Page 20 of The Gunnery Sergeant's Ready-Made Family

“I will, I’m just having a cuddle.”

“Stevie,” Chase laughed, a teasing glint in his eyes, “I’m only kidding, we both know that puppy is coming home with you.”

“She’s just such a darling, Chase, look at her little belly welly. How could anyone not want you?” Stevie asked the puppy, who looked at her with brown eyes before giving her nose a lick with her tongue, having decided that Stevie was her human.

“Well, I guess we have a dog,” Chase reached out to scratch the puppy behind the ears. “What are you going to name her?”

“Bella,” Stevie said without thinking, “the name just suits her.” They paid their adoption fee and the shelter placed her into a box for transport, Stevie placing it on the floor in the back of her car, nice and secure. They made a quick stop at the local supermarket on their way home, Chase promising to wait in the car with Bella while Stevie ran in and grabbed a few supplies, his eyebrows raising when Stevie returned with a trolley full of puppy food, toys, blankets, and treats.

“Don’t say anything,” Stevie muttered as she loaded everything into her trunk.

“I wouldn’t dare,” Chase answered, a grin on his face.

There was a great deal of excitement when Stevie and Chase got home, the addition of Bella into their household a huge hit. Even Finn got in on the excitement, squealing and waving his fists in the air when Chase picked up Bella and held her so that she would lick Finn on the leg. Ranger helped Stevie to put all of the puppy items away and set up the puppy bed in the laundry.

“Can’t she sleep in my room, please?” Ranger clasped his hands together in front of his face.

“No, Ranger, Bella needs to learn where her place is, it will help her to be a good and obedient dog.” Stevie opened her mouth to disagree with Chase, then closed it again. He was right. Bella needed to learn to sleep in the same place, even if they moved to a new house, she had to learn to follow orders or she would be no good as a guard dog.

“Chase is right Ranger, but you know what, before bed, you can come down here and say goodnight to her, and then in the morning, once an adult is up, Bella can come up and say good morning to you.” Despite her reservations, Bella didn’t cry during the night at all, and come morning was waiting happily for Stevie at the laundry door.

After church the next day, Stevie, Chase, Finn and Ranger walked down to the park to attend the Father’s Day event. It was hard for Stevie to remember that they had been married for only three weeks, it seemed like forever. She looked around the park and smiled, the Army had really gone all out, in addition to the fairground rides and attractions, there were refreshment booths and face painting, roving entertainers and a puppet theatre, balloons and a petting zoo. Her gran had opted to stay home, claiming that she needed a nap after the church service and subsequent meeting of everyone in the parish, and Stevie hadn’t argued. Chase and Stevie had decided to walk down rather than try to find parking, and Ranger had happily ridden on Chase’s shoulders while Finn rode in his stroller. Once at the park, Stevie ran into a few of the ladies she had met at the social group and introduced them to Chase and the boys. After a little encouragement Ranger went with one of the other women's sons to get his face painted, Chase going along to supervise. Watching Chase with the boys made Stevie’s heart ache. She wondered if he would ever regret not having children of his own. He was happy enough when Stevie had suggested adopting the boys, thrilled really, she knew how much he loved them, but she wondered if he would ever long for more, after all, she reminded herself, it was only a few short weeks ago when she had never wanted to get married or have a family, and yet here she was with both, happy and content.

It was growing dark when they finally headed home, bellies full of hot dogs and cotton candy, the stroller barely visible through the sea of balloons they had acquired, Chase and Ranger both sporting painted faces, Chase a pirate and Ranger a tiger. Stevie looked up at Ranger, riding high on Chase’s shoulders, weary but happy, and smiled. This is what life was all about, making sure those she loved were happy and healthy.

Chapter Thirteen

Stevie always looked forward to Sundays, to the time spent in worship with others, to the relaxing afternoon with her family, and today was no exception. The last week had been uneventful, Chase had worked, Stevie's gran had watched the kids while Stevie attended another get together organised by the women’s social club, and Stevie and Ranger had spent countless hours playing with Bella. Stevie had managed to fill her days with housework and children, baking, and errands, yet she still felt oddly dissatisfied. Stevie was in the kitchen mixing up pancake batter when Chase walked in.

“Good morning,” she greeted him, sliding a freshly brewed pot of coffee towards him.

“Morning,” he replied, taking in the ingredients on the bench. “Pancakes?” Stevie didn’t miss the hopeful tone of his voice.

“With blueberries and syrup.” Stevie smiled at Chase.

“I love your pancakes Stevie, seriously, they are the best I have ever eaten.”

“Thank you,” Stevie tried not to blush under his compliment. They chatted about mundane things, the seedlings Stevie wanted to buy, the swing set Chase thought the boys should have, and the upcoming plans they had for the week.

It wasn’t long before Stevie’s gran joined them, quickly followed by Ranger and Finn. Stevie stood behind Finn, his hands in hers, as she helped him to walk to the table to the encouragement of his family, all who clapped when he arrived. It wouldn’t be long until he was actually standing on his own and then walking, Stevie thinking her work would be cut out for her then. Ranger was asked to say grace, and then they ate, pancakes for Ranger, Chase, and Stevie’s grandmother, cereal and banana for Finn, and toast for Stevie, who had never been a fan of pancakes. After breakfast Ranger and Stevie took Bella for a walk around the block, making it home just in time to have a shower and get dressed and ready for church. Stevie wasn't normally fussed about the way she looked, she had never been one to preen and primp in front of the mirror, and she had never been at all interested in fashion. Today, however, she felt an odd sense of pride at the way her family looked, all dressed up and ready for church. Chase wore his signature stone coloured dress pants, crisp white shirt and blazer jacket, both Finn and Ranger dressed similarly in kid-sized versions of his outfit. Stevie and her grandmother both wore knee-length dresses, Nikki’s in a floral pattern, and Stevie’s in a navy blue.

As they found their seats, Finn on Chase’s knee, Ranger in between Chase and Stevie, and Stevie’s gran on the other side of Chase, Stevie opened her copy of the church bulletin and started reading through. A small job vacant advertisement for a part-time church administrator caught her eye. The church was looking for a responsible, proactive church administrator to be responsible for managing the daily operations of the church, through supervising staff and volunteers, managing the church's schedule of events, ensuring the effective use of church income, and keeping accurate records. The church administrator manages staff and volunteers, works with the community, and supports the pastor and other church staff members. To be a successful church administrator, you should be able to handle multiple tasks to ensure the church is well-run, maintained, and staffed. You should be generous, efficient, detail-oriented, and professional. That suited her perfectly, best of all, they were only looking for someone to fill the role two days a week. Stevie read on to make sure that she could meet all of their criteria.

They were looking for someone to manage daily operations and maintain office supplies and records; coordinate, plan, and execute church events; assist to create budgets, paying bills, overseeing payrolls, and tracking and recording church income from donations and sales; recruit and hire staff and volunteers, and overseeing their work and vacation schedules; handle church communications and publications, create and distribute bulletins and newsletters; oversee church facility maintenance and security operations; assist with scheduling meetings, renting church equipment and facilities, and enforcing church policies for facility use; and build and maintain relationships with the congregation and community. Stevie was confident that she could do all of that, most of those were skills that she had cultivated in her current job as a content creator for a multinational kitchenware brand. She certainly had an associate degree in business, two years of office experience, excellent communication and interpersonal skills, strong computer skills and the ability to operate office equipment, the ability to handle stress and problem solve, the ability to keep confidential and sensitive information, and a commitment to standing as a moral and upstanding representative of the church community, which is what the church required in way of skills and qualifications. As the service began, Stevie tucked the bulletin in her handbag, determined to look at it again once they were home.

It wasn’t until after Ranger and Finn were in bed, while she, Chase, and her grandmother were sitting on the back porch, that Stevie had a chance to bring up the job vacancy that she had seen advertised in the bulletin.

“Did you see that the church is looking for a part-time church administrator?”

“I did,” Stevie’s grandmother smiled at her, “it would be perfect for you, don’t you think so?”

“It would be nice, that’s for sure, and it’s only two days a week, which I love. I’m not sure I am ready to go back to working full time, not yet anyway, not with the boys so young.”

“Are you going to apply for the job?”

“I’m not sure Gran, what do you think?”

“I think that it isn’t up to me, this is a conversation for you and Chase to have, however, I will support you no matter what you decide, you know that.” Patting her on the hand, her grandmother got up and went inside.

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