ask?”
It was at that moment when Phryne found herself utilizing a time-honored means of maternal admonishment,
“Jane Irene Ross Fisher!”
Both Jane and Jack were dumbfounded but when Phryne’s eye twinkled at her daughter and her head motioned toward the house, Jane knew she wasn’t really upset.
“Sorry, Mum.”
After a few moments of silence, Jack sat down with her on the bench and asked in a tone normally used for ledge jumpers, “Should I ask what that was about? And when did you start invoking an Aunt P tone and the full name?”
Phryne leaned her face on her fingers and chuckled. “I have learned many new skills since becoming a guardian angel. Tonight was the first use of the Aunt P tone in concert with the full name. Under normal circumstance I would say that our discussion was something you should hear from Jane but given that more than once you have asked me to alert you when something was coming so, in the spirit of partnership, I’ll tell you.”
She looked Jack straight in the eye and with more than a little humor and a bit of nerves she said, “It would appear that my daughter was afraid I was upset because she had tried to encourage us to kiss, in the hopes that we might fall in love, and you could become her father.”
Jack chuckled and moved his arm around the back of the patio bench in order to lean back. “I do like a child with a plan.” After a moment he asked carefully, “How did you respond?”
Phryne turned herself to face him. “I told her that whatever direction our relationship takes doesn’t determine her relationship with you and that if she asked that you act as her father figure, I thought she couldn’t pick a better man. And, it would be interesting to see a Fisher girl have a rational, loving father-daughter relationship for once.”
Jack took her hand in his and gave it a squeeze. “Thank you. You do know I love her already. What was that about asking about parenthood?”
“I may have brought up the fact that you helped convince the judge to allow me to adopt her and she decided she wanted to use the argument that…”
“Since I was the man who helped bring her into the family that that makes me the father. It’s impressive the way she can turn logic into knots. She’s starting to sound like an attorney which may or may not be a step up from a pick-pocket.”
The laughter between them continued.
Phryne continued, “Oh, I’m not done. She had a suggestion which I must admit does has some merit. She feels that as you spend more time here than she does when she is away at school, that it only makes sense that you should have a room of your own that you can use during inclement weather, difficult cases, etc. She actually mentioned that Wardlow is closer to the station than Richmond so you could get more sleep and still be at work on time.”
Jack shook his head. “There is no doubt about it, she most definitely is your child!”
“So, Jack Robinson, how do you feel about being the father of my child?” Her eyes twinkled with amusement which was reflected in his.
“I very much feel we are missing something in the order of things. I clearly remember my father explaining the process as meeting the girl, courting the girl, marrying the girl, making love to the girl, and then having the child. If memory serves, we appear to have skipped a few crucial steps and the child is helping to instigate it.”
Phryne balanced her arm on his shoulder and purred. “Pray tell, Inspector, which have we forgotten?”
Jack stroked some loose hair away from her face. He searched her eyes and feeling he had the unspoken answer, he laid the barest kiss on her cheek. “Well, I definitely remember meeting you.”
“And I, you. A woman never forgets her first crime scene. Especially when the Inspector is so…captivating.”
“And I remember the day Jane’s papers came through and I gave them to you.”
Phryne rested her head on her wrist laying on his shoulder. “After almost losing her, it was a very happy day indeed. I was so grateful to share it with you.”
Placing a gentle kiss on her lips and wrapping his arm about her waist, Jack murmured, “I believe that the steps we have skipped have been the courting, the marriage, and the making love.”
The next kiss was an exploration that sent shivers all the way through the two of them. Each took turns discovering the intricacies of the other’s mouth. All of the affection, respect, passion, and love were wrapped in the electricity of their kisses. When breath finally became a must, Jack gazed into her eyes and while stroking her hair said, “Might I suggest we work on courting next? I would love to spend time with you away from murders, just being with you. Taking walks, window shopping, taking Jane book shopping and then all of us reading in the parlor, going to plays, and footie games. Sitting in the garden knowing the most beautiful thing there is the woman whose hand I’ll be holding. I want to find new ways and locations where I can let you know how deeply you are cherished and how grateful I am that above all else, you are my friend as well as my partner.”
Phryne turned her face into his hand, kissing his palm, and rubbing her face against it like a cat. “While my attitudes towards marriage are well known, I can’t think of anything better than being courted by you…”
At which point she gave him a gentle, yet provocative kiss on his neck.
“Having you make love to me…” Her tone as she said it was a rich growl.
She moved the next kiss behind his ear which caused him to groan as he gripped her closer.
“…and being your partner in every way.”
It was quite a while before the two went inside to inform Jane that her Christmas wish had indeed come true.