Jordan and Malik Wilds
It had been three long weeks since Kevin had carried a sleepy (and grouchy at being woken up) Maddie in through their front door for the first time.
Since then the Minyard-Josten-Day household has been a bustling hub of naps and tantrums, cuddles and crying and a lot of late nights.
The transition hadn’t been easy, far from it in fact.
The first night had gone relatively well. Maddie, still drowsy from the late night flight, had sleepily eaten a bowl of cereal and then let Kevin wipe her down with wet wipes, change her into pyjamas and tuck her into bed without any fuss. It had been deceptively easy.
The morning had seen Neil and Andrew had awoken to loud cries that sent them scrambling from bed into Maddie’s room. They spent hours trying to calm her down, to reassure her that they had been only down the hall and that nothing had happened during the night to any of them. It was only when Neil had gone to rouse a still sleeping Kevin and she was able to see that all the members of their little family were unharmed that she’d calmed down.
***
Andrew raps his knuckles firmly against the door frame before pushing into the room to wake his daughter. She likely doesn’t hear him knock but he does it anyway, a small nod of respect as he enters her room without her explicit permission.
Maddie lays tangled between her light pink sheets, shirt ridden up to expose her still too thin frame, leg thrown over the side of the bed as she slumbers on. Andrew walks forward quietly dodging barbie dolls and Legos where they have been haphazardly scattered around the room. They'd not made a fuss over cleanliness yet, still too in awe at watching her play freely and with proper toys for the first time in her life.
Three days after bringing Maddie home they’d taken her shopping for all the toys and essentials she could want. She’d picked out an abundance of pink as well as a healthy supply of books, the only thing in her room she tried to keep neat and orderly. She'd taken to reading like a fish to water, which had pleased her case worker and her parents, all who had been worried for her literary ability after not attending a prep school, greatly.
Andrew makes his way to Maddie's canopy bed and sits down before slowly raking his fingers through Maddie’s sleep tangled hair to wake her. It takes a few minutes of wiggling and murmuring but eventually Maddie blinks big brown eyes open at him and he grins softly at her sleepy face.
“Come on, up.” Maddie groans and stretches her hands up so Andrew can get a decent grasp of her ribs and pull her into his arms. “We have to go get ready for Aunty Dan and Uncle Matt, remember?”
Andrew makes the treacherous journey out of the room with a slowly waking Maddie cradled in his arms and calls out to Neil, who is engaged in the arduous task of waking their other child, Kevin.
“Get him in the shower, I’ll make breakfast.”
He makes his way down the narrow set of stairs that separates the bedrooms and private living space from the rest of the house and sets Maddie down in her preferred bean bag in the den to watch morning cartoons while he makes breakfast.
It's a routine affair by this point, a division of labour cultivated by time and practice. Andrew will wake Maddie up and make breakfast while Kevin and Neil shower before they sit down to eat together. After everyone has eaten Kevin will clean (obsessively) while Neil gets Maddie showered and dressed for the day and Andrew does the same for himself.
Neil leaves Maddie alone for a moment after he has towelled her off and helped her dress to go and tidy the living room before Dan and Matt arrive. They’d made the decision to hold off on big family introductions until Maddie had settled in and would be able to better regulate any emotions that being around kids her own age would bring up.
From what they’d been able to gather Maddie had never attended any playgroups or day-cares let alone formal preschool and it was unlikely that she’d even spent any time around anyone who hadn’t been her parents or their dealers.
Andrew had spent many hours on the phone with Aaron engaged in stilted conversation about his childhood in an attempt to understand Maddie and her reluctance to talk better. As it was she still hadn’t said a word and she seemed perfectly content not to for the next little while.
Kevin put his money down on her finally cracking under the frustration of trying to mime out which cereal she wanted each morning.
Just as Neil finishes shoving the rest of the pillows into the order Kevin liked, the doorbell rings.
“Kevin, Andrew,” Neil calls. “Everyone’s here.”
The door bursts open before Neil can reach it, admitting a heavily pregnant Dan and two over excited four year olds who run straight past Neil and into the living room to get at their new playmate.
Both children pull up abruptly when they realise the room is empty of toys and their new friend.
“Where is she?” Jordan asks Neil in an imperious tone reminiscent of her mother.
“Yeah, where’s our cousin?” Malik, the younger of the two Wilds kids and devout follower, questions.
“She’ll be down in a minute with Uncle Kevin and Uncle Andrew,” Dan chimes in, “do you remember what we talked about?” Neil moves forwards to relieve her of the oversized kiddie bag she takes everywhere with her and helps her down into an armchair before moving to the side to let the children swarm into her newly available lap.
“Maddie has only been here for a few weeks so we need to give her time to warm up, alright?” Dan reminds her children as she hears the stairs creak under the weight of Kevin and Andrew. “Nice and quiet at first.”
Kevin makes his way into the room first and is swarmed by Jordan and Malik allowing Andrew to slip by with Maddie in his arms and settle himself and their daughter onto the couch with Neil. Both kids pick up on the new arrivals in seconds and abandon Kevin’s legs in favour of their new friend.
“Hi, I’m Jordan, I’m four.” Jordan greets, “This is Malik, he’s also four but he's younger than me.”
Maddie predictably says nothing but she does reach out a tiny hand to tap Jordan’s cheek and when Jordan simply smiles she pushes out of Andrew’s hold and is off.
The kids run from the living room to the kitchen, up the stairs and into Maddie’s room which is closed to prying eyes with a resounding bang of the door that has Kevin flinching nervously.
“Where’s Matt?” Neil asks, curious as to the reason his best friend isn’t present.
“He just had to pick a few things up from the store, we thought it might be best if he came half way through rather than all of us piling in right away. Plus it never hurts to have the kids busy when you’re shopping.”
Dan rubs her belly in discomfort and the conversation goes on until Matt arrives and Kevin gets up to bring everyone drinks. The adults are quiet while they drink, listening carefully to the noises emanating from upstairs.
***
Jordan pivots on her feet once Malik makes it inside the bedroom and slams the door to ensure that the adults don’t follow them up. She loves her mom and dad, and her uncles but right now she’s in charge and she thinks it’ll be best if they just stay out of the way.
“Is this your room?” She asks her new cousin Maddie who has fallen to the floor in a heap beside a pile of plush toys. Maddie nods her head and rolls onto her stomach before picking up two of the dolls and beginning to play.
“Why don’t you talk?” Malik asks. “My mom says you don’t talk at all ever, is that true?”
Maddie looks over her shoulder and shrugs before turning back towards her toys. Jordan wants to tell her how rude that is, that she can’t just ignore people like that, especially not her new cousins but she remembers what her mom said; that Maddie had never had friends before and that they would need to be kind and patient while Maddie opened up to them.
Malik tip toes forward, a barbie doll in his hand and sits down by Maddie who looks up at him nervously.
“Can I play?” he asks.
Maddie nods and Malik trades his barbie for one of Maddie’s plushies as Jordan waddles over to join her brother.
“What are we playing?” She wants to play Family but she can wait a little while for Maddie to finish this game first. Maddie shrugs again and Jordan jumps at her chance.
“Let’s play family!” She declares and Malik jumps up used to his sister’s antics.
“It goes like this,” Jordan begins and the two siblings begin on a long and confusing explanation of what exactly the game of Family will entail. Through nods and shakes of her head Maddie gives her consent and it is worked out quickly that Jordan will be the mom and Maddie can be the baby and Malik has to be the dog (“why do I have to be the dog? I’m always the dog!” “Because I said so!”).
They pull the play furniture around the room until it is organised in a way that Jordan approves of and the three are off. Malik is banished to a pile of sheets in the corner that the girls had liberated from Maddie’s dresser and Jordan hovers in the play kitchen making up a bottle of milk (playdoh) when Uncle Andrew comes in to check on them.
“You can’t be in here!” Jordan screeches and Maddie springs up from her makeshift cot to push him out of the room, he reaches down in an attempt to pick her up thinking she is running to him for comfort only to have his hands smacked away and the door shut in his face by his newly independent daughter. A set of giggles go up behind the door and Andrew is shocked but not surprised to hear three voices laughing rather than two.
***
Andrew makes his way back downstairs to his partner’s and their friends. He wasn’t sure how this morning was going to go, it was a big thing meeting a new family, he’d done it enough times himself to know how stressful it could be but Maddie was rising to the occasion once again.
He settles back in on the lounge and knocks his feet against Neil’s in acknowledgement of his partner’s secret smile.
“She kicked you out didn’t she?” Neil asks, “She’s traded us in for the newer models.” And the living room lights up with laughter too.